Currently in the market for an ultra-portable notebook, what would you guys recommend? Have been considering the Fujitsu LifeBook P7010. Looking for a 10-12" widescreen TFT, and a built-in CD-ROM would be nice, similar to this LifeBook model.
Recommendation for Ultra-Portable?
- Thread starter Rhombuss
- Start date
I like the panasonic toughbook W2. Its rugged small, has a onboard cd-rw/dvd. Light, looks great imho, and is tough.
Check it out.
Check it out.
Sharp Actius MM20 if you want extremely small for not much money.
Dell Latitude X300 or Toshiba Portege R100 for a nice balance of power, light weight, and low price.
IBM X41 if you've got money to burn.
Note: non have built in cdroms
Also, I wouldn't consider those Sony models ultraportables...
Dell Latitude X300 or Toshiba Portege R100 for a nice balance of power, light weight, and low price.
IBM X41 if you've got money to burn.
Note: non have built in cdroms
Also, I wouldn't consider those Sony models ultraportables...
Wuzup101
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- Feb 20, 2002
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I'd have to recomend either a sonly TR series, IBM X series, or Fugi 5020 if they are still made (not sure about that). Feature wise the 2 latter ones come in at under 4lbs and still have an optical drive while the X series IBM needs an external drive or docking station. Price wise vs features my favorite is the Fugi but like I said I'm not sure if they still are made. They have cdrw/dvd drives and have optical sound out + CF and other card readers bulit in. They also have that amazing 10" high res wide screen lcd.
If you're open to buying a mac the 12" powerbook probably would also fit your needs... very solid machines that are capeable of pretty much anything. They are slightly bigger than the rest and weigh in at about 4.6lbs
If you're open to buying a mac the 12" powerbook probably would also fit your needs... very solid machines that are capeable of pretty much anything. They are slightly bigger than the rest and weigh in at about 4.6lbs
Thanks for the suggestions guys. Here's a rundown of what I've considered:
1. The Panasonic W2 is nice, but I would really prefer the wide-screen resolution, especially for spreadsheet type applications.
2. The Sharp Actius MM20 also looks great, but again I would prefer the wide-screen resolution. I might still consider this one just because of the price.
3. The Sony VAIO's are just way too pricey. Granted they look nice, but around $750 - $2000 premium over other competitive portables.
4. The Toshiba R100 Protege seems to have really amazing specs - 2.4lbs with a 12" screen? Again, it doesn't have the widescreen resolution but since it's 12" I might still consider it.
5. The Dell Inspiron 700m is another big consideration, mainly because of the price.
Powerbooks are nice, my sister has the 15", but all the networks that I would be connecting to (home, work, school) are all PC-based. So just for ease of connectivity and interfacing I'd prefer to go PC.
Ultimately, I'm looking for something with a widescreen resolution (10.6" I think?), weighing under 3.6 lbs, built-in wireless AND wired 10/100 network interfaces. Come to think about it, internal CD/DVD drive isn't that important. Right now, the Fujitsu Lifebooks (5020 and 7010) still look most attractive to me.
What are you takes on Transmeta notebooks? I read up a lot on them a few years ago when they first came out, but I haven't been keeping up. And are there any Canadian retailers you guys can recommend for good prices? All the prices I got were MSRP off the manufacturer's site, so I'm hoping I can shave a few hundred off of that
1. The Panasonic W2 is nice, but I would really prefer the wide-screen resolution, especially for spreadsheet type applications.
2. The Sharp Actius MM20 also looks great, but again I would prefer the wide-screen resolution. I might still consider this one just because of the price.
3. The Sony VAIO's are just way too pricey. Granted they look nice, but around $750 - $2000 premium over other competitive portables.
4. The Toshiba R100 Protege seems to have really amazing specs - 2.4lbs with a 12" screen? Again, it doesn't have the widescreen resolution but since it's 12" I might still consider it.
