MetaChat - Ask MeCha - lightweight notebooks

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25 May 2008

Ask MeCha - lightweight notebooks My boss has asked me to find details of some lightweight notebook computers. This seems like a good place to start.→[More:]We currently use Dell Latitude D810/820 machines, which weight in at 2.73kg and my boss has fallen in love with the MacBook Air, but our IT people refuse to support it :-(

I need to find an alternative which IT will support, which means a machine to run WinXP natively. We need to have at least two USB ports and (ideally) a CD/DVD drive built-in, although an external drive would be Ok if the machine is light enough. The machines are carried around on planes, trains, snowmobiles and generally have a fairly tough life, so they need to be robust.

Anyone have any recommendations/suggestions? As much as I would like to go the MacBook Air route and I know it is possible to run Windows on one, it's simply not an option at this point.

post by: dg at: 21:02 | 9 comments

The obvious PC alternative to the Air is the Lenovo Thinkpad X300, yeah? Kinda pricey, though, but it's sleek like the Air. The rest of the X-series are pretty nice too, and more affordable.

posted by mullacc 25 May | 21:18

Yeah, it seems like the obvious choice and the price is not too far off the Air, really. I'm hoping someone has some user experiences to come up with.

posted by dg 25 May | 21:38

which means a machine to run WinXP natively

Macs are made of exactly the same components as PCs now, so when you restart in Windows you're running Windows XP absolutely natively. It sounds like your IT people might not understand this.

posted by cillit bang 25 May | 21:40

I really like the Averatec stuff. Small form and light.

posted by arse_hat 25 May | 22:30

cillit bang, I agree. Our IT staff support 70,000 users, so I can understand them wanting to restrict the possible problems, though. Unfortunately, they are categorical in refusing to support any Mac, so it's not an option for us, more's the pity. We have enough of a struggle ahead getting them to support anything other that the two Dell machines available to us through usual channels. Some fights you just can't win ...

posted by dg 25 May | 23:04

I've been using a Levono X61 for the past month. It's a bit heavier than the X300, but about half the price. It's still superlight and has pretty decent power and battery life. Lovonos have by far and away the best keyboard of any laptop we've tried. They're easy to service too, unlike many other manufacturers. We can do most upgrades and such in house, rather than sending them out for service. We like it so much, the boss has just ordered 6 more.

posted by bonehead 26 May | 00:20

BTW, Ours do come configured with XP.

posted by bonehead 26 May | 00:22

Apparently the Asus EEE is triggering a whole competing range of very light&small and very cheap notebooks.
The HP mini-note is one of the first. I seem to remember Dell is working on one too.

So I'd suggest you look at the mini-note.

posted by jouke 26 May | 07:11

If anyone suggests a Sony then punch them in the face - we have a graveyard full of those fuckers cos they just don't stand up to use on the road.

The HP 2810p is what we use. It's not beautiful, a bit slow to boot but the keyboard and screen are top notch and the build quality is great.

posted by dodgygeezer 26 May | 17:40

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