Don't carry that weight: 7 ultralight notebooks tested

By
17 October 2003 05:20 PM
Tags: d400, lifebook, ibm, powerbook, latitude, aopen, rmit, dell
Notebook AOpen Openbook 1555G Apple PowerBook G4 Dell Latitute D400 Fujitsu LifeBook S6120
Vendor BlueChip InfoTech Apple Dell Fujitsu
RRP (test configuration inc GST) From $2499 From $3099 $3,560 $4,299
Phone number 02 8745 8400 133 622 1800 812 393 1800 288 283
Web site www.bluechipit.com.au www.apple.com.au www.dell.com.au www.lifebook.com.au
Warranty 2-years pickup, repair and delivery 90 days; 3-year Apple Care Protection Plan optional at $598 3-years next business day 1-year international; optional 2-year extended local warranty
System weight including battery (kg) 2.6 2.1 1.6 1.9
Processor installed/max Intel Pentium M 1.4GHz/1.7GHz Power PC G4 867MHz Intel Pentium M 1.3GHz/1.7GHz Intel Pentium M 1.4GHz/1.6GHz
RAM installed/max 256MB/2GB 256MB/640MB 128MB/2GB 256MB
Hard disk installed/max Fujitsu 30GB/60GB 40GB 20GB/60GB Fujitsu/Toshiba/Hitachi, 30GB/60GB
Battery capacity 8 cell, Lithium-Ion. 47-watt-hour 4 cell 28-watt-hour (with a 6 cell 42-watt-hour optional) Lithium-Ion, 4.7hr
Display size in inches 15 12.1 12.1 13.3
Native resolution 1024x768 1024x768 1024x768 1024x768
Graphics processor/memory Intel/8-64MB shared Nvidia GeForce4 420 Go DDR/32MB Intel 855 GM/32-64MB shared Intel/8-64MB shared
USB (number/type of ports) 3/USB 2.0 2/USB 1.1 2/USB 2.0 2/USB 2.0
Parallel/serial/PS2/VGA/TV/Firewire ports 1/0/0/1/1/1 0/0/0/1/0/1 0/1/0/1/0/1 0/0/0/1/0/1 (Parallel, serial, PS2 ports on port replicator)
PCMCIA/SD/CompactFlash/Memory Stick/Smart Media slots 1/1/0/1/0 0/0/0/0/0 1/0/0/0/1 1/0/0/0/0
Optical Drive type and read/write speeds DVD/CDRW Combo or DVD only DVD/CDRW Combo, 8x, 24x, 24x, 10x Optional External Optical Drive DVD/CDRW Combo, 8x, 24x, 24x, 10x
Integrated Modem/Ethernet (type) Yes/Yes (10/100) Yes/Yes (10/100) Yes/Yes (10/100/1000) Yes/Yes (10/100)
Integrated Wireless Network (type)/Bluetooth Intel 802.11b/No No (optional)/Yes Intel 802.11b/No (optional) Intel 802.11b/No
Operating System Microsoft Windows XP Home, Professional & 2000 MAC OS X Microsoft Windows XP Home, Professional & 2000 Microsoft Windows XP Professional
Notebook IBM ThinkPad X31 2672CBM Sony Vaio PCGTR1 Toshiba Portege R100
Vendor IBM Sony Toshiba
RRP (test configuration inc GST) $3,599 $4,299 $4,290
Phone number 1800 289 426 1300 720 071 133 070
Web site www.ibm.com/au/thinkpad www.sony.com.au/vaio www.isd.toshiba.com.au
Warranty 3-years pickup, repair and delivery 1-year parts and labour 3-years parts and labour
System weight including battery (kg) 1.6 1.4 1.1
Processor installed/max Intel Pentium M 1.4GHz Intel Pentium M 900MHz Intel Pentium M 1GHz
RAM installed/max 256MB/1GB 256MB 256MB
Hard disk installed/max 40GB 30GB Toshiba/40GB
Battery capacity 6 cell, Lithium-Ion. Up to 7 hours of use 2 batteries 1600mAh & 3600mAh
Display size in inches 12.1 12.3 12.1
Native resolution 1024x768 1280x768 1024x768
Graphics processor/memory ATI Mobility Radeon DDR/16MB 64MB shared Trident XP4 m32/32MB
USB (number/type of ports) 2/USB 2.0 2 2
Parallel/serial/PS2/VGA/TV/Firewire ports 1/0/0/1/1/1 0/0/0/1/0/1 0/0/0/1/0/0
PCMCIA/SD/CompactFlash/Memory Stick/Smart Media slots 1/0/1/0/0 1/0/0/1/0 1/1/0/0/0
Optical Drive type and read/write speeds Optional External Optical Drive or via Media Slice docking station DVD/CDRW Combo, 8x, 24x, 8x, 4x Optional External Optical Drive
Integrated Modem/Ethernet (type) Yes/Yes (10/100) Yes/Yes (10/100) Yes/Yes (10/100)
Integrated Wireless Network (type)/Bluetooth Intel 802.11b/No Intel 802.11b/No Intel 802.11b/No
Operating System Microsoft Windows XP Professional Microsoft Windows XP Home Microsoft Windows XP Professional
< Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Next >
Advertisement

Print feature brought to you by Adobe

Talkback 3 comments

    Disagree with comments on the ...Anonymous -- 23/03/04

    Disagree with comments on the Sony. While it is loaded with a lot of stuff, the unit is, like just about every other Sony notebook ever manufactured, cheap junk. Tiny worthless little screen, "chicklet" keyboard, horrible, short warranty serviced by third party companies whose success is based on their ability to evaded their warranty responsibilities. The IBM X31 got short shrift in the review, but it is easily the best unit of all. Maybe the best ultralight ever produced. Solid (titanium case), three year warranty, great customer support, superior high quality hardware.

    Have to agree. My last noteboo ...Anonymous -- 23/03/04

    Have to agree. My last notebook was Sony Vaio 505, and it was a nightmare. Cheap shoddy construction and just fell apart after about a year. By then the warranty had expired and I just ended up throwing it into the garbage when I found out what they wanted to repair it. Sony is the most arrogant company I have ever dealt with. They falsely claimed that the problems were caused by misuse.

    Your links are all broken to t ...Anonymous -- 17/12/04

    Your links are all broken to the laptops reviewed.
    Try clicking on, or searching for, the Aopen 1555, for example. Nothing comes up, just the same old starting page.

Add your opinion

Back to top

Featured