New HP Review 2010

HP Pavilion dm4-1160us

The HP Pavilion DM4-1160us is the lightest and one of the sexiest, 14-inch laptops in the mainstream category. A metal design, on-grade features and a fast Intel Core processor i5 are the driving forces behind this easy. In addition, this configuration with a 55Wh battery, which packed pumped over 5 hours of battery life.

Design
The DM4-1160us together with the Apple MacBook Pro 13-inch (Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz) and Asus U45Jc-A1, are mainstream notebooks that most have sex appeal. They are covered in aluminum metal and are seductively thin (about an inch thick), two characteristics that are often associated with luxury laptops. The DM4-1160us has a darker-toned aluminum chassis, while those of the MacBook Pro and U45Jc-A1 easier, silver color. HP imprinting technology is the laser across the DM4-1160us’s lid and palm rest, as the look cleaner, etched pattern-free metal-clad designs of his brothers about it. At 4.4 pounds, it is the lightest weight in 14-inch class, less than the Lenovo IdeaPad Y460 (4.9 lbs), Dell Inspiron 14R (4.9 lbs), and U45Jc-A1 (4.7 lbs).
The DM4-1160us’ s 14-inch widescreen is a number greater than that found 13-inch on the MacBook Pro 13-inch and Asus U30Jc-A1, which means that more have screen real estate to work. However, there is a general image that uses a standard 1366 x 768 resolution. If higher resolution is absolutely necessary, the HP Envy 14 scale up to 1,600 times 900th HP traditional keyboards are now replaced with the Chiclet-style way of a growing trend in laptops. All the letter keys are perfect, isolated squares, and while there in response to an input style (such as touch or hunting and woodpeckers), the Lenovo Y460 and Dell 14R have better typing experience.
The navigation experience the touch pad and mouse buttons, was also redesigned, though not necessarily for the better. It is the type of touchpad, the mouse buttons has built similar to the touchpad found on the MacBook Pro, except this one does not deliver on the multi-touch capabilities. Often, the built-in multi-touch gestures and cursor have a mind of its own when to use two fingers on the touchpad. A nice work-around is with the Tap function with a single finger, or disable the gestures in the Synaptics software (in the Control Panel). HP has a driver update that some, but not spent all the dumb mistakes.

Features
As the U45Jc-A1, the DM4-1160us combines a dual-layer DVD burner and still managed to keep a slim figure. It has a standard set of connectivity ports, including 3 USB (one of which doubles as eSATA port), HDMI, VGA, Ethernet and multimedia card reader. An ExpressCard slot is not included, though. Then again, not many 14-inch laptops these days. The huge 500 GB hard drive rotates at a fast 7,200 rpm, faster than the 5400 ones found in the U45Jc-A1 (500GB) and Inspiron 14R (320). A fingerprint reader, which is a rare find on a consumer laptop is top on the right palm rest.
The DM4-1160us Intel’s Wireless Display, a nice feature that allows you to stream, found something on the laptop to an HDTV friends wirelessly. You do not have installed a transmitter dongle that hangs from a USB port, the radio chip in the laptop. However, you must each Push2TV Netgear receiver that connect to buy an HDTV, via HDMI. To start Wireless Display (WiDi) by double clicking the icon on the desktop WiDi that request, connect to the Netgear receiver is already connected to an HDTV. Once the DM4 is connected, you can wirelessly slide shows and high-definition video at 720p, maximum, to your HDTV from a distance of up to 20 feet.

Performance
While many of his colleagues elected to an Intel Core processor running i3, the DM4-1160us HP kicks it up a notch with a 2.4 GHz Core i5-450M. It is a moderately faster processor than the one found in the Asus U45Jc-A1, 14R and 13-inch MacBook Pro, especially if you are an avid video or photo editor. The DM4-1160us better than the U45Jc-A1 Hand Brake (2 minutes 52 seconds), CS5 (5:18) and Cinebench 11.5 (2.14) tests, all of which measure raw horsepower. What it lacks, though, is a good graphics chip set, such as the Nvidia and ATI switchable graphics in the Asus U45Jc-A1 found and Lenovo Y460 each. But that does not mean you do not find a DM4-1160us configuration, the discrete graphics, the HP Pavilion DM4-1063cl is an ATI Mobility Radeon 5450.
In battery tests, the DM4-1160us well with his 55Wh (6 cell) battery, carried out as a MobileMark 2007 score of 5 hours 30 minutes on the Dell lasted 14R (3:31) and Lenovo Y460 (4:52). But it could not with the U45Jc-A1 84Wh battery, the spectacular nine hours took 27 minutes to compete.
The HP Pavilion 1160us-DM4 is one of the top contenders in the 14-inch consumer sector. There are some touchpad problems, but they are a modern design, a full plate of features and great battery life made of the shadows. It is surpassed only by the Editors’ Choice Asus U45Jc-A1, the dominant battery scores and a switchable graphics technology has had.

