If you absolutely must have the smallest one available, there's the
Sony PCG-U3 Laptop ($1,999 from Dynamism, $1,799 from Japan
Direct). At 7.3 inches wide, you can fit two of these babies
side-by-side on a standard airplane tray table. The U3 is no toy,
though. It's got the full specs of an office PC, with a 933MHz
processor, 256MB of RAM, a 20GB hard drive, and
Windows XP, all in
a 1.8-pound package. The downsides are related to the U3's
infinitesimal size, making the U3 more for nimble gadget fanatics
than the average user.
OH, SO 007
Very James Bond, the
Sony NW-E8P Music Player ($425 from
Japan Direct) is just a pair of headphones. Less than that even -
it's just two pieces that clip over your ears, connected by a thin
wire. The right earpiece has enough memory for an hour's worth of
high-quality music, loaded in by connecting a cable from your
computer. It's perfect for joggers and others who don't want wires
dangling down while they run. The included Japanese software,
though, is useless; owners have to go to Sony's Web site to
download the U.S. version to play it.
TV TO GO
The
Sharp MT-AV1 Portable Video ($399 from Dynamism, $329
from Japan Direct) is the precursor of what will certainly be a hot
Christmas product - in 2005 or so. For now, though, what you get is
a thrilling peek into the future of portable video. A colorful,
palm-size square dominated by an LCD screen, the MT-AV1 hooks up to
your TV (or better, your TiVo) to record up to an hour of video for
playback on the road. Postage-stamp-size SD chips, available at
most computer stores, can boost the memory, but the battery only
lasts an hour while playing video. The video quality isn't stellar
and deleting files requires navigating some Japanese-language
menus, but it's an amazing way to catch up on the latest episode of
The Sopranos while standing in line at the
bank or in the waiting
room at the doctor's office (anywhere you don't want to whip out,
boot up, and manipulate a PC), and its recording capabilities make
it a brilliantly sneaky gadget for transferring shows between your
TV, PC, and
PDA.