Notebooks are becoming increasingly more attractive for mainstream consumers, and not just business people either. Nowadays, those who desire gaming capabilities have options that just a few short years ago, were just pipe dreams.
Check out the Tom’s Guide ultraportable roundup
But what about those who just want a capable notebook that’s light, but doesn’t skimp on power? Maybe you don’t want to play cutting edge games, but you need strong battery life, the ability to run several productivity applications, and do the occasional movie watching. Unfortunately, most consumers shy away from notebook that are 15-inches and larger due to weight (unless you’re a serious mobile gamer), and up until now, smaller netbooks have been underpowered and underwhelming.
But this week, there are at least five netbooks out on the market that provide essentially everything you need in a road-warrior notebook but in netbook form.
Our sister mainstream consumer publication Tom’s Guide, takes an in-depth look at several different highly capable netbooks. They take a look at the Asus U2E, the Fujitsu P8010, the Lenovo IdeaPad U110, the Toshiba R500 and the high end Sony Vaio TZ.
Prices range from $1699 to a whopping $3000 for the Sony Viao — of course, Sony’s products always have a high premium on them due to design — and as you’ll see, choice of components matter too.
I had the chance to pay around with each of the notebooks myself, and from what I can tell, the Sony TZ is definitely the best of the bunch in terms of overall experience. It actually comes equipped with a 64GB SSD drive and a 240 GB regular HDD for added storage. The LCD on the Sony is the brightest and sharpest of the bunch too.
One caveat of these netbooks is that all their screens are very flexible. This means that if you’re note careful, you’re going to have a broken display. The screens flex easily but they are extremely thin. The netbook that had the flimsiest screen was the Fujitsu. In terms of styling, the Lenovo IdeaPad and the Sony TZ were the best of the bunch, with points going to Lenovo for introducing a very interesting exterior design while having the best feeling of durability out of the five.
Are netbooks more attractive to mobile users than full blown notebooks? Clearly this depends on your intent, but there’s definitely something about carrying around a very light computing device. If you travel a lot, go to a lot of trade shows, or just have a bad back — netbooks are right up your alley. Take a look at the full roundup over at Tom’s Guide.
Just a word of note, Sony recalled its Vaio TZ line and have outright discontinued the product in favor of an updated unit called the TT. Unfortunately, the new TT is thicker and heavier than the carbon-fiber TZ.