HP Pavilion dm3-2010us

The HP-developers have a new idea of the laptop form diversity. All-new HP Pavilion dm3-2010us laptop is very durable.
Its powerful computer hardware makes gorgeous effects together with multilateral institutions. This laptop is equipped with AMD Athlon Dual-Core processor Neo II K325 (1.3GHz, 2M L2 Cache), 4GB DDR3 RAM (2 DIMM) – Max supported = 8GB, 320GB (7200rpm) hard drive (SATA), Genuine Windows Home Premium 7 64-bit games run for simple execution.
Core Duo Laptop guaranteed two major productions in the test compared to the Core Duo laptop 4 electronic gear. They may provide software-based solutions for HP laptop fan control.
HP Pavilion dm3-2010us 13.3-inch diagonal is High-Definition HP BrightView LED display (1366 x 768), ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4225 graphics card with 128 MB cache memory, display, Dolby Advanced Audio with Altec Lansing speakers for fast running programs set up.
Memory or the size of the RAM chip on your laptop computer is very critical if you want to handle heavy graphic files or want to play games on your laptop. The more RAM chip you have, the more applications you will be able to handle.
Laptop has a hard drive for bulk storage of data. In the laptop the next function is placed: Finished in brushed aluminum design with the current in argento; TrueVision HP webcam with integrated digital microphone, 5-in-1 integrated Digital Media Reader.
HP Laptop hard drives are special computer accessories that store your data. In most early versions of hard drives, they had removable media. However, latest HP laptop HDD is typically a sealed unit. Perhaps you can find a vent hole on the disk.
HP Pavilion 2010us-dm3 also has a DVD-burning optical drive software component. More CD and DVD have a higher data access. Most laptop external optical drive burns to read and write at a maximum speed of 24x.
HP Pavilion 2010us-dm3 foppish laptop has an integrated 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet LAN (RJ-45 connector), Wireless LAN 802.11b/g/n WLAN, which view is expanded while playing movies or games. It supports a maximum resolution of monitor 1680 x 1050 pixels for a good TV. A matte LCD and picture an anti-glare coating. HP Pavilion 2010us dm3-covers are elegant. You can easily cover.
Pre-installed software for HP Pavilion dm3-2010us: Windows 7 Home Premium is 64 bit. The sale price for this model electronic gear is about $ 629.99. In comparison with other laptop models the sale value is not so great.

HP Pavilion DV6-2162NR

While most entertainment laptops will leave you feeling rather disappointed in the look and feel department, the HP Pavilion DV6-2162NR maintain the classy look of a business-class laptop. The cover and frames are glossy black with espresso HP Imprint line for a very classy finish.
The keyboard is also comfortable with the full complement of 101 keyboard keys along with a touch pad that can be disabled by or on demand. On the laptop weighs 6.34 pounds less than other entertainment laptops of the same class. Other outstanding features include a mobile remote control, a 15.6 HD-LED display and built-in Altec Lansing speakers SRS.
Specifications:
Specification-wise, what is the HP Pavilion DV6-2162NR, apart from the rest of the amount of entertainment is the Intel Core i3 350M processor, and Intel HD graphics. The two components guarantee a smooth HD video and HD graphics. The 2.26-processor on the other hand, ensures that everything can be accomplished by image and video processing to games without problems. With 4 GB of memory for performance is unchanged, while the 500GB hard drive provides ample space for storage.
Stutters HP Brightview Infinity LED 15.6 inch wide-screen display in 16:9 format provides a resolution up to 1366 x 768, which means that you are in relation to 720p HD video without. A DVD burner optical drive, you can rip DVD movies and DVDs to archive, while an HDMI output offers high-definition video connectivity.
Features and performance:
One of the first entertainment laptop, an Intel Core processor i3 have the HP Pavilion DV6-2162NR is a powerful 15.6 inch laptop that just as well for multimedia processing serves as entertainment. The integrated Altec Lansing speakers SRS are surprisingly good for a laptop, while the Intel HD graphics to ensure that high-definition video and plays make processes more smoothly.
On top of these features of the laptop with a Windows 7 operating system with 4GB of RAM and a 500GB hard drive is running. The combination of these features make the HP Pavilion DV6-2162NR ideal for photographers and video editors in motion. The further addition of a mobile remote presentation skills, and provides, projectors, especially for HDMI-compatible. At the time of writing, this notebook is around $ 699 each.

BEST LAPTOPS OF 2007

Best Multimedia Laptop : Sony VAIO VGN-AR590E

The Sony VAIO VGN-AR590E is no stranger to the media-center motif and became the best Multimedia laptop of 2007 in our opinion. This laptop almost brings a whole home theater to your laptop. You will get a Blu-ray high definition disk drive that will let you watch the latest Blu-ray titles and burn high-definition content onto 25GB and 50GB BD-R media. This laptop also features three USB ports and a FireWire port and even a HDMI-port, so you can steam both HD video content and digital audio simultaneously to a larger display, say, your 60-inch LCD TV. It also comes with an optical out port, which can be an alternative way for streaming digital audio through your home theater system. There is also a option to add a TV tuner so you can watch online TV, but it costs another 400$. You can get 2x 250 GB hard disk, this whould be plenty of space to store your multimedia files. There is also a 1,3 MP webcam and a media card reader that reads Secure Digital, Memory Stick, and Memory Stick Pro.
Sony has really done an amazing job with this computer and it is the perfect multimedia laptop of 2007.

Performance Laptop : Dell XPS M1730

The performance of this machine is simply amazing with the Core 2 Extreme X7900. It is very rare to find such a powerful CPU at a laptop, but Dell seems to know what they are doing here because the results are really good. Remember the standard Core 2 Duo mobile processor has a 35W TDP, but the X7900 got an amazing 44W. IT is also really easy to clock this processor, and you can clock it from 2,8 GHz to amazingly 3,4 GHz with no problems.

