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Rick Rizner
"Aw, how cute!" might be your first reaction to the 2.8-pound, all-white Sharp Actius MP30. This well-designed ultraportable looks toylike, but it performed well for its class.
The MP30's fixed, front-mounted DVD-ROM/CD-RW combination drive doubles as a personal DVD player--albeit an expensive one. Press the aquamarine DVD/CD button on the left side of the case, and watch movies or listen to CDs without starting Windows. The MP30 comes with only one speaker, which is typical for an ultraportable, and the monaural sound is lousy. Sharp bundles earbuds and a small remote control; that gives you more stuff to keep track of, but it's better than using the keyboard to control volume and music tracks.
The MP30 performs one other neat trick: It functions as a USB hard drive. Using Sharp's built-in DirectHD technology and a bundled, proprietary USB cable, you can view the...