This popular “sub-notebook” us the best value for money offering of all the 12.1 inch screen ASUS notebooks. It offers less battery life than the more expensive models, but makes up for that in the slightly lower price.

The Asus UL20A hits that spot between a full notebook and the ever-popular netbooks. It costs the same as a high-end netbook, but offers a larger screen, and performance and specifications that are more typical on a notebook computer.

Here’s some of the features:

• 1.3GHz Intel SU7300 Core2 Duo CPU
• 2GB of memory
• 250GB SATA hard drive
• 12.1 inch WXGA LED LCD display
• Wifi 802.11 b/g/n
• Webcam and built-in microphone and speakers
• Windows 7 Home Premium

The weight of the Asus UL20A is a little high. Netbooks come in at less than 3lbs, whilst this model weights 5.4lbs. Not a major setback, but a little heavy for a computer of this size. UPDATE: this model comes in at 4.18lbs which is much more reasonable and pretty standard for this size. Not too much effort to lug it around. Will give you a bit of workout if you drag it around all day. The ultra-thin design is very appealing however, so despite the weight it still fits comfortably in a big bag of backpack.

The speed will not disappoint; with a processor that is pretty well specced. The memory is what helps the most and the system will be able to handle as many of the standard programs you care to throw at it: web browsing, instant messaging, typing documents and even doing graphics will all be fine. As with all notebooks, fast 3D games will not handle very well.

The not so technical features are worth noting too. The battery lasts for up to 8 hours, which is most of the day. There’s an accidental damage warranty which covers against some common things like spilling coffee on the keyboard and touts a 3 business day turnaround time for repairs.

Overall a decent amount of power in a very thin package.

Good:

• Very thin
• Long battery life
• Large hard drive
• Powerful

Not so good:

• A little heavy

For a pretty small chunk of change you get a relatively light and pretty fast laptop computer with a very long battery life. Combined with a 13.3 inch monitor this makes the perfect travel companion for those that need full a full-sized laptop computer for working on the move. The extra size gives the feeling of spaciousness in the system, but without sacrificing the long battery life that makes netbooks so attractive.

Here are the main features:

• 13.3 inch wide screen monitor
• 1.3GHz ultra-low voltage dual-core processor
• 500GB hard drive
• 3GB memory
• Draft-N Wifi
• Bluetooth

The new range of ultra-low voltage Intel processors are really pushing the boundaries of low power and performance. The benefit of this is that the processors are much more efficient, allowing much longer battery times, while still allowing bigger monitors and more processing power. This means the power to use faster programs when needed, while not sacrificing usage time when on the move.

The screen is clearly smaller than 15 inch and bigger laptops, and bigger than the 10 inch netbook screens. This middle ground is actually pretty perfect and picks up where the smaller sizes leave off and takes the best of what the larger sizes have to offer.

Smaller netbook monitors are a little cramped, with the low resolution often necessitating scrolling from left to right in many applications. Larger monitors offer better resolutions, which allow normal viewing, but don’t actually offer enough extra to start fitting more than one window on the screen at one time. The 13.3 inch has enough resolution to comfortably view a webpage without sideways scrolling, and it big enough for easy viewing.

Not much to say about the 500GB hard drive. I’m always leaning towards online storage for important data. This hard drive is big enough for whatever you have, but remember that computer hard drives are one of the weakest links in the system. Although reliability is pretty awesome, please backup when necessary.

Talking of backups, there is no optical drive on this computer, so an external DVD burner will be needed for writing and reading DVDs and CDs.

3GB of RAM is plenty. The optional upgrade to 8GB is not worthwhile and there will be negligible, if any, performance difference. Put that money into an external DVD writer.

Networking includes both wireless and traditional wired options. The wireless supports up to 802.11n, but is backwards compatible with b/g. Draft-N allows up to 300Mb/s connectivity and wider range than the older standards, and the RJ-45 port is a good backup just in case. Bluetooth is also included and supports microphones and stereo speakers.

Other bits and pieces include built-in microphone, built-in webcam, three USB ports (one is dual eSATA/USB), normal laptop keyboard without numeric keypad, VGA port and HDMI video port.

Overall this laptop hits that magic sweet spot between a netbook and a full-sized desktop replacement laptop.

Pros:

• Long battery life
• “Just-right” sized monitor
• Multiple networking options
• VGA & HDMI video output

Cons:

• No DVD drive

With a large 15.6 inch widescreen monitor, large hard drive and plenty of memory, the Toshiba Satellite L505 has a lot of performance in a not-so-portable package. Ideal as a desktop replacement laptop, it offers a full range of features expected from a desktop computer, but in a laptop sized package.

Here’s some of the more important stuff:

• 15.6 inch monitor
• 2.1GHz Intel Pentium T4300 dual-core processor
• 500GB SATA hard drive
• 4GB memory
• Graphics card with shared memory
• DVD writer
• 802.11n Wifi and Fast Ethernet

The 15.6 inch monitor is enough for everyday use. My wife owns a similar Toshiba with a screen of the same size. It is not up to the full day workloads of a desktop computer, where a much larger desktop is more comfortable. But for using a single window at a time, this is just enough. At the highest resolution the screen will accommodate a web browser with an instant messaging program or other slim window at the side. A VGA slot if available for attaching a monitor.

The memory is enough, 4GB will serve even the most demanding of users, and is upgradeable to 8GB, although I really don’t see that as being worthwhile because the odds of actually using that much memory are very slim. If you run enough programs to fill up more than 4GB of memory then the speed of the processor will start to come into play as it will have a lot of programs to deal with.

The processor is fast enough, but will chew on power. This is not a super low power CPU and that is reflected somewhat in the short battery life of this laptop. Nothing special, but will perform as expected for the price range.

The 500GB hard drive is more than enough. Up to 100 DVD movies. Just remember to back up your data if you’re going to use that much space. Although hard drives are pretty reliable, they are a common point of failure and are usually not recoverable. With all the information you can store on there, it means there is a lot to lose if the hard drive is damaged. The same information can also be lost due to viruses, so backup regularly. Consider an external hard drive or online storage for backup.

802.11b/g/n wireless is always good. This offers speeds of up to 300Mb/s for the wireless connection to the router if the router supports it. There is a wired Fast Ethernet port too, which is standard and will connect nearly anywhere there is a network available.

Rounding out the rest are three USB ports, built-in speakers, a webcam, and audio input and output.

One little gripe though. I really don’t think it’s necessary to squash the 10-key numeric keypad onto the right. I would opt for a keyboard without the numeric keypad. Although the extra keys are helpful, it is pretty much expected that it won’t be included on laptops because it just makes the space too squashed.

Overall, I would recommend this for home use. It can get lugged around, but does not offer the portability of a netbook. My wife’s version, with different speakers is just great. Windows 7 is a plus too.

Pros:

• Fast
• Plenty of memory
• Spacious
• Full range of extras

Cons:

• Unnecessary keyboard keys