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The Smallest Laptops in the World
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August 15, 2007 at 05:37:00 PM, by Sourabh Kalantri



Satisfy your desire for small laptops! Join Laptop Logic as we provide insight on some of the latest trends in the ultra-portable laptop arena.

Introduction
Laptops are all about portability. They are meant to be carried along with you, wherever your work goes. While we say that, there is no limit to how small they can be. The smaller, the better it is for carrying around - provided it doesn't compromise your productivity while you're on the move. In the last couple of years, we've witnessed quite a lot of developments in laptops which render them smaller, faster and more effective than ever before.
The design has improved a lot. Quite rarely will you see today's ultra-portables getting overheated out of limits. The compromises are almost negligible. Most of these small laptops feature full-size keyboards, option for the fastest processors including special low-voltage CPUs, built-in cellular mobile broadband and extended battery. These ultra-portables have gotten a lot lighter too, pushing it to the limits.



The best part? These small laptops are not as expensive as they used to be a few years ago. Is there a premium in price when compared with standard-size laptops? Yes. But do the benefits of a smaller machine warrant their purchase? That is something for you to ponder about after you've gone through this article. Our aim is to help you make an informed decision when you buy your next laptop.

This article will cover some of the latest developments related to small-sized laptops. Find out the hottest ultra-portables that the manufacturers have in store for you. Decide whether the small-laptop market is right for you. Feel free to explore, drool and imagine!

History & Present Scenario
Ever since the concept of laptop was first born in Xerox labs, maximum emphasis was always given to reduce their size. They went small, and then smaller. But then again, it was limited to the 12-inch form factor. It never really went smaller than that. A few ultra-portable laptops surfaced which were really compact and lightweight in the first half of the 90s. Most of these suffered from crippled hardware, sky-high prices and lack of sales volume for any substantial market share.
Today, the story is radically different. We've got better designs and cooling solutions to go along with improved hardware. The processor, chipsets and other components are better optimized for use in systems of all shapes and sizes. Similar components that go in mainstream notebooks can be used in the smaller laptops. Low-voltage and ultra-low voltage offerings have also helped the process. More importantly, the number crunching abilities of mobile processors used in these laptops have increased significantly. The performance is at par with their elder siblings used in 14/15/17-inch notebooks. Dual core processors have also helped to minimize the performance difference. At the end of the day, today's ultra-portables are capable to meet the demands of most businesses, professionals and first-time buyers. Will they help to improve productivity? Definitely! Quite a few breeds of small laptops exist to cater to the needs of different individuals, from those who offer 8-plus hours of battery life to those which feature discrete graphics!



Ultra-portable laptops are just one facet of the mobile computing revolution which we witness today. The birth of the UMPC (Ultra Mobile Personal Computer) was a step forward in the right direction. Codenamed Project Origami, it was initially developed by the likes of Microsoft, Intel and Samsung, among others.

What sets UMPCs apart from laptops is their size. In terms of dimensions, these UMPCs are mid-way between a laptop and smart-phones. UMPCs are generally the ones with 7-inch or smaller touch-screen displays with a minimum resolution of 800x480. It should be noted that UMPCs are just a platform for which manufacturers can design any model they want, provided they meet or exceed the baseline specifications laid down by Intel and Microsoft. The possibilities are infinite and the growing list of innovative UMPC devices stand testimony to that fact.

Most present-day UMPCs are capable of running full-fledged desktop operating systems such as Windows XP Tablet PC Edition and Windows Vista. While UMPCs in general don't feature a physical keyboard along with the device, external mice and keyboards can be attached thanks to USB 2.0 ports. Lower-end notebook processors, conventional HDDs or SSDs, webcams, fingerprint readers, stereo speakers, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Ethernet and GPS abilities are often found in Ultra-Mobile PCs. Battery life on these devices is anywhere between 2-8 hours depending on the hardware and load conditions. Their price is similar to most mainstream notebooks of today. It's said that the industry is striving hard to lower the production cost and make them more affordable.

So, UMPC is another thing to look out for in the near future.

Some Unexpected Entrants
The success of the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) program and need for affordable sub-notebooks for masses has got the industry's attention. A new crop of small laptops have started making the news for all the right reasons. The major players who will offer designs and final notebooks at affordable prices are Asus & VIA. Both of these veterans know what the consumers want and they aim to do just that. Both have adopted somewhat similar approach to provide a mobile internet device for the mass market. Let us see in detail what Asus and VIA have underway.
Asus Eee PC
Asus has named their mobile internet device as the Eee PC. It stands for Easy to Learn, Easy to Work, Easy to Play'. This sub-notebook is aimed at users who regularly use the Internet for email, news, communication and other common tasks on a daily basis. Hence, the primary emphasis of the Eee PC is a good mobile Internet experience. The Eee PC offers two modes of intuitive user interface design: the easy mode and the full desktop mode in order to accommodate both experienced and inexperienced PC users. The Eee PC runs either Windows XP or Linux.


