Disadvantages of smaller notebooks?

[chaoliang]

I'm considering to buy a notebook for work. I would use it only for travel and for work. I have a reasonable desktop computer with good graphics. My point is: I prefer the notebooks with smaller screens (about 12" to 13") becuase they are light, look nicely and don't take too much place. I'm definately a light traveler.
Since I have no experience with notebooks: Are there disadvantages in these smaller ones?

[Jessterw]

Well there's always potential heat problems, but more often than not you can end up with a system that is lower on specs than a larger counterpart. Of course, that's increasingly not true.

Cost and expansion options are probably the biggest disadvantages that still apply to the thin and small ones. In terms of expansion, since you already have a desktop system you are happy with I wouldn't see that as so much of an issue.

[az]

Also, some subnotebooks or very small notebooks have too small keyboards, or at least some keys that are too small.

[Claymonkey]

With the small notebooks you are often stuck with intel graphics or something equally ram sharing. This doesn't sound like to big a deal to you though. A couple other points is battery life... smaller computer, same basic needs... smaller battery. They are usually less intensive overall so it evens out or you end up winning since the screen is still the biggest power draw.

I think the biggest thing to look out for is it's not an ultralight that requires its optical drive be external. Still for travel I recommend ripping your movies to the drive or have your discs as iso's and use Daemon Tools. A spinning drive uses less energy than a cdrom even if you have one built in and it's less to carry around.

[Dr Mordrid]

How about the problem of typing on a mini-notebook when you have size 12.5 hands, like me?

Dr. Mordrid

[Jammrock]

Let me count the ways! I have supported many an exec in the past with ultra-lights, so I've seen a lot of what can happen.

1) Heat! Not a lot of room for it to disipate, so it transfers to your lap, or table, or whereever it is.
2) They like to break more than normal laptops.
3) A lot of them don't have CD/DVD drives built in (so be careful. it used to be none did, but some do now). If there is not one built in an you need one, by the time you add on the peripherals to do so you are lugging around just as much weight as a 15" notebook.
4) Don't plan on upgrading it ... ever. Some models you cannot even upgrade the RAM, so be careful that you pick one with an available DIMM slot, just in case you need one in the future.
5) Limited size means limited connectors. Most will only have modem, net, a hand full of USB, power and a VGA (d-sub 15) port. So pay close attention to wht connectors you need, and what it has.


...and for the love of everything holy, GET THE EXTENDED WARRANTY AND BACK UP YOUR DATA OFTEN!!!! Never settle for anything less than a 3-year warranty on a laptop, especially an smaller ultra-lights.

Jammrock

[Taz]

I've got two sub-notebooks, an old Sony C1XD and a newer Sony T2-XP/L. The older one didn't have a build in CD drive which was a pain but the new has a DVD-RW plus everything else you expect on a modern laptop. Build quality is superb as are the screen and keyboard. Battery life is around 5 hours, so pretty good. The downsides are it uses a ULV Pentium M processor which only runs at 1.2Ghz and an on-board Intel graphics controller. That makes is unsuitable for playing games but it's fine for normal PC use

[VJ]

I have a Siemens P1510 (1kg, 8.9" display, convertible tablet PC) for a couple of months now.

http://www.fujitsu-siemens.com/products/mobile/tablet_pcs/lifebook_p.html

The DVD drive is not internal, but I don't see it as such a downside. What is a downside is that the drive I have (Plextor PX-608U) cannot work solely on USB power (so I need a socket when I want to use it). If I'm not mistaken (check if needed), the Lacie portable DVD drives can work solely on USB power (but don't support DVD-RAM).

The keyboard is small, but perfectly workable for me (I don't have very big hands).

The display is small, but this isn't really a problem. The only downside I see to my display is with applications that need a minimum resolution: the resolution is 1024x600 (and some need more than 600). The Intel display driver offers a workaround, by providing a virtual 1024x768 (like Matrox used to offer), but this renders the touchscreen useless. The Intel driver is not that performant, but more than up to the task for normal (non-gaming) use.

What my laptop is missing, is some extension ports (but I knew that): it doesn't have PCMCIA/Cardbus, no firewire and no video out. It does have CompactFlash, SD Card, VGA, USB, network, modem and audio. Many subnotes are more limited when it comes to connections, so better check it out (I have all the connections I need).

