Media Laptop with a blu ray drive.

Peterpoose

Peterpoose

Peterpoose

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Hi folks,

I am returning my Asus Prime as there is just to many little annoying things with it.

I travel a lot so I am after I guess an ultra book or a lighter laptop.

I watch blu ray films while traveling so would like an awesome screen and sound with an option of a little gaming. Also to be able to pick up wifi at distances.

I guess i need plenty of storage.

I really like the look of the Asus Zenbook.

Any suggestions folks? I don't mind waiting for something that is better and due out before May 15th as I am traveling after that.

My budget is around £1000

Thanks
 
New lenovo y580 will have the new Ivy Bridge cpu with that type of spec, IB may be a bit more power efficient. If you want something with an even better gpu, Medion will have something similar but they tend to put slightly higher end gfx in on some of theirs. Medion also have some with ssd's to add some more snappyness.
 
PS i think if you want an ultrabook u'll be paying for the minimalist size, weight, design at the expense of performance capable of gaming as i expect they are limited to integrated gfx, although that will be an improvement on IB.
 
Thanks for your reply.

I am not too bothered about gaming to be honest, that would be an extra bonus. I am more interested in playing films on it so screen and sound are a priority.

When are the new IB laptops being released?

Anything from Asus as I have some vouchers and I do like the build quality of the Zenbook.

cheers
 
No worries.

I expect they will arrive in dribs and drabs since they're all competing with one another. Interesting article on the y580 which if to be believed is shaping up nicely in specs and value for money, nice new gen. graphics card, blu-ray and a higher screen resolution (full hd) than the previous model. Supposedly arriving next month in America. There is no official IB release date as yet, it's all rumour mill stuff as far as I know.

http://www.laptopreviews.com/lenovo-y480-and-y580-details-emerge-pre-order-for-999-at-sears-2012-03

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzwKhRPJ-6Q

The Zenbook is a different proposition entirely. It depends whether you value portability greater over function, because I've yet to see a slim ultrabook compete on performance with fuller specs of a traditional size 15" laptop. The Zenbook for instance only has integrated graphics. You loose stuff to cram it into a smaller chassis but generally increase battery usage between charges due to there being less taxing hardware onboard. Also would you find a 13.3" screen sufficient? If it's just something for email & web mainly, grab and go usage, then great but what about when you want to use Word or a Spreadsheet can you live with the compromise of squinting at a smaller screen whilst using it on a train etc. You could circumvent that a bit if you plan to use it with a bigger screen when at your base(s). I don't think it has a blu-ray drive or any optical drive for that matter as I don't think any of these slim models do.

http://www.techspot.com/news/47763-...ivy-bridge-hd-ips-panel-backlit-keyboard.html
 
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Thanks for the detailed info and you raise some good points.

Thing is I am coming from a tablet with a 10 inch screen and it was fine for me. I wont be using it for anything other than taking with me on trips for films, emails, web browsing and small office stuff like invoices etc.

Hmm didn't realise it doesn't have a drive or that is a problem with smaller thinner laptops.

Cant I get a Asus Zenbook type laptop with graphics card, 1TB HD, Blu Ray Drive and awesome speakers all in one lol

Does having on board graphics ruin the film watching experience?

Personally I don't want to lug around a large laptop for the sake of a slightly bigger screen.

The storage and drive is a problem though....
 
So the films on the tablet were not blu-ray then. If your happy with the source for your films i.e. only having them in a file format rather than being able to pop a blu-ray disc in and your not too bothered about gaming then the ultrabook type sounds like it would suit. Maybe when the full IB range is out there might be one with a blu-ray drive in one of the makes or you could opt for an external blu-ray drive so you only carry it around when you know your going to need it.

If you stuff all those things in the Zenbook it won't be very Zen like, more like a bit of a bloater, like a standard laptop size / weight.

Onboard graphics will be fine with movies, some IB has improved intergrated graphics, not sure if that applies to all the mobile cpu models though.

Storage wise they generally rely more on SSD's as that makes them nice and snappy but adds to cost and are not very spacious. You may be able to find a model that has a reasonable size HDD and just a small SSD (between 20GB - 64GB) for Intel Smart Response Technology (Dynamic Cacheing of the system HDD).
 
Thanks Thenewoc, they were 720 rips but to be honest I couldn't tell the difference, they were fine for me.

Nope it wouldn't be very Zen like lol but it would be nice.

Do you have any suggestions for one with a reasonable HDD and a small SSD?

Or should I hold my horses and wait till the end of April if something is due out then?

I did read somewhere about a new laptop with touch screen? similar to the tablet but not a tablet :P
 
Nothing to recommend at the moment in terms of the smaller screen models until the manufacturers have released their 2012 ranges. Best thing to do is keep an eye on the Ivy Bridge news as the mobile processors could experience a bit of a delay behind the high end desktop ones that I believe are being released first around the end of April. Look through each manufacturers site at their 13" screen models, some will be ultra portable slim models with just an SSD, no HDD or Blu-Ray but some manufactures will have 13" models that are still portable but not the ultra thin ones so will have options for HDD and Optical drives, possibly Blu-Ray or an option to have an optical drive as an external accessory.

As for the 720 Rips what I was getting at was are you happy to continue in that vein, either downloading them onto the new laptop, an online film streaming service perhaps, or ripping them on a different computer with an optical drive and transferring them across to the new laptop? I think personally being without the optical drive altogether would be a bit of a faff, nicer to have it there to fall back on and just be able to grab a DVD / Blu-Ray as your leaving home without having to forward plan transferring a file over to the laptop. If you have an unlimited mobile data plan capable of a decent connection speed / reliability then the well known film streaming services are one option but the film choice is limited compared to physical discs.

Hopefully there will be some strong contenders, I'm getting tempted myself as I think I'd prefer that to a tablet and could pair it up with a monitor at home so the smaller screen would make it kinda handy for taking to work / travelling with.
 
I did notice Sony had an S Series though which I imagine they will refresh with something similar with the newer Ivy motherboard chipset and cpu's soon. That did have an option for SSD, HDD and Blu-Ray plus 13" screen. They also did similar in their prestige collection.
 
Thank you mate for all your input!

I will wait until the end of April and see what is about then as I need something before my trip in May and if nothing else is out yet I will probably go for the Zenbook with 250gb SSD.

I am happy to move files across as I already have around 500 Blu Rays ripped to my 42TB NAS so it is just a case of sending them over.

Can I buy a portable drive for the Zenbook for extra storage?
 
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