I'm new to scrap booking and am looking to purchase an ultra light notebook. Weight is a major key, I'd like to keep it under 4lbs tops. Any thoughts and opinions are greatly appreciated!

My little PowerBook, which I LOVE, is only 4.6 lbs. I know that's a little over what you mentioned, but for what you get in such a lightweight little package, it's no comparison! It is made of super-lightweight aluminum, has a G4 processor, and comes with iPhoto, which is what I use to organize my elements and photos.

I could go on.. and on.. but I think it's about the best little notebook I've ever seen. That's my recommendation.

Oh - one more thing - it comes with an airport extreme card installed, which, if combined with an airport (or any wireless network, like at Caribou Coffee or similar places), means you're online with no wires!

My two cents.

I am considering buying the 12" Powerbook G4 for its size and weight. But I noticed that it can only be upgraded to 1.25gig RAM. I would prefer 2 gig RAM but I didn't really want the additional weight of a 15" one.

Does the additional .75gig RAM really make a big difference for PS? Is 2 gig RAM overkill?

I currently use 1.25gig RAM on a 2.8ghz PC and at time some filters are slow.

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Betty

With the G4 you get the Altivec vector coprocessor, basically a little buddy for your processor. Several filters and other parts of PS are designed to give special commands to the Altivec, so the taxes on your RAM will be reduced.

I think they usually have PS on the demo machines at the Apple stores. If I remember correctly, you're in Fremont, so I think your closest would be Valley Fair.

I find 8x8 workable on my old 667MHz G3 iBook with only 640MB of RAM, and 12x12 a bit painful. So I think with twice as much MHz and the G4 and twice as much RAM you'll be okay.

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Thanks for your input Naomi. I'm going to check it out at Valley Fair, I would like to try it with PS on it. I had stopped by Fry's yesterday and no one knew anything about Apple's.

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Betty

well.. i'll keep my apple comments to myself.. but dell has an ultralight laptop that meets those criteria and has a 15" display.. I've been using one of their ultralights for years... just keep in mind that most ultralights sacrifice things like videocards and processor speeds to keep the temps/weight/batter power down.. so you may find yourself having trouble with software like photoshop.. 1GB of memory is must to make up for the shortocmings.. Good luck!

I like Fujitsu computers. Check out this link to see ttheir light notebook. I don't know what their specs are... I haven't been notebook shopping in awhile. Currently I have (well my work bought it and I'm using it) a Dell and I love it. I take it back and forth with me and I'm 5'3" 110 lbs and I have no problem carrying it. I only have a Gig but PS seems to work really well, even if I have more than one applications open.

I like Sony's looks but I think Sony's overpriced in comparison to similar specs and brand of the internal parts.

Here's some info on thin and light notebooks from PCWorld.

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Savitri

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Fujitsus are nice.. I'm preferential to Dells.. but their 4.1lb inspiron 700m is a bit lightweight.. on features and power that is. Sure.. it will work just fine for basic scrapping.. but add on the 1GB of memory, 40GB HD and faster processor and you might as well look for a slightly heavier machine for less money.

Have you considered tablet pc's? You might look there as well... ultimate in portabliity with decent specs.. certainly if money is no object!