Looking at an ultrabook, suggestions?

[dezymond]

So I'm looking into possibly getting an ultrabook, and hopefully within the next couple days or else I'll just put it off and end up saving money (at least on a new laptop). So anyone have any experience and real hands-on time with an ultrabook? I've narrowed it down to 3 and am strongly aiming towards 1, but just want someone else's experience. I've read my fair amount of reviews and watched a few reviews, but I want to hear from the people, not some professional reviewer.

1. HP Folio 13
Pros: Big battery that lasts up to 7hrs+, backlit keyboard, HDMI port, SD card slot, nice keyboard (from what I hear), and it seems to be about the same weight/size of my Chromebook I got from Google
Cons: Screen is pretty low quality from what I read, trackpad buttons are too stiff,

2. Toshiba Portege z830
Pros: Love the design of it, backlit keys, SD card slot, HDMI port, WiDi, core i7 (can be customized up to it)
Cons: A bit expensive, "wobbly" screen, keyboard hit or miss (from what I've heard)

3. Dell XPS 13
Pros: Best keyboard (according to many), very slim, nice build quality, simple design
Cons: No HDMI, battery life, about the same specs as the HP for more $

This is mostly going to be used for school and light browsing. I was actually thinking about playing Star Wars The Old Republic, so anyone know if it can run that? I'm a bit behind on the computer/laptop game. I'm still using my old Vaio all-in-one that's only Pentium Dual Core with 4gb of ram. Going on about 3 or 4 years strong, forget now.

The only thing I got against HP right now is longevity and fan noise. I got a dying HP Mini 1000 that lasted less than 2 years only and I replaced it with a RunCore SSD. For such a small device that fan could sure make some loud noise.

 

[jstafford1]

I would go with the Toshiba. They have the highest rated customer satisfaction for laptops, at least they did a year or so ago. I will never buy an HP, their build quality is suspect. And I have a Dell pc, its ok but not the easiest to upgrade. I had a Toshiba satellite a few yrs ago. Still runs good, but the battery is shot, will run plugged in though. Just my opinion....

"Ready to do nothing at a moments notice."

 

[dezymond]

I would go with the Toshiba. They have the highest rated customer satisfaction for laptops, at least they did a year or so ago. I will never buy an HP, their build quality is suspect. And I have a Dell pc, its ok but not the easiest to upgrade. I had a Toshiba satellite a few yrs ago. Still runs good, but the battery is shot, will run plugged in though. Just my opinion....

"Ready to do nothing at a moments notice."

Yup Toshiba makes great laptops. I have not once had to reformat the one I got and I've heard no complaints of slow down or anything. HP and Dell quality has went up in recent years from what I noticed from fixing them for friends and family. I hear both Folio and XPS are made with pretty good quality compared to their other devices, which is good to hear.

I actually went to fry's and Costco but neither of them had the units for display and costco didn't even have either for sale (not surprised though). Might go check out Best Buy

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using DroidForums

 

[r314bd]

I know it's not on your list but I'm waiting for the Vizio ultrabooks to come out in May/June. They look so sleek.

 

[dezymond]

I know it's not on your list but I'm waiting for the Vizio ultrabooks to come out in May/June. They look so sleek.

Had no idea Vizio was in the computer market. They specialize in TVs don't they? I don't pay much attention to Vizio, bought a TV from them and it crapped out within 6 months. Guessing it's going to be a cheaper walmart brand for ultrabooks?

 

[r314bd]

Had no idea Vizio was in the computer market. They specialize in TVs don't they? I don't pay much attention to Vizio, bought a TV from them and it crapped out within 6 months. Guessing it's going to be a cheaper walmart brand for ultrabooks?

Vizio just announced their PC lineup at CES. My guess is that the ultrabooks will be in the $600-800 range. They are supposed to be somewhere in between the low end budget laptops and the high end gaming machines. They are going to have a unibody aluminum chassis like the MacBooks so hopefully they'll be decent.

 

[huskur]

All the recommendations sound viable devices. Remember though, Windows 8 will debut in October

 

[dezymond]

Vizio just announced their PC lineup at CES. My guess is that the ultrabooks will be in the $600-800 range. They are supposed to be somewhere in between the low end budget laptops and the high end gaming machines. They are going to have a unibody aluminum chassis like the MacBooks so hopefully they'll be decent.

Yeah did a little research and Vizio seems to be stepping into the computer game. If I can wait til May or June I'll check it out. Thanks for the heads up!

All the recommendations sound viable devices. Remember though, Windows 8 will debut in October

If I could buy all 3 I would

I know Windows 8 has a beta/RC out. Was thinking of running it on my netbook just for fun. Springbreak starts for me around 3 today...maybe I'll get around to it. I hear it's alot like windows 7 and since it's a multi-device OS, it should run no problem on the lower end devices, though none of those ultrabooks I posted are low end, they're all more powerful than my main PC

 

[huskur]

Supposedly the "full blown" windows 8 is truly AWESOME and is a considerable upgrade over windows 7. I am not bashing windows 7, I just hate buying something when something better is right there for me for only a few extra dollars. Good thing windows OS's are usually 3 years apart unlike our Android OS's which seem to change every other month:blink:

 

[dezymond]

Supposedly the "full blown" windows 8 is truly AWESOME and is a considerable upgrade over windows 7. I am not bashing windows 7, I just hate buying something when something better is right there for me for only a few extra dollars. Good thing windows OS's are usually 3 years apart unlike our Android OS's which seem to change every other month:blink:

Well the thing about Windows 8 is that it's supposed to run pretty flawlessly on any device currently running windows 7, from what I've heard. Since it's supposed to be an OS that can run on many different types of Windows devices I would imagine it would run about the same on current devices, which is why I'm considering an ultrabook.

Netbook is on its last legs and this Chromebook I'm on really isn't cutting it as an internet connection is necessary for it to work, even for Google Docs. Chrome OS is nice, but the fact it needs internet to work is a huge flaw.

 

[dezymond]

Leaning more towards the Toshiba. Going to decide by Saturday as Amazon has a $100 GC when you buy an Intel-powered ultrabook