16. Conclusion: Underdog, Sprinter, Endurance Racer and Flyweight

Individual Conclusions

If it was only about the benchmarks, the winner would be clear. But depending on the intended purpose, different criteria are critical in assessing which machine comes out on top. For this reason, the notebooks will be briefly summarized in this section.

HP Compaq

The HP Compaq 2510p tries hard in this test field. It is surely one of the cheaper models, but it doesn’t offer anything special, either. The hard drive is slow and puts the brakes on the whole system; this is further worsened by the slow processor and small memory size. Being 1600 g (3.5 pounds) it is not really that heavy, but it is the second heaviest in this field.

Although the battery of our test system lasts a long time, it sticks out over the rest of the system, which is annoying, and the unit still can’t compete with the Sony which is much thinner and subjectively faster. The overly-sensitive fingerprint reader is just irritating when you type — it constantly makes you think about deactivating it, which of course is far from ideal.

On the positive side, it has the big keyboard, the UMTS modem and the three-year warranty with pick-up and delivery service. The price for the 2510p is 1694.56 Euros (August 2008)

Samsung If you’re looking for great performance in this class, you won’t be able to turn down the Samsung P200-Pro T8100 Bordoso. It is the only candidate that comes with a “normal” Penryn processor running at over 2 GHz, instead of using a ULV CPU. Of course, this affects battery life as well as weight — the Samsung, at 2 kg (4.4 pounds) is the heaviest of the four notebooks reviewed here. Like the HP Compaq, Samsung has a battery that sticks out which disrupts its design.

If you’re looking for a webcam and/or a ExpressCard slot, you’ll find it on the Samsung. But if your IT department wants a fingerprint reader, a TPM or draft-n WLAN, you should go for something else. A nice feature is that you can choose between Windows XP Professional and Windows Vista Business.

In terms of pricing, the Samsung model targets the entry-level; the P200-Pro T8100 Bordoso officially costs 1,049 Euros. It comes with a two-year warranty with pick-up and delivery service.

Sony After the Portégé, the Sony is the second thinnest notebook in this test, and weighs only 1150 g (2.54 pounds). It offers the longest battery life, but this is also because it has the slowest processor. The performance is sufficient for XP and office work, but if you’re thinking about Vista you better think twice, or at least buy a memory upgrade. The bright display is another plus.

On the downside, we have to mention the soft keyboard and trackpad buttons. Overall quality is high, but the display cover lid seems to be very thin and soft. Also, the processor is not meant for heavy-duty tasks.

In terms of warranty, Sony offers only the legally minimum 24 months without any additional service. Buyer should also consider price — Sony wants 1,999 Euros for the G21XP version we tested (Aug 2008).

Toshiba

If you want an extremely light device and don’t mind carrying the power supply with you all the time, take a closer look at the Toshiba Portégé R500 With 3 USB ports and Firewire, it can offer more than the other competitors; it even comes with a UMTS modem. The performance level is fine due to the SSD for storage and the fastest ULV processor in this field. Of course you’ll have to pay a price for it: 2,328.24 Euros and you can call it yours (Aug 2008). The version with a normal hard drive and optical drive costs another 450 Euros on top of that. At least Toshiba offers a three-year warranty with pick-up and delivery service.

As we have seen from the Sony, the low weight can also be a disadvantage — sometimes the Portégé R500 seems to be too fragile, and you just wish you had more in your hands. Finally, the display is appreciably bright, but the high black level lowers the contrast.