Laptop Review - Size Matters

Our latest review of laptops reveals that manufacturers are more than a little schizophrenic—but in a good way. They now offer lighter machines that offer either a larger screen size (up to 19”!) or, 9” screens. Both trends will appeal to (if not actually benefit) the nomadic worker.

Interestingly, our recent Laptop Review (comprised of top reviews by PC World and Laptop magazines, and frequent visits to Bangkok’s famed Pantip Plaza) of the top rated power (“desktop replacement”) machines nearly all have a screen size of 17”. One prime example is HP Pavilion’s dv9000t: powerful, lighter then ever (8 lbs, down 1.5 pounds from its predecessor the zd7000), with better visuals and sound.

However, historically, even the 15” machines were considered too over-sized for the average nomadic worker/traveler—mostly due to the weight involved in producing such a beast. But with the introduction of Dual-Core technology, having a full-on display (even if it’s only to watch DVD movies, or for gaming while on the road) has made this luxury more tempting. I mean, let’s face it. After you’ve done your morning’s work, visited a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the afternoon, and have finished up the last chapter of that great book a week ago, being able to enjoy a DVD movie on a proper size display is a reasonable desire—is it not! Therefore, a fresh look at over-sized notebooks needs to occur—even though many of us wanderlusters have chosen to take our lives on the road to get away from all that excess. But, this reviewer regresses. Anyway…

Lugging around a 17” (or even Alienware’s Area-51m 5750 machine with a mega screen size of 19”) machine around—this laptop hobo believes—is sort of like bringing your snake-skin cowboy boots with you to the tropics. They may look and feel good to you at home but you’ll soon realize they’re a pain to carry and the extravagance of it a bit over-the-top. Yet, this is not to say that large displays don’t serve an important niche community. They do. Specifically, multimedia and graphic designers who struggle enough outside of their full-on studio will most likely be the ones willing to shoulder the burden of these mega desktop replacements. And if one plans to base themselves in a single location, as oppose to backpacking through Europe or Asia (and changing locations frequently) then the larger machines are but another factor of your oversized luggage.

Leaping into the other direction is the Ultra-portable choice. Not only are they more powerful, but they are shrinking. In fact, some may actually be too small. Where this reviewer continues to tout the extreme mobility of Fujitsu’s Lifebook P7120 (and uses it when away from his base location), the new Lifebook P1610 may not be practical for long term use—even though it weighs only 2.2 lbs and displays a screen size of only 9.1 inches. However, if you don’t have to work with a lot of graphics, and full work days are a rarity, then the new P1610 just might be your baby.

Something more in the middle perhaps?

Although this reviewer is a very big fan of HP’s Pavilion line, specifically the award-amassing dv6000t (15.4”, 6.1 lbs, very powerful and unsurpassed multimedia) and the dv2000t (14.1”, 5.3 lbs, with great graphics and sound), the great middle contender just may be Lenovo’s (remember IBM?) ThinkPad x60s Notebook. Hailed by several leading tech magazines (PC World and Laptop Magazines, to name just two), this power-puppy comes in at 3.5 lbs, with a nomad-friendly 12.1” display. It has a battery life of more than 8 hours and its Intel 1.66-MHz Core Duo L2400 processor makes it one of the fastest ultraportable machines ever.

Best bets.

If you need a very powerful machine, one with a full-size screen, then the best bet in the power/desktop-replacement category may be HP Pavilion’s dv6000t. For extreme portability (that won’t make you go completely blind squinting over the screen size), then the nod is on Fujitsu’s Lifebook p7120. But should you desire a very nice balance between the two, then Lenovo’s ThinkPad x60s is a very safe bet.

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