ultraportable

Not so long ago, buying a laptop was as simple as deciding whether you wanted a Netbook (11 inches or smaller) or not (12 inches and larger). Suddenly, however, it's getting to be a fairly confusing time to be in the market for an 11-inch laptop. Why do we say that? Simply put, this size used to be considered a "Netbook" category, mainly populated by Intel Atom processors. With the rise of ULV (ultra low-voltage) processors, however, a number of small-screened laptops--anywhere from 11 to 15 inches in size--have emerged, all thin and light, generally lacking optical … Read more

Editors' note: The HP ProBook 5310m is currently under review, but here are our initial impressions of this sub-$1,000 ultraportable.

At first glance, it would be easy to label the HP ProBook 5310m a late 2007 MacBook knock-off. The all-black casing made from aluminum and magnesium alloy and the chiclet-style keyboard certainly support that judgment. However, the ProBook is a laptop aimed at business users, not consumers. It's also something we've been longing to see: a powerful, sub-$1,000 ultraportable with a 13-inch screen and a long battery life.

The ProBook is very stately looking. … Read more

The chief executives of Intel and Advanced Micro Devices indicated this week that competition will heat up in the market for sleek, inexpensive laptops running Windows 7.

Both CEOs addressed this new market during conference calls after their companies reported earnings this week. Ultrathin laptops are inexpensive, light laptops--typically between $500 and $800--that are sold in a market segment just above less expensive Netbooks.

Intel CEO Paul Otellini on Tuesday said his company is gearing up to supply more power-efficient chips that contain two processing cores for better performance. "The bulk of the units that have shipped to date … Read more

The Yukyung Viliv lineup ultraportable of mini-computers is, in a way, a bit of a throwback to the days when UMPCs and MIDs ruled the pocket-gadget landscape and laptops were bulky and expensive and didn't have any great battery power to speak of. Back in the days of the OQO and the Samsung Q1, you didn't expect an ultraportable to have the same productivity power as a full-fledged computer...you were, in fact, happy when it just did one or two things right. Those days are over, though. For $300 you can now get a Netbook which, while … Read more

For an entry-level 12.1-inch ultraportable, the Vostro 1220 sure is pretty. An upgrade from the Vostro 1200, this series targets the SMB user who might want to save a few bucks and doesn't need the high-end features like the Centrino vPro platform in the Latitude lineup.

Sporting a glossy red or black chassis, this laptop comes with Core 2 Duo performance and an impressive battery life of up to nine hours with the extended cell. Weighing about 3.4 pounds with the standard six-cell battery and integrated optical drive, this machine is surprisingly affordable, starting at $799.

Optional … Read more

Updated at 5:15 p.m. PDT: correcting for AMD dual-core Neo in HP dv2 laptop and adding Acer Aspire Timeline AS3810T discussion.

Advanced Micro Devices will debut its dual-core low-power Athlon chip technology on an updated laptop from Hewlett-Packard next week. This will be followed by "Congo" low-power silicon later this year.

AMD is aiming its Neo technology at the ultra-thin laptop market. This is the same market that Intel has addressed for a long time with its ULV (ultra-low-voltage) chips. However, until very recently, laptops using Intel's ULV chips were expensive "executive jewelry," … Read more

Updated at 1:45 p.m. PDT with additional comments about Moblin market share.

On Tuesday, Intel released information on its next-generation Atom silicon and the next version of its Linux operating system for Netbooks.

Noury Al-Khaledy, general manager of Nettop and Netbook Computing at Intel, announced a technology platform called "Pine Trail" that--at the risk of confounding readers with similar product names--uses a new Atom processor dubbed "Pineview."

Essentially, what all of this means is that Intel will move more features onto the "Pineview" Atom processor that are currently in the surrounding chipset. … Read more

Apple COO Tim Cook's recent comments about Netbooks may reflect an incipient movement to look beyond this category of laptops--now more than a year old. The comments also echo lingering disaffection with the Netbook business model. Sentiment that may not be that far removed from Intel's internal thinking.

This New York Times blog does a good job of dispelling any ambiguity about Cook's comments when it says that "contempt may be too kindly a term" to describe his attitude toward Netbooks.

Cook joins a small chorus of less blunt but equally disdainful companies. Toshiba initially resisted Netbooks and in conversations I had with Toshiba at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January (where its Netbook offering had been relegated, quite intentionally, to an easy-to-miss corner of its sprawling booth) they clearly were not enthusiastic about (if not disdainful of) the category.

Toshiba, caving to pressure in its home market (Japan) from Acer and Asus, has since come out with a redesigned Netbook but has yet to offer anything officially in the U.S. market--more than a year after the Atom processor was launched.

And in case anyone misses the irony. Toshiba practically invented the laptop category and, to state the obvious, is one of the largest laptop vendors in the world.

And Sony has gone out of its way to say that its Netbook-like notebook is not a Netbook--and priced it accordingly.

Advanced Micro Devices has been more outspoken than most. Their contempt, to a large extent, is a given since they are Intel's chief rival. And, unlike Toshiba and Sony, they're not a customer of Intel's and don't have to couch their disdain in diplomatic language. (Skeptics will cite a host of other reasons too: AMD's lack of R&D funds to develop an Atom equivalent, for one.).

That said, in conversations I have had with AMD (including CEO Dirk Meyer), they seem to genuinely believe that Netbooks--as defined by Atom--are not going to be around for the long haul. In short, like Apple's Cook, they think they're too dinky. (See Cook's comments linked above for a variation on this theme, including the words "junky," "terrible," and "cramped.")

There is also some anecdotal evidence that demand for Intel's Atom Netbook processors is slowing a bit. (It should be noted that the source for this information is Digitimes, which is not always the most reliable font of information.) … Read more

More specs:

Acer also announced the anti-Aspire 3935-6504: the 18.4-inch Aspire 8935G.… Read more