Laptop Size & Weight - Find The Right Laptop Computer for You

If you are looking to buy a new laptop, one of the important consideration is size and weight of the laptop - should you go for a heavy-duty laptop or the ultra-light and thin notebook like the Macbook Air ? Walt at WSJ has some good laptop buying advice. Excerpts:

Size: If you are a constant traveler, think about the subnotebook models, which generally weigh 3 pounds or less. There are two types of these. The classic subnotebook has a small screen, 12 inches or less, and a cramped keyboard. This year, a new type emerged, with a full keyboard and a normal 13.3-inch screen packed into a thin, light body. Examples - the MacBook Air from Apple and the Lenovo ThinkPad X300.

If your laptop will mostly stay at home, the office, or in class, a 5- to 7-pound machine with a screen of either 13.3 inches or 15.4 inches is the best bet. Typical models in this class are the Dell Inspiron 1525, the HP dv6700 and the Apple MacBook. Link.