The netbook onslaught of the past 18 months has forced a sea change. No longer is small size alone enough of an excuse for a notebook to carry an exorbitantly high price. With some good performance levels and a great screen, plus light weight and outstanding battery life, the Toshiba Portege A605-P210 could fit the bill for users who need to get real work done on the go with a netbook-size system--and without murdering the bank account.Toshiba sent us the A605-P210, which has a current MSRP, or list price, of $1399. This midlevel configuration for the A605 packs a 1.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo SU9400 processor, 3GB of 333MHz DDR2 RAM, a DVD-RW drive, integrated graphics from Intel, and a 300GB hard drive with a 32-bit version of Vista Home Premium. In fact, the hardware isn't all that different from what we saw in Toshiba's Portege R600. But the latter, a higher-end machine, sells for about $700 more, yet scores almost the same as the A605 in performance tests.Our tests show the A605 to be a decent office performer for an ultraportable, scoring a 69 on PC WorldBench 6, and beating out both the Fujitsu LifeBook T2020 (64) and the Dell Adamo (65), and even the pricier R600 (67). While it fell well below the Macbook Air in this regard (by about 14 percent), it's also several hundred dollars cheaper. Graphics-wise, set your expectations to "meh": At less than 6 frames per second in Unreal Tournament 3 at its lowest settings, don't expect to play decent games here.However, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the A605 handled multiple applications simultaneously without trouble and even dealt pretty well with high-def video content. The A605's memory footprint and full-fledged Core 2 Duo (versus the Atom processors behind most netbooks) are probably to thank for the snappy user experience. The A605 was generally a pleasure to use, a result aided a lot by the excellent display. The machine impresses in the battery life category as well, lasting more than 6 hours on a charge. The only ultraportable that did better was the LifeBook T2020, which also weighs and costs more and scored lower on our benchmarks.The A605's screen is great for both the general office work and the odd media file for which it was intended. With a 1280-by-800 resolution that has enough real estate to get some serious work done, you'll find outstanding brightness and a low-glare screen that remains legible and sharp whether in an office or out and about. While the vertical viewing angle left a little to be desired, the hinge on the A605 only opens so far, and horizontal viewing angles were excellent. Color reproduction was very accurate, and text was quite readable, especially considering the size of the screen.Small notebooks often feature compromised keyboards, hurting the user experience. Thankfully, that's not the case at all with the A605. The keyboard takes up about half of the laptop's base, and it offered the best typing experience I've found below 14 inches in any notebook. Unlike with its cousin, the R600, the keyboard feels sturdy, with no flex or give. You won't find miniversions of your keys or alternate key layouts like those found on some other ultraportables and netbooks. The touchpad is fine; though smaller than on many full-featured notebooks, it isn't so small that your wrists will ache after a few hours of use.Apart from gaming graphics, sound is the A605's major failing, which is to be expected in an ultraportable. With just one lonely mono speaker that becomes unlistenable at high volumes (and is too quiet to hear over even moderate levels of ambient noise), the A605 is ill-equipped for media playback even in an office or bedroom situation. The old-fashioned volume dial on the notebook's left side looks dated, but it offers a reasonable level of control. If you're going to use this laptop for media, headphones or dedicated speakers will be a must.The A605 comes with the standard update notifier and backup software (which works pretty well) and with biometric identification software tied to the fingerprint reader below the touchpad. Otherwise, it has no special software, but what it does have gets the job done. You'll want to dial down the hard disk protection software's sensitivity, which will otherwise steal focus with a popup message if you so much as breath heavily around the A605. The documentation is reasonably thorough and is specific to the A600 line.The A605's look occupies a strange middle ground in Toshiba's design history. The lid and top panel of the base share the traditional Toshiba high-gloss, piano-black finish, while the lower half of the base has the brushed-metal look of the higher-end Portege notebooks. I'm not a fan of the traditional black finish, which is a fingerprint magnet, but it doesn't look bad, and the keyboard, with the same brushed-metal finish as the base, is easier to use because of its contrast with the rest of the notebook.
