Go mobile; nine notebooks under $2,500 that will take your business on the road - review of nine notebooks - includes related article on modems, purchasing 'cheat sheet' and vendor directory - Hardware Review - Evaluation

Home Office Computing, May, 1997 by Rick Broida

Though outfitted with 256K of external cache, it has only 8MB of RAM--not the ideal amount for Windows 95. Also, a modem isn't part of the hardware list. But the toughest pill to swallow is the LifeBook's battery performance--it lasted only an hour on our test, despite having a lithium-ion cell.

Fujitsu's surprisingly comprehensive software bundle includes Lotus SmartSuite 96, LapLink 7.0, Quicken SE, First Aid 95 Deluxe, and all sorts of communications goodies. The icing on the cake is Fujitsu's three-year warranty.

Even with its excellent blend of features and extras, the LifeBook's limitations make it a less-than-ideal road warrior. Of course, at this low price, you can afford to add the RAM, modem, and second battery needed to remedy its imperfections.

Gateway Solo 2100 S5-120

RATING: *** 1/2

The latest addition to Gateway's venerable line of Solo notebooks comes close to our definition of the ultimate road warrior. The $2,499 Solo 2100 S5-120 sports a spacious 11.3-inch dual-scan screen, an 8x CD-ROM drive, and a 33.6Kbps PC Card modem.

Powered by a NiMH battery, the Solo lasted nearly two hours in our battery-drain test. You could fly from Maine to Montana and back again on a single charge if you slipped a second cell into the Solo's option bay. Hot-swappable (see glossary), the bay also accommodates a floppy drive or 8x CD-ROM module.

The Solo's 11.3-inch dual-scan screen affords a sharp, bright picture, but it's limited to 256 colors. For the same price, Samsung's SENS 500 offers a 12.1-inch active-matrix screen capable of 64,000 colors.

Armed with a 120MHz processor, 256K of external cache, and 16MB of EDO RAM, the Solo has plenty of power for business applications. It's also nicely equipped for multimedia, owing to its peppy 8x CD-ROM and crystal-clear stereo speakers.

Communications is one of the Solo's fortes. In addition to Gateway's TelePath 33.6Kbps modem, which offers cellular capabilities, the Solo comes with half a dozen online services.

The Solo may not have a state-of-the-art screen or the longest warranty, but it's a wellrounded machine.

Hitachi E-133T

RATING: ***

Like Fujitsu, Hitachi is relatively new to the notebook market. And like Fujitsu again, Hitachi has produced an extremely commendable product. The E-133T packs a 133MHz processor, active-matrix screen, cellular-capable modem, and great bundle of software into a lightweight, affordable portable.

Indeed, the only significant feature missing from the 6.2-pound, $2,399 E-133T is a CD-ROM drive. Although its floppy drive can slide out of its bay to make room for a second battery, an internal CD-ROM module isn't available. Hitachi does offer an external 6x drive that uses a PC Card interface; it sells for about $100, making it an extremely worthwhile addition.

A U.S. Robotics 28.8Kbps PC Card modem is standard issue with the E-133T, along with America Online, CompuServe, and CoSession Remote software. The rest of Hitachi's comprehensive software bundle includes such cool tools as Norton Utilities and AntiVirus, and such productivity applications as Act! 2.0, ClarisWorks 4.0, and Quicken SE.