Apple’s MacBook Air laptops sold over a million units in the last quarter of 2011, and these numbers have the PC industry salivating over the prospects.  Intel has recently begun promoting their own brand of these thin and light portables they call Ultrabooks.  And all the major manufacturers either have climbed onto Intel’s bandwagon and have their models for sale now or are in the planning stage for having one soon.

But, early sales of Ultrabooks have generally been disappointing.  It is said that both Asus and Acer, the two early entrants,  sold only about 100,000 each, while their expectations were nearer 200,000 to 300,000.  No other sales data are available at this time, so is isn’t known if the prospects have improved since the initial sales data were reported.

The lackluster sales have not deterred the industry, however, and they remain behind these new ultraportables.  Industry estimates are that by 2013 ultraportables will account for about 20% of all laptop sales.  The reason the adoption will be this slow is the price of these sleek new machines are too high.  Most retail in the $1000 to $1500 range which is twice to three times the price of a conventional laptop. 

Fortunately there are realistic hopes that the costs and pricing will come down as production is ramped up and some of the newer chips like Ivy Bridge from Intel and Trinity from AMD begin finding their way to volume production.

For now, however, if you want a thin and light portable, your only option is one with an Intel Sandy Bridge system on a chip (SOC)  The MacBook Air uses Sandy Bridge as do all the Windows machines.  There are no competitors in the chip world that make a comparable SOC.

There are, however, two new possibilities that are nearing completion:

• AMD has its Trinity design ready, and it will reportedly be as low in power consumption, equally fast CPU (AMD calls theirs an APU—Application Processing Unit), with even faster graphics.  Rumors are that AMD will launch its next-generation accelerated processing unit, codenamed Trinity, in second quarter 2012. The Trinity will start with its quad-core A10 and A8 processors in the second quarter then followed by dual-core A6 and A4 processors in the third-quarter of 2012.

Clock speeds for the A10 model are 3.87 GHz and 4.0 GHz in turbo mode.  Speeds for the A6 and A4 dual core versions have not been leaked.

Confirming earlier rumors, AMD’s said Trinity-based thin-and-light laptops will be priced between $600 and $800 by the middle of the year.

• An even more radical design will probably be available later this year after Microsoft releases Windows 8 for ARM chips.  There is much to be said for the reduced instruction set machines (RISC) of ARM.  Almost all cell phones, smartphones and tablets use a variant of ARM designs.  By reducing their instruction set they can be made to do some things well, such as graphics or WiFi, and not do other things at all or at least not well.

Also, designers have learned to add multiple cores as well as to link many individual ARM SOCs, in which each unit is dedicated to specific chores. 

The multi-core ability of ARM designs make it feasible for use as a central processing unit for a laptop.  Otherwise, it would probably be confined to the phone and tablet market.

Apple, for example, has tailored the A9 ARM to run its iPad, iPhone and iPods. But its full-fledged computers use a full instruction set CPU from Intel. Texas Instruments has tailored the same chip to run the BlackBerry Playbook and other tablets. Qualcomm has done its thing with its Snapdragon SOC, and Nvidia is using a different model as the basis of its Tegra 3 (quad-core) design.

Although the ARM A9 is a 32-bit design, it can be tweaked to do a good job for many different uses.  And a 64-bit design is being developed now.  It is certain that the same manufactures who are working on Ivy Bridge Ultrabooks will also offer an ARM-based laptop, probably later this year. 

It will be most interesting to see if a RISC machine will be able to go head to head with the more powerful designs of Intel.  Intel, itself, uses RISC technology in its Atom line of processors, but they are not as power-efficient as ARM designs, and the Atom was designed specifically for netbooks, a category of PC that is rapidly losing market share.

AMD has christened their new line of ultraportables as Ultrathin.  No code name has been assigned the ultraportables that use ARM chips, yet, but you can bet they will have one soon.  Overall, the industry sees ultraportables as the wave of the future, and everyone is anxious to cash in on the trend.

The good news is that AMD has purposely aimed at lowering the prices of their Ultrathin models.  They want to be at least $200 below the price for a comparable Ultrabook that uses Intel hardware.  ARM SOCs may be even lower.  Lower prices will stimulate a higher demand and put price pressure on everyone else who supplies this new market.  Ultraportables seem headed for more affordable prices within the next few months.

