John Aebi-Magee
Last Updated August 7, 2007

Looking for the world's smallest, thinnest, ultralight, notebook or tablet PC? This article is updated any time we receive new news about Ultraportable Notebooks.

The world of light weight computers is rapidly changing. In fact, it is not even clear what to call them. The terms Notebook, Laptop, Ultraportable, Ultra Mobile PC (UMPC), Ultra PC, and Ultra Light PC (or ultra-light or ultralight) have become interchangeable.

For consistency, this article refers to them all as Ultraportable Notebooks provided they are under 3 pounds and have a full size keyboard and 10 inch or larger monitor. Tablets are included if they have a keyboard (or maybe some day if they have a functional virtual keyboard).

The reason we have cut this review off at 3 pounds is because 4-5 pound notebooks are fairly standard now and only the cutting edge manufacturers have produced anything under 3 pounds. A sub 3-pound notebook is a pleasure to own if you are highly mobile. It is also the first practical weight to carry in a small brief case, shoulder bag or purse without causing pain.

Not included in this review are the true Ultra Mobile PCs -- computers that are smaller than ultraportable notebooks but bigger than PDAs such as the Q1 pictured here. UMPCs have a tiny keys on the sides or under a sliding screen or they may have no keys at all. They are not a desktop replacement in the way an Ultraportable Notebook can be. Look for a review here soon of the lightest UMPCs on the market.

I have contacted the major manufacturers to get the latest scoop on the lightest notebooks. Since I am only interested in cutting edge developments, I have limited my review to notebooks that meet the following requirements:

• Maximum weight 3 pounds (not including power cord)
• Full 82-key keyboard (and very near full size)
• 10 inch or larger monitor
• Released after January 1, 2007

Here are the current lightest, smallest, thinnest notebooks in the world:

Toshiba Portégé R500, 2.4 pounds

The Toshiba Portégé R500 is the world's lightest widescreen 12.1" notebook PC. Being the lightest also means thinnest. The R500 is only 0.7 inches thick.

The Toshiba Portégé R500 has a full-size keyboard, a 12.1-inch widescreen display, a 120GB hard drive, and a CD/DVD drive. Its battery life of 3 hours is skimpy, but that is the only significant weakness in this breakthrough ultralight product. Price direct from Toshiba starts at $2,000 and goes up as you add RAM and optional features.

At only 0.7 inches thick, the Portégé R500 is one of the thinnest laptops on the market today. This is made possible by Toshiba’s LED backlighting technology, producing a screen that is less than a quarter of an inch thick.

The CD/DVD drive includes an integrated DVD burner, a nice extra feature that even many heavier laptops have not started including yet. The 120GB hard drive is also very generous as is the inclusion of three USB ports plus FireWire. The R500 runs on Intel’s 1.2-GHz Core 2 Duo U7600. This Ultra Low Voltage (ULV) processor is designed with ultralight in mind.

In the third quarter of 2007, Toshiba plans to further reduce the weight of the Portégé R500 Series to 1.72 pounds, creating the world’s lightest widescreen 12.1-inch notebook. A key feature to achieving this is the adoption of a 64GB solid state drive. Using a solid state drive, users will see improvements in system responsiveness, reliability and durability due to eliminating all moving parts from this select Portégé R500 configuration. Complete product specifications for all models within the Portégé R500 Series are available at www.toshiba.com/R500.

Asus U1F

The minimum Asus U1F weight configuration of 2.2 pounds is based on the 3-cell battery. Expect a battery life of under 3 hours. For an additional 0.4 pounds (2.6 pounds total), you can opt for the 6-cell battery and extend the life to near 6 hours. This also increases the thickness from 0.7 inches to 1.1 inches. PC World reported a battery life of 6 hours using the 6-cell optional battery. The Asus U1F is equipped with a fairly slow processor (1.06-GHz Core Duo U2400) compared to other ultraportables. Lacking an integrated DVD drive also reduces the usefulness of this machine. I am waiting to get more information from Asus.

The Asus corporate web site poorly represents the U1F. For more details, see one of the authorized retailers such as All Asus.

Sony VAIO® TZ Series

The lightest configuration of the Sony VAIO TZ Series is 2.6 pounds thanks to the optional ultra-quick flash memory that replaces the traditional hard drive.

Billed as a "Limited Edition" the TZ body is constructed from ultralight carbon-fiber. The carbon-fiber casing provides superior protection against impact shocks and torqued movements. Carbon fiber, the same material used on jets and sports cars to keep them lightweight yet sturdy, is much stronger than the magnesium used on standard notebooks.

Equipped with Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor U7600 (1.2GHz, 2MB L2 cache) and Windows Vista® Business, this UltraLight Notebook is nearly as powerful as heavy desktop replacement models. Standard battery life is expected to be 4 to 7.5 hours depending on use. The TZ includes an impressive list of features including Bluetooth® technology, 802.11 a/b/g/n wireless LAN, fingerprint security, 11.1" display, a DVD burner and Instant On Mode.

The VAIO® TZ notebook utilizes flash memory in place of the typical spinning hard-disk drive memory found in most PCs. Faster and more reliable, flash memory provides a rapid boot-up and quicker access to applications while significantly reducing the risk of hard drive problems that result from its moving parts, an ideal feature for a travel notebook where knocks and sudden movements are par for the course.

If you like to work from the car or on vacation, the VAIO® TZ notebook offers optional integrated wireless Wide Area Network (WAN) technology through Sprint® Mobile Broadband. For an extra monthly fee, Sprint’s mobile network technology, EV-DO Revision A, boasts fast download speeds and broadband upload speeds.

For more information, see the Sony web site.

Fujitsu LifeBook P7230

The LifeBook has been a long time leader in lightweight notebooks. Fujitsu's P7230 is a powerful notebook with many improvements over earlier models.

Here is what PC World has to say about the P7230:

"The LifeBook P7230 is a remarkable feat of laptop engineering: extremely light despite including an optical drive, and equipped with a nice little screen and a good keyboard. It's slow, but if e-mail, light work, and online researching on the go are all you need--along with the convenience of a built-in DVD burner--look no further. The P7230 comes as close to perfect as any laptop under 3 pounds you can find."

For the full story, see the PC World article. Or, see the Fujitsu LifeBook P7230 web site. Fujitsu also offers the LifeBook P1610 Tablet/Notebook weighing 2.2 pounds. The display is only 8.9 inches, so this unit is too small for this particular review.

Lenovo ThinkPad X61s

Although the Lenovo ThinkPad X61s is one of the heavier models in this review and although it doesn't even include an integrated optical drive, Lenovo has an excellent reputation of producing high quality durable notebooks. The X61 has an optional UltraBase for quickly connecting to your CD/DVD or home peripherals. The option of adding Wireless Wide Area Network access for mobile internet is also a big plus. In a recent CNet Review, the unit reviewed was 3.4 pounds because it was configured with a longer life battery. Lenovo's corporate site does not disclose battery life for the lightest 2.7 pound configuration.

Check back often for the latest updates to "The Lightest, Smallest, Thinnest Notebooks in the World"