| System model name | Acer TravelMate C310 | HP TC4200 | Portege M200 (PPM21A-0P8ZP) | Lenovo ThinkPad X41 Tablet | Fujitsu LifeBook T4020C |
| Distributor | Acer Computer | Hewlett-Packard | Toshiba ISD | Lenovo | Fujitsu |
| RRP price | $3,999 | $3,995 | $4,070 | $3,999 | TBA, but expected to be $4,299 |
| Phone number | 1300 366 567 | 1300 304 894 | 13 30 70 | 13 24 26 | 1800 188 284 |
| Web site | Link | Link | Link | Link | Link |
| Warranty | 3 year pickup and return service | 3 year parts, labour, onsite except 12 months battery | 3 year parts and labour, pick-up and return service | 3 years pickup and return | 3 years part and labour |
| Processor | Intel Pentium M 1.73GHz | Intel Pentium M 1.73GHz | Intel Pentium M 1.80GHz | Intel Pentium M 1.5GHz | Intel Pentium M 1.86Ghz |
| RAM/maximum | 512MB/2GB | 512MB /2GB | 512MB/2GB | 512MB/1.5GB | 512MB/N/A |
| System weight | 2.89kg | 2.10kg | 2.02kg | 1.88kg | 2.16kg |
| Battery rating | 14.8v, 4400mAh | 10.8v, 4800mAh | 10.8v, 4400mAh | 14.4v, 4500mAh | 10.8v, 5200mAh |
| Display size | 14.1in | 12.1in | 12.1in | 12.1in | 12.1in |
| Native resolution in landscape mode | 1024 x 768 | 1024 x 768 | 1400 x 1050 | 1024 x 768 | 1024 x 768 |
| Digitizer | N/A | Wacom | Wacom | Wacom | Wacom |
| Graphics | nVidia Geforce Go6200/ 128 | Intel 915GM/ shared DVMT | nVidia Geforce Go5200/ 32 | Intel 915GM/ shared VMT | Intel 915GM/ shared DVMT |
| Hard drive | 80GB/ 4200RPM | 60GB/ 5400RPM | 80GB/ 5400RPM | 60GB/ 4200RPM | Sale unit will be 80GB/ 5400RPM |
| Optical drive | DVD | Optional External | Optional External | Optional External | Combo DVD-ROM and CD-ROM recorder |
| Integrated Modem 56K | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Integrated 10/100/1000 | Yes 10/100/1000 | Yes 10/100/1000 | Yes 10/100 | Yes 10/100/1000 | Yes 10/100/1000 |
| Integrated wireless A/B/G | Yes A/G | Yes A/B/G | Yes A/G | Yes A/B/G | Yes A/B/G |
| Bluetooth | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| PC card slot/ SD media/CF card/Sony memory stick | Yes/Yes/ No/No | Yes/Yes/ No/No | Yes/Yes/ No/No | Yes/Yes/ No/No | Yes/Yes/ No/Yes |
| USB | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 + 1 powered USB | 2 |
| FireWire/S-video/VGA | Yes/Yes/ Yes | No/No/ Yes | No/No/ Yes | No/No/ Yes | Yes/No/ Yes |
| Audio ports (microphone, headphone) | Yes/Yes | Yes/Yes | Yes/Yes | Yes/Yes | Yes/Yes |
| Docking station connector | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Integrated fingerprint scanner | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Operating system | Windows XP Tablet PC Edition | Windows XP Tablet PC Edition | Windows XP Tablet PC Edition | Windows XP Tablet PC Edition | Windows XP Tablet PC Edition |
| Carry bag | N (optional) | N (optional) | N (optional) | N (optional) | N |
When it comes to high resolution (ie DPI, not total pixel dimensions) LCDs, I fail to see the problem. Just turn up the font size, or inform Windows that it has a high resolution display in the display control panel.
This should be done automatically by any OEM with half a brain. I would think that enabling "large fonts" is simply not that big a deal.
With that setting, you can get lots of screen "working area", plus readable, smooth, clean looking text.
There are a few broken apps out there that can't cope with non-default font sizes (this appalls me) but they're not that common, really. The worst problem with Windows its self seems to be somewhat ugly quicklaunch icons and the XP Pro login screen background image being too small for the dialog. An OEM could trivially fix both of these.
I'm one of the frustrated community of users who /want/ high res LCDs, because I like smooth readable text and the option to fit lots on the screen when I need to. It's frustrating to see reviews like this panning a laptop for having a good display.
I'd be happy to hear from you if you have any particular views on this - craig@postnewspapers.com.au .