January 2004 Our revised chart looks at three categories of notebooks: desktop replacements, value notebooks, and ultraportables.

We've split the Top 15 Notebooks chart into three categories: desktop replacement, value, and ultraportable. Small laptops make big waves in the last of those sections, led by Toshiba's Portégé M100, our new Best Buy ultraportable.

The 4.5-pound (sans power adapter) M100 stands out for its comfortable keyboard and powerful stereo speakers. With a 1.2-GHz/600-MHz CPU, this portable handles applications almost as effortlessly as a full-size 1.6-GHz/600-MHz notebook.

The Sharp Actius AV18P is our new number five ultraportable. Its features are more typical of machines in this class--connections are limited--and though this Athlon-based system is slower than competing Pentium M systems, at $1449, it's the second-least-expensive ultraportable.

Sluggish performance prevented the Panasonic CF-W2 Toughbook, a ruggedized ultraportable, from making the chart. The MPC TransPort X1000, a candidate for our desktop replacements list, fell short, too. A sturdily built fingerprint-security-equipped notebook, the X1000 also suffered from slow performance.

All 15 reviews here

PCWorld