From Fujitsu Siemens' ultralight LifeBook Q2010 to offerings from Sony's VAIO range, BenQ's new Joybook and the LG TX Express; here are the best ultraportables of CeBIT 2006.
Fujitsu Siemens LifeBook Q2010
Rear-ending its competition, the LifeBook Q2010 from Fujitsu Siemens measures in at exactly 1 KG, complete with a gorgeous - and scratch-prone - piano black finish. Add built-in UMTS and HSDPA support along with Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g and Bluetooth 2.0 for unparallelled connectivity, a 1.2 GHz Intel Core processor, 60 GB of storage and a fingerprint reader, and you'll quickly begin to understand why this ultraportable class act with a quality 12.1-inch widescreen display starts at €4,000 EUR this summer.
Sony VAIO VGN-TX2 XP
The smallest and lightest of Sony's VAIO offerings, VGN-TX2 XP offers a starting weight of 1.24 KG despite integrating such features as a Dual Layer DVD+/-RW drive and an 11.1-inch widescreen display. As Sony's first notebook to incorporate LED backlighting, its display is impressively bright despite a claimed battery life of up to 7.5 hours running on previous-generation Pentium M chips. Also present: a 80 GB hard drive, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and a carbon fibre chassis, as well as a so-so keyboard. Due out this spring, price to be confirmed.
LG TX Express
Almost as light as Fujitsu-Siemens' LifeBook Q2010 at 1.1 KG, the LG TX Express isn't quite as stylish as its competitor and also lacks its UMTS connectivity - instead opting for integrated DMB-T support for watching TV on its high-quality, 12.1-inch widescreen display. With an optional Nvidia GeForce Go 7300 graphics chipset with up to 256 MB of TurboCache, performance shouldn't be an issue even though the notebook relies on previous-generation Pentium M processors. Due out this summer with a highly comfortable keyboard, pricing for this product is currently unknown.
BenQ Joybook S61
Delivered with a choice of Intel Core Solo or Duo processors, BenQ's S61 is heavier than most contemporary models at 1.5 KG, yet offers no discernible improvement in the number of features available. As such, it remains a decent choice with its 12.1-inch widescreen display, a choice of hard drives ranging from 40 through 100 GB, an integrated Dual Layer DVD drive and built-in Wi-Fi 802.11b/g connectivity.
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