Dual Core Subnotebook Comparison

I consider to replace my current notebook with a new one. In general I'm quite happy with my Lifebook, but it is 6 years old now and coming of age.

I looked around for some candidates this weekend. My criteria were simple:

It should be lighter and smaller than my current laptop which features a 13” display and weights about 1.7kg
It should feature a decent battery life time
It should have a dual core CPU - I simply love the extra bit of snappyness a second core gives you
It should have as much RAM as possible
It needs to be available in Europe right now

I decided early on that I'm looking for something below 12” and found surprisingly few machines matching this requirement. Below is a list of the sub notebooks I found and their features as given by their manufacturers.


Brand	LG	LG	Sony	Asus	Asus
Model	C1	A1	VGN-TZ11	S6Fm	U1F
Display	10.6” Tablet	10.6”	11.1”	11.1”	11.1”
Weight	1.3kg	1.0kg	1.19kg	1.37kg	1.0kg
CPU	U2500	U2500	U7500	L7200	U2400
Graphics	GeForce Go 7300	GeForce Go 7300	Intel 950	Intel 945	Intel 945
RAM (max)	1GB (1.5GB)	1GB (1.5GB)	2GB (2GB)	1.5GB	1GB (1.5GB)
Batt. Life	3h (6h)	3h (6h)	7h	2h (4h)	2h (4h)
HDD	80GB	80GB	100GB	120GB	80GB
opt. Drive	external	external	internal	internal	external
Price	2000€	1900€	2140€	1800€	1680€

There are two laptops that immediately stand out from the table above.

The first is the LG C1. It's actually a Tablet PC which means the screen can be rotated and is usable as a touch screen. Unfortunately the touchscreen is not an active one. This means it is not pressure sensitive as most Tablet PC screens are. I also found reports about it not working in Linux which is a no-go for me.

The second very interesting candidate is the Sony TZ11. Not only does it look real great it also features a carbon fiber chassis. But the really amazing thing is the 7 hours of battery power. And this is the default battery - not an additional bigger (and heavier) one – 7 hours at 1.2kg! I read some reviews about the machine where testers even got higher life times.

So the Sony is clearly my favorite candidate right now. But I wonder if I missed a machine matching my criteria? If you know of one, please leave a comment.

Tags:: subnotebooks,; gadget,; comparison

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Posted on Monday, October the 1st 2007 (2 years ago).

Have you thought about a Thinkpad X series? They're pretty similar, and feel more sturdy than most tablets I've played with. But then again, I'm a little bit of a Thinkpad fanboy.

2007-10-01 23:30:48

Aaron Griffin

The Sony looks indeed nice, and 7hours of battery capacity is a dream came true (if it`s true). ATM my battery is broken and I begin to dislike the whole cable mess :-/ ...

2007-10-01 23:58:48

Chi

Aaron, yes I looked at them but their 12.1" screen make them fall out of my <12" raster.

2007-10-02 09:05:03

Andi

The fujitsu P7230 meets your criteria and has 9hours real battery life with the second battery in its DVD slot.
http://www.leog.net/fujp_forum … C_ID=11681

2007-10-06 13:45:22

Pierre

oops, sorry, not sure if the dual core version is available in Europe though ...

2007-10-06 13:49:19

Pierre

I'll second the thinkpad option.
From the ones you show I would go with the A1 because of the battery life and the overall sturdiness. I suggest you to tryout the sony before you buy it because it's really fragile, the screen bends like a piece of paper and and also the AC adapter input becomes lose. It's just a novelty item and not something that will last you for another 6 years.

2007-10-07 10:51:38

Ricardo

What about the Dell XPS M1330, it has some nice features ans isn't that expensive...

2007-10-10 17:57:31

vincent

@Pierre: The Fujitsu looks really interesting, but the dual core option seems indeed not to be available in Europe, yet.

@Vincent, we're talking about subnotebooks with a display under 12 inch here. The Dell XPS M1330 is a nice machine but a completely different class.

2007-10-10 20:51:23

Andi

2 gigs of RAM on the Pana R7, which is praised for its sturdiness, but you'd also have to import it ... for example from here : http://conics.net/catalog/prod … ucts_id=65

2007-10-16 00:44:20

Pierre

Oops this was the R6, here is the R7 :
http://conics.net/catalog/prod … ucts_id=66

2007-10-16 00:47:02

Pierre

I guess a MacBook (http://www.apple.com/macbook/m … cbook.html) is too big for you? ;)

2007-10-29 03:38:29

Yogarine

LG P100 (upgrade of the LG C1), up to 4GB and 2126E in Sweden :
http://www.leog.net/fujp_forum … C_ID=12233

2008-01-15 18:26:50

Pierre

Did you decide yet ?
If not here is another choice : the Lenovo IdeaPad U110 :
http://forum.thinkpads.com/vie … hp?t=55135

2008-01-20 22:12:41

Pierre

The fujitsu p1620 is an even smaller and lighter choice : http://store.shopfujitsu.com/f … ries=P1620

2008-01-31 22:30:37

Pierre