looking at sony TZ with Ideapad U110 in mind

Hello, i am a student starting my graduate program this fall and i've been in a long search for a new laptop, and recently i've been very intrigued by the ultraportable models, especially the Ideapad U110. However, given that mainstream retailers will not carry the U110, the best I can personally get a hands-on feel for the 11" laptop is the Sony TZ being displayed at Best Buy. My main use for my laptop will consist of writing papers, managing research data, taking notes in class, and the ususal everyday email/web browsing. I know that the U110 has its minor issues and what not, so I'm not completely pulled on the trigger yet, so I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions as to how I can make my trip to Best Buy as productive as possible by playing around with the TZ, and based on that, trying to get a better idea of what I can expect from the U110 in terms of general usage experience, comfort, typing, screen, and whatever information I can deduct. (I hope that made sense!) So any feedback would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

 

My choice would be to get a decent sized laptop like a T61 14-15" and one of the new, lower powered ultraportables like the eee pc or msi wind (msi wind only has 3 cell right now though).

eee pc 900 is only about $450 and a decent T series with integrated is probably in the range of 650-800 dollars. You could buy both for less than it costs for 1 Sony TZ or U110.

I haven't played with an eee pc before, but I didn't like the feel of the Sony TZ keyboard too much. The keys felt too widely spaced like on a macbook and was just kinda strange.

 

I own the TZ and there was a TZ and U110 side-by-side at my local Microcenter.

The TZ's screen is definitely better, despite both having 11.1" WXGA LED backlit screens. Put both side-by side and you'd wish your U110 had the TZ's screen!

U110's keyboard and palmrest are all glossy black and the display model was all smudged up. The keyboard was also mushy and I could definitely type faster on the TZ, the U110 may take some getting used to but it was pretty good.

I did like its design however, especially the light-up shortcut buttons above the keyboard and it using a more powerful processor than the TZ and newer chipset which I wish the TZ could incorporate. However, the U110 lacks a DVD drive which the TZ has (but it comes with an external drive) so it has more room to accomodate the faster processor. It can also accept up to 3gb of ram vs 2gb in the TZ. Both use 1.8" 4200rpm hard drives which are pretty slow though.

 

Never played with either laptop, but if style does not matter that much to you (although judging by your choices, it probably does), I'd suggest going for the business-oriented laptops such as the X series ThinkPads or the HP Compaq 2510p.