01.Introduction
Test results for 8 ultraportable laptops from $1600 to $3000
If you’re always on-the-go and don’t want to leave your home or office behind, you need a laptop that won’t weigh you down — and that’s where the ultraportable category shines.
Ultraportables give you most of the power and features of a full-size notebook computer, but in a smaller, lighter package that’s easy to carry around.
We bought and tested eight ultraportable laptops and rated them for performance, battery life and ease of use. These laptops are designed for portability, multimedia and internet use with good battery performance.
All included an Intel Core 2 Duo processor and all but the Sony had 2 gigabytes (GB) of memory (RAM) Two of our test ultraportables came with a hard drive that’s comparatively a little on the small side: the Apple with 80 GB and the Sony with 100 GB. The Dell, Toshiba and Twinhead had good-sized 160 GB drives, while the BenQ, Lenovo and Pioneer each had a roomy 250 GB hard drive.
The Overall score listed in the table can’t be directly compared with the Overall score in our last multimedia laptops test, because of different weighting factors in the calculations that produce the overall score. However, we have also included the PCMark Vantage benchmark score for both category tests to allow direct performance comparisons.
Models tested
- Apple MacBook Air
- BenQ Joybook X31-PE04
- Dell XPS M1330
- Lenovo IdeaPad U110
- PioneerDreamBook Light M72R
- Sony Vaio TZ36GN/W
- ToshibaPortege M800
- Twinhead J13S
For more affordable laptops, view our review article on
budget laptops for more details.
Please note: this information was current as of October 2008 but is still a useful guide to today's market.
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