Where to buy those tiny laptops?
 

This is my first post in this forum, and I am not at all a computer person, so please be gentle.

I would like to have one of those tiny laptops. I think they are called Vaio T, but there may be others. I found these online in the US starting at about $2,200, and I have seen them in Japan for much less. I have three questions:

1.) Where to buy? My travels in the next month will take me to Europe, US, Japan, Hong Kong.

2.) Which type to buy? Is the Vaio T a good bet, or are there better (cheaper?) options out there? Other brands or no-name products?

3.) I imagine these small laptops to be great for travel, but I wonder: What are their weaknesses? Are they slow, do they break easily, etc?

Any input is appreciated. Thank you very much!

I could comment on the weakness part since a friend of mine uses it and I've used her's. I personally feel that the keyboard is small and hard to type with. But after a while you get used to. The size and weight are really good so I would say that it outweighs that slight discomfort when operating it. If you will use it in the hotel room or int'l office, you may consider some sort of portable keyboard/mouse combo.

I love love love my Sony Vaio TR3 that FT technology gurus chose for me last year. (Thank you, ScottC and kanebear.) I use it constantly, and it is holding up well. The keyboard is about 95% full size. It took me about 5 minutes to adapt.

I own a Panasonic W2. Have travelled extensively. 12". XGA weighs only 2.8 lbs. Keyboard is nice and easy, except for the "End" key (requires you press the Function Key).


Recently got a Vaio TX (13", 1366x768, 2.8lbs). Very nice looking, slick machine. Keyboard is terrible(Home,End,Page Up/Down) and there is also a noisy fan. (Bought a 3 Year Onsite Service Plan plus Accidental Damage Protection for Notebooks since I am sure it will not last all my travel bumps)

Both machines harrdrive are 4200RPM. The Panasonic has 40GB, the sony has 60GB. In US you can get them from many online retailers.

Duplicate

2 Good sources for hard to find laptops:

http://www.dynamism.com/index.shtml

http://www.kemplar.com/

Buying in Japan has several problems...

1) Japanese OS
2) Japanese keyboard (most of them will of course be QWERTY, but will have Japanese characters)
3)Total lack of support

Spend some more and buy one at a US dealer that offers warranty.

Very expensive:

http://flybookstore.com/

NY Times:

Me Too !!
 

Wholeheartedly agreed!! My Vaio was purchased new from the internet, came within 2 days of promised delivery and has been a great travel companion to many foreign destinations! I particularly like the fact that I can burn DVD's to my HardDrive and watch them without using up the battery. (Altho I find the battery life to be more than adequate for my needs)

Good luck on your choice!! Best wishes, Dave

Also to think about....the IBM X series (now tablet as well...which looks AMAZING), is in about the same price range, boasts top ratings, and a full sized keyboard so that typing isn't awkward. Definitely something to look into.

W

I can't speak to the TX as I haven't spent time with one. My favorite in the ultraportable space is the Fujitsu P7020D. I have one, I utterly abuse it (it stays in my backpack and gets thrown around as a carryon constantly) and it's worked flawlessly. It's built well and the BEST part about it is that the hard drive is easy to replace should something happen. One downside to the Sony machines is that they're quite difficult to disassemble.

ultralights redux
 

Happy Thanksgiving--

Re: ultralight laptops, I've had an ATT Globalist 130, two Sony Vaios (2.8 lb & 3.5lb) and two Dells-- the Inspiron 700M (4.1lb) and the Latitude X1 (2.5).

All of them were/are fine machines. The X1 is a month old, works great, super light, plenty powerful unless you do video editing or heavy gaming. Keyboard is Ok. No built-in CD/dvd, comes separately but included free.

The newest little Sony, Toshiba and Panasonics have built-in optical drives at 2.8 lbs. Pretty amazing... but price matters, too. The Dell X1 is $500 to $1000 less than the others.

In my book, low weight trumps all other considerations. Then you can carry other gizmos, too!

Last note-- I bought ALL these machines as refurbs from the mnf. Never a problem--frankly, the Dells seemed absolutely new. This is a great deal--the X1 was only $1350, with their biggest 60g HD (but not much ram, which I'll upgrade as soon as I find a gig on sale).

Check out Laptop magazine, and PC Mag, and Cnet-- do some research-- and then buy a refurb!

Wow. Thanks for all the advice.

I guess it'll be impossible to rank the different laptops that were mentioned. My main concern is speed...I've heard some of the (especially cheaper) mini laptops can be pretty slow online etc...is there a noticeable difference from regular sized laptops?

As for buying abroad, assuming I can find a US keyboard, is the different OS a problem? And don't big brand manufacturers have worldwide warranties? Or is buying a refurbished machine in the US always a safer bet?

I have a Fujitsu Siemens P7010 ... and absolutely love it - really light (1.3 kgs) and excellent battery life (6+ hours) with DVD/CD-RW.

Most modern subnotebooks don't really have speed issues for light to medium tasks such as internet browsing, MS Office, etc. I even use my Fujitsu for video capture via USB2. It works like a champ. I also use it to do audio editing. Again, it's not lightning fast but it works. You can forget gaming and such though. There's no 3D to speak of.

To minimize speed issues, there're three areas to watch, memory, processor and hard drive. Graphics is a fourth but ultraportables all stink in that area.

IMO, the main issue with apparent slowness is due to the hard drive. The other two aren't as much of a problem anymore. For the ultraportable Sony machines, the hard drive is a 1.8", 4200RPM drive (akin to what goes in the HDD Ipods). Mind you, it's not bad but it can't keep up with the 2.5" drive in the Fujitsus. Also, they aren't easily upgradeable at all. On my fujitsu, I replaced the 4200RPM drive with a 7200RPM drive. It gets a bit hotter, and perhaps took 10 minutes off the battery life but the speed increase is MASSIVE. That's the primary reason I stick to the Fujitsu line, the optical drives and hard drives are easily removed and swapped out for better.

As for the other two issues... You want a gig of memory. 512MB will work, but it's not quite enough for the most intensive tasks. This is only really an issue for those notebooks where 512 is the maximum. Processor speed isn't much of an issue anymore either. One caveat, AVOID the Transmeta Crusoe. It's slower than a dog. All that's out there otherwise now is the Pentium M ULV at 900-1.2Ghz depending on how old the model you buy is.