5. The Dell Inspiron 700m is another big consideration, mainly because of the price.
Powerbooks are nice, my sister has the 15", but all the networks that I would be connecting to (home, work, school) are all PC-based. So just for ease of connectivity and interfacing I'd prefer to go PC.
Ultimately, I'm looking for something with a widescreen resolution (10.6" I think?), weighing under 3.6 lbs, built-in wireless AND wired 10/100 network interfaces. Come to think about it, internal CD/DVD drive isn't that important. Right now, the Fujitsu Lifebooks (5020 and 7010) still look most attractive to me.
What are you takes on Transmeta notebooks? I read up a lot on them a few years ago when they first came out, but I haven't been keeping up. And are there any Canadian retailers you guys can recommend for good prices? All the prices I got were MSRP off the manufacturer's site, so I'm hoping I can shave a few hundred off of that
Oh, and what do you guys think of the ASUS S5Ne? 2.8 lbs with a 12" screen - seems pretty amazing. And the price is really competitive.
Sorry, I hadn't noticed your requirement of a WS resolution. Let me know if you find anything small with that res.
Please let us know whatever you get and how you like it...I'm really taking my time with this purchase, so I'd like to know about whatever you end up with if you get it before I do.
Damn, you just added another contender in my search for an ultraportable! That looks very nice and the price is right. Reviews are favorable as well.
Please let us know whatever you get and how you like it...I'm really taking my time with this purchase, so I'd like to know about whatever you end up with if you get it before I do.
He did in his first post-- the Fujitsu P7010. Here's a list of the latest Fujitsu models:
http://webshop.fujitsupc.com/fpc/Ecommerce/productoverview.do?type=NB&pgid=Notebooks
As an owner of a P7010D, I have to say that it is an incredible little machine. (I'm typing this reply on it right now from my couch.) I recently took it on a trip to California, and it was just a joy to use (especially with the free wireless I was able to pick up) to download my pictures from my camera and to check email.
The unit is compact, lightweight, loaded with extras and has tremendous battery life. The display is gorgeous (though it does get pretty dusty - but you only notice the dust when the screen is off). On top of all this, it looks great too.
Oh, and an advantage of the 10.6" widescreen format is that when the person in front of you in coach decides to lean his chair back, you won't have to contort your body or laptop in order to be able to see it as you would with those larger screen laptops.
If you haven't already checked this out, you should take a look at the forums on leog.net. It's the biggest community of Lifebook users on the web AFAIK.
I contemplated some of the other ultraports mentioned before I bought my Lifebook, but none could compare to the features, quality and value of the P7010D. As a take everywhere laptop, I can't think of a better choice.
The unit is compact, lightweight, loaded with extras and has tremendous battery life. The display is gorgeous (though it does get pretty dusty - but you only notice the dust when the screen is off). On top of all this, it looks great too.
Oh, and an advantage of the 10.6" widescreen format is that when the person in front of you in coach decides to lean his chair back, you won't have to contort your body or laptop in order to be able to see it as you would with those larger screen laptops.
If you haven't already checked this out, you should take a look at the forums on leog.net. It's the biggest community of Lifebook users on the web AFAIK.
I contemplated some of the other ultraports mentioned before I bought my Lifebook, but none could compare to the features, quality and value of the P7010D. As a take everywhere laptop, I can't think of a better choice.
Thanks for the input, karmasalad. How do you find the resolution on the 10.6" widescreen? Is the 1280x768 resolution generate pixel/text that are too small? I'm on a 17" LCD right now, and considering it's 1280 pixels wide, I can't imagine it being squished down about 40%. But I'm glad to hear some positive opinions on the P7010D though, it looks like such a great little notebook!
Hmm...what do you guys think of this Alienware Sentia laptop? Specs are comparable to the Inspiron 700m
Alienware Sentia
Pretty competitively priced too!
Alienware Sentia
Pretty competitively priced too!