Ray Hendon

Ultraportables, which include the newest incarnation of thin and light laptops, the Ultrabook, are thought by some to be a threat to tablet computers.  The instant-on capability of Ultrabooks are believed to be especially attractive to those who have been buying tablets because of this feature. 

It appears likely to me that Ultrabooks and other thin and light laptops will do well in the market place, especially when their prices fall a few hundred dollars.  But whether they will dampen any of the enthusiasm for tablets is another matter.  Personally I think both form factors satisfy separate needs for different users.

One feature of the new Ultrabooks that will help resolve the question is whether they will serve their owners as competent eReaders.  Surely there are some prospective buyers who would prefer to own only one device rather than two—but only if the one could do the work of two.  Can an Ultrabook do both heavy duty computing and convenient eReading?  Can one design satisfy both these needs?

Certainly a dedicated eReader or a tablet have some advantages over a laptop, even a thin and light one.  Reading electronic books, for example is probably done best by a device that closely emulates the look and feel of a book.  The popularity of the Kindle and Nook are thought to owe much of their success to their similarity to printed books.

How essential is the look and feel,  though, to those who read a lot.   This article takes a look at the possibility of using these new, thin and light computers as an eReader.

To put this question to a practical test, I loaded the top three eReading applications to an 11.6” screen Asus UX21 to see how they worked.  The applications chosen to test are:

Amazon’s Kindle App for PCs, Macs, iPad, iPhone and Android devices

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• Barnes and Noble’s Nook Application for PC, Mac, iPad, iPhone  and Android devices
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• Sony’s Reader Application for PC, Mac and Android devices

  

To give you a taste of the difference, I have taken screen shots of random pages from eBooks on the three applications I mentioned.

Beginning with Amazon, a screen shot of George Eliot’s Daniel Deronda, is displayed in the two column format for laptop viewing. The screen shot is taken of the Kindle application for PCs.

Screen of Kindle Reader in Two Column Format

The Kindle app is widely praised for its versatility of layout options, underlining, comments, bookmarks and especially its syncing abilities.  This app also has go-to options that ease navigation, and dictionary lookup for a highlighted word.  All these features work on Ultrabooks. 

Amazon also has a user friendly policy of allowing you to direct any book in your library to be sent to any device on your registered list of devices. Amazon is indifferent as to which device or how many you use for any their electronic titles.  It treats them all the same and syncs them in an effortless way. The moment I registered my latest laptop, the Asus ZenBook UX21, all books in my library were immediately available for reading.

The strongest features of Amazon is, in my view, the ease of use of its website.  It is easy to find books, send them to the device of your choice, and generally navigate their vast site.

Equally strong is the selection of books, magazines and newspapers. They claim over a million titles, but that includes some categories such as “Singles” that represent a new class of literature that is generally shorter than a book but longer than an article. 

The worst feature of Amazon is that they insist on using a proprietary format for their eBook files.  It has an AZW extension and works only on Kindle software or hardware.  Although all the free sites I use give the option of downloading their books in the AZW format, in practice it is not terribly inconvenient.  Amazon also can read PDF files, and they will convert your Word for Windows documents to a format that allows you to put them in you Kindle library.

The other downside to Amazon is that they use DRM (digital rights management) on everything, so there is no cutting or pasting using anything in the AZW format. 

The Nook eReader software also provides a good reader experience. The screen shot below is from one of their pre-DRM works. Don’t be fooled by the small typeface. My screen capture utility shrunk it because the Nook takes up more of the horizontal space of the computer screen than the Kindle reader, so it has to cut the size down to fit within the pasted space. In practice, the Nook screen is as readable as any other.

Screen shot from the Nook Reader using the dual pane format

All the formatting and user options are available for the Nook reader–font size, margins, highlighting, lookup, go-to. And the B&N syncing feature is excellent between devices, and they offer their reader software app for a wide range of devices.

As far as eReading goes, it is hard to find much to prefer of B&N over Amazon or vice versa.  Both are excellent and have almost identical features.

The same is true for selection of books. B&N’s inventory is huge, and they have a good selection of free public domain books—as good as or better than Amazon’s.

Nook uses the ePub format, as does Sony, although both will read many other formats as well.  They do not read Amazon’s proprietary AZW file format, however.

Something of an oddity: The Nook reader treats all ePub software as DRM protected, so they do not allow cutting or pasting of non-DRM books.  Even on the iPad, whose own iReader app allows cutting and pasting of non-DRM protected material the  Nook does not.