When clocked to 3,4 GHz the Dell XPS M1730 got 7868 score points on PCmark 05 and beat laptops like Alienware M7700 (AMD Athlon FX-60, Nvidia Go 7800GTX) with over 2000 points. As you see there is no reason at all why Dell XPX M1730 should not be the best performance laptop of 2007 with the amazing processor, Dual Nvidia GeForce 8700M-GT in SLI (256MB each), 2GB DDR and a high quality 17-inch screen.

Best Business Laptop : Dell Vostro 1700

The Dell Vostro 1700 Notebook is a notebook that was designed specifically to meet the needs of the small business owner or worker. A good thing with this laptop is that the buyer can customize it exactly so it fits for his needs. The performance of this laptop is really good because it comes with the newest version of the Intel Core 2 Duo Processor. You will also be able to get up to 4 GB of memory in this laptop, something which is perfect for a business which needs a fast laptop to run for example many different programs at the same time. For the business person on the run, the next generation Wireless-N WiFi capabilities that are available with this notebook make it possible to maximize hot spot connectivity, in fact it allows the user to achieve up to five times faster throughput as well as up to two times the range when used along with a Wireless-N router. You can also get a 320 GB hard drive to store all your work and projects, the options for this laptop are endless. As you see there are many great things about this laptop which makes it the best business laptop of 2007.

Best Student Laptop : Sony VAIO TZ

The Sony TZ is the latest offering from Sony in the ultra portable market. This is the best student laptop of 2007 simply because the battery life and the light weight.
The battery life on this laptop lasts for around 7 hours! You will be able to work a whole day on you school without being in need for charging it. The weight of it is simply 2lbs 10.5oz actual, 3lbs 4oz travel weight. This is what I call a extreme light laptop. The specs of this laptop is not all that great, but when you study the last thing you should do is play games. The laptop is also really small and fits good under your arm, the dimensions are only (WxDxH Front/H Rear): 10x7.8x0.9/1.2. You also get an Intel Wireless WiFi Link 4965AGN (802.11a/g/n) so you can hook to your network anywhere at your school, and Bluetooth version 2.0 plus Enhanced Data Rate (EDR.

All these features are perfect if you are an active student. The laptop also offers a inbuilt cam and many other good features. I congratulate Sony for making the best student laptop of 2007!

Best Value For Money Laptop : Dell XPS M1330

This laptop is really cheap and offers a good performance, good quality screen and simply gives you a lot for your money. I was not sure which laptop I should give this price to between Dell XPS M1330 or the well known MacBook from Apple. Finally Dell XPS convinced me simply because the build quality of the MacBook was not as strong as Dell’s XPS M1330.

Dell’s XPS M1330 got it all and that for a cheap price, you don’t have to give more then 999$ for this beauty. The design is stylish and beautiful, it is really small and easy to carry, the performance is very good for the price and it features a lot of options.

Best Laptop Design : Dell XPS M2010

The Dell XPS M210 is Dells largest and most fully featured notebook so far. The design of this machine is simply breathtaking with the 20-inch screen. The hinge allows a great deal of freedom for the monitor it is also very stiff and does not wobble. The Dell logo on the laptop also glows in blue, something which I find fascinating. The screen is also made with supreme quality and got good brightness.
The top and bottom of the system feel like faux leather, while the handle feels and looks like real leather. The laptop also got a good performance and a good buy if you simply want to amaze you friends and family with the breathtaking design.

Best Gaming Laptop : MSI GX600

You can clearly see that this is a gaming laptop, the black design white flames around the mouse pad, iron riffed speakers and a huge turbo button. This is a great gaming laptop and with a gaming laptop there will be good performance as well. The reason I choose this laptop to be the best gaming laptop of 2007 is not only because of its performance and design, but also because of the price. In this laptop you get will everything a gamer needs. Offering a 512MB NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT and an overclockable Intel T7300 Core 2 Duo which was clocked from 2,0 GHz to 2,4 GHz only by pressing the turbo button. This is a great feature with this gaming laptop. Actually we didn’t see the performance increase a lot on games with the Turbo button switched on but for other types of software it worked great. You will be able to play all newest games on this machine but be aware if you play Crysis your FPS will drop a lot when there are many things going on at the same time. The design is also perfect for a gamer and looks stylish if you are at young age. The price is only 1500-1700$ which also makes is perfect for a gamer with a tight budget. Overall this is why this laptop is the best gaming laptop of 2007.

Dell Latitude D630

If you have an eye for beauty, then you may skip this and fast forward to the next review. This thin and light laptop doesn’t compete in the looks department, but it sure does in performance and can get the user excited, with its Centrino Duo Platform (known as Santa Rosa) and a great battery life. With all the features of great security and optional WWAN, this product is priced low.
Latitude D630 is gray on the outside and black on the inside, and at a weight of 5.1 pounds, is light enough to be carried to and forth to business meetings. The case is made of magnesium alloy and provides the sturdiness that is rare in most laptops.
The nine-cell battery gives a life of 4 hours 45 minutes, a rarity among laptops in this range. Since this is claimed to be a laptop for the business users, it works well in their favor to have an extended battery life, and makes it perfect for them to work while traveling or vacationing in Hawaii.
The Latitude D630 has a 14.1 inch wide screen display (matte finish screen), which is bright and has a resolution of 1440×900. This allows the user to use multiple window option while working. The only things that are missing are the webcam and microphone. But then, for a low priced consumer oriented laptop, they are not essential ingredients, unless one needs these features for web conferences.
The keyboard is pretty good and quite comfortable to churn out email after email to your love. There is an option for biometric security, which has a fingerprint reader. Talking of security, it also has a smart card slot and internal Trusted Platform Module.
The D630 boasts of the Intel 965GM chipset, which has more powerful integrated graphics core and native 802.11n wireless support. It comes with a 2-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300 processor, with a memory of 2GB, and a 120GB hard drive. It has an extra USB port. You can even test if there are any Wi-Fi networks within range, without turning the system on.
The Dell latitude D630 starts at $899 and goes upward up to $1913, and is built on Intel’s Centrino Dup platform and also runs on Windows XP. Users can switch to Windows Vista Business, which comes at no extra cost. Multitasking with Microsoft Office applications gives it an edge over its competitors.
A huge warranty of three years in place of one provided by other laptops, make this a secure buy. This laptop is ideal for businessmen and has what it takes to make it a fine performing product that comes at an affordable price.

