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Ultra Portable Notebooks

author-image
PCQ Bureau
New Update

Price Range: Rs. 82,000 to Rs. 1,28,000, Average MRP: Rs. 99,700




Brands:
HP, Lenovo, Samsung

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These are thin and small form factor notebooks that are meant for the top

management of your company. These are not necessarily feature or power packed

and if they come with oomph on that front, that may not be by design. That said,

the models we got this time and got classified here are all dual cores, with 512

MB or 1 GB RAM and 50 to 60 GB of hard disk space. While we expected features

like biometrics and other forms of security and data protection to be common and

available on these models, we found only the Lenovo X60 have it all. None of

them came with a SmartCard and the Q35 from Samsung did not feature any of them.

The lightest of them (by physical weight) would be the HP NC2400, at just 1

kilo. The Q35 is not as slim as the others but fits into the Ultra Portables as

it weighs only 1.5 Kgs.

MCCW performance was good across the three notebooks, with an average score

of 44.2 indicating good technical design. Battery times varied from a normal 3

hours to a mind blowing 7 hours 15 minutes! They did not too well in our 3D Mark

benchmark given that they came with a standard Intel 915 or 950 graphics system

with 128 MB video memory. If you compare the 3D Mark scores of these notebooks

with that of similar graphics models in other categories, you'll find the

scores to be on par. For instance, the Intex 029CD in the Budget category has a

similar score; as do the HP NX6320 and LG T1 in the Feature Rich class.

Since there are just three notebooks in this category, we have only one

winner here. And before we move on to see which one that is, let's compare a

few Lab notes.

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Lab notes



The Samsung Q35 model we received had a dual language keyboard, with Russian
characters over the QWERTY pad. The layout of the spacebar row of keys were also

slightly altered, putting the Fn key at the left end where usually is the Ctrl

key. The Left Ctrl key is a little wider and the Tilde (~) key is right next to

the spacebar. Also, the Windows key is on the right side of the spacebar and

there is no context menu key. This can make life a little confusing for someone

who uses these keys a lot or a few hours of frustration when getting used to it.

The function keys on the Q35 are a little wider than that on the HP 2400 but

soft keys that users of other notebooks are used to are either missing or in the

'wrong' places. For instance the key we use to send video a projector (FN-F5

on most notebooks) is not there. Instead, the Q35's FN-F5 will turn off your

LCD screen! Similarly, the PgUp/Home and PgDn/End keys are around the four

cursor keys --- no complaints against that, but the sizes are so small that

unless you have slim fingers you could hit the wrong button easily and move away

to a different place suddenly. On a positive note, the Samsung has an AVNow

button like the R65 in the Mid Range category, to open a media center to browse

photos, movies and music without fully turning on the system.

On the HP NC2400, we found a volume control 'area' where u can just drag

a fingertip across a graded bar and have it change volume. Sadly, the bar didn't

light up as we tried it out a few times. The other 'buttons' on the 2400 for

one button projection like its other cousins in other categories, wireless

on/off and HP Info Center are similar touch spots on the panel.

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The HP Info Center is an application suite that manages motion sensor for the

hard disk, setup various bundled software, configure the fingerprint reader and

view system information. There is a lot of space wasted under the keyboard and

the notebook could have done with a track-pad there as the track-point is a very

sensitive one to start with.

Lenovo X60
+

Best features and good price



- No optical drive

The Lenovo X60 is an

ultra portable notebook and is billed to be one of the thinnest notebooks

on the planet. And, it is. What is surprising is that inspite of weighing

just 1.5 Kg and being so slim, it packs so many features and power

performance in it. The ThinkVantage software suite is of course a part of

this ThinkPad and as you know this software helps you manage various

aspects of your system, like security, protection against data theft,

configures the APS system to protect your hard disk better and use the

Access Connections to connect to wireless systems.

Being an 'ultra portable'

this notebook stands out from the rest on one aspect — the form factor.

The X60 is a square notebook (meaning it has an XGA screen) with a

12" diagonal screen size and not a rectangular one like other ultra

portables. This means you have more screen space and you're not cramped

for hand space when working with the keyboard either. It is also a

Centrino Duo with 512 MB of RAM and a 60 GB hard disk. The ThinkPad comes

with both a track-pad and a track-point. It features biometric security,

as it comes with a fingerprint reader and a

TPM chip to authenticate

and authorize access to your data. A PCMCIA II, SD/Memory card reader and

an IR port round out the connectivity options along with Gigabit Ethernet

and 56 Kbps V.92 modem ports. We also liked the fact that Lenovo now

includes both the Windows and the context menu keys on their models. And

oh yes, it does not feature an optical drive.

Performance wise, the X60

does quite well. It tops the charts for this category with 1339 3D Marks

and 46.6 MCC Winstones. It also clocked 4 hours and 10 minutes on the

battery which is impressively second to the Samsung Q35's 7 hours and 16

minutes.

BOTTOM LINE: It

packs in the right amount of features, performance and style to covet the

Editor's Choice in this category. We rate it an excellent steal for the

price tag.

Model   Key specs   Contact
HP NC2400

Features: 70.0 Performance: 65.3



Price: 64.5


Overall: 200


Rs.1,27,143

Centrino Duo (T2400)



1.8 GHz,512 MB,55 GB


HDD, Intel 945GM/128


MB,12”WXGA,1 Kg,


03:03 battery time


+

Lightest in the category,one touch projection



- Costliest in the category, low on performance and battery time



Deepak

Jagtiani,



Hewlett-Packard


India Sales Pvt Ltd,


Gurgaon, Tel: +91-


9899599119, deepak.jagtiani@hp.com 


Samsung Q35

Features: 61.4



Performance: 100  


Price: 100 


Overall: 261


Rs.81,990


Centrino Duo (T2300)



1.6 GHz,512 MB,50 GB


HDD, Intel 945GM/128


MB,12”WXGA,1.5 Kg,


07:16 battery time


+

Best performance and



price in the category,best


battery life in this


shootout


- Low on
features like



drive protection,TPM,


etc present in the others


in the category





Vineet

Mittal, Samsung



India Electronics Pvt


Ltd.New Delhi.


Tel: 41511234. v.mittal@samsung.com



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