Is there an ultraportable out there?

[Guest Rimjaw]

Well, having spent that last half hour crafting a very witty and informative post, I've just lost it somehow, and so now will set out a far shorter, bland post.

I fell on my beloved Vaio TX5XN in the ice and to put it bluntly it's knackered.

My insurance will replace it new for old, but the new just isn't the same. The current equivalent would by the Vaio X series. about the same footprint as my old one, but ridiculously thin... however, its missing a few important elements.

Most notably, mine has a DVD recorder. And these days of everyone trying to make the cheapest tiny laptop they possibly can, you just don't get optical drives on them. My TX had

11" inch screen

100gb (or 120?) HD

1.5 GB ram

Core Solo processor

DVD burner

fingerprint recognition (possibly gimmicky and unnecessary, but I liked never having to remember or fill in passwords... just a swish of the finger and you're away!)

6 or 7 hours battery life

So, is there anything similar out there? Everything seems to be Atom processors (which, and I'll happily stand corrected, just don't have the power of a core solo or core2), nothing has an optical drive. And there's no fingerprint gimmicks (no more will I feel like bond)

... or should I stop whining and just by a slim external drive and let my insurer give me one of Sonys overpriced, underfed X series (which I'll probably fall on and snap in half :) )

Anyone know of an alternative?