Gateway NX100X


The ultra portable Gateway NX100X is as slender as a sheet of paper, with a thickness of less than one inch, and weighs 3.2 pounds only. This beauty in black, with a sleek case is a symbol of style. The very affordable price of $1625 makes it a consumer driven product. This lightweight and economical laptop is for those that feel the need to own something stylish.
The three-cell battery gives a life of three hours, with an option to either add a six cell or a nine-cell battery, at some extra cost. The nine cell gives an unbelievable nine hours. The user could literally live outside with this laptop.
It boasts of a 12.1 inch widescreen display with a 1,280 x 800 pixel resolution. Is wont to happen because of the higher resolution, the text gets smaller, but it has its own advantages like ability to open multiple windows on the same screen. The display is good and bright.
Being a widescreen display, it has a bigger keyboard with large keys. Although, the touch pad and mouse button are relatively small, they do provide good functionality. The scroll button is integrated into the touch pad.
The main configuration of NX100X is an 1.2 GHx Intel Core Solo U1400 processor, with a 512MB (533MHz) RAM and a 80GB hard drive. There are integrated Intel graphics.
It has two USB 2.0 ports next to each other, and also has the microphone and headphone jacks. The user is also provided a slot for media card (6-in-1) and it supports multi media card and memory stick.
The networking connections include a modem, WiFi, Bluetooth (optional), and Ethernet. The external DVD that is provided connects through a USB. This comes with Microsoft Windows XP Professional and Microsoft Works 8 mini suite, and apps, used for viewing and burning discs.
The industry standard warranty of one year is applicable to Gateway NX100X too, and if needed can be upgraded to three years for an extra charge.
This inexpensive and stylish laptop makes it a great buy for those that give importance to the look as well as performance, and comes at a budget that most can afford.

Top 10 Best Small Laptops

Asus N10J-A1

On the surface the N10J looks like just about every other small laptop around. It's not got any particular design features that stand out; it runs a similar chip, OS and ram options. It's small, lightweight and portable. What really makes the N10J stand apart from its competition is on the inside: a dedicated 3D graphics chip.

Screen Size: 10.2”
Battery Life: 4 Hours
Operating System: Windows Vista Home Premium / Windows XP
Weight: 3.5lbs

The dedicated graphics chip is a relatively powerful GeForce 9300. The genius of the system is that it also has integrated graphics, so when you're not gaming you can turn off the high powered graphics and save massive amounts of battery life. Other features are fairly standard such the Atom CPU and 160GB hard drive. The screen weighs in at 10", large than most small laptops but a good compromise for gaming. Unfortunately games aren't designed with small laptops in mind, and you'll find yourself limited by the awkward 1024x600 resolution.

Connectivity is good with Bluetooth included as standard. There's also a DVI port which is another first in the small laptop market and an excellent addition considering that the N10J is all about graphical ability. Don't forget that plugging the system into a larger monitor and trying to run games at that monitors resolution is unlikely to gain any decent results. The graphic card isn't designed to cope with the resolution of every day monitors.

Gamers have always had to sacrifice a lot when they move to portable systems. Firstly, a laptop is always more expensive than the equivalent desktop system. Secondly, upgrading is more difficult. Thirdly, heat from a separate graphics card can be a major issue. That doesn't mean there isn't any practical use or market for the world of small laptops to get in on the gaming action however, providing you are realistic about the systems abilities.

The system runs on Windows XP though a Linux powered quick launch environment is available from boot. This gives you access to both a web browser and a media player, handy for quick use or times when battery life is a high priority.

XP is by far the best choice for a portable operating system that focused on gaming, and it works well with the GeForce card. Gaming performance isn't exactly cutting edge, but you shouldn't expect it to be for a system weighing around 3 pounds. What it does offer is a device that’s more than capable of playing popular games like The Sims and World of Warcraft out of the box. A basic rule of thumb is that most games over 3 years old will work great on the N10J. Anything newer will be hit or miss and the newest games simply won’t run.

Thanks to the switch which turns off the high powered graphics card and a trademark ASUS 6-cell battery offering, the systems battery life is very good. For people that really can't leave PC gaming behind when they have to leave the house, it's pretty much the only option in the small laptop world right now. Luckily, it's a good one.

Samsung NC10

Samsungs entry to the market is the exact opposite of some of the niche systems we've already run through, sharing more in common with the EEE PC line - it's powerful, small and focuses on doing simple tasks as well as possible. Thanks to this focus on simplicity, the NC10 remains an excellent contender despite doing nothing 'special'.

