Ultrabook/Laptop

hnosyalnif

hnosyalnif

hnosyalnif

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10 Oct 2011
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122
Location
Royal Deeside/Swansea, UK
Going back to Uni so going to need a new laptop. Decided that I will go for an Ultrabook but so far I'm holding for the new Ivybridge ones to hit the market and it seems to be happening slowly. Could wait to see what comes up with Windows 8 but in a way would rather avoid it but depends on specs.

Doesn't need to do any gaming (have the desktop for that). Will be used for Office etc and will need long battery life to last all day (will be in class for the majority of a 9-5 day).

Looking for SSD and a screen that isn't 768p (900p or above) and durable. Price around the £1000 mark.

Was going to get a Zenbook Prime UX31A but then saw the price :eek:

Suppose I could get a Macbook Air but would rather not.

Been recently looking at the Dell's/Samsung's and quite like the look of the HP Envy 14, seems to match all the specs I'm looking for.

Suppose I could get a standard laptop and put an SSD in it but still would rather get the Ultrabook.
 
The three best ultrabooks out at the moment are the Samsung 9 series , Asus UX**, and Apple Airs. You can always look out for the 11 inch books as they are slightly cheaper, although they won't have the 900+ screen.
 
I always swore blind I wouldn't go to Apple, but it's very nice kit indeed. I'm running the late 2011 MacBook Air i7 1.8GHz with the 240Gb SATA 3 SSD from OWC and it's VERY fast indeed. It is a small amount of extra work to set up the dual-boot so it runs Windows but I actually find myself just using OSX now unless I'm at a client's site and they have something that needs Windows.

And the Thunderbolt display is a fabulous docking station with the Bluetooth keyboard and trackpad.

Yes, it's a lot of money, but it's GORGEOUS equipment.
 
WJA96, what issues, if any, do you encounter when using Windows 7 on your MBA? I have a Samsung S3 and I'm wondering if there are any connectivity issues that will arise if I buy a MBA and use Windows on it.
 
It's pretty much all there. It is a straight Intel laptop, just hobbled by a BIOS that effectively insists on making you boot OSX.

If you want to run Windows, it will run Windows, I use Parallels 7, although Bootcamp is possibly better for running the really basic stuff. I have a couple of GDI devices (scanners) that must have a real PC to run on though.

A lot of IT departments like a straight PC laptop if someone wants to join their network.

The biggest issue I have is Office for Mac as there are odd issues with images not displaying etc. in Word and Outlook still has issues with bugs, even after years of releases.
 
My brother has a Macbook Pro and the Office is terrible on it (to the extent where he is getting a Windows PC so he can do Excel etc). I don't have a problem with Apple (I have an iPhone 3GS and will more than likely replace it with the new one when it comes out).

I would rather stay Windows so I can sync with my desktop (which is setup to back itself up etc anyway so would cover the laptop too). Can do it with Skydrive/dropbox I suppose so not a huge issue.

Probably still best to wait and see on the Ultrabook front to see what the prices do as more Ivybridge ones come out.

Battery life seems about the same for the Macbook Air and the Ultrabooks of around the same price.

Feel for my needs at the moment an Ultrabook would work best, however that being said if there isn't one in my price range with what I'm looking for then the Macbook Air is a reliable backup option.
 
hnosyalnif said:
My brother has a Macbook Pro and the Office is terrible on it (to the extent where he is getting a Windows PC so he can do Excel etc).
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Which Office product is it? I've found MS Office on OSX to be quite good - but there are other products that can use Office documents. Seems a bit of an overreacting to look at replacing it over something like that (could even just run Office in Parallels?).
 
I believe its Office 2007. Certain Outlook and Excel are pretty hopeless. He isn't really replacing it just using an old XP machine we have in the house to run office rather than the Mac.
 
Had a look into all of these, the Air is certainly seems to be had for the cheapest.

Do like the Asus UX**'s but they do seem overly expensive, do like the look of that Thinkpad X1 Carbon, will have too look into it a bit more and see what prices/specs are available.

Opinions on the Dell/HP/Acer offerings? Quite like the look of the new HP Envy 14 but haven't seen that much about it.
 
The Dell is built to a cost, the Acer is well... Acer.. (and they seem to gimp their hardware performance wise even when using the same processors and gfx, the battery life is poor as well compared to others, cheap for a reason personally) and the Envy is nice but overly big for my tastes at least.
 
Was looking for a 13.3" or 14" so that is why I was thinking of the Envy. Specs and battery life seem good too.

Should probably go and have a look at them in person rather than looking at pictures.
 
hnosyalnif said:
Was looking for a 13.3" or 14" so that is why I was thinking of the Envy. Specs and battery life seem good too.

Should probably go and have a look at them in person rather than looking at pictures.
Click to expand...

Evny or HP Macbook pro as I like to call it is really heavy due to them using a all glass top lid.

I have been looking at most of the ultrabooks and I would only recommend the Air, Series 9 (samsung), and the Asus zenbook.
 
Yeah it does look just like a Macbook Pro, blatant design cop off. Nothing on the Lenovo then?

Now really need to shop around to find good prices, not really seen the Zenbook (Ivybridge one) below £1500 which is overbudget, would rather not spent more than £1k which basically means Macbook Air but in some ways I don't really want a Mac like everyone else...
 
hnosyalnif said:
Yeah it does look just like a Macbook Pro, blatant design cop off. Nothing on the Lenovo then?

Now really need to shop around to find good prices, not really seen the Zenbook (Ivybridge one) below £1500 which is overbudget, would rather not spent more than £1k which basically means Macbook Air but in some ways I don't really want a Mac like everyone else...
Click to expand...

The samsung series 9 is for me the best ultrabook. it feels amazing, looks amazing, offers great battery life, 900p PLS Matte screen, and it is roughly the same as the air if not a bit more. I would recommend you try one out, it does look lovely in blue.

Lenovo are good, but I really dont like the screen, ruined it for me.
 
Yeah, I do need to go and physically see them. Can't see any of the Ivybridge Series 9's around yet so guess it is best still to wait a bit and see.
 
Went and had a look in PC World today (closest place to have physical stock of Ultrabooks/Air's).

Some really good prices on Sandybridge Ultrabooks (with SSD ~£900 for the prime/series 9) no word when the Ivybridge ones will be in stock but no doubt they'll ship with Windows 8. Not sure it is worth going Sandybridge Ultrabook over Ivybridge one either.
 
I have a UX31A (i7 3517 and 256GB). It was between the Macbook Air, Samsung Series 9 and this. The screen was the biggest consideration for me hence the IPS and 1920*1080 won out, it really is a great screen. I use it for office applications and watching films/tv shows when I'm not in front of the desktop.

I doubt it would last all day though, on power saving mode and just word processing and web browsing I get about 5-6 hours of use. If I am watching 1080p video I get about 4 hours. I haven't tried gaming or stressing the cpu but the ssd means that it's quick for everyday usage. Having removed most of the Asus bloatware it now boots to usable state in 12 seconds or can resume from sleep in ~2 seconds.

Based on reviews I don't see much difference between Sandy and Ivy beyond the IGP and since you won't be gaming it's pretty irrelevant. Sure there's a slight reduction in power consumption but the other features are far more important in my opinion.
 
True. What are the best deals on the Sandybridge ones at the moment, had a quick look round but didn't see much.

Suppose the other option is just get a tablet but I do like having the options a laptop gives.
 
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