In the last century, sidekicks were key people who helped saved the day, the Lone Ranger had Tonto, Green Hornet had Kato and Batman had Robin. Today, the sidekick has evolved into the tech whiz most call the laptop.

One of my friends is known for his trademark white MacBook while mine is a 10 inch Sony. Both lack quite a few features of newer laptops. But in spite of the occasional separate musings by both my friend and I for an upgrade, our trusty laptops perform credibly and more importantly, they cut a decent presence at any meeting.

How often have you been at a meeting where someone makes a presentation on a bulky, clunky laptop that has seen better days?

While you may get all dressed up to make an impression, bear in mind that your sidekick could let you down. Think of this, would Batman be memorable if the boy wonder didn't throw a mean lasso, or the Green Hornet be the crime fighter that he was if Kato couldn't help out with two swift moves that Bruce Lee later went on to immortalise?

To have an effective tech sidekick, most of would list size and weight at the top of the list, along with reliability. But do add good-looking because it does count in leaving a good impression long after the meeting has ended, not to add it's a great ice-breaker.

The Asus Eee Pc is a great companion for the road. It is light and small enough to fit into any bag or even a folder.

The latest Eee PC, the 901 and 1000 come with a slightly larger screen (10 inch for the 1000 and 8.9 for the 901) and seems much like its predecessors in terms of design.

Running on either Linux or Windows, the new Eee PC shows its difference when it starts to run.

Built with the Intel Atom processor - the smallest yet built with the world's smallest transistors - this laptop runs much faster than other incarnations of the Eee PC and is able to handle more processes seamlessly.

With Asus' exclusive Super Hybrid Engine, the Eee PC also offers a longer battery lifespan of close to eight hours which is enough to support more than one multi-media presentation which the tiny device can run off larger monitors thanks to the sufficient range of ports that have been built in.

It looks fairly good, especially in black, and will keep the finance department very happy since like others in the Eee PC range it is priced most affordably.

The 'priciest' is still under four figures at $888 for the Eee PC 1000H.

If you choose the SSD (Solid State Drive) models you'll find that the Eee PC is less susceptible to shock damage.

But in terms of greater reliability and road worthiness it is best to look to the other end of the scale in terms of size and specs, and focus on the Lenovo range of ThinkPad notebooks in the R, T and X series, as well as new W and SL series.

The ThinkPad W-Series, is the first in a new class of mobile workstations with models offering the mobility of Open-GL Graphics while the SL is designed for the small business users.

All come with the technologies first pioneered in the industry-acclaimed ThinkPad X300 notebook which is by far the lightest and sexiest looking black-dressed boardroom inhabitant.

The flagship model for the X-series, the ThinkPad X300 had some drawing parallels to the MacBook Air released just weeks ahead of the Lenovo.

Sure, the ThinkPad X300 can slip in and out of a brown envelope, but you really don't want to do that or even drop it into a carrying case.

The Lenovo ThinkPad X300 is much better seen. Carried about in your hand, you have little to worry about in terms of bumps and slips, thanks to the SSD on board and Next Generation ThinkPad Roll Cage.

The trademark ThinkPad Roll Cage offers protection from drops as well as motherboard flex caused by holding the laptop with one hand on a corner.

Taking protection further forward Lenovo’s new line also offers Active Protection System, which is an air-bag like system to protect the hard drive against drops.

The ThinkPad X300 is ultra-thin, measuring less than 19 millimetres at its thinnest point, and yet it is strong inside and out with the latest Intel technology housed in an advanced carbon and glass fibre coating.

Firm yet flexible, slim but strong - it's clear why the ThinkPad X300 was named after Japanese sword, the Kodachi.

With a starting weight of 1.33kg, it gives even the tiny Asus Eee PC a stiff challenge since some of the newer Asus models tip the scales at 1.4kg.

And unlike the Eee PC which has sacrificed a DVD burner, the Lenovo ThinkPad X300 has a DVD which users can still choose to remove if they want to make the laptop even lighter or use the slot for a battery boost.

Users don't have to compromise either on the screen which is generous and clear thanks to the LED backlight WXGA high resolution display.

What road warriors will find useful though, is not just the connectivity options of WLAN and GB Ethernet but the fact that the ThinkPad X300 is designed to detect when a signal is dropped and set itself to detect other connection options.

The other useful feature is the spill-resistant keyboard. With little vents built into the bottom of the laptop, liquids flow right through leaving only the user traumatised by the accidental spill.

The Lenovo Thinkpad X300 doesn't come cheap, but at some S$4000/- you'd expect to get more than just a laptop, which you do.

There is an integrated fingerprint reader and protection of data from unauthorized access so company secrets will stay safe.

In addition, there's Lenovo's trademark ThinkVantage Technologies which assures peace of mind as the device almost takes care of itself so users don't have to bother too much with tech trouble-shooting.

If you want something more affordable but without too much of a compromise then look to Lenovo's SL series with notebooks starting at S$1,400; the ThinkPad R500 priced at S$1,999 or the ThinkPad X200 coming in at S$2,750.

Being built to last, you'll be sure of having a tech sidekick that'll ride with you for a long time to come and still cut a dashing profile.

-CNA/sf