Screen Size: 10.2”
Battery Life: 5 Hours
Operating System: Windows XP
Weight: 2.8lbs

The Samsungs design is piratical and uses a 10" screen. From the outside it looks like the epitome of a standard small laptop. It's not stylish but nor is it over-the-top, and it could easily be mistaken for just about every other non-descript small laptop on the market.

One of the ways the NC10 does differ from other models is that there are no options in terms of changing any of the specifications. There's no Linux version, no different CPU speeds, no option for a solid state drive. It offers a standard Intel Atom N270 configuration running at 1.6 GHz, 1GB of ram and a 160GB hard drive.

Control on the system is hit and miss. The 10" size has made the keyboard large and easy to use even if it's not the best on offer. However, the touchpad is awkwardly placed and oddly unresponsive. Worse still, Samsung have taken the rather odd design decision to make a 'widescreen' style touchpad which makes vertical scrolling a somewhat ardous task.


Battery life is one of the few absolute standouts of the NC10, featuring a 6-cell standard battery that even beats out contenders like the EEE PC. Depending on the tasks and the brightness of the screen, the system can last for around 5 hours. The NC10 is also priced perfectly; at around $450-$500 - slightly cheaper than many of its direct competition.

The systems Matte display runs at the 1024x600 and looks appealing and crisp, although it would be hard to differentiate between the NC10 and offerings from ASUS or Dell in terms of pure screen quality. Sound offers a similar 'adequate' quality without providing any real power. The integrated 1.3MP webcam however does stand out as one of the best in the world of small laptops and combined with a decent microphone it's a great system for talking to friends over the net.

Dell Latitude E4200

Dell has recently released an incredibly lightweight and portable system named the Adamo, which boasts some fairly impressive design detail and interesting specifications. The reason it isn't in this list is because it's priced ridiculously high even for a small laptop. For those looking towards Dell, the latitude remains as ever the best choice between value and performance, and the E4200 is no different.

Screen Size: 12.1”
Battery Life: 4 Hours
Operating System: Windows XP / Windows Vista Home Basic / Windows Vista Business
Weight: 2.2lbs

The E4200 is slightly more of a professional system than some of the others we've looked at, and this ethos is echoed in the systems design. It's bold, practical and refreshingly angular in a world that's obsessed with curves. It's also one of the most solid systems we've seen and at 12" this is quite an accomplishment. It may not hold up to companies like Lenovo, Sony or Apple when it comes to style, but it's not ugly either. The only stumbling point some people may have is that the systems 6-cell battery sticks out from the back of the system quite a long way. It sounds worse than it looks, though!

For a 12" laptop it's quite surprising to not see an optical drive installed, and the options provided by Dell are expensive and not including in the base price of the system, which will be a turn off to some. There's also no integrated webcam which is a standard for most small laptops released today, although perhaps not a necessity for most users. It's an interesting thing to exclude considering the business focus of the E4200, but a webcam wouldn't have fit amongst the bezel on the top of the system.

The E4200 features a high quality full sized laptop keyboard and a responsive touchpad, not surprising considering solid and tactile controls have become a trademark of the modern Latitude range. The system is very configurable so if you want to save money by removing features such as mobile broadband you've got the option.


Battery life on the system manages around 4 hours on heavy load, quite an impressive result considering the size and brightness of the screen. The SSD only drive makes the system speedy even using a comparatively slow 1.4 GHz CoreDuo CPU. Combined with its sturdy design and excellent software options the E4200 is a stunning choice, provided you can live without a DVD drive. Prices range from $1000 - $2000 depending on the wide variety of options available.

One of the more unique features of the E4200 is its secondary OS. Yes, it’s not uncommon in small laptops, but it's usually reserved for the much smaller netbooks and it's refreshing to the see the OS in a larger system. Much like most instant-boot secondary systems, Dell's 'Latitude ON Reader' provides a much longer battery life than Vista could hope for while giving users quick access to the internet, instant messaging and document viewing.

Sony VAIO VGN-TZ11MN

Sony's offering to the world of ultrathin laptops isn't quite as visually attractive or unique as their 'netbook' offering but it's one of the best out there in terms of overall features including one of the most commonly excluded features on most small laptops: a fully capable DVD drive.
The design on the TZ1 isn't exactly ugly; it just doesn't stand out amongst its competitors in the way people who are familiar with the Vaio brand might be used to. One of its more unique design features is the keyboard, which features spaced out keys similar to those seen the Macbook. This style was actually first created by Sony themselves nearly five years ago. It's not a bad keyboard although many people find the spacing between keys more annoying than practical.

Screen Size: 11.1”
Battery Life: 5-6 Hours
Operating System: Windows Vista Home Premium
Weight: 2.6lbs

The 11" screen is without doubt one of the best around, running in a 1366 x 768 resolution which is commonly seen in HDTV. This makes it the only system in the list to achieve a real 16:9 ratio making it perfect for watching films. And of course, watching DVD movies is something you can actually do with ease on the TZ1 compared to the vast majority of competitors that offer, at best, an external DVD drive option. In fact Sony goes a step further and provides DVD and CD playback on the system without even having to boot up windows, saving considerable battery life on a task that's well known for quickly draining power.

The system boasts full AV media controls as well as Firewire and 2 USB ports. There’s integrated Bluetooth support but despite an express card slot, there's no integrated mobile broadband support.

The Core 2 Duo that powers the system runs at 1.06 GHz per core and provides enough juice to sufficiently power the system although it’s slightly slower compared to some of the newer small laptops on this list. However, base installs are let down by including only 1 GB of ram, not enough to run Vista without slowdown. Luckily the machine supports up to 2 GB and most stores are selling the system as such. Despite Vista, machine battery life is excellent giving about 6 hours of power under heavy usage.

