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Buying Guide: Mini Laptops: Light Makes Might
Right-sizing is bad news in the context of corporate headcount, but it can be ideal when it comes to choosing a laptop. To be sure, if you need quad-core horsepower, a terabyte of storage, and a spacious 17-inch screen, you need a full-sized desktop replacement system (although today's five- to six-pound, 15.6-inch portables may surprise you with their deskworthiness). But if you're looking for productivity to go, look no further than the latest mini laptops—PCs that combine impressive power with winning portability.
When you hear the words "mini laptops," you may think of netbooks and think, Aren't those ancient history? Actually, the bad old days of netbooks—puny portables with squinty 10-inch screens, smaller-than-full-sized keyboards, and snail-paced performance from a pitiful 1GB of RAM—are gone. Today's models feature eye-pleasing 11.6-inch displays and comfortable keyboards, as well as ample power for office applications (though they're still not mighty multimedia multitaskers). Best of all, they're as affordable as they ever were.
A step up in processing power from netbooks are ultraportables, under-four-pound systems usually with 12- or 13-inch screens—though a few, like the Acer TravelMate 8481T-6440, squeeze 14-inch LCDs into 13-inch frames. Most of these save weight by shunning the DVD±RW drive of their larger siblings, though you can find ultraportables with optical drives too. Some feature modular options, such as a second battery slice that fits onto the base of the laptop for marathon computing. All are ready to hit the road, usable even when the lout in front of you reclines his airline seat, but with muscle enough for image and even occasional video editing as well as spreadsheet and presentation work.
Finally, if you've been reading PCMag the last few months you know you can't talk about mini laptops today without citing a red-hot category called ultrabooks. Technically part of the ultraportable genre, the first wave of ultrabooks has brought a crop of super-slim, sub-three-pound portables with 13.3-inch displays and Intel Core i3, i5, and i7 processors, though 14- and 15-inch models are starting to reach the market and AMD and its partners are expected to launch ultrathin systems of their own. Most ultrabooks boast solid-state drives (SSDs) for lightning-fast startup and resume from sleep, though some combine flash cache with roomier (and cheaper) conventional hard drives.
Intel calls ultrabooks the future of computing, particularly in hybrid and convertible tablet flavors anticipated for later in 2012 and 2013. Whether that's true or not, it's clear that mini laptops aren't going away—they're just getting lighter, faster, and friendlier.
FEATURED IN THIS ROUNDUP:
Netbooks
Acer Aspire One AO722-0828
Price: $350 List
A hair under 3 pounds on PC Labs' scale, this netbook's 4GB of RAM and 500GB hard drive are rare finds in the category. If its 11.6-inch screen's 1,366 by 768 resolution isn't enough for you, there's an HDMI video output. Read the full review ››
HP Pavilion dm1-3010nr (Verizon)
Price: $769.99 List
Based on AMD's E-350 chip, this 4G mobile broadband-equipped mini is always in touch with e-mail and the Web and packs more than six and a half hours of battery life to boot. It tips the scale at a trim 3.4 pounds. Read the full review ››
Lenovo ThinkPad X130e
Price: $495 List
Created for the K-12 educational market, this semi-rugged netbook's cushioned exterior makes it also tempting to businesspeople who need a PC that can take the bumps and jolts of travel—or just like Lenovo's famous keyboards. Read the full review ››
Ultraportables
Lenovo ThinkPad X220
Price: $1299 List
A 12.5-inch widescreen, peppy Core i5 processor, and a phenomenal keyboard are highlights of this 3.3-pound business traveler. If eight and a half hours of battery life won't suffice, an optional 6-cell battery slice promises an extra six to eight hours. Read the full review ››
Panasonic Toughbook CF-S10
Price: $2449 Direct
Though light (2.96 pounds), this magnesium-alloy-cased crusader is no weakling—it's a semi-rugged system that makes room for a 12.1-inch widescreen and a DVD±RW drive. Read the full review ››
Toshiba Portege R835-P50X
Price: $889 List
Equipped with a 13.3-inch screen, an optical drive, and a low price tag, this 3.2-pound favorite lasted for more than nine hours in our battery rundown test. It could be the definitive ultraportable. Read the full review ››
Ultrabooks and Competitors
Apple MacBook Air 13-inch (Thunderbolt)
Price: $1299 Direct
It's not part of Intel's ultrabook—oh, all right, Ultrabook&#tm;—branding campaign, but it's the laptop they're all compared to: a wafer-thin 2.9-pound powerhouse with a sunny 1,440 by 900-pixel screen and speedy SSD. Read the full review ››
Dell XPS 13
Price: $1000 Direct
One of the most compact ultrabooks, Dell's could also be the most elegant, with an edge-to-edge Gorilla Glass display and backlit keyboard. Intel's Smart Connect Technology is a bonus. Read the full review ››
HP Folio 13
Price: $1048.99
A little heavier than its rivals at 3.25 pounds—thanks to a battery that outlasted most of them (seven and a half hours) in our tests—HP's entry offers a luxurious backlit keyboard and full array of ports. Read the full review ››