Photograph: Marc SimonOur Top 5 Ultraportables chart welcomes three newcomers this month. Nonetheless, Lenovo's ThinkPad X41, a carryover from last time, maintains its leadership position, helped by a price drop of $200 since our February rankings. Our other holdover, Acer's TravelMate 3000, holds on to second position.
The new number three is Fujitsu's LifeBook P7120 Notebook. Though this lightweight unit is the most expensive ultraportable in our current group, it's well designed and attractive, and has a two-battery option and a fine keyboard. The P7120 improves on the LifeBook P7000 by making its hard drive user replaceable, moving the optical drive from the left side to the right, and replacing hard-to-read icons with standard LEDs on the screen hinge. And instead of residing in the hinge, the speakers now flank the battery, still remaining exposed when the laptop's lid is closed. The new position is a welcome change.
Alienware's first ultraportable, the impressive Sentia m3200, puts the company--known for high-performance desktop PCs and heavy desktop replacement notebooks for gaming--on new ground. The Sentia turned in top-tier performance in our WorldBench 5 tests, and the unit offers a fine case design and a bright display.
In fifth place, the HP Compaq nc4200 Notebook PC provides a great keyboard, one that any laptop user would be proud of, and yet the system weighs less than 4 pounds. Offering a superb layout, the keyboard has eraserhead and touchpad pointing devices, both of which are uncommonly comfortable to use. This business-oriented laptop also has an external battery gauge, a powered USB port, and built-in Bluetooth. However, no optical drive is built in, so you'll need to buy from HP's wide range of docks; a $259 model houses an optical or second hard drive.
We also reviewed Systemax's Pursuit 4110 and Micro Express's Z3300. The Pursuit, which is sold online at TigerDirect.com for $1380, narrowly missed the chart. The unit has a bright, 12.1-inch wide-aspect screen, an 80GB hard drive, and strong performance. Although the Pursuit is very similar to the Sentia m3200, Alienware's machine offers a better-designed case and superior documentation.
The Micro Express Z3300 is the fastest ultraportable we've tested and weighs only 3.4 pounds. But its battery life was the shortest we've recorded among ultraportables, and you will be stuck with its DVD-ROM/CD-RW combination drive; you can't order an internal DVD burner.
Find the Very Latest Notebook Charts
Click on the links below for the latest online ultraportable notebook rankings or a comprehensive list of all notebooks we've tested.
- Most current Top Ultraportable Notebooks chart
- Most current Top All-Purpose Notebooks chart
- Most current Top Power Notebooks chart
- All Notebooks
Top Ultraportable Notebooks From the May 2006 Issue of PC World Magazine
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