Like most tablet PCs, Fujitsu's LifeBook T2020 caters to business folk. This laptop may shy away from sex appeal in favor of getting the job done, but it's angling to be a useful, lightweight (3.6 pounds), compact (11.7 by 8.6 by 1.3 inches) package. While it doesn't deliver in speed, it sure is ready for the long haul.The LifeBook T2020 retains virtually all of the physical features of its predecessor, the sober, professional-looking LifeBook T2010. The only thing about the T2020 that screams "2009," however, is its flawless 12.1-inch screen. The 1280-by-800-pixel panel looks exceptional, with much brighter and more-vivid colors than a typical matte laptop screen produces. Graphics, photos, and text are all very sharp and well defined, and the screen maintains its visually appealing contrast and intensity indoors and out.The included stylus permits very smooth and easy writing on the tablet in most applications, including essential ones such as Microsoft Word and Google Gmail. After it picked up on my specific handwriting (a rather sloppy scrawl), the T2020's transcription app began to recognize even my most illegible words. The only way to activate tablet features of this laptop is with the included stylus--so you don't have to worry about fingerprints and smudges on the screen. And to help you avoid losing it, the stylus fits snugly into a readily accessible compartment on the side of the laptop.Need more than a touchscreen? Simply rotate the screen, and you can use the full keyboard. The keyboard is flat and plain (and vaguely reminiscent of yesterday's clunky laptop keyboards) with a small, soft touchpoint in the center. If you don't mind doing without a touchpad, fine--but Lenovo, for example, gives users both options in its notebooks (including the ThinkPad T400). Several shortcut keys sit on the most accessible side of screen in tablet mode. The shortcut keys include page up, page down, a secondary function key, a key for screen rotation, and a Ctrl-Alt-Delete combo button for moments when everything goes sideways.Few tablet PCs offer stellar performance, and the LifeBook T2020 is no exception, struggling to run Windows Vista with its 2GB of RAM and 1.4GHz processor. The result was a score of 65 on our WorldBench 6 test suite, landing this machine toward the back of the ultraportable pack. The limp Intel integrated graphics didn't help this machine regain much ground, either. On the other hand, the LifeBook T2020's battery ran like a champ, holding out for 7 hours, 17 minutes in our power drain tests. So, it may not run quickly, but it'll last long enough for you to get the job done.The LifeBook T2020 comes with plenty of tablet PC-intensive software, such as Pen Flicks Training--a program that familiarizes users with stylus tricks to increase their efficiency--and a Handwriting Personalization app for speedier and more-accurate transcribing.Audio from the single scrawny speaker located on the front of the keyboard sounds horrible and tinny. Obviously, this is not a multimedia-minded machine.The laptop has two USB ports: One is located on the right side of the keyboard, and the other on the back next to the ethernet port. That arrangement should discourage you from trying to connect any external storage device that requires two USB ports. You'll also find a FireWire port, a PC Card slot, and a flash card slot good for Memory Stick and SD Cards. On the inside, 802.11n for Wi-Fi connectivity.
In recent months, Samsung has been lying low in the U.S. notebook market. But its new X360 is an interesting contender among ultraportable models--sleek enough to take on the Lenovo ThinkPad X300 or even the ThinkPad X200. Though its sex appeal can't match that of the Apple MacBook Air or the HP Voodoo Envy 133, this slim little machine may have enough positives to win you away from Lenovo's competing models--if you have a spare $2500.That money buys you an ultraportable equipped with a 1.4-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo U9400 CPU and 3GB of RAM. Despite its lukewarm configuration, the X360 still managed to eke out an average score of 73 on our WorldBench 6 test suite. But don't buy it if your intent on playing graphics-intensive games. Intel's integrated graphics system limps along in Doom 3 at a lousy 8 frames per second (at 1024 by 786 resolution). Hamsters on treadmills move faster. On the other hand, the X360's 128GB solid-state drive is fairly speedy; it is also largely responsible for the laptop's high price and low weight (only 3.7 pounds, counting the AC adapter).The battery life of this ultraportable was most impressive, lasting a whopping 7 hours, 36 minutes in our stress tests. Lenovo's X200 still keeps the top spot on the endurance chart, however, at 8 hours, 54 minutes.The X360 measures 12.2 by 9.1 by 1.3 inches, so a lot gets crammed into a fairly tight space. In fact it shares a lot in common with its big brother, the X460, despite having a smaller screen and lacking an optical drive. The 13.3-inch backlit LED on the X360 is amazingly bright. Good and colorful, without oversaturation, Samsung's new notebook is easy on the eyes. In fact, the screen makes for easy viewing under just about any lighting conditions, including direct sunlight. And the 1280-by-800-pixel resolution is perfectly reasonable for an ultraportable notebook.Like Apple and Sony, Samsung opts for a cutout keyboard, on which the keys pop out through holes in the case. This arrangement gives the keys a more solid feel and creates good spacing between them. The result is comfortable, solid tactile feedback on