Lots of ultra-cheap ultra-portables are coming your way

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Posted on 7 Sep 2009 at 11:40

Intel's new range of ultra low voltage (ULV) processors are designed to be just as energy efficient as the Atom processors used in netbooks. However, they're also supposed to be more powerful so they can handle more demanding work than the basic internet and office tasks that netbooks can cope with.

Numerous manufacturers showed off several new slim and lightweight ultra portable laptops based on these processors at the IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin and we took a sneak peek at the most promising ones.

BIGGER IS BETTER?

Although most of the models we saw were equipped with 13.3in or 11.6in screens and weighed around 1.5kg as we would expect, we were surprised to see 15.6in models from both Samsung and MSI that weigh around 2kg. This is at least 500-600g lighter than most of the 15in laptops we're used to seeing and could be very attractive if you want a laptop with high resolution screen that's still easy to carry around.

Samsung has used the extra space on its 15.6in X520 well. The keyboard has a numeric keypad for quick data entry and it thankfully has the same layout as a standard desktop keyboard. The large keys all felt comfortable and responsive to use. The touchpad is huge, although the pivoting chrome button doesn't feel as firm as we'd like.

There's no built-in optical drive though and the preproduction sample we saw didn't feel as rigid as we'd expect. The screen has a resolution of 1,366x768 pixels, but this isn't as high as the resolution on MSI's X600 though. The X520 is due for release in October, but we've yet to see full UK specifications and pricing.

MSI's 15.6in X600 looks like a larger version of its existing X340 ultra portable, but it has a numeric keypad that's almost identical to one you'd find on a desktop keyboard except for the undersized zero key. We liked the rigid construction and huge touchpad, but have reservations about the springy keys and single pivoting touchpad button.

The X600-055UK will be generously equipped though with a 1.6GHz Core 2 Duo SU9600 processor, 4GB of RAM, a 500GB hard disk and a dedicated 512MB ATI Mobility Radeon graphics chip. The 15.6in screen has a high resolution of 1,680x1,050 pixels. An external optical drive will be included in the box. This model will be available shortly for £800.

FEATHERWEIGHT CHAMPIONS

We were intrigued by the Wind U200 on display at MSI's IFA stand. Unlike the previously announced Wind U210 AMD Neo-based netbook, this Wind was fitted with a Core 2 Solo U3500 ULV processor.

It appears almost identical to the U210 though, with the same 12.1in 1,366x768 display, 1.4kg weight and the same large keyboard with no undersized keys. The display model we saw was equipped with 2GB of RAM and Intel GMA 4500 integrated graphics chip with Windows 7 installed on its 250GB hard disk. It will be interesting to see how the Intel and AMD versions compare in both applications performance and battery life.

However, judging from the sample we saw we already have our reservations about the gloomy looking display and the slightly spongy, unresponsive keyboard. European pricing has been set at 500 Euro (around £440), but MSI has yet to confirm official UK pricing and a British availability date.

Samsung's X120 could easily be mistaken for a netbook due to its low weight of less than 1.4kg and its 11.6in 1,366x768 glossy screen. It has a very large keyboard with spaced out keys but with none of the odd keyboard layouts we've seen on some of the company's netbooks. The touchpad is huge although this is at least partially due to the buttons which are placed to either side of the pad instead of beneath it.

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