13.3in portable high res?

_TubbZ_ · 29 Oct 2012 at 09:28

Hello

I basically have no real budget. I am looking for a ultra portable Windows 8 laptop (yes, I am one of the 6 people who actually like it...!). I don't really care for the touch screen; I have found a good touch pad to be more than enough and I don't want to get my grubby fingers all over my screen! I do a lot of coding and work in apps that demand a lot of screen real estate, I am tired of 1360x768 monitors, I want 1080p+ (phones have more pixels than that...). Oh and 3 years warranty is a must.

Having spent the afternoon googling and reading; I have come to the conclusion that I should buy a Macbook Pro 13.3in retina display, any real alternatives?

Saundie · 29 Oct 2012 at 10:14

I was going to suggest the Asus Zenbook Prime UX31A, however you would have to extend the warranty as it comes with only one year as standard. Apparently there's a Samsung Series 9 update due sometime soon with a 2560 x 1440 display, but I can't find a release date for it.

As much as it pains me to say it, the Macbook Pro is probably going to be your best bet unless you're willing/able to wait for the mainstream Windows gang to bring out their high res ultrabooks.

I would be interested to hear what you go for in the end though

_TubbZ_ · 30 Oct 2012 at 10:34

I hate the lack of a release dates, I have gone ahead and brought the mac anyway, going to give it a go and can always pop it back before 14 days.

Saundie · 30 Oct 2012 at 12:24

I agree, it's especially annoying when you finally settle on a product, only to discover that it's never going to be released in the UK. I ended up importing my current phone from Singapore because I got sick of waiting for a release here.

I personally cannot afford a Macbook Pro, so I decided to get a second hand Lenovo x200s for £200 and installed a spare Crucial C300 SSD I had. The performance is pretty good, especially compared to a netbook, and it's actually lighter than most 11.6" netbooks. It should tide me over until I can get a decent ultrabook for under £1k.

frenchcr · 31 Oct 2012 at 17:55

_TubbZ_ said:
I hate the lack of a release dates, I have gone ahead and brought the mac anyway, going to give it a go and can always pop it back before 14 days.

Tubbz, im the same (do C++ dev), looking for a new machine too, ...let me know how you get on with the rMBP, its on my shortlist too.