Sony’s reader app provides a good reading experience. The screen shot below is from an ePub file of a non-DRM version of Sherlock Holmes.

Screen of Sony Reader’s Dual Column Layout

As with the Nook, the Sony Reader software uses more of the landscape screen to display its materiel than the Kindle app, so my clipping software has to reduce it to fit the pasting space. But Sony gives one plenty of formatting options and page control.

Sony lags both Amazon and B&N with book selection and syncing ability.  Their books are generally priced high; they have few free books, and their selection doesn’t match its two larger competitors.

Sony makes its reader software available to fewer devices—no iPad, no iPhone, no BlackBerry, for example.  They have syncing available to the three types of devices they support, but I have not tried it personally.

I like the Sony reader app for its ability to read almost any kind of document regardless of format, except, of course, Kindle documents. I will always have their app installed on my computers in case a particular book is not available in the Kindle format.  And they allow cut and paste options for non-protected books.

I find all three of the reader software about equally enjoyable to use. The differences in layout and options are not terribly important. I find I use the Kindle app more than the others because I find more books on their site I like, and I like to sync the books among all my devices. Still, I maintain active use of the Nook and the Sony Readers.

Summary:

First, the reality of the size and convenience of specialized eReaders and tablets makes it clear that they have the advantage. It is not possible for an ultrabook, weighing in at 2.9 pounds, to be as convenient to use as a 7-inch tablet or even the pound and a half iPad.

However, it is also inconvenient to carry two devices if one will do. So, there will be occasions when a thin and light laptop could be a suitable substitute for a dedicated eReader or tablet. 

At bottom, all of these tested apps work well on an Ultrabook. And they would work just as well with the software from other vendors such as Kobo or Blio. If your eReading preferences include comic books, magazines or children’s books, then you might like a specialty reader designed for the formats unique to these publications.

While all the eReading apps work well on an Ultrabook, it still may not be your preferred way of reading electronic texts.  But they are completely usable as a primary or secondary eReader. The choice of one over another is more dependent on which site you prefer to use because of its particular strengths than to the characteristics of their eReades.

From my experience, I have given away my Kindle reader. I simply do not want to carry another device with me in my travels. Now that I have a 7-inch tablet, the Samsung Galaxy Tab, I use it as my eReader of choice because of its lightness and ease of holding in one hand. I use the iPad for e-reading infrequently, but there are occasions when it comes in handy. Its weight, though, makes it a second choice, especially for long reading times. 

I rarely use a PC or my ultraportable for reading, but if I do it will be on the ultraportable.  Its lightness and instant-on feature does make it a better choice than the older, heavier laptops, but it is not as convenient to carry as a tablet.

An ultraportable may not be your favorite way of reading electronic texts, but it serves as a completely satisfying vehicle for reading if you want to carry only one device with you or if an occasion arises when it is all you have to use.

Ray Hendon

The fabulous looking devices below are pictures of a new ultra-thin ultraportable that Lenovo will be introducing this summer if rumors are true.

It will carry the ThinkPad designation, meaning that the keyboard and other features that help define this brand will be present.  If looks are an indication, this is to be Lenovo’s answer to the MacBook Air, with a few enhancements of its own. 

According to a Swiss site, the X1 will include a 2.5GHz Core i5-2520M CPU, a 160GB SSD, and a 13.3-inch Gorilla Glass screen.  It will also include a new generation of battery, a “slice” as it is called, that charges two and a half times faster than conventional laptop batteries, recovering 80% of a full charge in just half an hour on the charger.

The Swiss site lists the new ThinkPad as selling for €2600, which would close to $3000 in America.  However, I would expect the U.S. price to be closer to $2000–$2500 since almost all computers sell in Europe for more than a straight currency exchange rate with the dollar would imply.

Additional specs: It is said the X1 is 21.5mm thick, which is .846 inches.  This compares to the iPad’s .67 inches, about 26% thicker.  Screen resolution will be 1366 X 768.
The Swiss site also mentions a May delivery date, so it may become available before June, or not.

This is another strong sign from Lenovo that it is finally getting serious about up-dating the ThinkPad’s legacy of square and boxy black.  Their new Edge line of ThinkPads also has a red cover as an option, and there are other designer touches on this new line that speak to their move into more contemporary looks for this venerated line of notebooks.

