Well, we are getting closer to it the perfect laptop at least in my opinion, What's the perfect laptop? Well, it should be:
* Under 3 pounds, so you don't think about it
* Have a near full sized keyboard
* 802.11b/g Wifi and built-in Ethernet and VGA output without a dongle
* Be less than 10" in screen size so you can flip it open on an airplane
* Last at least 4 hours on a battery so it can be your ipod 🙂
* Have a CD-RW/DVD so you can watch movies on the plane 🙂
* Be fast enough for email and not swap like a sun of a gun. 20GB disk. 512MB
* Have a fast processor (Dothan ULVs running as fast as you can stand)
So what ones do we have:
* Sony "T Series":http://news.sel.sony.com/pressrelease/5176. These are not yet available but "I4U":http://i4u.com has a wonderful view of the VGN-T150 which featrures DVD playback to PC computing at the flip of a switch. 3 pounds. DVD drive. 10.4" screen, Dolby Virtual Speakertechnology is built in. Main issue is that it doesn't have a CF or SD slot because Sony loves their proprietary MemoryStick. These ship next month for about $2K. Eureka!
* Sony TR Series. Sony has announced, but you can't quite find, the updated TR series. It now has the faster Dothan chips in it. See SonyStyle USA - TR Series.
So what do you get, well, the bargain of the house must be the low end TR3A, make sure you don't get the identical model number with the Pentium-M 1GHz 512MB cache though! This new TR3A has the Pentium M Ultra Low Voltage 723 (1GHz, 2MB cache). That's the main upgrade, otherwise, it is the same machine as before with 512MB ram (plenty for office applications), 40GB hard drive, 802.11b/g, XP Home. Retail price is $2,200 and should be findable for less than $2K online.