Ultraportables are the frequent fliers of the notebook world. No, they can't match the performance of their bigger brethren. Plus, their displays top out at 12 inches or so, and they don't have internal CD or DVD drives. But a few ounces here and there can make a huge difference if you spend a lot of time on the road. These systems are so light and small that you'll barely know they're in your laptop bag. The tiniest--sometimes referred to as subnotebooks--have 10-inch displays and cramped keyboards. Because of the trade-offs, ultraportables have never been hugely popular in the United States, but as performance improves and more users ditch drives and exchange files via e-mail instead, these little laptops could be poised for liftoff.

Toshiba Portégé R100 Toshiba PORTEGE R100 ( PPR10U-04M817 )		•	4 pounds or less
		•	Less than 0.5 inches thick
		•	Small displays (12 inches or smaller)
		•	Slower mobile processors, less memory, and smaller hard drives
		•	No internal CD, CD-RW, or DVD drives
		•	Fewer ports
		•	Microsoft Windows XP Home or Professional

A thin-and-light offers the best balance between portability, performance, and features--especially for business travelers. Power-tuned mobile chips, such as the Intel Pentium M, now give these svelte systems performance that rivals that of notebooks twice their weight. Add in their 14-inch displays, combo CD-RW/DVD drives, and wireless networking, and thin-and-lights let you leave the office behind without missing a beat. It's no wonder this has become the hottest category of notebooks. You'll pay a slight premium for these do-it-all laptops, but for most business users, this is the best choice.

IBM ThinkPad T series		•	4 to 6 pounds
		•	Less than 1 inch thick
		•	Midsized displays (12 to 14 inches)
		•	Powerful mobile processors, lots of memory, spacious hard drives
		•	One swappable internal CD, CD-RW, or DVD drive
		•	All standard ports
		•	Microsoft Windows XP Home or Professional

The mobile equivalent of a budget desktop PC, these notebooks deliver the performance and features that most users need without all the stuff they don't. Though these devices are a little lighter and smaller than desktop replacements, mainstream notebooks still aren't suitable for business travelers. At one time, nearly all notebooks in this class had two fixed drives--a floppy and a CD or DVD drive--though that's starting to change with the new budget models that offer a single, swappable drive instead. Notebooks in this class won't set any speed records, but they offer more than enough oomph for typical tasks, such as e-mail, Web browsing, and word processing.

Dell Inspiron 1100 Dell Inspiron Notebooks		•	6 to 8 pounds
		•	More than 1 inch thick
		•	14-inch display or larger
		•	Value mobile processors, base amounts of memory, and small hard drives
		•	Two fixed or swappable internal drives for floppy, CD, CD-RW, or DVD drives
		•	All standard ports
		•	Microsoft Windows XP Home