Ray Hendon

The high end of ultraportable computers is a most desirable section of the computer industry. Sandy Bridge chips used in these devices are powerful, fast and exceptionally energy efficient. Their graphics are crisp and the color is brilliant. All employ SSD drives, so boot time is about half a minute and resuming from sleep is almost instant.

The laptops themselves are also thin and light—weighing less than four pounds with one going less than three. The keyboards are excellent. Thin and light, powerful and portable. What’s not to like, except for the price?

This review is limited to screens below 14-inches and weight of less than four pounds. Although some of the manufacturers are beginning to call 14-inch screens ultraportables, in my view, anything above 13.3-inches is too heavy to be properly classified as ultraportable. I have not seen a 14-inch laptop that was less than four pounds, and some are closer to five

In this review only those devices in the 12- through 13+ inches are considered. Those less than 12-inches were reviewed in an article earlier this week. To read it Click Here.

None of the manufacturers I have surveyed have put a quad core i7 or i5 in their ultraportables. All use a dual core configuration, either i7, which employs Intel’s hyper-threading technology, or an i5 dual core which does not.

The Sony Vaio S Series, $2499.99

The top of the mountain in the ultra-portable category is currently occupied by Sony with their Vaio Series S model described below and pictured at right.

· Model Number: VPCSB1BGX/B

Intel® Core™ i7-2620M (2.70 / 3.40GHz)
Genuine Windows® 7 Professional 64-bit
Features: 13.3″ LED backlit display, (1366 x 768 resolution), 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD, Blu-ray™ player, AMD graphics (1GB VRAM), HDMI™ out

· Physical dimensions:: 13.04″ (W) x 0.95″ (H) x 8.84″ (D)

· Weight (Approx.) : 3.8 lbs. (with Standard Capacity Battery)

From the brief specs above it is clear that little has been left out of this system. Its speed at 3.4 GHz (with Turbo Boost) for a dual core chip is fast, especially with its 8GB of RAM and 256GB SSD storage. Add a Blue-ray optical drive and AMD graphics processing unit, and you get a strong entry into the best of everything system. The screen resolution, of course, could be better, but not if you want the battery to last very long. All the other screens in this category offer the same resolution.

The Sony website has all of this series on one page. It shows that the price can be reduced to a mere $999.99 by going to a Core i5, dumping the SSD, much of the RAM and the Blu-ray player and adding a slow spinning drive. Click here to go to the Sony site.

Sony has kept the thickness below one inch, but that is far thicker than the MacBook Air. But, then again, the inclusion of an optical drive demands a certain thickness. And, to Sony’s credit they kept the weight just below four pounds.

I have been unable to find a hands-on review of Sony’s new Core i7. The one review posted on Sony’s site complained about the noisy fan among other things, but it was not a review of the model shown above. As one becomes available I will update this post with a link and summary.

Lenovo ThinkPad X220, $849-2100

The specs of the X220 are impressive, demo models having been made available to some reviewers. The review featured here is the one by Engadget, and it was a strong one. Consider the last section of the opening paragraph:

“ The 12.5-inch machine is filled to the brim with the latest and greatest technology, including a new Intel Sandy Bridge Core i5 processor, an IPS display, and a six-cell battery. And if you look even closer, Lenovo’s made some small tweaks to the touchpad and keyboard, which make more difference than you’d ever think. The point is, that all-too-familiar ThinkPad can deceive you with its boring business looks, but it’s arguably one of the best laptops we’ve ever tested. Hit the break to find out why we think it’s so laudable.”

These are not your average reviewer terms, and, indeed, the ThinkPad X220 is a laudable computer. Although the reviewer wrote his account in mid-March when only an Core i5 chip was available, a Core i7 is now available for the top of the line model. It is even more impressive today than it was then.

The specifications are:

· Processor: Intel® Core™ i7-2620M Processor (2.7GHz, 4MB L3 Cache) USB 3.0

· Weight: < 3.0lbs (1.3kg)

SSD Options: Intel® 80GB Micro Solid State Drive, Serial ATA, or

128GB Solid State Drive, Serial ATA , or Intel® 160GB Solid State Drive, Serial ATA

The X220 is also available with 7400 rpm spinning drives

Configured  with i7, Win Pro 64, 4GB RAM, 128GB SSD, 6-cell Battery, Blu-tooth, b.g.n wireless plust 3G broadban: $lists @ $2215, on sale for $1769.

