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Shopping for a new notebook, whether you're going back to school or back to work, is a process fraught with peril. What if you spend thousands of dollars and end up hating the thing?

Last week I offered tips on the basic things you need to know about buying a notebook. This week I suggest notebooks that are lightweight and have long battery lives. I've also included some notebooks that go beyond the norm in terms of design and style.

Travel Lightly

Many computer vendors offer lightweight notebooks, usually called ultraportables, that weigh 3 pounds or less--ideal for students and frequent business travelers.

So what's the catch? Frequently, an ultraportable has a smallish keyboard that can make typing uncomfortable; a smallish screen (12.1 inches or less) that will have you scrolling and/or squinting; smallish hard drives (you won't often find an ultraportable with a hard drive larger than 60GB); and so on. Also, some ultraportables don't include built-in optical drives. And ultraportables can be expensive.

When shopping for an ultraportable, don't rely on the weight as listed by the vendor. Most computer sellers don't include an AC adapter or other essential accessories in the notebook's weight. PC World notebook tests, however, list a notebook's minimum and average weight; the average weight includes accessories.

If light weight and a compact size are high priorities for you, take a look at the following notebooks. All earned a PCW score of Good and have a minimum weight of less than 3 pounds.

• Fujitsu LifeBook P7120: Review; Pricing
• Toshiba Portege R200-S234: Review; Pricing
• Panasonic Toughbook W4: Review; Pricing

Though it's slightly heavier (minimum weight: 3.5 pounds), the Lenovo ThinkPad X60s earned a PCW score of Very Good: Review; Pricing.

Keep Working for Hours

When you're in the library or an airport lounge, you can't count on having a wall socket available to charge your notebook. That's why it pays to get a notebook with a long battery life.

Many notebooks today offer multiple battery options. When configuring a notebook online, you may be given a choice between, say, a four-cell, six-cell, or nine-cell battery. Generally speaking, the more cells, the longer a battery will hold a charge--and the more cells a battery has, the larger and heavier it will be. There's a lot more to battery life than the size of the battery, however. Different notebooks manage power differently. Your optimum solution should include a visit to our Notebook chart, where you can compare lab-tested battery performance.

In addition, some notebooks can run off two batteries, further extending your work time. Usually, the additional battery slips into a modular bay that can hold either a second battery or an optical drive (such as a DVD burner), but not both at the same time.

If long battery life is important to you, here are some notebooks to consider:

• Two previously mentioned models provide awesome battery life. In our tests the Lenovo ThinkPad X60s lasted 8 hours and 21 minutes on an eight-cell battery, and the Fujitsu LifeBook P7120 lasted an impressive 6 hours, 26 minutes on a single six-cell battery. When a second six-cell battery is installed in the LifeBook's modular bay, the estimated operation time is nearly 13 hours.
• With a 12-cell battery, the HP Pavilion dv5000t lasted 7 hours and 7 minutes on one charge. The notebook earned a PCW rating of Good; read the review.

The Cool Factor

Want a notebook that will get attention? The current crop of head-turners include the following:

• Apple's MacBook, available in a matte-black finish, can run Windows XP as well as the Mac OS.
• The Flybook touch-screen subnotebooks are so sleek, petite, and stylish, they're sold at Barney's New York.
• Sony's Vaio TX series notebooks are petite ultraportables that come in sienna, charcoal, platinum, and slate blue cases.
• Toshiba's Qosimo G35-AV600 weighs more than ten pounds, but it packs in cool multimedia features such as a built-in TV tuner.
• For truly cool, cutting-edge notebooks, check out what's available at Dynamism.com, which sells electronics that are primarily available only in Japan.