Lightest notebook
 

Can someone recommend a notebook? I like my Dell 700m but want to go lighter because my shoulder is getting worked on all the time due to carrying the notebook.

I have looked at the Dell X1 and the X series of IBM. Any other suggestions?

Thanks

Just got an X1
 

Had exactly the same problem as you - my Dell 8200 is great, but far too heavy. Got the X1 a couple of weeks ago. Only taken it on a couple of short-hauls so far - its real test will come next week on a RTW trip.

Thoughts so far. On the plus side:

2.5 lbs with the standard battery. Only 3 hours but it's usually plugged in so no real problem. I have the larger battery as well for emergencies.
The adaptor brick is about as light and as small as my Nokia mobile! The brick for the 8200 weighs a ton.
Great looking (bright) screen.
Great Wifi reception - better that my 8200 with add-on Wifi card or my Ipaq.
Built-in SD and CF slots. Useful for my digi photography.
No fan, so deathly quiet.

And on the negative:

Only a 1.1GHz CPU, so you'll not be playing many 3D games on it if that's your wont. I have put Tiger Woods PGA 2006 on the HD and it seems to cope with that OK though. If you need a bit more speed, add more memory (I have 1280 MB)
Slow HDD.
External DVD (& floppy if you need one). Not exactly heavy, but certainly another thing you'll need to lug if you're going to watch movies for instance. I should add that I haven't tried performance with movies yet either.
No PC card slot. Important to some, but not me personally.
Expense.

All-in-all, suits me perfectly for email, web and MS Office, but it won't exactly set the world alight, speed wise, if you need to run more demanding applications. My shoulder is already thanking me!

The Fujitsu P-Series would be my choice if money was no object, but I need a DVD drive. If you're looking at the X1, an optical drive is probably not high on your wish list.

You will probably get better responses here if you could post what you need the lightweight laptop to do, i.e., do you just need basic internet/e-mail/MS Word/Excel or are you doing Photoshop, video editing, watch DVDs on it, store 10,000 MP3s, run desktop CAD??

My requirements are keyboard on which I can touch type, lightest available, external drives are fine.

I'm close to purchasing the Panasonic R4

Sylvia

Go with the Sony T series. I have found the battery life can be up to about 6 hours; it has a built in DVD (with enough power to watch a whole 2.5 hour DVD), good Wifi, bright screen and is very light. I have had mine for about a year and can highly recommend it. It will not play graphic intensive games, but I don't care about that.

Regards.

The small Averatec has worked well for a couple of people I know.

Are you talking medical treatment? Perhaps consider a backpack-type notebook case instead of the single shoulder strap type? The weight is then distributed instead of being all on one side.

Someone else already beat me to the suggestion of the Sony T series.

FewMiles..

I bought a new notebook in August, and was torn between the Sony T350 and the Fujitsu 7010D. I wound up going with the Fujitsu, and I'm happy with my decision. The significant differences (at least where I am concerned) are that the Fujitsu has a fingerprint reader for security, and the optical drive can be hot-swapped for an extra battery (which I bought). The Sony has a built in EDGE modem, but that requires a subscription with Cingular and a fee of around $80 a month.

The notebooks are roughly similar in weight, size and price. I found that the Fujitsu had a marginally better keyboard, but the difference is small and idiosyncratic.

Reliability on the Fujitsu has been A+.

I would also second the suggestion of a backpack. As far as light notebooks. take a look at www.dynamism.com for the state of the art from Japan. I have heard a lot of very good things about both the Sony T series and the Fujitsu ultralights.

Panasonic's My Let's series are hard to beat in terms of weight and battery life. The only problem is these machines are not officially available in the states, and obtaining warranty service can be difficult.

I will also suggest taking a look at what are also in your computer bag. There may be some items that you hardly ever use. Unloading them may realize significant weight savings.

Recently bought (courtesy of Insurance Co when my Samsung was stolen) a Fujitsu P7010 - and love it - even fits in my purse and at 1.3 kgs with 7 hour battery is great.

dynamism v kemper for Panasonic R4?
 

Both dynamism.com and kemper.com have the Panasonic R4 that I'm planning to buy in December or January.

Their warranties are different and their total cost is about $100 different also. I'm not clear enough though to make the comparisons. I'd appreciate any input people here have.

I think I would want some support for the initial glitches that there often seem to be (thought in the past those have actually been software not hardware).

And I'm told that my external CD drive for my current Sony Vaio will work for i/o for the R4. (At the moment I don't want games or music or the extra weight.)

Sylvia

I have an X1, and really like it, but the battery life sucks, are you getting 2.5-3 hours? I get about 1.75 even with the screen turned down.

Chris

Anyone have suggestions for small/light laptops with high resolution screens? The lowest I could tolerate would be 1280x1024, but I've become quite spoiled by my Thinkpad T42p, which has a 14" screen that supports 1400x1050 (giving it a very nice size to resolution ratio).

There are a whole host of WXGA (1280 x 768) laptops hitting the market on a variety of sizes, from as tiny as a 7.2" screen found on the Toshiba Libretto U100/U105 to, well, too big. I think 11" or less is a good size for this resolution

I was spoiled with an SXGA+ screen too (ibm t23 w/ a screen that has decided to take a permanent vacation) but I'm looking into the sub 3lb category for my replacement.

Fujitsu P7000 series are worth looking into.
The Libretto is about the size of a VHS tape, but as you can imagine, typing on it can be quite tricky.

Of course, if you want the absolute "lightest notebook" available, don't go with a notebook at all...check out the OQO. It's got its limitations, to be sure, but the WOW factor is top-notch!

lightest now
 

I think the lightest one now, is the new SONY TX650. Should be out by now.
It also has the highest screen res, at 11.1 inches diagonally and features a high resolution of 1,366 by 768.

pricing should be 2.2-2.5K. I think they are available now.

Beats the previous version on battery, 4.5+ hours, and in weight, 2.73 pounds vs. 3.01 pds.

I have a X41 Thinkpad that is 2.73 pounds. I love it! Especially the neat fingerprint reader. No more passwords! And the 802.11 A/B/G integrated WiFi is handy.

The strange thing is that when I pick up my laptop bag, I keep thinking in the back of my mind that I've forgotten my PC. My previous T40 was pretty heavy and I got used to lugging a lot of weight around.

x41 rocks
 

the x41 rocks, but I would like to have an optical drive in there.
and a slightly larger screen. I think we will see that in the next iteration.

I got the optional USB CD/DVD drive for my X41 and it works fine for me, not that I use it much. I've sacrificed screen size (versus my old T40) for the sake of my shoulder.

Panasonic CF-W2
 

I have been using a Panasonic CF-W2 for about 2 years and have been VERY pleased with it in terms of light weight and battery life.

From Panasonic's web site, here are some of the specs on the current version of that model:

CF-W2FWCFZBM-EC
Toughbook eLite Executive Notebook Computer with 12.1" XGA Color LCD Display, only 2.9 lbs. with a built-in DVD-CD/RW, 40GB HDD & 512MB of SDRAM on board; 1.2 Ghz CPU


I really like the "built-in DVD-CD/RW".

Hey guys,

I found FlyerTalk a few days ago and decided to join; there's definitely an amazing wealth of knowledge here!

Just wondering stimpy, how is the battery life on your X41? I'm reading on the IBM site that it lasts 8.5 hours, but I'd like to hear how the real-world life is. Looks like a great laptop!

I don't think it's quite that long. At least 3 hours I'd guess, but I don't use my PC on airplanes unless they have WiFi and those flights have normal AC power plugs.