I don't have any problems with the resolution. I also have a 17" LCD for my desktop. It was a bit of an adjustment, but you get used to it pretty quick. The funny thing was when I came back from my 10-day trip and sat down to use my desktop, I was like whoa, everything looks so huge!
The WXGA format is wonderful for movie watching.
From what I've read, the Sentia is based on a barebones unit manufactured by Uniwill. You can find it more cheaply elsewhere (although without the nice paintjob, of course).
You can find more info in this thread: http://www.leog.net/fujp_forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=5673
I've heard that AW, is actually putting a diffrent screen in them, its similar to X brite. The uniwill dose not come with the Xbriteish screen.
I'll go back to my corner now.
I'll go back to my corner now.
Hmm....that Uniwill variant seems really attractive, especially the barebones option. I can pop-in my own OS and HDD, already saves like $250 USD - sweet! I just hope they ship to Canada, or if I can find a Canadian distributor
After some searching, I've found the Asus S5NE also comes as a barebones (S5N), very tempting. The annoying thing is it is black instead of the white (personal preference is for the whiteOriginally posted by: Rhombuss
Hmm....that Uniwill variant seems really attractive, especially the barebones option. I can pop-in my own OS and HDD, already saves like $250 USD - sweet! I just hope they ship to Canada, or if I can find a Canadian distributor
) and it doesn't seem that you can purchase a P-M 1GHz ULV processor to drop in (I don't need anything faster and would like the longer battery life of the ULV processor). On the brighter side, I've found that you can get an S5n with a PM 1.5, 256MB PC2700 (builtin ram...plan on upgrading other slot with 512MB for 728MB later), and a 40GB 5400 16mb cache toshiba drive for about $1200 shipped at ewiz.com...assemble yoursef. I'm thinking about taking the plunge in the next couple days. I've also found a slightly less reputable place that I can get the SN5E (prebuilt0 for $1350 at...not sure if the color I prefer and the slower (but less power-hungry) processor is worth the $150 premium. :/
Sorry if this is a bit of a thread hijack, just thought you might be interested in this option as well.
Yeah, the Asus S5Ne is still a consideration. It's just that this Uniwill model has the 12" widescreen, which is a big bonus for doing spreadsheeting type applications. I don't mind scrolling vertically, but horizontally is a bitch .
.I think I've decided to go with the Dell Inspiron 700m. Partially because:
A) Dell has the offer for the free upgrade to a DVD burner + free leather case
B) Asus' optical drive is external which is kind of annoying at times
C) The only place in Canada that sells that Uniwill (Systemax) laptop is TigerDirect, which for some reason charges about $300 more than other US stores (MWave). Also has sketchy warranty.
I've heard good things about the Inspiron 700m.
Only thing I'm concerned about, the standard has 256MB RAM, but to upgrade to 2x 256 it's $150 CDN. But I can easily purchase a separate 256MB myself elsewhere for about $70 CDN. I might as well do this so save about $80, but wondering if there would be any compatibility problems with unmatched sticks. For desktops, I always opt for dual-channel sets so I've never had to worry about this before.
A) Dell has the offer for the free upgrade to a DVD burner + free leather case
B) Asus' optical drive is external which is kind of annoying at times
C) The only place in Canada that sells that Uniwill (Systemax) laptop is TigerDirect, which for some reason charges about $300 more than other US stores (MWave). Also has sketchy warranty.
I've heard good things about the Inspiron 700m.
Only thing I'm concerned about, the standard has 256MB RAM, but to upgrade to 2x 256 it's $150 CDN. But I can easily purchase a separate 256MB myself elsewhere for about $70 CDN. I might as well do this so save about $80, but wondering if there would be any compatibility problems with unmatched sticks. For desktops, I always opt for dual-channel sets so I've never had to worry about this before.
The 700m isn't dual channel.. so it doesn't matter... only thing I would suggest is to stick with a namebrand.
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