Group test: Lightweight laptops

Laptops once fell into two main categories. There were ‘desktop replacements’ that were powerful enough to replace a desktop PC, but tended to be big and heavy with limited battery life.

These laptops were designed primarily for business users who might travel from time to time, but did most of their work in an office where they had access to a mains power supply.

Alternatively you could opt for an ‘ultraportable’ machine, designed for people who need to work on the move.

It would be much smaller and lighter and would provide better battery life, although it might not provide the same performance as a desktop replacement system.

However, the recent shift towards more efficient processor designs, such as Intel’s Core and Core 2 ranges, has produced processors that run faster while consuming far less power than previous generations of processors.

This means that it’s now possible to produce lightweight laptops that can combine high performance with impressive battery life.

There are still a few compromises that have to be made to keep the size and weight down, the most obvious being the screen size.

Most of the lightweight laptops submitted for this review had a fairly compact 12in screen, although Hewlett-Packard and Packard-Bell managed to squeeze a 14in screen into their laptops while staying under our 2.5kg weight limit.

In fact we saw 12in, 13in and 14in displays featured on the laptops submitted for this group test, giving a wide range of features and price points to choose from. So read on to find out which of these lightweight marvels is the right one for you.

This article is part of a group test of lightweight laptops.
See also Fujitsu-Siemens
HP Compaq
Mesh Pegasus
Packard Bell
Samsung NP
Sony Vaio
Evesham Lightbook
Graphs and table of features can be read via our pdf downloads above.
Editor's Choice/the winner is on the next page

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