Reviewed: Notebook, Netbook and Ultra Portable

BANGALORE, INDIA: Choosing the right laptop from a gallimaufry of available products has always been a challenge. And moving forward, life won't become any easier with an even more variety of laptop sized devices coming your way. There's already a plethora of different types of laptops to choose from --standard configuration, desktop replacement, gaming, and ultra-portables.

Then came along Intel Atom powered netbooks, which were thinner and lighter both in weight and on the pocket. So there were debates over whether to choose a notebook or a netbook. Now that this debate is out of the way, another one is about to start, for ultra-portable laptops. Till now, ultra-portables were very expensive, premium products, meant for the upper crust of the management.

But now, vendors have lowered their price without an equivalent dip in performance or features, so that more people can afford them. Should you therefore go for a low cost ultra-portable, or a standard laptop? That's why our shootout this time focuses around laptops, netbooks, and ultra-portables. Here's what you should know about each to find one for your needs.

Which type of laptop?

Notebooks: They can be used for everything ranging from running routine apps to doing high-end work. From our previous discussions on notebooks versus netbooks, you already are aware that if your work involves more of 'content creation' (such as running heavy applications) and lots of multitasking, you should be looking for a notebook with an Intel Core or an AMD Athlon processor.

The add-ons come in the form of a full array of connectivity ports, the luxury of a large 13 inch (up to 17 inch) display and even dedicated on-board graphics. While the Intel Core i3/i5 processors are sufficient for most office applications, the Core i7 caters best to your heavy application usage.

If security is a concern features like face recognition and finger-print reader can just be valuable add-ons to your notebook. Talking about web-cam which are important for web-conferencing sessions, 1.3 MP is now a standard feature and 2MP can be looked up to in the high-end notebooks.

Netbooks: If your requirement is more inclined towards working-on-the-go and you are more of a 'content consumer' (browsing Internet, e-mails, social networking), netbook is the thing for you. Netbooks became a common option for notebooks since last 2-3 years. The processor is generally confined to either a single core Intel Atom N455 or a dual core Intel Atom N550 with 1GB/2GB RAM. With comparatively longer battery backup of around 4-5 hours and lighter weight ranging across 1.5 Kg, the netbook can be the choice for professionals on the move. The compromise, however, comes in the form of a smaller screen size (approx 10 inches) and absence of CD R/W drive. The pricing generally varies from 16K to 25K. While the lower end provide you the basic configuration of Intel Atom N455 with 1GB RAM, the higher ends can provide you with high-end features like gig-Ethernet, Bluetooth 3.0, etc.

Ultra-portables: Ulra-portables give you a perfect balance between notebooks and netbooks. Their prices can vary anywhere between 25K to 1 lakh.While the usual configuration is of a 320GB HDD and 2GB RAM, ultra-portables come powered by processors varying from AMD Athlon Dual Cores right up to high performing Intel Core i7 where these can compete with fully loaded notebooks. The weight kept below 2 kg just balances out well with a screen size of approximate 12 inches. What you usually miss on is dedicated graphics and CD R/W drive.

Click here to know more!