Ultrabook slim and portable 13-14inch

[rob4001]

Hi

I'm playing around with the idea of getting a nice expensive ultrabook £1200 budget bit of work bit of entertainment/light gaming. Use on long haul flights and train. Other than my phone I have no mobile devices currently.

My other option is less expensive ultrabook and new nexus 10 refresh when it comes out or possibly nexus 7. Ideas suggestion greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[TheAnimus]

What size do you want? Sony with the Z series hold the tiny crown. But you can make them weigh as much as a macbook air if you add the booster battery which gives it 18 hours of life, double that of a mac book air, whilst weighing less.

Myself I think the Samsung is hard to beat, the new series 9 is out now, 11 hour battery life, its in budget and has a top screen, keyboard and touchpad. The build quality imsho is the best in any laptop under £2k.

http://www.samsung.com/uk/consumer/p...NP940X3G-K01UK

It would happily keep you watching movies for a flight to HK assuming you do nap for 2 hours.

[rob4001]

What size do you want? Sony with the Z series hold the tiny crown. But you can make them weigh as much as a macbook air if you add the booster battery which gives it 18 hours of life, double that of a mac book air, whilst weighing less.

Myself I think the Samsung is hard to beat, the new series 9 is out now, 11 hour battery life, its in budget and has a top screen, keyboard and touchpad. The build quality imsho is the best in any laptop under £2k.

http://www.samsung.com/uk/consumer/p...NP940X3G-K01UK

It would happily keep you watching movies for a flight to HK assuming you do nap for 2 hours.

They do look very nice! Was thinking of sony vaio pro 13 but those Samsung look great. I think 13-14 inch screen size is nice compromise between portability and usefulness. Anything below that is tablet territory for me.

[TheAnimus]

I've been using the previous version for 18 months. It's had a LOT of punishment, the battery died once, which apparently was a fluke, in fairness I had been using it during the rainy season in Vietnam and Thailand for the last 2 months, then left it on a desk in London for 2 weeks. Samsung were swift at turning around a replacement.

It's been through drunken mis-happs and survived them all.

It got dropped, screen open to the floor, landing on the corner of a table. 2 dead pixels as the screen struck the table, unlucky.

So mine has been used and abused. Been shoved in a rucksack and trecked all over. Heat, Humidity, Shock, Temperature Swings. It's still alive. The Magnesium Alloy case has taken it all in its stride. But the copious amounts of DEET I was using have taken their toll on the plastic on the keyboard.

I honestly say I've taken it to the craters edge, and it has survived.

I'm quite likely going to be buying one of these new ones, as soon as the price drops to £1k.

[rob4001]

I've been using the previous version for 18 months. It's had a LOT of punishment, the battery died once, which apparently was a fluke, in fairness I had been using it during the rainy season in Vietnam and Thailand for the last 2 months, then left it on a desk in London for 2 weeks. Samsung were swift at turning around a replacement.

It's been through drunken mis-happs and survived them all.

It got dropped, screen open to the floor, landing on the corner of a table. 2 dead pixels as the screen struck the table, unlucky.

So mine has been used and abused. Been shoved in a rucksack and trecked all over. Heat, Humidity, Shock, Temperature Swings. It's still alive. The Magnesium Alloy case has taken it all in its stride. But the copious amounts of DEET I was using have taken their toll on the plastic on the keyboard.

I honestly say I've taken it to the craters edge, and it has survived.

I'm quite likely going to be buying one of these new ones, as soon as the price drops to £1k.

Ok you've pretty much sold it to me http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-ATIV...IV+Book+9+Plus Looks like a good price.

[j.o.s.h.1408]

I am also on the lookout for a portable laptop. Considering the mac book Pro 13 inch. Thoughts?

[rob4001]

Well I held off buying to see what the new macbook pro's vs Haswell ultrabooks were going to be like and to be honest the Macbook pro looks like my new fav now. I had the 2009 one and sold it a few years so I know they are well built. The new haswell ones competitively priced vs Ultrabooks have the intel iris 5100 gpu slightly better than the 4400 a lot of ultrabooks have with the added bonus of a better resale value should you want to change in a year or 2. You can't really go wrong if you get one If you're in education you can get 15% off also. If you do get one see if you cant stretch to the 8gb 256 ssd as ifixit did a tear down and they are none upgradable like the older models.

http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/MacBo...ardown/18695/1

[j.o.s.h.1408]

yea the macbook pro is sensational and better speced then any windows one i have seen.

I am not bias. infact the macbook pro will be my first ever apple computer i will own!

[rob4001]

yea the macbook pro is sensational and better speced then any windows one i have seen.

I am not bias. infact the macbook pro will be my first ever apple computer i will own!

Yeah if ultrabooks were more competitively priced then yeah I'd get one. Sony vaio pro 13 i5 full HD touch screen 8gb ram and 256 SSD is £1034 isn't bad and Leveno yoga pro 2 looks good but if you're not bothered about what OS you need & touch screen then the macbook's are just as good.

[semo]

Latitude E6430u is a bit cheaper than that Samsung but you won't be playing any blockbuster games on any ultrabook

[MrRockliffe]

What size do you want? Sony with the Z series hold the tiny crown. But you can make them weigh as much as a macbook air if you add the booster battery which gives it 18 hours of life, double that of a mac book air, whilst weighing less.

Myself I think the Samsung is hard to beat, the new series 9 is out now, 11 hour battery life, its in budget and has a top screen, keyboard and touchpad. The build quality imsho is the best in any laptop under £2k.

http://www.samsung.com/uk/consumer/p...NP940X3G-K01UK

It would happily keep you watching movies for a flight to HK assuming you do nap for 2 hours.

Since when is 2x12 18? My laptop of choice at that price range is definitely the MBPr every day of the week. Maybe an air, if it had a better screen.

[TheAnimus]

Since when is 2x12 18? My laptop of choice at that price range is definitely the MBPr every day of the week. Maybe an air, if it had a better screen.

2x12?

MBP isn't very portable compared to a series 9 samsung. Hell the 13 inch air is practically oversized, with as you mention a terrible screen.

[MrRockliffe]

2x12?

MBP isn't very portable compared to a series 9 samsung. Hell the 13 inch air is practically oversized, with as you mention a terrible screen.

It's not terrible. It's acceptable, and compared to some of the ultrabooks it's better. Unfortunately some still use 720p

2x12 because the air has a 12 hour battery life.

[plorhue]

+1 on the samsung series 9

It seems to be called the "13.3" ATIV Book 9 Plus 128GB SSD NP940X3G" nowadays, but I think that is what you are looking for