Roadtest: sub-notebooks
These compact laptops hit the sweet spot, writes David Flynn.
The story of the breed of laptops known as sub-notebooks is a tale of divergent evolution. If you sent David Attenborough poking around the branches of the laptop’s family tree, he’d tell of how portable PCs split from their desktop cousins at the dawn of the 1980s and over the years grew smaller and lighter - but only to a point.
Having developed into the essentially modern form of the laptop in the early 1990s, they started adapting to fill an array of clearly defined niche needs. Some laptops remained true to their name and became the super-sized 43cm slabs favoured by gamers and multimedia professionals. Others shed bulk and features to become lightweight ultra-portables with a 30cm screen, from which descended the latest mutation of “ultra-mobiles” with screens no larger than 20cm across.
Sub-notebooks slid into the space between those oh-so-small ultra-portables and the massive middle ground occupied by the conventional notebook with its 39cm widescreen display. And while the earliest models cut their size by cutting corners, such as leaving out the CD drive and using low-performance processors, these days there’s nothing sub-par about a sub-notebook.
The CD drives are not just present - they are CD\DVD burners built around slimmer drive mechanisms. The processors can go toe-to-toe with the chips inside many desktops. And, of course, they’ve got wireless networking, fingerprint scanners for security, digital memory card readers, webcams and superbright widescreen displays that typically measure 30-35cm diagonally.
It’s just that sub-notebooks take advantage of all the latest technologies to make themselves smaller, lighter and in some ways more personal than their bigger siblings. They’re a notebook you can slip into almost any bag or backpack, take almost anywhere and do almost anything on, whether it’s a university paper or a business PowerPoint pitch.
That’s why the PC industry these days tags them with the more aptly descriptive “thin and light” moniker. But by any other name, they’ve become the sweet spot with notebook buyers.
That said, sub-notebooks are more expensive than the mainstream models - a side-effect of the afore-mentioned “latest technologies”, which let them cram so much goodness into a slightly smaller package. And not everyone feels comfortable looking at their smaller screens or working away on their more compact keyboards. Put a 33cm and 39cm notebook side by side and you’ll be astounded at how much difference there is. But get the junior model on its own, tote it around and you’ll find it’s easy to love and live with, especially if you’re a frequent traveller.
As always, battery life depends on how you use the notebook, but for just tapping away with MP3s playing and a bit of wireless internet thrown in for good measure, allow three to four hours. If that’s not enough, look for a model with an optional higher-capacity battery (sometimes called a travel battery) which can almost double the life between recharges.
For this comparison, we rounded up four of the latest “thin and light” notebooks. Their typical weight range is 2 to 3kg, with screens from 30cm to 33cm, measured diagonally. Each is built around Intel’s current generation of Core 2 Duo processor - in fact, they use the full Centrino Duo technology, which includes wireless networking and extended battery life. The Acer notebook ships with XP, while the rest run Vista. All models come with 2GB of memory, which is what you need to give XP a full head of steam and get Vista off the starting blocks. All bar the Acer had quick-play software that lets you listen to music or watch a movie without booting into Windows, which saves time and battery power.
HP Pavilion dv2600
$1899
http://www.hp.com.au
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
If a 33cm notebook cramps your style, try the 35.8cm screen and generous keyboard of the Pavilion dv2600. With heady champagne colouring and a scratch-resistant casing, this special Verve edition boasts the elegant design that’s become a HP hallmark. The Verve’s top-mounted Altec Lansing speakers give the best sound of the pack: clean, crisp tones. Ditto the widescreen screen, with a helping hand from Nvidia GeForce graphics.
Toshiba Satellite U300
$2199
http://www.toshiba.com.au
Rating 4 out of 5
Toshiba created what is arguably the world’s first true laptop PC, so it’s fitting that its 2kg 33.7cm widescreen U300 sits high on the evolutionary ladder. Toshiba does itself a favour by licensing Dolby’s Sound Room technology to provide surround-sound enhancements. A shame, then, that it’s the only one here without a front-mounted headphone socket.
Dell XPS M1330
$1899
http://www.dell.com.au
4.5/5
This slim, stylish sub-note punches well above its weight in performance, features and overall value. The sharp design is a welcome change, while the solid build is impressive for a 1.8kg 33.7cm model. Upsides: a sharp 2-megapixel webcam, meaty 2GHz processor and Nvidia GeForce graphics. Downsides: only two USB ports (the rest have three) and the touchpad is a bit small.
Acer TravelMate 6292
$2299
http://www.acer.com.au
3.5/5
Acer’s only sub-note comes from its business line rather than its consumer series and it shows. Forget splashy colours and it weighs as much as HP’s 39cm Pavilion model. Inside is the fastest processor in the pack - a full-throttle 2.2GHz chip - and an outrageous 500GB of storage, due to the pair of 250GB hard drives, while the rest in this bunch settled for 160GB. The TravelMate ticks just about every box.
Verdict
This one’s a coin toss between Dell and HP. Heads, you get HP’s slightly larger and lush-looking (but, at 2.5kg, a deal heavier) Pavillion Verve, which is perfect for entertainment on the move. Tails, it’s the XPS M1330 for what’s easily the fastest yet slimmest sub-note we’ve ever seen. Given that both “slim and light” notebooks sell for $1899, you can’t lose either way.
Source: smh.com.au
