Comments on: Laptops: one size doesn’t fit all

By: uknick

uknick — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 10:15:21 +0000

Hi guys, see my post above about the Advent 4213. Come across an advert today for the Toshiba Portege R400 Tablet PC With 3G for £528 which I guess is around $900-1,000.

Can anyone give me an objective view on this machine. This is a third of the RRP and seems too good to be true AND you get a free Toshiba Camileo H10 HD camcorder (on cashback) from Toshiba.

12.1″ with 2GB 3G and 3.8lbs etc seems a fantastic price – any views?

Cheers Nick

By: Jon L

Jon L — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 20:28:53 +0000

I like small and light, but to a certain extent. I bike to campus, and my path is strewn with numerous hills (more like small mountains), so weight needs to be manageable. Unfortunately, my desktop died, so I’ve been stuck with the Mini-Note as my primary computer over the past month or so. I’ve now come to deeply regret purchasing the Mini-Note. I don’t care what program you run, this machine is guaranteed to run it like molasses. It’s gotten so bad that given the choice between surfing the web on my Mini-Note or my Touch Diamond, the Touch Diamond wins handily. That experience has led me to wonder if there is a laptop discus event in the Olympics, because if so I would very much like to participate (and I’m pretty sure my rage would guarantee me gold).

In summary, this has led me to purchase a Lenovo X200. The price, performance, size and battery life seem to be converging at that perfect spot for me. At 3.6 lbs. with the nine-cell battery, it’s not the lightest on the market, but that’s offset by the fact that I’m guaranteed not to need to tote around an AC adapter. And the performance is better than most ultraportables that go for more money (X300, etc.). It is indeed more money than I would like to spend considering I have no money, but I literally cannot take this Mini-Note any longer. Once I get the Thinkpad set up, I will be spinning this HP off as quickly as possible, as I have no desire to see one of these machines ever again.

Oh, and I should point out that I could care less about the integrated graphics. I have no desire to play Crysis on my laptop. Laptops aren’t gaming machines in my mind, and the ones that attempt to be are less laptops than portable desktops.

By: Jon M

Jon M — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 16:42:53 +0000

I consider my Fujitsu U810 almost perfect, because its size and its convertible nature and superb battery life fit the ultra-portable bill. My true love has always been my Toshiba Libretto U105. Undocked from its DVDRW drive, it has been the best balance of power and features in a small form factor. If I had to buy or look into a new ultra-portable the only one I have even considered has been a Raon Everun Note. It has the power and form factor that is similar to the Libretto, the only thing that gets me is the screen resolution at 1024×768. I wish these ultra-portables had 1280×800 like my Libretto does.

By: Dave P

Dave P — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 16:26:30 +0000

I want ultra small and ultra light. Netbooks just don’t do it for me because they are too big.

I am willing to pay extra for something that will fit in my pocket or in a case on my belt. So I shelled out the big bucks for an OQO. One pound and the size of my hand. That’s the size that fits me.

By: Victor C.

Victor C. — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 03:30:30 +0000

My choice is the 13.1″ Sony VAIO Z. It’s nearly on par with the highest end MacBook Pros but has a gorgeous, higher screen resolution (1600×900), weighs 3.3lbs, has Blu-ray capabilities, and both real HDMI + VGA connectors for easy hookup to monitors without the need for a dongle.

The form factor is just a little bigger than the largest “netbook” but you get desktop level performance and functionality while sacrificing very little in such a lightweight package. In fact, due to the widescreen aspect of the notebook, it feels smaller than your typical 13.3″ notebook.

By: Mark

Mark — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 01:39:00 +0000

Fast, small, cheap. Pick two.

By: Luscious

Luscious — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 19:44:58 +0000

Interesting read, and I agree one size doesn’t fit all. Right now I’m at two extremes, I’m using a HP mininote alongside a 4-year old zd7000. The zd has been my power workhorse doing everything I need including games. The mini right now is my handheld (literally) multimedia/web/office platform, and it does that beautifully.

Sadly, though, I need a replacement for the power of my 17″ and I’m finding the choices extremely difficult. The problem is finding a 17″ with a decent video card, and a manufacturer that offers XP drivers.

The HP HDX18 is a great machine with a mobile quad core cpu, but the 9600M gpu is half the power of the 8800M that was used in the old 20″ HDX. At $2400, I want something that will run 2009′s games, not give me a slideshow. I guess HP never got that memo about the 9800M…

HP has XP drivers available for every business laptop they sell, but offer no support for consumer laptops. I can understand them not “selling” XP in lieu of Vista, but offering drivers shouldn’t be a big deal – the same chipsets/hardware found in their montevina business laptops are used on the consumer side. I don’t hate Vista at all, but the audio software that I depend on only runs on XP.

By: Pam T.

Pam T. — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 19:33:20 +0000

The best mobile computer I had was the Fujitsu P2010 – a 10″ screen, integrated DVD, full powered processor. I’m gazing longingly at it now, wishing the Crusoe chip on it wasn’t so…slow…these..days. The form factor was perfect and Fujitsu has tinkered with the thing now so it’s a 12″ display and too big.

The Mini Note has perfect speakers and a great keyboard, but I expect I’ll be lusting over an upgraded model if they bump that screen up another inch or so…my eyes sometimes have to work too hard to read web pages on that small screen.

By: Anton P. Nym

Anton P. Nym — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 17:32:18 +0000

And here I am, still using the heck out of my “old” Samsung Q1. It chugs a bit running my Zune, and some web sites get annoying by insisting on a screen height greater than 600 pixels, but other than that it easily covers 90% of my day-to-day computing chores and 99% of what I’d want to do when on the move. (And at the size and weight of a trade paperback book it’s easier to carry than one of those anvil-class “laptops” being pushed today, especially in Coach/Economy seating.)

Then again, I’m not trying to compress HD video on the move either. I use it for email, web browsing, document work, portable media, and light photo editing. It all depends upon your needs, I guess.

— Steve

By: Gordon Cahill

Gordon Cahill — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 15:45:18 +0000

I keep buying machines looking for the perfect combination. At the moment I’m stuck with my TX2000. It’s the best compromise of portability and power for me. I often NEED the power as I work every day on large photo files. I travel with my Mini Note but miss the power and dual core processor while I’m away.

But I’d rather have a smaller (footprint) machine with power and would happily sacrifice weight, thickness and some battery to get it. Say like a tablet version of the Mini Note with a 2.4GHz dual core processor and an optional slice battery. I hook my laptops up to 24 inch monitors in the office and I have good eyesight so screen size are less important. I’d sell one of the children to have a high power version of my old Acer C111 and a slice battery. Now that would be the ultimate machine and the oly compromise would be the weight of the slice battery.

Gordon