An amazing screen and internal DVD drive set the VAIO apart from its competitors, so if you need a small laptop that's capable for business use but also performs well as a media system, the TZ1 could be a very good choice. The TZ1 is one of the older systems on our list so prices have fallen since launch, averaging at around $1600.

Conclusion:
As we've seen already there are two major problems in the world of small laptops. Firstly, to make them as small and portable as possible features are eventually axed, be it DVD drives or faster CPU speeds. Secondly, the price of components makes many small laptops a particular sticking point for many, especially during a recession.

Luckily the market has expanded considerably in the last few years giving consumers not only an excellent array of different sizes and styles of laptops but also a massive variation in budget, from as low as $300 to as high as $2,000. People might argue over the system we have or haven’t included in our list but one thing is for sure: there has never been a better time to take the leap into portable computing than right now.

ASUS EEE PC 1000H

Screen Size: 10”
Battery Life: 5 hours
Operating System: Windows XP
Weight: 3.2lbs

ASUS’ EEE PC range was a key playing in the birth of small laptops only a few years ago. Early models were limited by their small solid state drives and reliance on using Linux as the primary OS to keep the price down. Initially, the EEE PC was designed with only the most casual users in mind, but a shift to Windows XP as well as a full upgrade of just about every aspect of the old model has seen the 1000H bring Asus back to the forefront of the small laptop market.

Technical specs of the laptop include a 10 inch screen with integrated 1.3 MP webcam, Intel Atom CPU and a 160GB hard drive, all powered by a 6-cell battery.

One of the bigger criticisms of the old EEE PC range was that at seven inches, the screen was just too small to effectively display web pages and other forms of content that are increasingly designed for large, widescreen displays. Further problems relating to size included the keyboard being too small for fast typers with large hands to keep up their natural speed on the system.

The 1000H has changed that. Yes, it's still at the lower of what most consumers would consider a small laptop, but the jump to 10" has increased usability tenfold. It allows users to not only take full advantage of the sharp and vibrant LCD display but also keep their typing speeds up by a much more spaced out and sensibly designed keyboard. Even the touchpad has been improved and made more ergonomic and responsive.

It's the little features that make the 1000H stand out on the cutting edge of small laptops. The "Super Hybrid Engine" technology allows you to switch between 3 different CPU speeds which enhance the systems portability. Writing a word document? Set your CPU speed to 1.2 GHz and save battery life. Watching a video file? Set your CPU speed to maximum and take full advantage of the Intel Atom's speed.

Add to this an integrated card reader, webcam, free office suite and even a button above the keyboard that can change your resolution and you have a very complete hardware package. As small laptops go, battery life is slight above average performing for about 4.5-5 hours under heavy load. It's advertised at 7 hours, although it’s unlikely you'll get close to that unless you leave the laptop on idle.

With prices ranging between $400 and $600 depending on your technical requirements, the N1000 is one of the best deals amongst all the small laptops. It doesn't specialise in anything particular and its battery life might be a letdown for some, but its budget price tag and attractive arrange of features make it a front line contender for casual users.

HP Mini 1000

Screen Size: 8.9” / 10.2”
Battery Life: 3 hours
Operating System: Windows XP / Linux (Ubuntu)
Weight: 2.5lbs

HP’s last small laptop offering was the 2133. It was an interesting attempt at the market with an excellent control interface and keyboard. Unfortunately, use of a budget processor and a high price range meant the system couldn’t quite cut it amongst its competitors at the time. The Mini 1000 is HP’s consumer answer to the 2133, lifting the excellent keyboard straight from the business model while upgrading the CPU to the much more powerful Intel Atom.

The Mini 1000 runs on Windows XP, uses a 1.6 Ghz Intel Atom processor and comes with 1Gb or 2Gb memory options as standard. Nine or ten inch screens are available depending on preference and price range, and everything is powered by a standard 3-cell battery. The 'Mini' version of the range runs Windows XP but the 'Mi' runs Ubuntu Linux complete with proprietary HP media software. Hard drive options include a spinning 60GB drive or an 8/16GB solid state solution.

Like most HP machines, the 1000 stands out in the small laptop market for both its stylish design and light weight form factor. HP thankfully swapped out the metal chassis from the 2133 with plastic - it looks cheaper, sure, but you also save money and in weight in the swap. The laptop remains attractive once opened with an excellent use of the limited space on offer.

The amazing thing about the Mini 1000 and the thing that many people considering purchasing a small notebook should consider is the size of the keyboard. HP claim the keyboard on the 1000 is 92% of the size of a regular laptop keyboard. That's quite an achievement, and in terms of typing if nothing else, the 1000 is the best in the market. This makes the HP product perfect for people who have had a bad experience with key mashing or pain when using other small laptop keyboards.

The 10 inch display model offers the standard 1024x600 resolution seen in many small laptops. As with much of HP's laptop range, the screen is covered in gloss which makes the display look fantastic - inside. Outside on a sunny day you'll be constantly trying to adjust the screen to avoid reflection, a shame considering it does limit the portability of the device somewhat.

The only thing that lets the 1000 down slightly is the rather confusing decisions HP has made with the systems ports. The 1000 has 2 USB ports and only one port for audio. There's actually plenty of room for the extra ports but HP has decided to use the space for a proprietary system called 'Mini mobile drive'. Mini mobile drive is nothing more than a high capacity memory stick that you can only buy from HP, and we can't see any reason why most small laptop users would ever find a use for one.

