Sony Vaio YB Series

The Sony Vaio YB35KX/B has a lot of hard-drive space, solid performance from an AMD E-450 processor, and long battery life; this 11-incher has the portability of a Netbook, and it's reasonably affordable.The bad: The cramped keyboard and touch pad make this Vaio feel more like a Netbook from 2010 than an ultrabook from 2011, and it lacks USB 3.0.The bottom line: The more affordable and better-performing Sony Vaio YB35KX/B is a modest improvement on the last YB model we reviewed, adding up to a full-featured but cramped 11-inch laptop that'll cost a lot less than an ultrabook.The Netbook is dead; long live the new Netbooks. Atom-toting 10-inch laptops might be a thing of the past, but the 2011 trend of sticking low-power processors in small-screened computers is alive and well. However, this time, the result is a far better laptop. An AMD Fusion processor in a sub-$500 11-incher was a novelty back in January, but now, we're quite used to these devices, which have been slowly getting modest processor upgrades and price adjustments through the year.We reviewed the Sony Vaio YB15KX/S in February; like many early-2011 laptops, it paired an AMD E-350 APU with ample storage space and RAM to create a tiny laptop that performed well and didn't cost too much (for a Vaio, at least). The Vaio YB35KX/B is a revision that upgrades to an AMD E-450 processor, keeping the same 4GB of RAM and 500GB hard drive as its predecessor, at a lower cost. Depending on where you buy it, it currently can be found for as low as $469.A similar thing happened to the HP Pavilion dm1, which got its own slight redesign and AMD E-450 upgrade. The processor upgrade isn't something you'll notice at all, but the price drop is a bigger story. At this price, the latest Sony Vaio Y is a much better value. The ample hard-drive space and speedier processor make this an excellent choice as a Netbook-sized laptop that can truly transcend its size and be used as a full-fledged computer.Yes, there are limitations: the AMD E-450 is considerably slower than a mainstream Intel Core i5 or its equivalent, such as you'd find in an ultrabook or MacBook Air. It's nowhere near as thin as a ultrabook or an Air, but it's also not as expensive. From that perspective, it could be the compromise you're looking for, if you can live with a smaller screen and slower performance.