Notebooks Getting Too Small?

Darious Chang asks Is yours too small? It’s a good commentary on the state of ultraportable notebooks. Quote:

With an increasingly mobile workforce, ultraportable notebooks have been becoming increasingly more popular and prevalent as well. A few years back, a weight of 2kg and thickness of 35mm seemed incredible for a portable. Today, we have notebooks with the similar heft and dimensions of a hardback novel, yet somehow squeezing in an optical drive as well.

However, the small 10.6-inch screen of these machines does little for your eyesight (but wonders for your optician’s pockets). If a 12.1-inch LCD is more your liking, the upcoming LifeBook Q2010 is an amazing marvel, weighing the same as two 500ml drink bottles and looking almost thin enough to slide into a letterbox slot. But if you must have one now, Lenovo’s ThinkPad X60 and the semi-rugged Panasonic ToughBook series will transform you into a mobile warrior overnight. With a 13.3-inch display, the latest Sony VAIO VGN-SZ18GP has probably the largest screen estate, yet retains the same portability as the aforementioned systems.

But don’t expect to pay peanuts for these machines. Like going to weight-loss centers, each shaved-off inch and kilogram comes at a hefty premium meant only for the deepest pockets. But for those willing to shell out the dough, the advantages are many.

Full Article

Announced: Panasonic CF-74 Toughbook

Panasonic has announced one of the first of their Toughbooks to sport an Intel Core Duo CPU and Centrino chipset, the Panasonic Toughbook CF-74 or Toughbook-74. While it’s on the heavy side for an ultraportable (barely under 6 pounds), the weight can be attributed towards the heavy duty Magnesium-Alloy case, the harddrive protection, the spill-resistant keyboard and touchpad, and the daylight-capable touchscreen LCD display.

It has a 13.3-inch display, which unfortunately is not widescreen (probably due to touchscreen costs). It will be available in April of 2006, and MobileWhack.com is reporting that it will start at around $3000. In addition to all of the other features, it has a battery life of up to 8 hours (yes, 8 hours), and it comes with a 3-year limited warranty. This is one of the few “semi-rugged” ultraportables around, beefed up to handle a lot more outdoor use than the typical notebook (as well as with a display that works well outdoors). Even though it has a touchscreen display, it comes with Microsoft Windows XP.

Source: MobileWhack.com

Review: Panasonic Toughbook W4 (LAPTOP Magazine)

LAPTOP Magazine has published their review of the Panasonic Toughbook W4. This is a “semi-rugged” ultraportable laptop (one of the few that are currently made in this size). It has a 12-inch size display, and uses a 1.2GHz Pentium Ultra Low Voltage (ULV) CPU, with an optical drive built into the palm rest.

It retails for over $2100, but it’s well worth, according to the review: we believe its combination of durability, long battery life, and portability more than justifies the premium.

Review: Panasonic Toughbook W4 (NotebookReview.com)

Yesterday, a review was posted on NotebookReview.com of the Panasonic Toughbook W4. This is one of the few “semi-rugged” laptops available in the “ultraportable” class. It has a 12-inch size display, and uses a Pentium Ultra Low Voltage (ULV) CPU.

As the reviewer points out, it weighs in at just under three pounds, which is amazing considering it’s “semi-rugged” features as well as a built-in optical drive. It’s a good review, if your curious they’ve posted a lot of pictures and benchmarks against other laptops in its class. Like the Portege R200 mentioned earlier, it’s fanless and this leads to a very quiet laptop, as the reviewer notes.

Announced: Panasonic’s New Ultraportables - W4, T4, and R4

Akihabara News has word of new ultraportables coming out from Panasonic, in both 12.1-inch and 10.4-inch models. They are not Intel Duo Core powered, and they are not widescreen. They report one very interesting feature, that they “are designed to resist a pressure of 100kgs, except for the R4 that resists to a pressure of 50kg”. They are using Ultra Low Voltage Pentium Ms, with a 400MHz frontside bus, Intel’s 915GMS Express Chipset, DDR2, and use 60GB Ultra ATA Drives.

W4: CF-W4JW8AXR
CF-W4JW8HXR
* 12.1-inch XGA Display
* Pentium M Ultra Low Voltage (ULV) 773 - 1.3GHz
* Weight: 2.6 pounds.
* Internal optical drive - including optional DVD Writer.

T4: CF-T4JWSAXR
* 12.1-inch XGA Display
* Pentium M Ultra Low Voltage (ULV) 753 - 1.2GHZ
* Weight: 2.3 - 2.7 pounds.
* Internal optical drive - including optional DVD Writer.

R4: CF-R4JW4AXR
* 10.4-inch XGA Display
* Pentium M Ultra Low Voltage (ULV) 753 - 1.2GHZ.
* Weight: 2.2 pounds.
* Does not appear to have an internal optical drive.

I’ll be posting more on the specs, availability outside of Japan, etc., over the next few days. These series of Notebooks is being referred to by Panasonic as “Let’s Note”

Review: Panasonic Toughbook W4 (Mobile Tech Review)

A few days ago, Lisa Gade wrote a review of the Panasonic Toughbook W4 for Mobile Tech Review. The W4 is part of a very small niche in the ultraportable arena - that of “semi-rugged” laptops - those laptops that can take a little bit more abuse than the typical laptop. It has a 12.1-inch display (non-widescreen unfortunately) and owes its long battery life to the Ultra Low Voltage (ULV) Pentium CPU from Intel.

They mention some of the features that makes the Toughbook line from Panasonic attractive to many laptop buyers:

The casing is made of magnesium alloy and should withstand bumps and minor drops that might crack plastic casing notebooks or their LCDs…..it will take a beating better than standard notebook computers. The hard drive is also shock mounted for better protection of those spinning platters and delicate heads. The internal optical drive in permanently integrated into the W4’s casing and is surprisingly light, thus the W4 weighs less than other notebooks such as the ThinkPad X41 which lacks an optical drive.

Full Review

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