Thin/Light notebook with good battery life?

[frogger9]

I'm looking for a thin/light or ultraportable (whatever they are called these days) notebook. Probably something with a 12" screen or smaller, no more than 2 lbs. or so. I basically want the thing to be small and light enough that I don't notice I'm carrying it

Now, these are easy enough to find. But then comes requirement #2. I also want something that can run around 6 hours (or more) on battery. And when I say 6 hours I mean 6 hours of actual use, not sitting completely idle. I know ibook's claim 6 hours but get closer to 4 in actual usage. I've looked at some of the Sharp notebooks, but I'm not sure how battery life is there.

Just to make it clear, battery life is much more important to be than having some 3ghz monster CPU.

Does a laptop that fits my needs actually exist? Any recommendations?

 

[hopejr]

I manage to get 5.5 hours from my iBook G4 1GHz, with the screen dimmed. I'm not sure about the current ones because of the faster cpu and builtin airport (mine didn't come with airport).

 

[loup garou]

It's going to be extremely difficult to find something in the 2lb range with that kind of battery life. As a matter of fact, impossible, without an extended battery (which adds weight). I have no idea why an iBook is even mentioned, it's over twice the weight you mention earlier in your post.

That said, a Sharp MM20 + extended battery will get you 8-9 hours, but will up the weight from the 2lb standard.

 

[frogger9]

I'm willing to sacrifice the 2 lb. weight to get the additional battery life if necessary. I've looked at the Fujitsu LifeBook P7010. This seems to have the battery life, but it does come in at a bit over 3 lbs (though it does have a bit more processing power with the Pentium-M).

I'd say right now I'm leaning toward either this or the Sharp you mentioned. Either way I won't quite make the 2 lb. mark I was hoping for. It'd be nice if there was a store around here that carried both so I could actually try them out before buying :-\

 

[Turkish]

I don't know how much the battery life is but IBM X-Series are also good. There're a couple models with 2.7 lbs travel weight.

 

[glorygunk]

Check out ASUS laptops. I've seen their laptops in store and they are absolutely gorgeous and very very light as well. Can't tell you about batterylife, but I agree with previous posters.

You really cannot get both in one package. Maybe someday down the road when batteries are weightless....

 

[Koing]

Asus make PowerBooks for apple so that says something about their own manufacturing IF they apply the same QA testing.

Koing

 

[qaa541]

IBM X-Series
Nothing beats IBM

 

[Keyvan]

Toshiba Portege R100
if you can find one of these, they are awesome. my sister owns one, and it fits your description.
with the extended battery (comes with it standard), it goes for over i think 5 hours, and it weighs in at 2.2 lbs (with the extra battery i think)

i remember when it was shipped to our house, i thought the box was empty when i first picked it up because it was so light.

the specs are basically a centrino ultra low voltage 900mhz or 1000 mhz, 40 gig hd, 256 mb ram, 12 inch screen, xp pro... i forget the rest. oh, and no optical drive (it's too thin for one hehe)

 

[MarkM]

oops - never mind i see you said no MORE than 2 lbs. What I described was 2.2 lb. I think it's a bbetter fit than the protege, but it still doesn't meet your criteria.

Good luck.

 

[randumb]

Originally posted by: hopejr
I manage to get 5.5 hours from my iBook G4 1GHz, with the screen dimmed. I'm not sure about the current ones because of the faster cpu and builtin airport (mine didn't come with airport).

My friend has a new iBook G4 1.2 w/ 14" and gets like 2-3 hours under heavy usage.

 

[hopejr]

The larger ones generally don't have as good battery life, so what you said is about right for a 14". Mine's a 12".
Under heavy usage, I can get it to last at least 3 hours (major multitasking, 3d rendering, CD playing, full brightness, full volume, USB devices plugged in). I've never had the battery run out faster than that.