Acer TravelMate 8371

Perfect ultra portable laptop – I've had this laptop for over a year and don't regret buying it. At the time, I needed a laptop that is ultra portable, 13.3", 1366x768 res, inexpensive, and can handle games like Left 4 Dead 2. CitySoftware had this for sale at $609. The laptop features itself is great. It has a 5 in 1 memory card reader, 1 USB port on the left hand side, and 2 on the right.

The touch pad is responsive and includes additional finger gestures to maximise usability (e.g. pinching to zoom). In between the left and right mouse click buttons is a fingerprint reader which I use on a daily basis to access the laptop and other applications.

The keyboard is easy to use, is full sized, and doesn't feel like it's cramped, even when playing games.

The battery life is wonderful. I can get a full 8 hrs when brightness is lowered. When taken off power, the laptop recognises this and automatically reverts to the low voltage graphics card. This improves battery life, and can simply be switched back to the high performance graphics card once you hit the battery switch to turn off battery save mode.

Performance isn't too bad, as it can run Left 4 Dead 2, and Starcraft 2, so I'm happy.

No optical drive, as that would defeat the purpose of it being an ultra portable.

Will be upgrading it to 8GB soon.

Specs:

CPU: Core 2 Duo SU9400 1.4 Ghz

Ram: 4GB

HDD: 320GB 7200RPM

Graphics: ATI Radeon 4300/Intel GMA 4500M HD

Screen: 13.3" 1366x768 matt screen

OS: Windows 7

Wifi: Wireless N

Other: Bluetooth, webcam

Weight: 1.65 kg Everything!