Clock speeds for Pentium III-M portables range from 800 GHz to about 1 GHz, which should provide plenty of power. But be advised, portables are now showing up with Intel's latest mobile computing chip, the Pentium 4-M processor. Clock speeds for that approach the 2 GHz mark. If you need lots of processing punch, you might want to look at 4-M-based portables. In the meantime, the arrival of Pentium 4-M notebooks will drive down the prices of III-M notebooks (all of the units in this year's buyer's guide featured Pentium III-M chips).
Storage -- These days, buying a truly portable computer doesn't mean you have to sacrifice storage space. Most ultralights now boast capacious hard drives, anyway from 15 to 30 gigabytes. These drives offer two immediate advantages. First, you no longer need to purge large files on a monthly basis. And second, we get to use the word capacious.
Wireless networking -- Ultralight portables like the ones in our roundup are designed to be ported. If you plan on doing a lot of porting, make sure you purchase a notebook that's equipped with an integrated wireless adapter. Such an adapter will enable you to go on line at airport kiosks or in conference rooms.
What's more, if your company has an in-building wireless setup, you'll also be able to log onto your corporate network with a few clicks of the mouse (on computer spec sheets, wireless network adapters are often identified by the number "802.11b"). All the machines in the roundup - except the Apple iBook -- came with integrated wireless network adapters.
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