every key press. Though the keys aren't especially textured, they don't feel flimsy.You won't find superfluous multimedia shortcut keys on the X360. Instead, the laptop handles each special task through a combination of the 'Function' button and one of the F keys. (That's the only way to toggle the number lock and caps lock.) The only dedicated buttons are a shortcut to the Samsung MagicDoctor (a quick-fix finder for PC problems) and a speed-boost shortcut key (a toggle between basic power-saving settings and full speed). The mousepad is pleasantly sensitive, and the two buttons are well-spaced and solid to the touch.The case is expertly built and ready for travel. Like the screen on its inner surface, the two-toned metallic lid stands out. The X360 squeezes a lot of ports into the case as well: VGA and HDMI for video, an ethernet jack, a modem, 802.11n Wi-Fi , Bluetooth., three USB ports around the sides, a five-in-one flash card reader, a PC Express card slot, and headphone and mic jacks. Throw in the 1.3-megapixel Webcam and the fingerprint reader, and you have a fairly robust package.The sound is surprisingly big--strong enough to fill a small room and annoy cubemates. There's no proper subwoofer, but the mids and highs work well, and the volume reaches a high enough level that headphones aren't your only listening option.People who loathe bloatware will appreciate that the X360 comes without much preinstalled software. It's not completely barren, however. Our test unit came with Samsung's one-step diagnostic and system recovery software, a quick troubleshooter for analyzing installation problems and getting you back to a factory-fresh state. You can also quickly reinstall important Windows files while keeping your data intact. The other programs on board consist of a speed-stepping shortcut that lets you quickly toggle between battery-saving and power modes, as well as the OmniPass security software, made to work in tandem with the built-in biometrics.
Equipped with the new Centrino 2 processor, Lenovo's ThinkPad X200 looks a mild-mannered ultraportable, and yet it can leap tall workloads in a single bound. Its battery life is phenomenal, and the keyboard is huge. In short, this is a much better notebook than the ThinkPad X61, which it replaces, and a surefire winner for on-the-run execs.Because it bears a lower model number, you might imagine that this a less-powerful version of the ThinkPad X300, but the X200 actually has a more recent processor. The X300 has a 13.3-inch display, however, while the X200 has a 12.1-inch screen. Ah, but what you'll see when you fire this baby up!At just under 3 pounds with its lightest battery installed, the X200 weighs a few ounces less than the ThinkPad X61, despite offering the same 12.1-inch wide screen and a bigger keyboard. The bright little screen has an easy-to-read 1280-by-800-pixel resolution, making it quite comfortable for work on the go. And the built-in Webcam keeps you in visual touch with your colleagues.The redesigned keyboard is as big as the ones that members of Lenovo's ThinkPad T series carry, and it has all the same amenities: spill resistance, dedicated page up and page down keys, and the all-important ThinkVantage button. The ThinkVantage application suite offers one-touch access to the onboard user manual as well as to recovery, security, and other crucial utilities. A fingerprint reader rounds out the package. What's missing: a touchpad. Many ThinkPads offer both a touchpad and aneaserhead as pointing devices, but not the X200.The review unit Lenovo sent us came with 2GB of RAM and a 2.4-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo P8400, and it notched a WorldBench 6 score of 88, putting it only 14 points behind the fastest laptop we've tested to date. As you might expect, the X200's integrated video graphics can handle only simple games. But the X200's battery life soars. Lenovo has expanded its battery line to three choices, topped by the powerful nine-cell model that our X200 carried. Though this battery extends the back of the notebook by about half an inch and brought our unit's weight to 3.7 pounds (not including power adapter), the payoff was almost nine hours of juice on a single charge.Unless you already have a spare external USB optical drive on hand, you'll have to shell out $219 extra for Lenovo's Ultrabase docking slice to get an internal drive bay. (A Blu-ray optical drive costs even more). On the bright side, the modular bay accepts other devices like a second battery or second hard drive. But the docking slice also offers some nifty new connections, most notably a place to charge yet another battery and a DisplayPort display interface that combines high-def audio and video in a single connector.Of course, ultraportable ThinkPads have always used the space they save by omitting a built-in optical drive to add lots of laptop features that are missing from same-size competition. The X200 features three USB ports, microphone and headphone ports, a VGA port, and an ethernet connection. You have your choice of a modem jack with a five-in-one memory card slot, or a less expensive configuration offering an SD Card slot but no modem.The X200 feels tough as nails, thanks to a magnesium alloy lid and bottom. A crash-proof solid-state hard drive up to 64GB is optional (we got a standard 160GB platter-based hard drive, however). For future upgrading the X200's two memory chip slots are located in an easy-to-access bottom compartment, and the hard drive can be removed from the right side of the unit after unscrewing one bottom screw.
