They only agreed to touch it after I proved that it was identical to an Australian release model with a different model number, and even then they wouldn’t so much as upgrade the memory for me. I had to do that myself.

As for your question re. processor speed I always get as much memory as I can. But the thing to realise is that laptops have slower components all round:- CPU, memory access times, disk rotation, everything is all slower which leads to a machine with a different (slower) balance. It’s a trade off, you have to live with it.

I purchased a Sony Vaio while living in the US a few years back, and when the internal fan broke and needed replacing after I’d moved to the UK, Sony Europe wouldn’t touch it. Nor could local repair shops seem to be able to source the exact US-model-specific components needed for repair. The only option presented to me was to ship the laptop to the US for repairs indicatively billed at >100% of the NPV of the machine.

Fortunately a

They work great with wifi enabled cocktail napkins.

The red dot (called Trackpoint) is a personal thing. I love it. It does take a little getting used to but in my opinion (obviously biased) its better than a trackpad and I actually use the trackpoint in preference to a mouse on my own Thinkpad. Because it lets you use the mouse without moving your hands off the keyboard you can be very productive with it. However you really have to try it out. But if you don’t like it then definitely don’t get an X series as you’ll have to use it alot more than you might think.

Is it faster than the Toshiba?

swio appears to be awol, so I’ll answer the question instead :)

Yes, it is. The cheapest one at swio’s link (AUD 1,999) has a 2.0 GHz duo processor, versus the 1.2 GHz duo in the R500, i.e. about 70% faster. It weighs 1.44 kg.

The dearest one (AUD 3,099) is a bit faster again, with a 2.2 GHz duo.

http://www-604.ibm.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?storeId=10000036&catalogId=-36&langId=036&categoryId=4611686018425096207&seriesid=2060574

“that I can hook up to an external keyboard, mouse and screen at home”
It can be connected to a docking station. When you get home you just have to drop it into the docking station and you’re away. No hooking up of cables etc.

“and use as my main computer”
Its CPU, memory, hard drive are all full spec. Its as powerful as a home PC. It doesn’t have a built in optical drive, but you can connect one externally. Also has a very good full size keyboad.

They’re bulletproof. Thinkpads are made with metal frames and can take alot of abuse. Even after years of 50 hour weeks you are unlikely to discover the space bar is not working or the hinge is coming loose. If you don’t belive me check out the price for second hand ones on ebay.

Battery life is incredible. You may think that this doesn’t matter but that’s probably because you’ve never used a laptop that could go for hours away from a power point. Believe me, once you’ve tried it you’ll want long batter life. Get the 8 cell battery and you can use your laptop in the park all day.

My fave computer of all time was a great Sharm ultralight – with external CD – which I didn’t bother buying. Very light – quite big, so the keyboard was just a bit smaller than standard – easy to use.

But that was ten years ago, and for some reason they didn’t really keep up with the pack. But it was a great machine – still is – but it’s Win 98 and has a 6 Gig hard drive and one USB port that doesn’t work properly because it’s incompatible with some USB standards that have emerged since. :(

In no way a desktop replacement – I think of it as a satellite unit. Small, light and rugged enough (no hard drive = no moving parts) to throw into a backpack.

I bought my Macbook expecting a 4 – 5 hour battery life, which I was happy with that given my old Thinkpad could only go for about 2 – 2.5 hours even given one of those clunky extra-large batteries. I was super-happy to find out that the 4 – 5 hours is when you have wifi and a bunch of apps going. If I’m just typing stuff and have a pdf viewer open I can get my battery to go for over 7 hours.

I can live with some slower speed when in airport lounges as in return I get a laptop more or less the same weight as a paperback novel & with a smaller footprint than TIME magazine (& only as as thick as the first knuckle on my little finger).

All my other laptops supposedly had a Four hour battery life. (Ha ha, as IF!) In reality after a couple of months I was lucky if they didn’t power down after an hour & a half. This was annoying on almost any flight. On top of that they were cumbersome & couldn’t be opened fully on a tray table, AND they were fragile, so easy to crack the screen or scratch the hard drive, even with all care taken. I averaged a crash every 18 months.

The smaller ones open so handily on a traytable, & processing speed is not so much an issue when typing in Excel, Word or Outlook Express, however battery life IS an issue. I DO get Nine hours battery life from the cute little Sony Vaio, this despite the salemen all telling me that Five hours is all one can expect. In in airport lounge, connected to the net wirelessly, and having to brighten the screen just to see it, I get about Five hours.

There is nothing like 7 or 8 hours uninterrupted typing on an international leg to get all letter writing & just about any other typing obligation out of the way. Though this can set you up to be a bit weary if you have to hit the ground running upon arrival.

My Vaio was $4,500 it is going to outlast at least 4 x $1,000-$1,500 laptops.

Depends on your budget, if upfront money is not an object, buy the lightest thing you can.

1.2 GHz is definitely not fast enough for me.

Oh, and I spruiked the Lenovo above, however is costs about twice as much as the Air and it isn’t actually released yet.

The review says that its got a duo 1.2GHz processor. Isnt that a reasonable speed.

Not really.

I’ve currently got two laptops that I use regularly, but for diffent purposes and in different situations.

The older one has a single 1.6 GHz processor, and runs Windows XP.

The newer one has duo 1.8 GHz processors, and runs Windows Vista. The newer one is irritatingly slow compared to the older one, and I try to avoid using the new one where possible.

The difference is caused by Windows Vista, of course, and not by the hardware. The thing is, the overhead imposed by Vista is severe.