Is 17" too big for lectures/trains

jubei

jubei

jubei

Soldato
Joined
3 Apr 2003
Posts
2,928
Hey guys,

Looking to order my laptop this week as i am going back to uni on the 17th for programming and am still a little torn on the size of laptop to get. Its a tough choice as for the price of the 15s i have been looking at(between 800-1000) i could get a more powerful 17inch. Games arent my priority though, uni work is.

Its hard to judge the size in the purple shirt place etc as you are in a big warehouse surrounded by big equipment so cant really get a feel for it. Weight is a non-issue for me, i am more than capable of carrying a fair bit. My concern is more when i want to get the laptop out in a cafe/lecture/train would 17" be too big?

If anyone has tried commuting a lot with laptop or just used both sizes and can advise me that would be great thanks :)
 
Personally I'd say yes, I've got a 15 and I feel even that's too big at times for using out and about.
 
Being able to carry it is one thing, unless you are seriously sick of course you'll be able to carry it. However it just gets such a pain after a while in my experience.

17in is just too big as a portable laptop for me, I would regard it as purely a desktop replacement that gets moved around the house.

No doubt it differs for others but I personally am looking to ditch my 13in Macbook for an 11in MB Air. I don't even carry it anywhere, just transfer between home and work.
 
Yeah think I agree thanks =) just went into Sony center and they only had the e range of laptops to look at..ridiculous. But I just tried retina macbook and wow, wish I had the price of a small car to spend it was gorgeous lol
 
jubei said:
Yeah think I agree thanks =) just went into Sony center and they only had the e range of laptops to look at..ridiculous. But I just tried retina macbook and wow, wish I had the price of a small car to spend it was gorgeous lol
Click to expand...

Yep, beautiful machines. 13" MBP is a nice sweet spot.

What kind of power requirements do you have? For a portable machine if I don't go for the MBA then the new Acer V5-171 11in looks nice for 350-360. It has i3 CPU,4Gb, HD3000 GFX.
 
15 is a bit big tbh. Especially if it's a 15.6" 16:9 aspect ratio.

A 13" laptop with an e renal mo itor for at home would be my recommendation.
 
Going to uni for programming, as i spend a lot of time at my g/f and will be most of the day on campus where finding a free computer to use in the labs is a chore in itself i figure i need one thats comfortable enough to work on.

I think anything smaller might be 'too' small for comfortable long use which is why i was considering the 17 for a moment.

Think i will go for the samsung 700z5c-s01uk, plenty of power and still quite a slim design. Great keyboard and apparently battery life is immense. Only the 900p screen worries me a bit but am sure its probably fine lol.
 
seems to be 1600, if i was gonna blow that i would buy the retina :) Can get the samsung for 800 inc cashback offer from samsung. Thats for:

General
Brand: Samsung
Screen Size: 15.6 inches
Processor
Processor Brand: Intel
Processor Type: Intel Core i7
Processor Speed: 2.3 GHz
Memory
RAM Size: 8 GB
Computer Memory Type: DDR3 SDRAM
Graphics
Graphics Card Description: Nvidia GeForce GT 640M
Graphics RAM Type: VRAM
Graphics Card Ram Size: 1 GB
Additional Specifications
Operating System: Windows 7 Edition Home Premium
 
I thought they'd be cheaper, the W530 is out now.

Just get the Retina MBP.. they're lovely *pats his MBP gently* :D
 
13" MBA, Samsung series 9 or the Asus UX31 (1080p version out yet?) would be my three choices. If you need more power then have a look at the Sony Z series, although probably a little pricey for you, especially in the 1080p version.

EDIT: There is now a 15" Series 9, although it has the same resolution as the 13" (900p) so... The 9 does have a matt screen though which makes it miles better then the MBA (gloss is the main annoyance I have with mine) and the UX31/2 has an IPS screen I think.
 
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Just purchased the samsung chronos that i mentioned above. I know its not ultrabook style portable, but its a lot more powerful and is apparently still thin and the battery life is awesome.

Will let you know how it is once i receive it :)
 
jubei said:
seems to be 1600, if i was gonna blow that i would buy the retina :) Can get the samsung for 800 inc cashback offer from samsung. Thats for:

General
Brand: Samsung
Screen Size: 15.6 inches
Processor
Processor Brand: Intel
Processor Type: Intel Core i7
Processor Speed: 2.3 GHz
Memory
RAM Size: 8 GB
Computer Memory Type: DDR3 SDRAM
Graphics
Graphics Card Description: Nvidia GeForce GT 640M
Graphics RAM Type: VRAM
Graphics Card Ram Size: 1 GB
Additional Specifications
Operating System: Windows 7 Edition Home Premium
Click to expand...

Time for my standard recommendation for you to look on the DELL outlet.
 
Considering he's already bought a laptop, you're a bit late. I'll refer to the standard forum etiquette of "Read the thread before replying ;) )
 
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