1. Sony VGN-Z598U/BCPU: 2.53-GHz Core 2 Duo P9500, Display Size (inches): 13.1" Display, Wide Screen: Yes, Total HD Size (GB): 256GB Hard Drive, Min. Weight (lbs.): 3.3Lbs., 2. Lenovo Thinkpad X200CPU: 2.4-GHz Core 2 Duo P8600, Display Size (inches): 12.1" Display, Wide Screen: Yes, Total HD Size (GB): 160GB Hard Drive, Min. Weight (lbs.): 2.95Lbs.,3. Samsung X360-34PCPU: 1.4-GHz Core 2 Duo U9400, Display Size (inches): 13.3" Display, Wide Screen: Yes, Total HD Size (GB): 128GB Hard Drive, Min. Weight (lbs.): 3Lbs., 4. HP Elitebook 2530PCPU: 1.86-GHz Core 2 Duo SL9400, Display Size (inches): 12.1" Display, Wide Screen: Yes, Total HD Size (GB): 80GB Hard Drive, Min. Weight (lbs.): 3.8Lbs., 5. Asus U6V-A1CPU: 2.26-GHz Core 2 Duo P8400, Display Size (inches): 12.1" Display, Wide Screen: Yes, Total HD Size (GB): 320GB Hard Drive, Min. Weight (lbs.): 3.5Lbs., 6. Acer Timeline 3810TCPU: 1.4-GHz Core 2 Duo SU9400, Display Size (inches): 13.3" Display, Wide Screen: Yes, Total HD Size (GB): 500GB Hard Drive, Min. Weight (lbs.): 3.7Lbs., 7. Fujitsu Lifebook T2020CPU: 1.4-GHz Core 2 Duo U9400, Display Size (inches): 12.1" Display, Wide Screen: Yes, Total HD Size (GB): 160GB Hard Drive, Min. Weight (lbs.): 3.6Lbs.,8. Toshiba Portege R600-ST520WCPU: 1.4-GHz Core 2 Duo U9400, Display Size (inches): 12.1" Display, Wide Screen: Yes, Total HD Size (GB): 160GB Hard Drive, Min. Weight (lbs.): 2.4Lbs., 9. Lenovo Ideapad U110CPU: 1.6-GHz Core 2 Duo L7500, Display Size (inches): 11.1" Display, Wide Screen: Yes, Total HD Size (GB): 120GB Hard Drive, Min. Weight (lbs.): 2.4Lbs., 10. Toshiba Portege A605-P210CPU: 1.4-GHz Core 2 Duo U9400, Display Size (inches): 12.1" Display, Wide Screen: Yes, Total HD Size (GB): 320GB Hard Drive, Min. Weight (lbs.): 3.1Lbs.,
Toshiba may be new to netbooks, but the company is no stranger to small. Toshiba's NB205-N310 ($400) jumps into the market and claims a top spot in our rankings. This primo portable not only delivers where it counts with the longest battery life to date, it does so with panache and some great design decisions. In short, Toshiba has come a long way since blazing trails with its Libretto subnotebooks in the 1990s.I'm going to start this review with the NB205's only real "downer": its pedestrian speed and guts. The guts are a 1.6GHz Intel Atom N280 CPU, 1GB of RAM, and a 160GB 5400-rpm hard drive, which together earned the NB205 a rather standard performance score of 36 in PC WorldBench 6. But that's about the only thing that I'd classify as "average" about the NB205-N310.Toshiba spokespeople say that the NB205-N310's six-cell battery can last for almost 9 hours. Wrong. In our tests, the NB205 survives a staggering 9 hours, 53 minutes. For a little perspective, that is easily the longest time so far that a netbook has been able to run--and this is with the standard battery on board. That alone catapults this netbook's worth to a top pick on the charts.A killer keyboard and a touchpad to match are essential for a champion netbook. After all, how useful is a machine if you can't type on it without hurting your hands? Toshiba scores by making the Chiclet-size cutout keys just big enough, and by dropping down a huge touchpad. This is simply the best netbook mouse pad to date. For starters, the surface area of the strike zone is larger than that on many full-size laptops! Next, the beefy mouse buttons camp at the southern edge of the machine--easing hand strain. My physical therapist would approve.The N310 has good (though occasionally muted) color reproduction and supports a reasonably precise resolution of 1024 by 600 pixels on its glossy 10.1-inch screen. I noticed some dark spots that got washed into a splotch or two--but otherwise, the images looked plenty sharp.Its configuration looks fairly standard on the surface: three USB ports, an SDHC card reader, a Webcam, one VGA-out, ethernet, and headphone and microphone jacks. But it's put together in a 2.9-pound package and with a sense of style that doesn't look or feel cheap at all.Toshiba also adds a few extras to the NB205-N310 that are sure to appeal to folks on the go--and even more so to IT departments looking to deploy cheap PCs to a mobile workforce. One notable perk is a pass-through USB port that enables users to charge USB-powered devices while the computer is off. This netbook also provides an internal accelerometer to protect the hard drive in case of falls (much as the HP Mini 2140 does)--and it offers wireless WAN support as an option.As a quick heads-up, another version of the NB205 is waiting in the wings--the lighter, scrappier NB205-N210. The big differences between these sibling Toshiba netbooks boil down to price (the N210 costs $350, $50 less than the N310), key shape (the N210 has flat, wide keys, as opposed to the N310's cut-out style), and the N310's bluetooth support (the N210 doesn't have it).