For a full review of Lenovo’s X220, click here.

Toshiba Portege R830-S8330 $1649.00

Toshiba is a respected name in laptop computers. In decades past they dominated the field as few have done. But, the last few years have seen them fall behind in innovation and their sales have suffered.

Nevertheless, they continue making good quality machines that have a dedicated user base. Their Portege R830 is a continuation of Portege models of ultraportables in the last few years.

A brief rundown of the current specifications shows a powerhouse laptop that stands up well against the other devices reviewed except for the thickness factor. At 1.05-inches in height, the Portege is close to a half inch thicker than the MacBook Air. Its weight, however, at 3 pounds for the base model, is competitive.

In terms of raw power, it is more than competitive in some areas.

It is also customizable, so many of the specs shown above can be downgraded to come within a budget. While lacking in a Wow factor, the Portege is a worthy machine for doing a good job. Style is not its strength, but solid processing and build quality are. For a review of the Portege R830 click here.

In this sense, the Portege is more like the Lenovo X220–lacking in flash but packing a potent bundle of processing power and portability.

Samsung Series 9 $1650. (Some retailers go as low as $1599)

Link to Samsung Site: Click Here

§ Processor: Intel® Core™ i5 Processor 2537M

§ Operating System: Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium (64-bit)

§ Graphics : Intel® HD Graphics 3000

§ Storage: 128 GB Solid State Drive

§ Dimensions: 12.9″ (W) x 8.9″ (D) x 0.62″ ~ 0.64″ (H)

The Series 9 (don’t you love the name) is Samsung’s response to the Apple MacBook Air, emulating much of its unique design but updated with a Sandy Bridge processor. The reviews of this new machine have been good with consistent praise for its design, engineering and style. It weighs under three pounds, is extremely thin and has, according to reports, a brilliant screen with luminosity well above most laptops.

Engadget has a thorough review of the Series 9. The reviewer generally praises the new Samsung device and says it compares well with the MacBook Air. The review has many pictures and videos of the reviewing process: to read the full review, click here.

Samsung does not offer an upgrade to a Core i7, nor do they say more than the 128GB of SSD memory can be added. The machine is currently carried by a large number of retailers.

Apple Ultraportables

There are two other ultraportables that are not in this review because they fall out of the limits of my early definitions. The MacBook Air does not have a Sandy Bridge processor, but that shortcoming is rumored to be headed for a fix later this year. The second is the MacBook Pro-13-inch version. This excellent portable weighs in at four and a half pounds which is over the limit I set to meet my idea of an ultraportable.

I am staying with my original definition. I think it is reasonable, but anyone wanting a machine that does have a Sandy Bridge processor and one of the best screens and slick operating systems in the market would do well to check out the MacBook Pro. User experience with it is uniformly good. But it is too heavy to qualify for this review.

When the MacBook Air is upgraded to Sandy Bridge it will undoubtedly be a major player in the high-end market for ultraportables. It has the Wow factor and then some in both its 11.6-inch and 13.3-inch versions. Once upgraded, it may be the machine of choice of many who can live without the applications that require Windows to run.

Ray Hendon

A new generation of processors is now beginning to show up in computers on dealer shelves. HP, Lenovo, Sony and Toshiba all have new models of laptops that feature Intel’s new Sandy Bridge CPU and some that feature AMD’s new Fusion chips.

Both Fusion and Sandy Bridge are completely new designs: they are all ULV (ultra-low voltage) that make for long battery life, and they are also much faster in doing everything.  The ULV features means that they can last almost all day with an eight cell battery running 1080p HD video.

Also both designs put a full graphics card on the same chip that houses the CPU.  This is an important step beyond the typical integrated graphics, because both the CPU and the graphics processor are independent—not sharing clock cycles to carry out their tasks.  And, both the CPU and GPU are built on 32 nanometer silicone—which is where some of the speed enhancement comes from.

These new chips are the future of the the laptop computer. We will never look back and want the old again. For one brief period, chip design and engineering have caught up with what computer users demand: fast, furious, fun, and free of a power cord.

These are astounding advancements, and for power users there will be no looking back. The new chips run all the old application programs faster than the older generation of CPUs, their screens are brighter with more resolution, and they are lighter and more compact.

