CES 2007: Notebooks Get Small and Smaller

Last night's Digital Experience mini-show was a hotbed for new laptops. Here's some of the highlights.

OQO Model 2 - I was one of the few fans of the original OQO ultra-mobile PC (the first of its kind), which came out several years ago. At long last the company has shipped a follow-up (which Bill Gates also had on hand during his keynote speech last night). The new model is much more stylish but still features the hallmarks of OQO, the sliding keyboard and pointing stick, plus updated specs: 1GB of RAM and a 60GB hard drive. Not running Vista, though.

OLPC - The $100 "One Laptop per Child" was on hand from Marvell, which makes the wireless chips for it. It's quite unique. The OS has no words on it at all; it's completely icon-driven. Nifty little machine.

HP Pavilion tx1000 - This is HP's first-ever consumer-focused tablet PC. Starting at $1,299, it's a very mobile convertible tablet with all the bells and whistles: a 12.1-inch wide-screen LCD (which you can use with a fingernail or the stylus), an AMD dual-core CPU, and more.

Lenovo laptops - Sure, we all know Lenovo makes ThinkPad laptops now, but it also makes Lenovo laptops, of course. These are more budget-conscious machines, finally arriving on U.S. shores. They don't have a lot of frills but seem relatively sturdy and capable. You can buy direct or at shops like Office Depot. Prices start at a mind-bogglingly low $599.