Thirteen-inch lightweight laptop shootout - CNET
<div readability="67.1389423077"> <p> If you're looking for a thin, stylish 13-inch laptop, this is your lucky month. We've seen an influx of eye-catching, highly portable notebooks making their way through the CNET offices, including the Toshiba Portege R835 and the Samsung Series 9. Add in the current second-gen 13-inch MacBook Air, and you've got a trio of worthy choices at this screen size (we're still waiting to get Sony's new 13-inch Vaio S, which also looks promising). </p><p> While the MacBook Air has been the gold standard of ultrathin 13-inchers, the new Samsung Series 9 NP900X3A has done its best to emulate the style on a Windows laptop. It certainly surpasses the MacBook Air in one important category: price. The real question is, do you actually need a superslim laptop if there's a nearly equally lightweight, slightly less-thin option that's much more affordable? </p><p>The Toshiba Portege R705 was an Editors' Choice laptop in 2010, and its successor, the Portege R835-P56X, ups the ante in 2011; it earned Editors' Choice honors, too. Its $900-range price is more palatable, and it even has an optical drive in its thinner-than-a-MacBook-Pro chassis. </p> <blockquote> <b>Related links</b><br/>• Toshiba Portege R835-P56X review <br/>• Samsung Series 9 NP900X3A review <br/>• Apple MacBook Air review<br/></blockquote> <p><!--pagebreak--> Each of these three systems has its strengths and weaknesses, as well as fans and detractors. We gathered them in one place for a friendly head-to-head-to-head comparison. Check out our cheat sheet of specs below, then click through the rest of our feature to take a tour through our commentary on several key categories: size/weight, battery life, design, price, screen, keyboard, and touch pad. We're not sure there's a clear winner, but if you are, make your case in the comments section below. </p><table width="610" readability="2"><tr><td> System </td> <td> CPU </td> <td> RAM </td> <td> HDD </td> <td> Weight </td> <td> Price </td> </tr><tr><td> <b> MacBook Air 13-inch </b> </td> <td> 1.86GHz Intel Core 2 Duo </td> <td> 2GB </td> <td> 128GB SSD </td> <td> 2.9 lbs. </td> <td> $1,299 </td> </tr><tr readability="2"><td> <b> Samsung Series 9 </b> </td> <td> 1.4GHz Intel Core i5-2537M </td> <td> 4GB </td> <td> 128GB SSD </td> <td> 2.9 lbs. </td> <td> $1,650 </td> </tr><tr readability="2"><td> <b> Toshiba Portege R835 </b> </td> <td> 2.3GHz Intel Core i5-2410M </td> <td> 4GB </td> <td> 640GB 5,400rpm </td> <td> 3.2 lbs. </td> <td> $929 </td> </tr></table></div><div readability="16.6306027821"> <!-- http://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/i/bn/mugs/blog_dan_ackerman_60x60.png --> <!-- false --> <!-- false --> <!-- false --> <img src="http://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/i/bn/mugs/blog_dan_ackerman_60x60.png"/> <!--/bioLinks--> <div id="emailEditorForm" readability="12"> <p>If you have a question or comment for Dan Ackerman, you can submit it here. However, because our editors and writers receive hundreds of requests, we cannot tell you when you may receive a response.</p> </div><!--/emailEditorForm--> <p class="shortBio">New York native Dan Ackerman (follow him on Twitter), a former radio DJ turned journalist, has written about technology and music for publications including <i>Spin</i>, <i>Blender</i>, <i>The Hollywood Reporter</i>, and <i>USA Today</i>. He hosts the weekly Digital City podcast and his most recent album, Tales Out of Night School, is available now.</p> </div>