The autonomy is about 3 hours (6-hour battery is an option), but the device gets VERY hot; to the point where it is not comfortable to work on ones lap.

But I won't regret my decisison: a mere 1 kg (a bit more if you also carry the DVD drive and power supply) is so comfortable to carry...


Jörg

[chaoliang]

Thanks a lot for your kind tips and suggestions!!
I have several further questions:
1. As far as I understand, one still have to take the base station of a sub-notebook with him if he travels far. Is that right? If it is true, the light weight of a sub will get lost in this case.
2. Which are the better brands for small notebooks, as for build and display quality?

[VJ]

Thanks a lot for your kind tips and suggestions!!
I have several further questions:
1. As far as I understand, one still have to take the base station of a sub-notebook with him if he travels far. Is that right? If it is true, the light weight of a sub will get lost in this case.

I don't understand what you mean with 'base station'.

The most I can have to carry is: laptop itself, powersupply + cable, external dvd writer + its powersupply.

2. Which are the better brands for small notebooks, as for build and display quality?

I don't really know. I got the Siemens P1510 as it is a tablet convertible (and I wanted a subnote/tablet pc).


Jörg

[chaoliang]

Sorry Jörg. My knowledge about subnotebook is probably outdated. I saw some notebooks that could be taken off from a kind of base station and thought that they were "sub-notebooks". Now I understand that subnotebooks are those whose format are even smaller than A4.

Yet another question: Do the core duo processors consume more power than the M ones?

[Taz]

1. As far as I understand, one still have to take the base station of a sub-notebook with him if he travels far. Is that right?

Not on mine as everything you need is built in

2. Which are the better brands for small notebooks, as for build and display quality?

I'd say Sony, but then I might be slightly biased

[VJ]

Sorry Jörg. My knowledge about subnotebook is probably outdated. I saw some notebooks that could be taken off from a kind of base station and thought that they were "sub-notebooks". Now I understand that subnotebooks are those whose format are even smaller than A4.

Ah, now I get it... Yes, IBM had a model which had a kind of portable base station. IMO, it was a very clever solution: the base station had room for more standard accessories (CD drives, floppy drives, ...). Without it, the laptop was fully functional, but without optical & floppy drive. A bit like what mine is. With it, the laptop wasn't ultra portable anymore, but had everything.
The clever bit about that was that it avoided clutter, and allowed the drives to be powered by one powersupply. In my case, my DVD writer has its own (but there are drives that work solely on USB power).

Yet another question: Do the core duo processors consume more power than the M ones?

Dunno, but there aren't that many subnotebooks out there, so I doubt there will be core duo subnote books at present.

Euhm, when you talk about subnotebook, what size are you looking it: 8.9" or 12" display? Or do you just mean the overall weight?
Sony has a couple of nice portables (Vaio TX2: 11", internal optical drive, 1.24 kg), as has IBM/Lenovo (X-series: 12", 1.22 kg, I think the optical is in a portable basestation), and Fujitsu-Siemens also has some extremely portable devices (P7010, 10", 1.3 kb, internal optical drive). The convertible tablet PC's are usually smaller and lighter, but lack optical drive (IBM X series, Siemens P1510).


Jörg

[chaoliang]

Yes. The correct name of these is docking station.
For me, it must not be an extremely portable subnotebook. Important is, that the the display size should better not be larger than 13". Then I think the overall weight will also be less.
Both Lenovo X60s (12") and Sony Z1M (13") are interesing. They are labeled at similar prices. Sony doesn't produce 12" laptops and Lenovo not 13".

As for the graphics part, I'm not quite sure in which extend the shared graphcs memory will affect the speed. My father's desktop had the Intel chip. And it was slow.
The sony one has Nvidia "Turbo" technology which is said to used combined graphics and system memory. They didn't say how much graphics memory the chip has though. The Lenovo part uses the Intel chip.

[Jessterw]

If you have enough system memory the shared memory required for integrated graphics chips is really not as much a performance hit as most people like to go on about. Neither is the performance in general as horrid as it used to be. In fact, you can use Photoshop reasonably well on most. Games, of course, tend to be a different story given what graphics features they attempt to make use of.