Evening All, I'm after peoples thoughts on the new Ultrabooks. I'm seriously looking into an Ultrabook to replace my Netbook. I'm basically after a small form factor machine, nothing more than 13" in size, but needs more grunt than Intel Atom can give. Currently i'm not setting a budget, i'm just 'looking' but just about anything is considered. Usage is the usual Office, Internet and Emails and Music playback (From a NAS). The current contenders are: Asus Zenbook UX21 Spec: 1.6GHZ Core i5 4GB Ram 128GB SSD 11.6" Display In all honesty, the Zenbook is the only one i keep going back too, but i'm all ears for anything else similar spec'd or what not. Thanks for any thoughts. Sam
Mmm, I've looked into the S3, but it comes with some funny Specs, For example, the i7 doesn't come with an SSD, but a normal HDD, while the i5 is SSD as standard. The Macbook Air is a very nice bit of kit, will give it a mull over. My other consideration is a Toshiba, £150 less than the Asus but has a similar spec list, And John Lewis stock both, will see if i can get down to Southampton and have a play. Cheers, Sam
Thinkpad X130e? (the Intel one, not AMD) 1.4GHz Core i3 4GB RAM 320GB 7200RPM hard drive 11.6" 1366 x 768 LCD +More durable (screen lid is especially ruggedized), better keyboard, ~$300 cheaper -Thicker, no SSD, weighs more. Can swap to a SSD and it still ends up cheaper than the Asus. Plus, it's a Thinkpad! Nothing against Asus laptops (I own two), but they don't have the reputation of the Thinkpads.
Just had a look at the UK Lenovo site, the X121e is similar. Can't your Transformer Prime tide you over until the X130e is released?
Hah, it will do when it arrives. I'm using a Samsung NC10 Netbook, Which has served me well, but it's starting to lag about now, also i wont be buying anything till March/April. Sam
Why does it have to be an ultrabook over a regular laptop? If you say weight, what are you a 5 year old girl?
I decided to get a macbook air just before christmas and it's amazing. I was thinking of an ultrabook but in the end went for a 13.3"mba with i7, 4gb ram and 256gb ssd. I'm not sure about the ultrabooks but the mba has the memory soldered onto the board and isn't upgradable after purchase, so it may be worth getting the one of the top end ultrabooks to last you a bit longer (if the memory is soldered onto the motherboard). The asus ultrabook you linked is very nice.
The problem is that no other company can quite make an Ultrabook that's on the same level as the MacBook Air for the same price. The Zenbook is similarly priced and specified, but it's nowhere near as durable, since it's not a Unibody construction. The only one that I think is really near equivalent is the tiny Lenovos, and those are about the same price but much worse processors. Each one has its own little quirks and may be better than an MBA in a few ways, but significantly worse in others. In my opinion, the MBA is currently the best balance between price, power, and durability for an Ultrabook.
Wrong on a few points! First off, the Zenbook is unibody and has a great fit and finish. The design isn't as clean as the MBA, but the build isn't any better or worse. They're both extremely solid, and the base model Zenbook has far better specs than the base model MBA (twice as much RAM, twice as big SSD), and is a little cheaper. ...And the Lenovo I linked to has very close specs (minus SSD) to the step above base model Macbook Air, but is about $500 cheaper. The processor is 1.4GHz i3 vs the MBA's 1.6GHz i5, but Sandy Bridge is Sandy Bridge. It's all fast enough. For the price difference, I'd rather have the durability (high quality plastics > aluminum IMO) and comfortable keyboard + the option to put in an SSD as needed.
Oh it is Unibody? My bad. In that case then I move the Zenbook into place of the Lenovo. The lenovo I was talking about was the X130e that was mentioned earlier, which is only $500 less because of what appears to be a gigantic sale. Now the durability is about the same between them. I've had my Unibody MBP 15" for about three years and must have dropped it a couple dozen times (yeah I'm a poor owner), and the hard drive only failed once from a seven foot drop (long story). There are numerous dents, but no cracks in the screen. Last plastic laptop I had was an old IBM thinkpad, pretty durable but it got dropped twice and the screen had an enormous crack right down the middle. Then again, that was in 2005, plastic technology might have improved since then. I'd still throw my towel in with the Air, though, on account of I do know the unibody and can vouch for its durability from personal experience. Is there even a difference between dual-core laptop i3's and i5's besides clock speed? If not then the Lenovo is a contender again, At first I thought mobile dual-core i5's had Hyperthreading, but a quick google says the i3 does too So yeah the Zenbook and Macbook Air are my two contendors, as Unibody construction is just so wonderful.
Not sure about the i3s and i5s in general, but the two specific ones here: Intel Core i3-2367M Intel Core i5-2467M First one is in the Lenovo, second is in the Asus and likely the MBA as well. They have the same features, cache, wattage, etc. The i5 can clock itself up to 2.3GHz as needed, the i3 can't. I'd still go for the Thinkpad and save my money, the thing is so overbuilt that it's ridiculous (video explaining the different features of the X130e) The price on the Thinkpad is permanent, the older model never sold for the 'full price' listed on their website even when it was new. It's a lame tactic, but it is what it is..
Well hell for half as much money it's an easy choice, huge fan of the MBA as I am. Yeah I've gotta give the 130e my recommendation. Only thing I'm not sure of is the trackpad, I'd suggest trying a similar Lenovo at your local electronics store and see if you like it.
Check the latest edition of PC Pro - they did a big roundup of Ultrabooks (And the Zenbook won *cough* )
If you read my post, you will have seen that I don't want anything larger than a 13" system, I would class a regular laptop as anything over that, again had you read my post, then you will see that it will be replacing a Netbook, so form factor is an important decision. Thanks all to who have replied with ideas, will reply further once I'm home from work. Sam
I've had my Lenovo X121e for a couple of weeks now and absolutely love it. Battery life of about 6 hours under standard usage, powerful enough to play/run erveything I've thrown at it and instant on from Sleep is a real bonus I got a 10% code from quidco, so came to £400 all in and took exactly a week for delivery from date of order. Only downside is I would prefer an SSD as the mechanical HD isn't the fastest and the screen could be better, but overall very happy with the purchase and far supperior to my EEE901!! Really wanted to get the Zenbook, but at over double the price I couldn't really justify it!
Ok, so my top contenders are: Asus Zenbook UX21 Toshiba Z830-10T/Z830-10U Both have pros and cons, Toshiba 10T is £150 cheaper, and has a Back Light Keyboard, but a slower i3 Processor, while the 10U is £50 more, 2GB Ram more, And both are a 13" Display. The UX21 is priced in the middle, has a smaller Display, but quite possibly a higher build quality, and has a slightly higher clock speed. Regarding the Thinkpads, for me, it's far too chunky, i'm after some small and portable, but it's not going to be put in a situation where it's likely to be shot at by the British Army, so it doesn't need extra toughened connectivity ports. I've also ruled out the Mac's, mainly because my Mum will be using it as well, Getting her to learn new Technology is difficult enough, and she's happy using Windows 7, so 'if it aint broke, don't fix it' is what i'm going with, and sticking to a Windows machine, As much as i do get on with OSX, she won't. Cheers again, Sam
In this case I'd go with the Zenbook, the higher build quality will always trump out over a few extra megahertz in my book.