Everyone talks about the Apple tax - the premium you're paying for an Apple product. The same could technically be said for some of Sony's more uniquely designed notebooks, like the Sony VAIO VGN-Z598U. This ultraportable class starts at $1,499, but our review unit balloons up to the eye-bulgingly-high price tag of $4,450. If money is no object (yeah, as if that's the case these days), then by all means, scoop up this overstuffed, lightweight beauty.Primary responsibility for the sticker shock goes to a pair of 128GB solid-state drives, which jacked up the original price by roughly two grand. But our test unit also jams a 2.53-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo P9500 CPU, 4GB of RAM, and a dedicated nVidia GeForce 9300M GS GPU into its tiny 12.4- by 1.3- by 8.3-inch frame.The twin SSDs probably contributed to the VGN-Z598U's eye-opening WorldBench 6 score of 107, the highest we've seen from an ultraportable. The next-fastest competitor in this class is the Asus U6V, with a mark of 93. And yet despite its powerful configuration, the VGN-Z598U weighs only about 3.3 pounds (4.2 pounds including the power brick).In stamina mode, the VGN-Z598U switches from its nVidia GeForce 9300M GS graphics to its integrated Intel GPU), to prolong its battery life. Working with the integrated GPU, the laptop runs for 4 hours, 46 minutes--not bad, but far below the figure of almost 9 hours for the Lenovo ThinkPad X200. And unlike with a certain Mac-flavored machine, you can toggle between modes without either enduring a full system reboot or having to log out first.The first thing you'll notice upon lifting the lid of this VAIO is its beautifully backlit 13.1-inch wide-screen display. Even in direct sunlight, the LED image at its native 1600-by-900-pixel native resolution is crisp and clear. And the wide-screen design is great for positioning documents side-by-side and for watching movies at a 16:10 aspect ratio. Not coincidentally, the VGN-Z598U also houses an optional Blu-ray drive.As on other high-end Sony models, the VGN-Z598U incorporates a cutout keyboard, in which the keys pop out through holes in the case. The design creates good key spacing between buttons and promotes solid tactile feedback. The only extra buttons on the keyboard are a large disc-eject button, a couple of programmable shortcut buttons that by default launch a presentation mode and Windows Meeting Space, and a performance toggle for switching between the integrated Intel GPU and the GeForce 9300GS chip. The mouse is suitably large and sensitive, but its two slim mouse buttons (with a fingerprint scanner between them) are like two landing strips for gnats. At least the buttons are firm and well-built.The laptop's layout is clean and simple, though some of its features are just a tad skimpy. Among the positives are two USB 2.0 ports, a four-pin FireWire jack, and a PC Express card slot. High-end A/V-heads will appreciate the unit's HDMI output, too. Though a Blu-ray drive is a configuration option, the base model comes with a modest VGA port.Sony's suffers from the same problem Like most ultraportables, the VGN-Z598U has a rather puny sound system consisting of two tiny, tinny speakers and no subwoofer. On the bright side, it does get loud enough to distract cubicle neighbors (sorry, mate!) or fill up a small room. Of course, most of the time you'll want to use headphones anyway.Preloaded software includes Microsoft Works, a video content exporter, a basic video-editing program, and the VAIO Control Center (which quickly breaks down all of the vital chores you're likely to need instant access to on your computer.
