ultraportables

Asus joins the sleek with 13.3-inch laptop

With a black piano finish and a leather wrist rest, the Asus U3 joins the Apple MacBook and the Sony VAIO SZ in the ranks of sleek-looking 13.3-inch laptops. Like the others, the U3's 13.3-inch display size definitely hits a sweet spot between portability and usability; its 3.9-pound weight (granted, that's with the tiny three-cell battery) straddles the line between ultraportable and thin-and-light. The screen is large enough for watching movies or to comfortably make it through a workday without squinting.

The Asus U3 incorporates a boatload of professional-level upgrades, including Intel Turbo Memory, 3G … Read more

Summer of the ultraportable laptop

It's no secret that we have a soft spot for supersmall laptops. Ultraportables, as they're called, generally have 11- or 12-inch screens and weigh in at less than four pounds--perfect for lugging around all day or hanging at the local coffee shop with. Unfortunately, these guys are usually plagued by the twin devils of high prices and poor battery life (not to mention occasionally underpowered processors).

This, however, has clearly been the summer of the ultraportable, with a generous handful of exciting new systems generating heavy buzz. But with all these new choices, which one is right for … Read more

Sony's tiny TZ laptop gets official

Sure we've seen it in Japan for months, and you can actually order one from gadget importer Dynamism.com, but we're still pretty excited that Sony is finally releasing the Vaio TZ laptop here in the good ol' U. S. of A.

Last night, at the event space on top of 30 Rockefeller Plaza (known as the Top of the Rock), Sony showed off what the company calls a "new line of richly designed, high-performance ultraportable notebooks." For once we pretty much agree--even with an 11.1-inch LED backlit display, Web cam, carbon-fiber casing, and a … Read more

Toshiba's new ultraslim ultraportable

One of the few laptops that has really grabbed our attention with eye-catching industrial design this year is the Toshiba Portege R400, a slim convertible tablet we saw back in January. The just-announced follow-up, Toshiba's Portege R500, is even more impressive.

We got a chance to play around with one of these a few weeks ago, and it was literally one of the thinnest, lightest 12-inch ultraportable laptops we've ever seen. It's got all the requisite ultraportable features, from an indoor/outdoor backlit LED display to a superthin 7mm DVD drive--similar in some ways to the 13-inch Dell XPS m1330 … Read more

Averatec launches 11.1-inch laptop

Today, Averatec announced the new 1579 ultraportable laptop, which features an 11.1-inch wide-screen display, 1-inch thickness, and 3.4-pound weight. The rest of the specs:

1.06GHz Intel Core Duo U2400 ultralow voltage processor 1GB DDR2 RAM (1GB max) 120GB, 5,400 rpm hard drive Dual-layer DVD burner Three USB 2.0 ports, an ExpressCard slot, and a 4-in-1 memory card reader Windows Vista Home Premium

Because we're used to Averatec pricing its laptops so aggressively, the new laptop's $1,300 price tag struck us as merely average for its specs. Nevertheless, the Averatec 1579 promises to … Read more

Sony Vaio TZ series shipping in Japan

The rumored Vaio TZ that we previously reported on has arrived! Importer Dynamism.com has begun selling the Sony Vaio TZ90, the latest T series laptop currently shipping in Japan.

The TZ90 commemorates the launch of Sony's first ultraslim notebook, the Vaio 505, almost 10 years ago. That laptop sired a long line of tiny ultraportables , including the X505, T series, and TX series.

Back in the day, $2,000 would get you a 200MHz Pentium processor, 32MB of RAM, a 2.1GB hard drive, integrated modem, and external floppy. With the Vaio TZ90, you get considerably more, though … Read more

Sony Vaio TZ photos leaked

When we told you about several leaked Sony laptops a few weeks ago, there weren't any photos of the ultraportable Vaio TZ11 to share. But Andrew at NotebookReview.com managed to uncover some images and more detailed specs on a French retailer's Web site.

"Anyone think that keyboard redesign looks a lot like the MacBook keyboard?" Andrew asks, and our answer is a hearty yes. We just hope it's comfortable for typing--which is tough to do when the case is only 10.9 inches wide.

Like its TX series predecessor, the 2.6-pound TZ11 is … Read more

20 questions: Laptop edition

Does it have a built-in optical drive? Yes. Does it feature an LED-backlit display? You betcha. Does it weigh less than three pounds? Oh, yeah. Is it the Sony VAIO VGN-TXN15P? Nope.

It's the just-announced Fujitsu LifeBook P7230, an update of the LifeBook P7120 we reviewed almost a year ago. The new ultraportable retains the light weight and the built-in optical drive we loved about its predecessor but adds such appealing features as LED backlights for its 10.6-inch display and an optional built-in Webcam. You can also choose either a black or a white version to match your … Read more

A very portable holiday season

If there's anything I hate more than the mole people who are, even now, planning our destruction, it's laptops of shoulder-breaking proportions. That's why I've decided to ask Santa (Hi Mom!) for something in the ultraportable range. The Sony VAIO VGN-TXN15P/W is the king of the ultraportable laptops, with a bevy of features and an amazing battery life to boot. If, however, you're looking for something a bit more stylish, the Acer Ferrari 1004WTMi might be right up your alley. It's an excellent combination of speed and style that manages to avoid being … Read more