Although the new chips were designed primarily for laptops, the focus of this article is mainly on the smallest models (the ultra-portables) of the notebook class—those with 11.6-inch screens.  These sleek new units are an inch and a half above the maximum size of a netbook and with much better processing power, HD graphics and keyboard comfort. The good news about these enhancements is that they come at a fairly low incremental cost.

Three New 11.6-inch Models Using AMD’s New Fusion Chips

Model	Weight/thick	Price + options	Picture
Lenovo x120eExternal optical drive optional	2.9—3+320 GB HD @7200 rpm+$20 for Blue Tooth	$450 +No SSD options  Brief review below
HP dm1zExternal optical drive optional	3.52 lbs, 0.8”320 GB HD @7200 rpmBlue Tooth	$450 +128GB SSD, add $290 Click for review
Sony YExternal optical drive optional	3.23 lbs, 0.99”500 GB HD @5400 rpmBlue Tooth	$550 + No SSD options

Each of the models above has a 1376 x 768 LED display and runs the same AMD dual core Fusion E-350 chip.  Each has an HDMI-out port.

The Fusion chip competes well with Intel’s Sandy Bridge dual core models of its i3 and i5 CPUs. A quad core Sandy Bridge laptop is already available in some laptops—listed as the Core i7.  AMD has recently released its quad core APU, but they will not make their way into new computers for a few months.  AMD insists on calling its new line accelerated processing units (APUs) rather than CPUs.

The Sandy Bridge chips are featured in the higher end of the ultraportable range with prices ranging closer to $2000 than to $500.  The AMD units are being used in the smaller screen models shown above.

For the larger screens Lenovo has a 14-inch ThinkPad, the T420, which starts at $1029 for a Sandy Bridge i3. Sony’s S Series has a quad core Sandy Bridge i7 with a 13.3-inch screen and a spinning hard drive that starts at $1499.  The spinner is replaced with a 256GB solid state drive (SSD) for a mere $2499. These higher-end devices will be the subject on another article, soon.

At the other end of the scale, just below the 11.6-inch ultra-portables, are the Netbooks.  Intel limits computers using its Atom processor to 10.1-inch screens, and Atom seems to be destined to remain the dominant chip in netbooks.  Fortunately, a new, more powerful Atom, the Z670, will be showing up in new netbooks within a few months, but it will still be powering a 10.1-inch screen and cramped keyboard.

Pricewise, netbooks begin at around $300 and range up to $600 for some options, so there is a little overlap between the netbooks and the low end of the ultra-portables.

The reason the manufacturers have extended the ultra-portable line closer to the netbook class is three-fold:

1. Keyboards on netbooks are all less than standard size, so typing on them is not as comfortable or efficient as with full-sized models.

2. The screen size of 10.1=inches is too crowded to read comfortably for web pages.

3. The Atom processors are underpowered for tasks such as 1080p video and multi-tasking.

The bottom line is that Netbooks were designed to do only a limited number of tasks, and many users found these limitations too severe.  In the recent past, moving up from 10.1-inches to 13.1 or 13.3-inch models was done by tripling the cost.

The new line of Fusion chips addresses all these issues. Larger screens are OK, the keyboards are full-sized, the screen resolution is excellent and fully capable of HD graphics.  The processing power of both the dual-core Fusion and Sandy Bridge is completely adequate for power-hungry applications.

I have tested the Lenovo x120e for the last month, and it is a quantum leap from the older Lenovo S-10 netbook. The keyboard, being a ThinkPad, is great. The x120e’s weight is a little less than 3 pounds and its size makes it convenient to carry. Lenovo has also implemented the faster boot and shut-down processes, which is greatly appreciated. The screen resolution is excellent, and HDMI-out works seamlessly on a HD TV.

The power of the AMD Fusion is apparent. Application such as Word for Windows and Windows Live Writer, which I use for my blogs, functions smoothly. My older netbook choked on Live Writer, taking several seconds to catch up with my typing and formatting, and taking exceptionally long to load.

The WiFi capabilities of the x120e are robust, and a 3G upgrade is possible, so the portability functions are excellent. Battery life with my 3-cell option is about three hours. Larger batteries yield much long life if your needs demand it.

