Top 15 Notebook PCs

The top of our notebook chart saw no changes this month, with the IBM ThinkPad A30p and the MicronPC TransPort XT2 retaining the Best Buy positions for power and value notebooks, respectively.

Elsewhere on the chart are two of the first notebooks we've seen based on Intel's Pentium 4 Processor-M--a new version of the Pentium 4 CPU that is designed for notebooks. None of the four notebooks we tested with the new chip climbed high on the chart, however: The best of the lot, IBM's ThinkPad A31 and Toshiba's Satellite 5105, managed to capture sixth and seventh place among power notebook contenders. Though Intel claims that the Pentium 4-M offers more processing power than the Pentium III-M (which most notebooks use), none of the portables equipped with the new CPU attained PC WorldBench 4 scores higher than 98; that's significantly lower than the marks that otherwise-comparable Pentium III-M-based notebooks often earn.

HP's fourth-place Omnibook XT6050 is the only new entry on the value section of the chart. It offers various features for corporate users (including management client software), and it has built-in 802.11b wireless networking capability.

Several new systems failed to reach the chart, including the $2499 Gateway 600L (with a 1.6-GHz Pentium 4-M CPU), the HP Pavilion ZT1190 (a smartly designed $1635 notebook with plenty of features but disappointing performance), the ultraportable HP Omnibook 510 (which comes with a media slice that has great speakers, but is rather expensive at $2899), and the featherlight but limited Sharp PC-UM20.