Jason Sares is a Giant Dork

I’m really excited by all the new Ultra Low Voltage laptops.  They use either Intel’s Core based chips designated by the SU prefix (such as the Core 2 SU7300 or the Celeron SU2300) or AMD’s Neo line.  The ULV chips hit the sweet spot of performance, heat and cost.  Which means OEM can produce thin attractive laptops at a good price (under $600).

Since they are in slightly higher price point they come with Windows 7 Premium not that bastard step child Windows 7 Starter.

I’ve never been completely happy with the performance of the Atom chips, especially since Microsoft has mandated they only come with 1GB of RAM and Windows 7 Starter.  Even with the new dual core ones or tied with the Nvidia Ion the performance is just below the level I’d like.  The ULV processors are at a minimum 50% faster and cross the threshold for more demanding tasks like playing back Hulu fullscreen 😛

I’m looking for something —

• Around 1 inch thick and under 5lbs
• HDMI Port
• Don’t really care about Hard Disk size or Optical Drives
• 4GB of RAM nice but not required
• Dual Core nice but not required
• AMD or Nvidia Graphics nice but not required
• $600 or less
• Sexy

Dell Inspiron 11z $475 from Amazon
11.6 inch Screen 1366 x 768
Intel Pentium SU4100
Intel GMA 4500
4GB RAM
Thickness 0.92-1.02
Weight 3.05lbs (3 cell battery)

Dell Vostro v13 $600 from Dell
13.3 inch Screen 1366 x 768
Intel Core 2 Solo SU3500
Intel GMA 4500
2GB RAM
Thickness 0.65-0.78
Weight 3.5lbs (6-cell battery)

BIG UPDATE

HP Pavilion dm3
$450 from Microsoft Store with Coupon MSStore-PC-40%
13.3 inch Screen 1366 x 768
Intel Pentium SU4100
Intel GMA 4500
4GB RAM
Thickness 0.96-1.23
Weight 4.17 lbs (6-cell battery)

Toshiba Satellite T135-S1300
$520 from Microsoft Store
13.3″ Screen 1366 x 768
Intel Pentium SU4100
Intel GMA 4500
4GB RAM
Thickness 0.87-1.35
Weight 3.88 lbs (6-cell battery)

HP Pavilion dm3z $575 from HP
13.3 inch Screen 1366 x 768
AMD Turion Neo X2 Dual-Core L625
ATI Radeon HD 3200
2GB RAM
Thickness 0.96-1.23

HP Pavilion dm3t $600 from HP
13.3 inch Screen 1366 x 768
Intel Celeron SU2300
Intel GMA 4500
3GB RAM
Thickness 0.96-1.23
Weight 4.17 lbs (6-cell battery)

Lenovo Ideapad U350p $550 from Newegg
13.3″ Screen 1366 x 768
Intel Pentium SU4100
Intel GMA 4500
3GB RAM
Thickness 0.7-1.0
Weight 3.52 lbs (4-cell battery)

Lenovo Ideapad U450p $550 $600 from Newegg
14″ Screen 1366 x 768
Intel Pentium SU4100
Intel GMA 4500
3GB RAM
Thickness 0.9-1.1
Weight 4.6 lbs (6-cell battery)

Acer Timeline AS4810T-8480 $600 from Newegg
14″ Screen 1366 x 768
Intel Core 2 Solo SU3500
Intel GMA 4500
4GB RAM
Thickness 0.9-1.1
Weight 4.2lbs (6-cell battery)

Acer Timeline AS1810TZ-4174 $600 from Newegg
11.6″ Screen 1366 x 768
Intel Pentium SU4100
Intel GMA 4500
3GB RAM
Thickness 0.87-1.18
Weight 3.08lbs (6-cell battery)

Toshiba Satellite T135-S1300 $600 from Newegg
13.3″ Screen 1366 x 768
Intel Pentium SU2700
Intel GMA 4500
3GB RAM
Thickness 0.87-1.35
Weight 3.88 lbs (6-cell battery)

Toshiba Satellite T135D-S1325 $600 from Newegg
13.3″ Screen 1366 x 768
AMD Turion Neo X2 L625
ATI Radeon HD 3200
4GB RAM
Thickness 0.87-1.35
Weight 3.88 lbs (6-cell battery)

Asus UL20 Series UL20A-A1 $550 from Newegg
12.1″ Screen 1280 x 800
Intel Core 2 Duo SU7300
Intel GMA 4500
2GB RAM
Thickness 0.9-1.2
Weight 4.18 lbs

UPDATE

Gateway EC1435u $400 from Gateway
11.6 inch Screen 1366 x 768
Intel Celeron Processor SU2300
Intel GMA 4500
2GB RAM
Thickness 0.87-1.18
Weight 3.08 lbs (6 cell battery)

Gateway EC1435u $550 from Gateway
11.6 inch Screen 1366 x 768
Intel Pentium Processor SU4100
Intel GMA 4500
3GB RAM
Thickness 0.87-1.18
Weight 3.08 lbs (6 cell battery)