HP ProBook 4310s

HP continues to flesh out its business-oriented ProBook line with its 13.3-inch ProBook 4310s, which joins the 15.6-inch ProBook 4510s and 17.3-inch ProBook 4710s. Like the others, the ProBook 4310s delivers good performance for business chores and a pleasing design at an attractive price: just $779 for the starter model. (Our tested configuration rang up at $799.) Though it's certainly not the thinnest thin-and-light laptop we've tested, it delivers very good value for business users who need a totable, capable machine.

Toshiba Satellite U505-S2930

Toshiba has launched the all-new Satellite U505-S2930 into the teeth of one of the most competitive laptop segments. This 13.3-inch thin-and-light is up against the likes of the Apple MacBook Pro, Dell Studio XPS 13, and HP Pavilion dv3z. The U505-S2930 manages to deliver a unique look, welcome features, and appropriate performance, all in a package that’s easy to carry. Some design and component details betray that this is a budget-conscious entry, but the $799.99 price helps make it worthy of your short list.

Dell Inspiron Mini 10 with TV Tuner Review

It seems like a tech marriage made in heaven: a low-cost, highly portable netbook capable of picking up over-the-air digital TV. So Dell took the initiative to arrange the wedding: The company recently began offering a TV-tuner chip with its popular Inspiron Mini 10 netbook. The standard Mini 10 (without the built-in TV tuner) starts at $349, while the Mini 10 with TV Tuner starts at $399. If you’re thinking about getting a Mini 10, the TV-tuner configuration is well worth the extra money—the $50 uptick adds enough to this netbook to boost it from good to very good.

Sony VAIO X Series

The netbook has all but put paid to the need for an expensive ultraportable if you need laptop to take everywhere, but few models are that much to look at. ASUS certainly made an impression with its S101 and Seashell Eee PCs, but Sony created the biggest splash with its featherweight VAIO P Series. Sadly, that netbook was simply too small to be used properly, so now it’s trying again with something of more sensible proportions. The VAIO X Series’ 11.1in screen and wide keyboard are much more in keeping with the acceptable ergonomics of the best netbooks, but by combining them with the same razor-thin profile as the P Series, Sony has created a netbook that’s only a fraction thicker than the iPhone 3GS.

Toshiba T135 Review

On the very same day that Toshiba officially announced the T135 and T115 thin and light notebooks, the larger of the two has already been reviewed.

While the Toshiba Satellite T100 series are technically not netbooks, they come very close, especially the smaller 11.6-inch Toshiba T115 model.

The Toshiba T135 is the larger of the two machine at 13.3-inches, with an LED backlit LCD which has a 1366 x 768 pixel resolution. Being a thin and light machine the T135 makes use of the CULV (consumer ultra low voltage) processor with either the Intel SU2700 single-core or SU4100 (1.3GHz) dual-core processor, along with a max of 4GB RAM and 500GB hard drive.

The Toshiba Satellite T135 is very stylish, and offers faster performance than most of it’s competitors, and also manages to do it at a very good price.