The built-in 802.11b/g WiFi support allows users to stay connected to the Internet wirelessly. The Eee PC 701 features an Intel processor and chipset solution to go with the 7-inch LCD display capable of 800x480 resolution. It weighs a feather light 0.89 kg with a large flash-based storage capacity and built-in webcam. The special solid-state disc design based on built-in flash-memory gives the Eee PC a great shock-proof advantage over traditional notebook PCs allowing extra flexibility and a worry free mobile computing experience. ASUS has also managed to provide 512MB of DDR2 RAM on this affordable notebook.

Battery life is around 3 hours with 4-cell battery back of 5200mAH capacity. Its dimensions are 22.5 x 16.5 x 2.1~3.5cm.

Price: The word on the street is that Asus Eee PC 701 will retail at approx. $250-$300 price range. If they do manage to pull this off that would really be something to cheer about. These are expected to hit the markets worldwide in a few months from now.

VIA NanoBook
VIA's NanoBook is similar to the Asus Eee PC Series, but offers better battery life owing to its use of the C7-M Ultra-low voltage CPU. VIA demonstrated the NanoBook as the reference design for VIA's very own Ultra Mobility Platform.
The VIA NanoBook packs the performance, connectivity and functionality of a notebook PC into a sleek and light ultra-portable clamshell form factor that weighs less than 850g.

It's powered by the ultra-low voltage 1.2GHz VIA C7-M processor and VIA VX700 chipset to deliver up to 5 hours of battery life. Powered by a choice of Microsoft Windows XP or Windows Vista Basic operating systems, it comes with a host of advanced features including a full keyboard, and crisp 7-inch WVGA touch-screen display. On the performance and storage front, NanoBook packs in up to 1GB DDR2 SDRAM and a minimum 30GB HDD under its hood. A lot of connectivity options are provided including 802.11g WiFi, Bluetooth and Ethernet, to go along with a DVI and two USB 2.0 ports.



The VIA NanoBook also features a USB slot next to the screen that will enable the snap-in integration of a variety of World Time Clock/Calendar, GPS, VOIP, and broadband wireless modules. The reference design of NanoBook measures a mere 230mm x 171mm x 29.4mm.

VIA has announced plans to roll out these sub-notebooks based on the NanoBook platform in the second half of this year. The pricing of the NanoBook UMD is expected to be very aggressive and competitive.

Ultra-portables, Part I
Budget is not a constraint. The dictionary meaning of ultra-portable is not something which we go by for the scope of this article. In no particular order, allow us to list some of the best-selling or soon-to-be-launched ultra-portables. These have something going for them that sets them apart from normal laptops. Some are very small while some others are small yet powerful. So let us cut to the chase and get started with the most exciting part of the article. What follows next are some of the hottest, trend-setting and irresistible mobile computing devices that you'd kill to own. Are you ready? Sit back, relax and find your perfect fit!
Dell XPS M1330
The XPS 1330 is a successor to the immensely popular XPS M1210. It's a powerhouse when it comes to small laptops. While the weight on this latest portable notebook is a bit on the higher side, don't drop it from your to-consider list. This latest addition to the XPS range of notebooks packs in some serious power. Based on Intel's Santa Rosa mobile platform, it's a truly portable notebook in a 13.3-inch widescreen form factor. What brings M1330 to this list is the option to configure it with nVidia's latest 8400M GS GPU with 128MB GDDR3 VRAM for a DirectX 10 compliant gaming experience! That's some achievement for a notebook of this size.


For what it's worth, the XPS M1330 represents the perfect balance of mobility, form-factor, weight and performance. It is one of the very few laptop models which have an option for LED backlit display. Not only does LED backlighting help to provide super bright pictures (thanks to 32 tiny white LEDs), it also helps to keep the laptop thin, light and power efficient. Dell provides a lot of customization options to configure it according to your needs. This XPS notebook also sports a slot-loading optical drive, HDMI port, fingerprint security, embedded mobile broadband, up to 4GB of DDR2 667MHz RAM, 200GB 7200rpm SATA HDD or 32GB SSD.



The weight is around 4 pounds with the stock 37Whr 4-cell battery with an option for up to 9-cell 85Whr battery pack.

Starting at $1,299, the XPS M1330 is also one of the best deals in the market. You'd be hard-pressed to find a better bargain. The pearl-white color seen in the picture above has been discontinued due to manufacturing constraints. Tuxedo Black and Crimson Red are still available. A few minor shipping delays due to component shortages have plagued this beauty; hopefully Dell will get it sorted out soon.

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Conclusion
The small laptops covered in this article just form the tip of the iceberg. There is no doubt the options we have today are nice, but the future is even more promising. We still await the laptop of our dreams which can have a day-long battery life in the real sense of the term. On one side, we have 17-inch and 20-inch laptops which are competing with the desktops to match their performance. The battle on the other side is for mobility, energy efficiency and productivity. The developments in last couple of years have opened new doors to achieve uncompromised mobile computing. Challenging the limits should never stop.


Find & Compare the Lowest Prices on Ultraportable Lapotps in the Laptop Logic Laptop Finder

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