Lenovo ThinkPad Edge

Though its 13.3-inch screen size puts this notebook in almost the same category as all-purpose machines. it is billed and sold as an ultraportable. It’s slim and light enough (under 4 pounds without accessories) to qualify. As with many ultraportables, it utilizes an ultra-low-voltage processor that sacrifices performance for battery life. Came equipped with an Intel Core 2 Duo SU7300 processor at 1.3GHz, and starts at $799.

This low-voltage processor is largely responsible for the Edge’s somewhat low WorldBench score of 65, but it’s still fast enough for day-to-day business needs. The system comes equipped with 4GB of DDR3-1066 RAM and a fairly speedy 7200 RPM hard drive, so system bootup and application launch times are quick. Battery life is excellent, lasting 6.5 hours in our battery run-down test. You could probably go more than 7 hours simply browsing the Web, checking e-mail, and working on office documents.

The Edge has 802.11b/g/n support, of course, but it also has built-in 3G mobile broadband with GPS, and even WiMAX support.