Gongalong Posted January 29, 2014 Posted January 29, 2014 Hi All, I'm trying to find a powerful lightweight laptop that we can lug around the school for troubleshooting - its predecessor has failed - with the following ideal spec: - i5/i7 - SSD - around a 12" screen - 4/8GB RAM - good quality graphics chipset - decent brand - Windows 7 (or 8 if I have to) - VGA socket would be ideal for projector tests - less than 1.5kg I'm struggling to find anything, other than this (which probably hasn't got the best graphics chipset, and no VGA socket) Toshiba Satellite U920T-11C Laptop - Laptops | Ebuyer.com Am I missing any obvious contenders? TIA
tmcd35 Posted January 29, 2014 Posted January 29, 2014 For this sort of thing I find it best to ask system builders like Very PC, Novatech and Stone to quote on a spec. They tend to have more flexibility in getting the CPU/RAM/SSD requirements in the form factor your after. 1
Michael Posted January 29, 2014 Posted January 29, 2014 What you're looking for sounds like an 'Ultra Notebook'. I suppose it's sort of the equivalent of a MacBook Air. 1
rich_tech Posted January 29, 2014 Posted January 29, 2014 Lenovo IdeaPad G710 Laptop - Laptops | Ebuyer.com 1
mrbios Posted January 29, 2014 Posted January 29, 2014 (edited) Lenovo Yoga? Lenovo Yoga 11S - Ultrabook Convertible - Lenovo Multimode PCs| Lenovo (UK) i3 rather than i5/i7, and hdmi instead of VGA are the only two parts that aren't ticked on your requirements there. Granted anything i5/i7 you're going to be paying alot more for for not a great gain. Edited January 29, 2014 by mrbios 1
Gongalong Posted January 29, 2014 Author Posted January 29, 2014 We've been stung before with rebadged laptops - both in terms of quality and getting spares - so ideally I'd like to stick with "normal" brands.
Arthur Posted January 29, 2014 Posted January 29, 2014 (edited) I would get one of the following... Dell Latitude 12 7000 (a.k.a. E7240) - 12.5", 1.36KG Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (New Haswell version) - 14", 1.28KG Samsung Ativ Book 9 Plus - 13.3", 1.39KG (Review) ^ The Dell is pretty much exactly what you're after. You might be able to get an adapter to convert DisplayPort into VGA. Edited January 29, 2014 by Arthur 1
MYK-IT Posted January 29, 2014 Posted January 29, 2014 Maybe a Dell Venue Pro 11... Dell Venue 11 Pro HD Windows Tablet | Dell UK 1
Arthur Posted January 29, 2014 Posted January 29, 2014 (edited) I'm trying to find a powerful lightweight laptop that we can lug around the school for troubleshooting What about a 12.2" Android tablet? www.engadget.com/2014/01/28/samsung-galaxy-note-pro-uk-pre-order/ Edit. Would the Surface Pro 2 be suitable? Edited January 29, 2014 by Arthur
Quackers Posted January 29, 2014 Posted January 29, 2014 A MacBook Air , Bootcamped with Windows on and a Thunderbolt VGA adaptor if you need to test a projector. You should be able to get it for around £700 without VAT for the 13.3" Air. The Air is the most amazing laptop i've ever used or owned. 2
Arthur Posted January 29, 2014 Posted January 29, 2014 A MacBook Air, Bootcamped with Windows on The battery life is nowhere near as good in Windows though. www.digitalversus.com/laptop/apple-13-macbook-air-2013-running-windows-8-p16624/test.html One of the best things about the standard 2013 MacBook Air 13" is that it has record-breaking battery life of 14 hrs 25 min (with the screen brightness at 100 cd/m², headphones plugged in and the Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and keyboard backlighting turned off). Under Windows 8 the results are more mixed. Perhaps as the price to pay for the increased processor performance, in the same conditions it lasts only 7 hrs 40 min. 1
Gongalong Posted January 29, 2014 Author Posted January 29, 2014 The Air is the most amazing laptop i've ever used or owned. Can you give a bit more detail?
