Asus U2E-1P014E

The U2E does provide more storage than Sony's ultraportable - 120GB compared to the 100GB drive found in the Vaio. There's also a DVD writer capable of writing to every type of DVD media, DVD-RAM included.

Battery life is crucial for an ultraportable, but the Asus proved mediocre. Two batteries are included - a standard unit and a longer-life version that protrudes about a centimetre from the machine - but both returned results that pale in comparison to the Vaio.

The standard battery petered out after an hour and twenty minutes of heavy usage - two hours short of the Sony - and the light use test yielded two and a half hours. The extended battery fared better, but was still slightly disappointing - intensive use was just short of the Vaio's benchmark, and light use lasted for almost five and a half hours: a good result, but still some way short of what we've come to expect from these all-day featherweights.

All in all, the U2E is an attractive, well-built laptop - but it lacks the
wow-factor of Sony's rival ultraportable. Sure, the U2E weighs less than the VGN-TZ31 but, crucially, it just doesn't provide the battery life to match. And while it's noticeably cheaper than the Sony at £938, it still holds a significant premium over more commonly sized laptops. Unless you need to use every feature - including the optical drive - and look good doing it, then one of Asus's own Eee PCs would do the same job for a quarter of the price.

Author: Mike Jennings