Blue tooth on the Lenovo costs an extra $20, while the Sony and HP models include it. And Lenovo has not seen fit to make an SSD option available on its 11.6-inch screens.  Being an iPad user, I appreciate the instant on and off capabilities of SSD, so I wish it were available.  Both the Sony and HP models offer this option, but at a high cost, of course. A $300 price hike would put my model at over $800, and I would not have bought it, but some would like the option.

Down the road there will be many more of the 11.6-inch models appearing. Apple is rumored to be planning Sandy Bridge for its MacBook Air later this summer in both its 11.6 and 13.3-inch models. Acer, Asus and Toshiba will probably join in producing this new size of ultra-portable.

For my use, I am exceptionally happy with my new gadget. It was, for me, money well spent. I could easily have made a case for the HP dm1Z over the Lenovo, but in the end, the ThinkPad brand was enough to convince me to stay with Lenovo. I use word processing more than any other application, so the Think Pad keyboard carried the day for me.

The Sony model looks great, but it offers only a 5400 rpm spinning drive, although they do offer a 500GB drive as standard. This is slow, and slow is why I upgraded from my netbook. I hope Sony corrects this discrepancy with a 7400 rpm option. Speed is one of the hallmarks of the new line of chips, and to saddle it with a slow storage and retrieval system works against the major selling points of the new generation.

It looks as if there will be many of this new line of chips showing up in the laptop arena from now until the Christmas selling season.  From my experience, it was an upgrade well worth it.  In the past, small and capable spelled expensive.  This new generation of chips has broken that link, and now we can have small and capable at much better prices than ever before.

I confess that the Asus Transformer is an intriguing design, potentially solving several problems that has plagued the pure tablet from becoming a serious production device.

I sent my original iPad back before the 14-day limit for returns last April.  It was virtually useless to me for research, compiling and then writing and publishing articles.

I later changed my mind and got a new one a week or so later, because I missed some of the unique features that I discovered while evaluating it.  I could not and do not use it for production, however I use my iPad for many other things, but I use an ultraportable laptop and my desktop for all of my production needs.

Asus, with its new Eee Transformer, has designed its new machine to address some of the problems, and, from the limited information available from those who saw it in a pre-production model earlier in the year, it is worthy of consideration as a production device.

But the biggest news, just released today, is that the 10.1-inch tablet version without the keyboard will retail for a suggested price of $499. (Up-date 4/21: price for tablet is now official at $399, available April 26th.  Keyboard to be $150) Considering the raw specifications, this new gadget looks appealing at this price.

• OS: Android 3.0 (Honeycomb)
• CPU/GPU: Nvidia Tegra 2
• Memory: 512MB-1GB
• Storage: 16GB/32GB/64GB eMMC flash
• Connectivity: Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, WLAN 802.11 b/g/n
• Display: 10.1 WSVGA IPS screen with 1280×800 resolution with capacitive touch
• Camera: Front: 1.2-megapixel, Rear: 5-megapixel
• Interface: 2-in-1 audio jack (headphone/mic-in); 1 x card reader, SD (SDHC); 1 x docking port; 1 x Mini-HDMI; stereo speaker
• HDMI Type C (Mini-HDMI)
• Unit dimensions: 271x176x12.9mm, 1.5 pounds

Two USB ports are on the keyboard (hidden away behind covers), along with a full size SD/MMC memory card slot.

These are impressive specs.  It is packed with good power.  The Tegra 2’s dual core is excellent.  It is about the same weight of other tablets, and the keyboard will probably bring the weight up to three pounds.

It’s only drawback is that Android and the Tegra do not support Microsoft’s word processing or other Office products, so work-arounds are required.  However, Microsoft is promising an ARM-based Windows in the future.  This is good news for those of use who use their products, and it is unambiguously bad news for Intel.

The video below is helpful in getting an idea of what can be done with the tablet/netbook.  I can’t wait to get my hands on the keyboard and see what can be done with it as a netbook.

Asus Eee Pad Transformer Video

The two reviews below are not full hands-on reviews of a production model, so read them with a suitable level of skepticism.  But their availability at Best Buy in the near future probably is a precursor of a raft of professional reviews by the computer industry pundits.

CNet Review:Click her for full review

Techcentral Review: Click for review and many pictures.

I will be anxiously awaiting the opportunity to test this new gadget.  I just bought a new ulatrportable, upgrading from a first generation netbook, so it is too late for my use in the immediate future.  But the idea behind this configuration holds out a promise that there may be a less expensive solution available when my next upgrade cycle comes around.