In an ideal world an ultraportable notebook should be not much bigger than a handheld PDA, be easy to type on and have much of the functionality of a full-size notebook. Unlikely, we know. More often than not these smaller sized ultraportables have to make so many compromises that a system which looks good on first impressions becomes a let-down in use.

Not so the Vaio VGN-T2XP/S from Sony, a very small, fully functional notebook with a great screen, fully useable keyboard and even an integrated DVD burner. All this comes in a platform that measures just 20.5 x 2.5 x 27.2cm (D x H x W) and weighs a mere 1.38kg, including the battery and DVD drive.

You may think that something this small would be compromised in terms of the punch it can deliver, but you'd be wrong. Inside the Vaio VGN-T2XP/S sits a 1.2GHz Pentium M ULV (Ultra Low Voltage) CPU backed by Intel's i855GME chipset and 512MB of DDR333 memory. The integrated graphics chip uses 8MB of this system memory and can be configured to use up to 64MB, but you'd be far better off leaving the memory for applications to use.

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Battery life, which is of major importance on a system like this, is exceptional, mainly due to the ULV Pentium M processor. You can expect to get just under six hours of battery life out of the 7,200mAh Li-Ion battery.

The major stumbling block for the smaller ultraportable is the keyboard, but Sony has done a good job in producing a small but usable keyboard for the Vaio VGN-T2XP/S, and although people with larger fingers may have a problem, the keys are much easier to use than those of, say, Toshiba's Libretto. Similarly, some thought has been put into the position of the touchpad; far enough away from the spacebar to prevent those annoying accidental curser movements, but still in a comfortable place to use.

When you turn the Vaio VGN-T2XP/S on, the first thing that hits you is just how good the screen is. The 10.6-inch widescreen display has Sony's Xblack coating, making watching DVD movies on the move a pleasure, and the 1,280 by 768 pixel resolution makes reading text a doddle.

For storage there is a 60GB hard disk, while the dual format DVD writer makes backing up your data as painless as possible. You also get Type II PC card and Memory Stick / Memory Stick Pro slots. To connect with the outside world, Sony includes a built-in 56Kbps modem, 10/100Mbps Ethernet, 802.11b/g wireless capability and integrated Bluetooth. You also get two USB 2.0 ports, a four-pin Firewire port, VGA port and two audio ports.

As with all Sony notebooks the bundled software package is superb; together with Windows XP Professional and the usual Sony utilities like DVGate, PictureGear Studio and SonicStage, you get Microsoft Works 8, Adobe Premier Standard, Photoshop Elements 2.0, Photoshop Album 2.0 Starter Edition and Acrobat Elements, WinDVD and Symantec Internet Security 2005 (with 90 days of updates). Sony provide a year's warranty with this laptop.

Sony's Vaio VGN-T2XP/S provides everything the road warrior could wish for in a small ultraportable package; good performance, superb battery life, a great screen and a useable keyboard. In short, it's probably the best-specified ultraportable notebook currently available.