Mio Technology Kaypro L1000

The Kaypro L1000 weighs just 5.4 pounds without its power adapter. It has a cool wedge shape and at $1225 has a budget price. Too bad its keyboard is so poor. Though the keyboard's slightly spongy keys provide good tactile feedback (despite a keystroke of 2.7mm rather than the standard 3mm), there are too many half-size keys, and hitting them reliably is difficult. Furthermore, despite the L1000's otherwise full-size keyboard, typing on it was laborious and felt off-balance.

Still, if you can overcome the typing issues, you'll like the rest of what the 802.11b Wi-Fi-equipped L1000 offers. Highlights include an internal DVD-ROM/CD-RW combination drive on the right and a volume wheel and four quick-launch buttons on the front. Movies looked fine on the 14.1-inch screen, though the sound was a tad weak. Using a 1.3-GHz Celeron M processor, the L1000 earned a relatively strong PC WorldBench 4 score of 110. Battery life was a little disappointing at 3 hours, considering that we tested another Celeron M-equipped notebook with a bigger screen and it lasted almost 5 hours, but it's still a solid showing. If you aren't afraid to use a screwdriver and to tug at a stubborn panel or two, the L1000 isn't tough to upgrade.