Gongalong Posted February 10, 2014 Author Posted February 10, 2014 After having gone through this in a lot of detail the Lenovo ThinkPad T440s and the MacBook Pro are the only two I can find that pretty much fit all the criteria, which I revised slightly: i5/i7 SSD 12" screen (approx.) Full HD display 8GB RAM Decent graphics chipset Known brand Win 7 or 8 VGA socket Under 2kg Both around £1,250.
pcstru Posted February 10, 2014 Posted February 10, 2014 I see Surface Pro mentioned by Arthur but otherwise not commented on. Would need a display port to VGA adapter but otherwise it would seem to fit the bill (you might quibble on 'decent graphics chipset'). It is extremely portable and with the touch keyboard, works pretty well. 1
chazzy2501 Posted February 10, 2014 Posted February 10, 2014 You can get HDMI to VGA adapters for under £15 quid (hdmi powered as well) or usb3.0 vga cards for £30. So not limiting you to needing a VGA port... 1
Gongalong Posted February 10, 2014 Author Posted February 10, 2014 We might use it for quite a bit of typing, so the keyboard might be a dealbreaker on a Surface Pro 2 - I have used one, but I suspect if you're in a rush it could get annoying. Uses the Intel 4400 HD chipset apparently. I'm assuming the Intel Iris is better than this (in the MacBook Pro). So definitely interesting, but perhaps just a bit too odd.
elsiegee40 Posted February 10, 2014 Posted February 10, 2014 Have you taken a look at the Dell Outlet to see what you can find there? I have had some excellent stuff from it Dell Outlet - Refurbished Laptops, Desktops & Servers | Dell UK 1
pcstru Posted February 10, 2014 Posted February 10, 2014 I've used the touch keyboard and the type one. If you need to do a lot of typing the type is definitely better - and pretty much on a par with some middle of the road laptop keyboards. The touch is a little odd, but I've found it surprisingly usable AND it is even teaching me to be a bit less heavy handed in my typing. The downside of the type is it makes the whole package a bit more chunky. Not quite sure on graphics performance vs a MacBook. IMO any laptop is going to be a huge compromise when it comes to graphics. I'd not swap the surface for my GTX780 equipped desktop but I generally don't need that kind of power in a laptop. 1
Chris_ Posted February 12, 2014 Posted February 12, 2014 I've got a little 12.5" Samsung 400B2B laptop. SSD (not standard), 8GB RAM, i3/i5 (don't think they make an i7), VGA and HDMI out. I think the only bit of your criteria it doesn't meet is the screen resolution. 1
plexer Posted February 12, 2014 Posted February 12, 2014 Don't know why you think you'd get stung with a Very PC thinbook they are a good company to deal with and stand by their products. You could get a very well specced i5 or i7 from that range for that money. Ben 1
tmcd35 Posted February 12, 2014 Posted February 12, 2014 The laptops I've had from VeryPC have been amongst the best I've had - better than the Toshiba's or Lenovo's I've had in the past. Yes they're rebadges, but they are Clevo's - one of the biggest laptop manufacturers in the world. I'm sure I've had Acer's in the past that were rebadged Clevo's. 1
Gongalong Posted February 12, 2014 Author Posted February 12, 2014 I like Very lots, we buy all our desktops from them, but I bought two types of rebadged Novatech laptops and they were the worst we've got. Almost all are faulty after 2 years.
Gongalong Posted February 12, 2014 Author Posted February 12, 2014 I think I prefer the Lenovo over the Macbook, because the Intel Iris chipset isn't that great. Although is it possible to get an education discount with Apple? (Maybe Very will throw a laptop in with our Summer desktop order? ;-)
plexer Posted February 12, 2014 Posted February 12, 2014 True we've had Novatech's in the past which were on a clevo chassis and had loads of faults but the latest range really are much better and if you go to the very pc and spec up an i7 with 16gb and 1 tb hybrid drive you're looking at about a grand Ben 1
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now