Sleek aluminum case, leather bag, inexpensive, quiet operation

Short battery life, mediocre performance compared to Core i5 machines, battery and memory inaccessible

Its six-cell battery pack lasted for just 2 hours and 21 minutes on a charge, an hour short of the IdeaPad's six-cell battery and nearly two hours less than the Asus' eight-cell battery in Battery Saving mode. The system stayed connected to my office's Wi-Fi network only 95 feet from the router, 30 feet short of the Asus.

In addition to Windows 7 Professional, the V130 I tested comes with Office 2010 Starter and Trend Micro's antivirus software. (Models equipped with Ubuntu or Windows 7 Home Premium are also available.) At $808, it undercuts the others by about $200. Its one-year warranty is second-best compared to the two years of service that the Asus U36JC includes; however, extending the warranty to three years adds just $80, a genuine bargain.