The Mini 1000 retails from $500 depending on your options with the 'designer' Vivienne Tam edition selling for a ridiculously high $700+. We recommend grabbing the Windows XP 'Mini' range over the 'Mi' as the extra money you have to spend on Windows gives you so much more software options. An extend battery might also be on the cards for some users as the 1000 uses a 3-cell system that will only last around 2.5 hours under heavy use.

Sony VAIO VGN-P588E Lifestyle PC

Screen Size: 8”
Battery Life: 2.5 Hours
Operating System: Windows Vista Home Premium
Weight: 1.4lbs
Wow, that's a bit of a mouthful, isn't it? It's a rather pretentious name for what is essentially just another small laptop, but then the Vaio range has always been one for style and design following just behind apple in desirability ratings. It’s popular amongst people with the disposable income to afford to pay for the brand as well as the components.

And there's no denying that the P5's design is excellent. It's stylish without being loud. It’s thin and elegant. It looks like no other small laptop on the market, so if you're after some visual originality, the P5 has to be right up there with anything Apple can offer. It comes with a price tag to match the design however, weighing in it over a thousand dollars.

The Sony model opts for an 8 inch widescreen display, offering a resolution of 1,600 x 768, slightly different from the usual notebook standard. In fact, it's one of the best resolutions around for a system of its size and because the screen is so wide, there’s far less chance you'll have to worry about scrolling.
Sony's small laptop is also unusual in its decision to use a pointing stick rather than a touch pad to save space. Some people really dislike pointing sticks and find them slow and difficult to use, while others actually prefer them to a touchpad.. The keyboard is adequate and doesn't have any major faults, though as one of the smaller laptops in this list the lack of space does making typing quite a challenge for those with big hands.

One rather confusing design decision was the move to Windows Vista as opposed to more lightweight systems like Linux or XP. The P5 comes equipped with 2GB of ram, but where better operating systems would fly Vista feels slow and cumbersome. It's important to weigh in the resource load of the operating system when directly comparing system technical specifications. Of course, the eye catching design of Vista fits very well into the P5’s own visual attractiveness.

Extra features are what make the P5 stand out amongst cheaper competitors. It has .11n wireless which is faster than standard, GPS, Bluetooth and even integrated mobile broadband. This makes it highly connectable which is a massive bonus for a portable device. Combine this with its weight and fact it's less than inch thick and it's one of the best devices out there in terms of pure portability.

The battery life of the laptop is the only crutch on portability, offering just over 2 hours under heavy use. You could probably get more out of the system by swapping to a less battery draining operating system. Sony also offers a larger capacity battery that nearly doubles the life of the system, but it does stick out of the P5 and it costs another $100 on top of the already heavy price tag.

HP Pavilion Dv2

Screen Size: 12.1”
Battery Life: 3 Hours
Operating System: Windows Vista Home Premium
Weight: 3.8lbs

With an impressive technical list that sounds more like a regular sized laptop but a small form factor and light weight to rival a small laptop, the DV2 is HP's answer to the problem of size vs. power. For many people who are turned off by the idea of small laptops, it could well be the solution if you are looking for a system capable of demanding tasks that won’t break the bank or your back.

A standard Dv2 features some pretty nice specifications for its form factor, far in advance of anything seen amongst the 10" netbooks. The standard Intel Atom processor is replaced by a similar speed Athlon Neo, 4GB ram and ATI Mobility HD 3410 graphics. Unlike most small laptops, the system runs on a 64 bit version of Windows Vista. It also features all the usual standard options of a regular 14" laptop such as DVD-RW drive and a 320GB hard drive. There's plenty of room for manoeuvrability and customisation in the design although obviously things can get quite expensive with the higher-end options.

The DV2 is a departure in design for HP moving away from the standard pavilion look and feel. This could be seen as a bad thing considering pavilion range is well known for its excellent design. Luckily everything feels just as smooth and compact as ever. Some things haven't changed though, the DV2 offers the same catch less design as other trademark HP laptops. Intelligently, the 6-cell battery is actually hidden at the back as a hinge for the screen.

The keyboard is standard laptop size and with the exception of the fiddly function keys, very easy and comfortable to use even for extremely long periods of time. Even people with bigger hands should have no problem at all with the keys which feel solid and responsive. The touchpad is equally well designed although its reflective surface feels a little slippery when compared to some other models.

As with most models in the pavilion range, the screen is absolutely excellent with sunlight reflection and a limited viewing angle being the only concerns. For the most part, the glossy screen and it's 1280x800 resolution are perfect for everyday use.

For connectivity Wi-Fi and Ethernet are supported as standard as well as three USB ports, similar to what you'll find on a well fitted small laptop. There's also an external HDMI to complement the VGA port, great for people interested in connecting the laptop up to a TV that doesn't support VGA. For extra battery life, wireless is controllable via a switch on the side of the system.

The overall speed of the system is let down slightly by a single core CPU that the 4GB of ram can't compensate for, even on a 64bit operating system. Comparing it to the same speed Intel Atom however the Athlon processor is considerably faster. As far as overall performance is concerned, the Dv2 falls into the useful category of being faster than a netbook but not quite as fully featured as a similar priced full sized laptop.

