The gearhead bloggers at Jalopnik.com test-drive the latest ultralight notebooks.


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Head of the Class
HP 2133 mini-note PC
This PC isn’t out to set speed records, but the stripped-down 2.6-pounder gets good grades for having an ExpressCard slot, an 8.9-inch screen, nearly full-size keyboard, and beefy 120 GB or 160 GB hard drives. Associate editor Matt Hardigree’s take: “It’s great for surfing and writing, but I’d need a magnifying glass to edit photos. And I had no problem using it to work in bed, but my fiancée considers that a downside.” $499, hp.com

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The Sleek Scenester
MacBook Air
Apple’s .76-inch-thick anodized aluminum darling is still the hottest girl in school. At just three pounds, the stunning design packs in a high-res 13.3-inch wide-screen display, full-size keyboard, and a zippy Intel Core 2 Duo processor.Editor-in-chief Ray Wert’s take: “It’s blinding fast. I downloaded huge files and edited video on the go.” His only complaint? “The battery dies after three hours of hard use.” $1,799, apple.com

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The Road Warrior
Lenovo Ideapad U110
The specs on this 2.4-pound ultraportable Vista-running machine should set it more than a leg up on Apple’s princely Air. It also runs off an Intel Core 2 Duo, but adds a 24x multiburner drive, Dolby Home Theater sound, and a bigger hard drive (120 GB to the Air’s 80 GB). Associate editor Ben Wojdyla’s take: “Its five-hour battery life is awesome, but the gimmicky face-recognition security is not.” $1,899, lenovo.com


BIG BRAIN
“The laptop of the future’s screen will be ultrathin e-paper. You won’t have a hard drive or software—it will be on wireless servers. You’ll use hand gestures, voice rec, and type on projection keyboards.” —Yves Béhar, designer of One Laptop Per Child