Portable Laptop for work

MNO · 2 Jul 2014 at 19:57

A while ago I was looking for a gaming laptop, I killed that dream and now I just need something better for work as I'm currently using a 5/6 year old Satellite which is bulky and heavy.

So I need:

-14", 13.3 would probably be ideal, anything less would feel a little tablety.
-Light
-Decent battery life (3-4 hours is fine, Haswell's might be a bit out of my budget)
-Thin

I've been looking at Ativ 9 Lite's but the AMD processor is putting me off a bit as there are reports it's pretty sluggish. Sony Vaio Pro 13's.

Any others I should be looking at? Microsoft Surface Pro's also look a little bulky and I'm not a fan of the jelly keyboard.

Budget about 650, cheaper is ideal obviously.

EviL Ras · 2 Jul 2014 at 20:22

We used Toshiba z30 ultrabooks at my last contract at a housing association. you can spec them with i7 processors, its haswell so the battery lasts around 6 hours i think. And they're SUPER thin! 13.3" screen.

MNO · 2 Jul 2014 at 20:27

EviL Ras said:
We used Toshiba z30 ultrabooks at my last contract at a housing association. you can spec them with i7 processors, its haswell so the battery lasts around 6 hours i think. And they're SUPER thin! 13.3" screen.

They look good, but theyre £900.

CEUOTC · 2 Jul 2014 at 23:22

You could look at a refurb Dell Pro 11 or Dell Venue Pro 11.

Or possibly a Lenovo Flex 2 (14 inch).

spoffle · 2 Jul 2014 at 23:29

I got a Samsung XE7001TCE recently which I'm finding very nice, it's only 11.6", but it has a really nice screen, 4GB RAM, 128GB SSD, 3G a 1.8Ghz i5 and an Intel 4000 GPU which isn't too bad with the games. You can get them with the keyboard dock within your budget, and they are very easily upgradeable, it's a 5 minute job to pop them open and swap the SSD for example.

MNO · 3 Jul 2014 at 00:04

spoffle said:
I got a Samsung XE7001TCE recently which I'm finding very nice, it's only 11.6", but it has a really nice screen, 4GB RAM, 128GB SSD, 3G a 1.8Ghz i5 and an Intel 4000 GPU which isn't too bad with the games. You can get them with the keyboard dock within your budget, and they are very easily upgradeable, it's a 5 minute job to pop them open and swap the SSD for example.

Nice price but I'm not a fan of the look, and seems a bit bigger than your average ultrabook.

Right now I'm looking at:

Sony Vaio Pro 13
Samsung ATIV 9 Light (thought put off by being Samsung and the somewhat cheap seeming build)
HP Spectre XT 13 Pro (i7 version)
VivoBook S400

I really don't know what to get..

spoffle · 3 Jul 2014 at 00:09

Not being a fan of the look is fair enough, however I don't think it is any bigger than an average ultra book, it fits in to a 13" laptop sleeve with a small amount of space left, and the bonus is that it can be used as a tablet when you don't need the keyboard.

It's pretty much larger surface pro, with a much better keyboard dock.

MNO · 3 Jul 2014 at 12:51

Hmm..

I could get an Acer S7-392 for £600, which I don't think is bad, brand new. Retail is about £1000? Only concern is the 4gb RAM which is soldered so can't upgrade, only 128gb SSD (likelihood is I won't need more, as I have plenty of external hard drives should I need them or can get some cloud storage).

The looks and build quality of the S7 do seem great, but Acer aren't known for very long lasting laptops..

jay20aiii · 3 Jul 2014 at 13:01

Take a look at ************. They have a range of customizable laptops. I got one last year for gaming/working. It's not the fastest process in the world (unless you want to pay extra) but the laptop is unbranded, has the option for decent branded parts and isn't ridiculously priced.

MNO · 3 Jul 2014 at 13:31

jay20aiii said:
Take a look at ************. They have a range of customizable laptops. I got one last year for gaming/working. It's not the fastest process in the world (unless you want to pay extra) but the laptop is unbranded, has the option for decent branded parts and isn't ridiculously priced.

Thing is I'm looking for an ultrabook, and they just don't do any of those formats, and the chassis' look a bit meh.

My current list of what I'm looking at... (AHHHHH!!):

Lenovo U430 Touch (Everyone rates Lenovo, and it's quite cheap at around £450)
Acer Aspire S7 (i5 version with only 4gb ram and one 128gb SSD)
Lenova Yoga Pro 2 (if I can get it cheap, without the garish orange)
Asus S400 Vivobook (i7 with 4gb RAM, no SSD)

I am in serious need of some help. I just want to get the best bang for my buck really.