Hi, If you had the following requirements, which Ultrabook or very light portable laptop would you buy? Fast Processor (Ideally i7 Processor) 8GB Memory 256GB SSD 15" Screen (though could do 13.3") Can do dual screen (with a docking station) Very Portable Windows 8.1 (i.e. not Macbook Air) Money isnt really an problem as these will be given out to corp users. So if it was you, which would you go for?
Sony Vaio Pro 13 hands down. I'm getting one myself when a good deal comes up. Up until very recently they were offering a free upgrade to a 256GB PCIe SSD. If that comes back around I might bite. Only thing you've got to look out for is there were some owners dealing with poor WiFi and some problems with the front bezel, but I think they are fixed now.
Are you interested in a digitize pen (the good pen technology), to write notes, graphs, diagram, and well draw? Is it for school? work? What do you plan in doing with the system, I mean what kind of tasks? I don't like the Sony Vaio Pro 13. -> not great quality.. feels flimsy -> You need to open the screen lid, which will lift the back of the laptop, to give you room to plug the expendable Ethernet, or any USB flash drive, meaning if you close the lid and have thing connected it will put pressure on the ports.
I can't understand your second point, but if it feels flimsy it's because of the carbon fibre body. They could have made it aluminium like a MBP but then it would be as heavy as a MBP ;D
When you lift the screen, the laptop lifts from the table. This is required to plug things thick on the ports on the side.
We have just obtained the new dell latitude e7440, very nice 14", i7, 256gb ssd, 8gb. Much more robust than the older e series, which we ditched. 1.7kg but solid like the old d series. The xps 13 is also a nice laptop and is actually an ultrabook. The advantage of the latitude is that you can get a docking station for it, which may or may not be a requirement
Keep in mind, ultrabook and fast processor are requirements from opposite end of the spectrum. While ULV CPU has acceptable speed, they are nowhere near the quickest options on the market. The difference between i3 ULV, i5 ULV and i7 ULV is minimal - frequency, cache, no Turbo for i3. That is it - all are dualcore with Hyperthreading with base freqency around 1.4-2GHz. Same applies for normal mobile i3/i5/i7, just the frequency jumps are bigger - still only dualcore with Hyperthreading. The only "fast" processors are the quadcores (they have Q in the CPU name), but those are not suitable for ultrabooks, because they have TDP of 35W or higher! Ultrabook definition allows only 17W (<=Ivy Bridge) or 11.5/15W (Haswell) CPU TDP. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haswell_(microarchitecture)#Mobile_processors
If you want fast the new XPS 15 model sounds good, it comes with a Q series processor and it comes standard with 16GB of RAM. http://www.dell.com/uk/p/xps-15-9530/pd
Thanks guys, I'll definitely take a look at that new XPS15 and the Vaio as they look to tick most of the boxes!
