Now, If you haven’t noticed over the last few months, the “ultraportable” notebook market has become obscenely crowded and many people don’t know where to turn, if they’re considering one. Many will just say “Oh, I’ll just get the Asus Eee PC, since its pretty popular.” Now while there may be nothing wrong with this, you are surely closing the door on many other viable options that may even be better that the Eee. Below I listed the most popular ultraportables on the market, though some are yet to be released, along with their accompanying stats.
Asus Eee PC
This little guy really got the ball rolling in the ultraportable market. It was designed after the OLPC XO laptop which was geared towards those who were needy and required an inexpensive laptop. On the opposite side though, the Eee was designed for consumers and consumers alone.
- Processor: Intel Celeron 800 or 900MHz (Atom model coming soon)
- RAM: 512MB to 1GB
- Storage: 2GB, 4GB, or 8GB solid state flash memory
- Display: 7 inch 800 x 480 pixel screen (9/10 inch models being released on Tuesday, June 3)
- Expansion: 3 USB ports, 1 VGA output, 1 SDHC card slot
- Operating System: Xandros Linux or Windows XP
- Connectivity: Ethernet, 802.11b/g
- Webcam: 0.3 megapixels
- Weight: .92kilograms / 2 pounds
- Battery: 4 cell 4400mAh or 5200mAh battery (around 2 and 3 hours of battery life)
- Price: $299 to $499
Everex Cloudbook
From what I’ve heard, this laptop hasn’t gotten the greatest of reviews, but it’s still an ultraportable and needs some lovin’ too. Stay tuned though, because a newer model called the Everex Cloudbook MAX should be coming along sometime in 2009, with built in WiMAX.
- Processor: 1.2 GHz VIA C7 Mobile processor
- RAM: 512MB
- Storage: 30GB hard drive
- Display: 7 inch 800 x 480 pixel screen
- Expansion: DVI-I output, 2 USB ports, 4-in-1 media card reader
- Operating System: gOS Linux
- Connectivity: Ethernet, 802.11b/g
- Webcam: 0.3 megapixels
- Weight: 2 pounds
- Battery: 4 cells
- Price: $399
HP 2133 Mini-Note
Catchy name, I know. This one from HP’s main feature that sets it apart in the ultraportable category is the fact that it has a much larger keyboard than any other on the list. From what I’ve noticed, the biggest complaint in the ultraportable market is the fact that the keyboards, well, kinda suck – this one’s hoping to change all that.
- Processor: 1GHz – 1.6GHz VIA C7 Mobile Processor
- RAM: 512MB to 2GB
- Storage: 4GB solid state flash memory or 120GB/160GB hard drive
- Display: 8.9 inch 1280 x 768 pixel screen
- Expansion: VGA output, 2 USB ports, Express Card slot, SD card slot
- Operating System: Windows Vista Home Basic, Windows Vista Business, OpenSUSE Linux
- Connectivity: Ethernet, 802.11b/g, Bluetooth optional
- Webcam: VGA
- Weight: 2.8 pounds
- Battery: 3 cells or 6 cells
- Price: $499 to $849
MSI Wind
This is one of my personal favorites, ahead of the Eee, for a couple reasons. One, its specs are top notch (e.g. Not limited to 8GB hard drive) and two, its cheap. This ultraportable will be released June 3, the same day as two other models of the Asus Eee PC. Hmm…interesting.
- Processor: Intel processors between 1GHz and 1.6GHz
- RAM: 1GB
- Storage: 80GB hard drive
- Display: 8.9 inch 1024 x 600 pixel screen
- Expansion: 3 USB ports, VGA output, SD card reader
- Operating System: Windows XP Home
- Connectivity: WiFi, Bluetooth
- Webcam: 1.3 megapixels
- Battery: 3 cells
- Weight: 1.2 kilograms / 2.6 pounds
- Price:$399 to $549
2Go PC
I don’t have a whole lot to say about this one, but what I do know is that it will be geared towards educational purposes, although it will be sold commercially.
- Processor: Intel Celeron M 900MHz
- RAM: 512MB or 1GB
- Storage:40GB 1.8 inch 4200 PATA hard drive
- Display: 9 inch 800 x 480 pixel screen
- Expansion: SD/MMC card reader, 2 USB ports
- Operating System: Windows XP or Linux
- Connectivity: 802.11 b/g with support for open mesh
- Webcam: VGA
- Battery: 4 cells, 3 hours battery life
- Weight: Less than 3 pounds
- Price: $400 to $500
Dell “Mini-Inspiron”
This one was just freshly “discovered” not all that long ago. Michael Dell showed a prototype of it to Brian Lam, at All Things Digital only a couple nights ago, then released some pictures of the beautiful ultraportable. I can’t wait to find out more about it in the coming weeks.
- Processor: Unknown
- RAM: Unknown
- Storage:Unknown
- Display: 8.9 inch screen
- Expansion: 8-in-1 card reader, 3 USB ports
- Operating System: Windows XP Home or Ubuntu
- Connectivity: “A host of wireless access options”
- Webcam: Yes
- Battery: Unknown
- Weight: Unknown
- Price: Less than $500
And that’s all there is too it; not to say that there aren’t many, MANY more ultraportables flooding the market as I write this. This by no means is every ultraportable there is, so if you didn’t find this satisfying enough, do some of your own digging and make the decision that is right for you.
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