I've got a student in the family who wants to carry a laptop to class. Given the distance between classes, she finds it easier to chill and study between classes at some of the more convenient study areas which have wireless capability. Unfortunately, her present laptop is a desktop replacement and far from "portable".

So, can anyone recommend a very inexpensive ultra portable unit she could carry around campus? All it will be used for is papers and research on the internet. It won't carry a lot of large files nor does it need to be a performance dynamo. Small...cheap....wireless. That's about it. Any help appreciated.

Define cheap. We talking under $500 cheap, under $1000 cheap, etc.

I'd like to stay under $1k. Actually, the further under $1K the better. She already has a nice laptop in the dorm. Just need a tough little unit with wireless to use during and between classes. Gotta be small. I can see where a small gal trying to lug a desktop replacement all over campus would tire of that quickly. I'm sure it's going to take a fair amount of abuse being carried around and theft is always a concern so I don't want to sink a lot of money into it. Cheaper is better. Word processing and wireless....that's about it.

If she's not Mac averse you could do a whole lot worse than a refurb Macbook for $799. Seems to me that's a lot of laptop for the $$.

Mac would definitely work. Price is right....a bit large, but at 5lbs, I think that's manageable. Definite contender. Thanks.

I think Grawk is the king of mini laptops so you might wait for his input.

Will definitely wait for the mini king to add his recommendations.

The lenovo thinkpad x-series is a contender, it's really small, but I don't know if any are available under $1k. I'll pm you a place to check. I'm guessing apple will be coming out with a smaller notebook next tuesday, but it will most definitely be over $1k. Fujitsu makes a lot of super small notebooks, as does sony. But the super small notebook is aimed at executives, so most of them are pricey.

If used or refurbished is ok, check for mac powerbook g4 12", thinkpad X series, sony ux series. The UX is probably too small for major writing unless you use an external keyboard and display.

Thanks, Grawk. Over $1k isn't going to work. A refurb is fine. Given a petite female will be using this, what's the smallest size I should shoot for and not have it be a frustration to use the keyboard? If you've got links to the used section of MacWorld you mentioned, I'd love to have it. PM/Email or here. Contact any way you want. All are fine....and THANKS!

That's really up to the individual. I used an 8.5" laptop for over 2 years, and if apple made one today, I'd buy one. The reason the sony is too small is it's more like 5".

I'd check smalldog.com, and watch dealmac.com for mac deals. I'm not sure of a great source for used macs tho. If the 13" macbook isn't too big (I think it's an ok size, carries well, runs well), that'd be my go to recommendation. Enough of a recommendation that I own one, my wife owns one, my brother owns one,my sister has one, my stepmom has a macbook pro, and my other sister has an ibook. All on my recommendations...

My Fujitsu P1610 is my Ultraportable of choice. Just barely large enough to have a useable keyboard. I think you will have to loosen up your definition of Ultraportable, because anything with a semi decent CPU is going to be nearly twice your price goal.

If file storage space is not an issue. Consider the Asus Eee PC. With an external USB drive or mulitple thumbsticks for extra storage. The Eee PC pretty much has the smallest cost to size ratio.

-Ed

Thanks for the advice guys. I think I'll see if I can lay my hands on the 13" mac. Looks like the ticket.