The 512MB graphics card also makes the Dv2 a good choice for gamers, with the system easily capable of running fairly modem games such as Bioshock on medium-low settings on the Dv2’s native resolution. Price wise, the system will set you back around $750-$800, depending on options. It's an excellent deal if you need to combine portability with power and other small laptops simply don't offer enough for you.

Apple Macbook Air

Screen Size: 13.3”
Battery Life: 2.5 Hours
Operating System: Mac OS X
Weight: 4.5lbs

The Air is alone on this list for being a small laptop of slightly different dimensions. It's actually a 13" system making it the biggest we've looked at so far. What makes it still qualify as a small laptop? It's incredibly thin and light, ideal for people that travel often. You may well have seen the high profile Mac adverts which involve putting the laptop into envelopes and other such small spaces. It's also incredibly sexy compared to just about every other 13" laptop around. Do the looks justify the price, though?

The 13" screen on the Air is a real head turner. Combined with its full sized and spacious keyboard it's got none of the problems of mistyped words or lack of screen real estate as many of its competitors do. It's also uses an Intel Core 2 Duo rather than the much slower Atom CPUs used in other small laptops.

The Air has been hailed by Apple as a 'no compromise' portable machine, although it's clear that have been a fair amount of compromises in apples quest to provide a 13" system that isn't much more difficult to carry around than a standard netbook. Power will be definite issue for some with the laptop lasting just over 2 hours on heavy use. Luckily, the power adapter doesn't add much more weight to the laptop. Providing you aren't going to be away from a power source for long it's fine. It does limit the systems portability somewhat though.

There's also rather limited audio capacity, awkward USB ports and no DVD drive. Netbooks might not include DVD drives either but it's worth noting that an equivalent netbook would be far, far cheaper than that Air. Shortcomings aside however, what most people are looking for in the Air isn't a long list of technical specifications - they're looking for a Mac that offers them a similar level of functionality as the rest of the small laptop world but with software they are familiar with.

The Air uses Leopard as its primary operating system and it's just as usable and attractive as it is on a full size Mac. There are no significant changes to the system except for a gesture based control system using the Air's generously sized touch pad. The gestures allow you to move your hand in a certain way to complete a task and could save a lot of time once you've properly learned them all. Also included is a 'remote disk' application which allows you to use a limited form of DVD sharing from a host computer. This is a good option for those not willing to pay the extra $100 for the DVD drive attachment. The software is intelligent and useful for installing applications or reinstalling the operating system, but it can’t be used for streaming content like DVD movies.

The best and worst thing you can say about the Air is simple; it's a Mac. Most people will instantly love or hate the machine just because of this. Its price and hardware offer little to make PC fans consider the Air as an option. However, its sleek design and use of Leopard as its primary operating system will entice Mac users who are looking for a more portable option the larger and heavier Macbook Pro range. Prices range from $1400 - $2000 depending on the model.

Lenovo IdeaPad U110

Screen Size: 11.1”
Battery Life: 3 Hours / 1.5 Hours (depending on battery)
Operating System: Windows Vista Home Premium
Weight: 2.42lbs / 2.92lbs

The Lenovo is perhaps the PC world's answer to the Macbook Air. It's incredibly stylish, thin and lightweight. Its 11" screen strikes a good balance between screen size and weight. Its size makes the system one of the smallest 'ultrathin' laptops, only an inch bigger than the larger netbooks. Despite weighing only 3.1 pounds with its 4-cell battery included, the U110 is one of the most sturdy feeling machines around thanks to its aluminium cover and case.

With the size comes an interesting 1366x768 native resolution which allows the laptop to fit an impressive amount of onto its small screen. The display is sharp and bright. Unfortunately the screen is very reflective much like many of its competitors, so while it looks great at the right angle, it's far from ideal for using in direct sunlight. 1,366 is also a high resolution for an 11" screen so everything appears quite a bit considerably smaller than you might be used to on other small laptops. Despite all this, the overall design and clarity of the screen make up for any real shortcomings of the system.

The Lenovo’s option to use a low-voltage version of Intel’s trademark Core 2 Duo chip means the system isn't as fast as some of its competitors, but it still outweighs netbooks by a long way. This is quite an impressive feat considering the size of the system which manages to run Vista with very few problems. There's also plenty of connectivity on the U1110 with three USB ports, mini firewire and an express card slot. The only major drawback on the connectivity side is the same as those faced by Macbook Air users - no internal DVD drive. The difference with the Lenovo is that a DVD drive is provided within the cost of the system rather than as a separate accessory.

There's not a lot of choice outside the world of batteries however, the U110 comes in a single configuration with all the advantages and drawbacks that brings. Finding drivers for the system is much easier because there’s only one set of hardware but it means you can't include many of the higher-end options you might see on many of the systems competitors. There's no option to replace the 120GB spinning drive with a solid state alternative for example.

Battery life on the U1110 is quite unique. The Lenovo actually ships with two batteries, a lightweight 4-cell and a heavier but much longer lasting 7-cell. The larger battery lasts a full 3 hours but the 4-cell only manages around 1.5 on heavy load. The difference between the two batteries means you are likely to find yourself using the 7-cell far more often. However, it's an excellent design decision to give the user some choice when it comes to how heavy the system is.

The Lenovo weighs in at around $1300 and there are some options to upgrade the 2GB ram higher if you find the right store. The Lenovo is a system that takes the great looks of the Macbook Air and hands it to Windows users for nearly half the price. However, the lack of DVD drive and use of a slower Intel chip make it slightly less functional than a larger more complete system.