5. Get Connected

The networking options for ultra portables are the same as for other notebooks; 802.11 b and g are ubiquitous, Bluetooth is common but sometimes still optional and we're starting to see designs with built-in 3G datacards, from mainstream vendors as well as smaller players like Flybook, who pioneered integrated 3G in ultraportables. Intel's Santa Rosa platform includes a draft version of 802.11n, so that will soon become common; some models like the Lenovo V100 offer it already. A few ultraportables - like the HP TC2400 - have 802.11a as well.

The smaller the portable PC the more experimental the design is likely to be; Samsung is promising Wimax in a UMPC that looks like a piece of Origami.

And because ubiquitous connectivity is even more useful with devices that you carry everywhere with you, WiMAX will show up in ultraportables quickly; Samsung is already showing off the SPH-P9000, which has a 5" screen, a folding keyboard and built-in EVDO and WiMAX. It's an extreme ultraportable; sleek and sexy (and pricey), with several compromises to make it extremely portable. You can get a very small and light machine and still have a full version of Windows, or you can opt for a "shrunken" notebook and get more of the power at a fraction of the weight. It all depends on just how portable you want things to be.

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