Ultrabook or Notebook? Help me decide on what to buy...


Recommended Posts

Hi,

 

(it's been really long time since it was the last time I've posted here...)

 

I'm sysadmin/programmer looking for a new computer. I've owned pretty good laptops in the past. Yes, I've had macbook pro too and, to be honest, this isn't something I would decide to ever buy again. Its just that I'm too "attached" to visual studio IDE and other apps that are windows only. If I want unix based coding, I would just connect to one of my server stations and do stuff there.

 

there are few things I would really like my new computer to have:

 

1. 4th gen intel cpu (haswell processors)

2. AT LEAST fullHD (1920x1080) screen (new ultrabooks have/will have higher resolutions- samsung ativ 9 pro, asus infinity 2nd gen, lenovo yoga v2,...)

3. i doubt i'll ever use it for gaming, maybe for a flash game here and there but that's about it

4. good battery

5. 13'' or more of screen size.

 

anything else (if that still isn't enough??) is just a matter of being more bulky or pricey. (above 4 things are very important, hdd capacity isn't, ram isn't either, upgradability is a plus). Currently, I'm mostly looking for Ultrabooks BUT,.. would I need it? I don't care about mobility- at the end I will end up buying very good backpack, add extra cables in it, power supply and what not so it will be heavy no matter the 0,5kg or 0,1kg of laptop. Actually, I will decide if I'll go for a good specs based laptop or buy a good ultrabook based on your replies.

 

So please help me out here, will you?

 

Thank you!!! :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Buget?

 

Will you be programming on this? Compiling might be a bit much.

 

Budget is ~1300EUR (1700USD). I will be using it for programming, yes, don't worry about compiling... if I would do that, It would be on smaller sources, not something extreme like AOSP for Android or some Linux Distro ;)

 

(tried to update OP but there's no EDIT button :cry:)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You in the UK, or elsewhere?

 

Central Europe, Slovenia- getting things from inside EU isn't such a problem (ebay), so that's not an issue.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hello,

 

One of the biggest differences I have seen between "ultrabook" labeled notebooks and your traditional "laptop" notebook is upgradeability/serviceability.  In order to achieve the slim dimensions, computer manufacturers have to make some cuts somewhere, and that often seems to take the form of having less expansion options, whether it be having all the RAM soldered on the motherboard, with no or just one SO-DIMM slot for additional expansion, using 7mm high 2.5" drives (not an issue for SSDs, but your HDD options are limited) or just having an mSATA SSD option (again, a storage limitation), having only 2.4GHz single-band 802.11n, and in at least one "consumer" model, only providing 100Mb and not 1Gb Ethernet.  Some ultrabooks also have frewer USB ports, only one USB 3.0 port and so forth.  The other factor is that the slimmer size also means they can be more difficult to upgrade and repair.

 

If you are planning on doing software development, I would think that you would want to get a machine that you could upgrade the RAM and storage on, and they may prove to be a challenge with an ultralight system.  It seems to me the ultralights are more geared at mobile workers who use your typical office productivity apps, some LOB proprietary apps and maybe some light programming/scripting activities, but they are probably not at the point where you would want to use one to do all those things and be your build platform, your debug platform and so forth.

 

Regards,

 

Aryeh Goretsky

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This topic is now closed to further replies.