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Friday November 27, 2009 3:04 PM AEST
Skip Navigation LinksPC Authority > Features > Old School Ultraportables: the Good, the Bad & the Ugly
Old School Ultraportables: the Good, the Bad & the Ugly
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FEATURE

Old School Ultraportables: the Good, the Bad & the Ugly

by Daniel Long  on Aug 1, 2008
"Agreed the clamshell is ugly, but you forgot about another mac, the iBook. I brought one from Harris Technology for $150! it has a 12" screen, 1.3ghz, 1.5gig ram, wireless, blue tooth & I can ..."
 
3) Toshiba Portege A200

Hit: Intel Pentium M 725 1.6GHz Processor (with Centrino technology), 1GB RAM, 60GB Hard Drive, WIFI, DVD reader/CD writer. Excellent price ($425 buy it now – local seller).

Miss: 2.0Kg (a little bulky), no DVD burner.

Price: $425 (Buy it now) on Ebay Australia.

Verdict: A great unit at a great price – this was one of the best reviewed laptops in its day and still holds up.

4) Toshiba Portege 4010

Hit: 12.1” screen, Pentium M 933Mhz processor, 80GB 5400rpm HDD, WiFi, long battery life (3 hours +)

Miss: 512mb RAM. No DVD drive/RW.

Price: $256 on eBay Australia.

Verdict: While not as spec classy as the Protege A200, the 4010 is still a really good old school ultraportable if you can go without DVD access (Eee PC users will be used to this).

The RAM is a bit light, but you might consider boosting it by another 512MB, giving you an honest, hardworking ultraportable for less than $300.

5)IBM Thinkpad X40

Hit: 12.1” screen, Pentium M 1.2Ghz (Centrino Technology), 1.24kg weight, Ultra long battery life (4 hours +), huge range of accessories still available online.

Miss: 512Mb Ram – (but can be upgraded), external CD Drive, no DVD.

Price: $120(at current auction prices) on eBay Australia.

Verdict: The IBM 'X' thinkpad range are standout ultraportables and still represent some of the best value ultraportables on the market. The X40 in particular weighs very little and can easily go toe to toe with an Eee or even a wind.

The HDD may be a little lacking (as well as the RAM), and you can’t expect a DVD player, but this is still one serious contender for best old school ultraportable. Some of the more recent models (X41, X60) will cost a little more, but provide even better specs for your money.

---------- The BAD --------------

6) SONY VAIO PCG-SR33

Hit: 10.4” screen, 3 hour ( 6 cell) battery life.

Miss: Celeron 600Mhz procesor, 128MB of RAM, Windows ME. 2.4 kilo weight.
Price: $310 (Buy it now) on eBay Australia.

Verdict: It’s certainly old school (by specs alone) and in its day would have been a real screamer. But since then, technology has advanced a tad and the party’s well and truly over for the PCG-SR33.

A 600Mhz processor isn’t anything flash, neither is 128MB of RAM which will suffer trying to run many of today’s programs. A 10" screen and 6 cell battery is welcome, but that's about the best thing we can say about this once well respected ultraportable.

----- The UGLY -----------------

7) Apple iBook G3 SE

Hit: Ummm...

Miss: 366 MHz, 64 MB RAM , 6GB HDD, awful design, heavy, poor battery life.

Price: Less than $100 supposably – that’s if you can find it anywhere for sale.

Verdict: Released in 2000, it used an under- powered 366Hz processor . Given the nickname 'Clamshell', it was creepily shaped like a toilet seat, which earned it a fair number of detractors.

Toilet jokes aside, the G3 ibook earns our old school ultraportable ugly award just to remind us all, that things can really get this bad when designers go wild.
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Comments: 5
Thoughts on this article? Add a comment below.
totoaus
Aug 1, 2008 2:57 PM
My employer gave me a ThinkPad Xseries in 2001 to use for email and personal stuff, to complement a powerful Gateway desktop running IC design software. Ultimately, I unplugged the Gateway and used its screen, keyboard and mouse on the ThinkPad.
IC design, is heavily CPU and Graphics intensive, like some games, movie making and so on, placing significant demands a computer. Yet the ThinkPad was more than capable of meeting my needs and making it far easier to run everything on the tiny laptop, instead of the hassle of managing 2 PCs at once.
SInce then, I have only owned ThinkPad or Lenovo PCs either on the desk or laptop, and my experience has firmly convinced me of their capability, support and value. I don't consider anything else, whether it is for my my needs or those of an acquaintance.


Comment made about the PC Authority article:
Old School Ultraportables: the Good, the Bad & the Ugly?
Can’t decide between an Eee and a Wind? A Mini note or an Aspire One? Believe it or not, there’s a bunch of old school smaller laptops that may do the job for less money. We took a look at 7 old school ultraportables.

What do you think? Join the discussion.
FatBob
Aug 2, 2008 6:11 AM
O.K. I have to agree here, I have 3 Old Compac laptops - they're all around 12" screen size - I was looking at getting one of the new 'You-Beaut' mini Ultra portable solid state hdd units, to take on trains, Busses, and wherever I work (Usually Construction Sites) but now I think after reading this & checking the specs on All of them - I'd rather take the old Clunkers anytime.... they are capable of doing most of the things the newer ones do, and they're not so enticing to the 'Gotta haves' that would relieve you of anything not bolted down, the Only (Small) problem I have is they're probably not quite as robust & power efficient as the newies - but Boy are they Cheaper - and the kids can have one each for around $300.00.... FatBob
spitfire
Aug 4, 2008 7:56 PM
as i,m not the most informed about computers this article on the good,the bad and the ugly was very useful to me as i,m in the market for an older laptop.easy to understand information with pictures and ebay prices was a brilliant way for me to start looking.thanks pc authority
aonnet
Aug 5, 2008 1:14 PM
The visit was useful. Content was really very informative. From http://www.ahmedabadonnet.com
timboe
Sep 17, 2008 11:03 AM
Agreed the clamshell is ugly, but you forgot about another mac, the iBook.
I brought one from Harris Technology for $150! it has a 12" screen, 1.3ghz, 1.5gig ram, wireless, blue tooth & I can still get 4 hours from the battery! and it included OSX Tiger, Microsoft Office 2008 & iLife 2008 software (over $500 worth of
software)
I was lucky thought because they sell on ebay for $500 -$600, but even at that price it would still be a bargain.


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