Need help finding the right laptop

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Itchyeyes

Gawd
Joined
Jun 26, 2007
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710
So here's the deal. My wife has a 13" unibody Macbook Pro, and I absolutely love the build quality, the specs, just about everything about it. But I really need something that will run Windows. I know I could do Bootcamp, but I'm not too fond of paying the Apple tax, plus another $100 for a copy of Win7, plus another $100 for a new HD (because while I can squeeze by with 160GB on just one OS, it won't cut it with 2). So I'm trying to find something similar with Windows and I'm coming up short.

The HP Envy13 is nice, but it starts at $1500 and I'm really trying to keep this around $1000. The Alienware M11x has the specs and price I need, but lacks the metal chassis and is a bit bulkier (and considerably more hideous) than I'd like. So basically I'm looking for something in the $1000/13" range with solid build quality and a halfway decent GPU (nothing made by Intel). Most of the other aspects I'm pretty flexible on.

Can anybody help me out with some suggestions?
 
Sounds like the same issue I am having. I'm researching a few options but will be keeping an eye on this thread.

I have a feeling that I'll end up with a MBP whenever they refresh them though.
 
how about the dell vostro v13? starting price is about $600 i believe...

*edit - although i just noticed, its an intel graphics card

I'm looking for thin and light Windows laptop also, but in a 15+ inch range with a 1920x1080 resolution. the only ones i see are the HP Envy 15 and the new Dell Latitude Z. But they are extremely expensive.
 
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Lookup Asus UL30JT, most all the good stuff in the 13" market is coming out next month so be careful what you buy right now definitely do some research and try to avoid anything with CULV core 2 duo because they are most all in the process of refreshing to i5/i7 which is a huge upgrade. Also check out SonyCW27 it might be a bit on the big side because it's 14" but is real nice for the price range your looking but you will probably like the Asus better because the lid has a metal aluminum finish and it looks similiar to the macbooks
 
bluehaze013 said:
Lookup Asus UL30JT, most all the good stuff in the 13" market is coming out next month so be careful what you buy right now definitely do some research and try to avoid anything with CULV core 2 duo because they are most all in the process of refreshing to i5/i7 which is a huge upgrade. Also check out SonyCW27 it might be a bit on the big side because it's 14" but is real nice for the price range your looking but you will probably like the Asus better because the lid has a metal aluminum finish and it looks similiar to the macbooks
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The CW27 is a tremendous value in my opinion. It's a little fat but for $950 you get a Core i5-520, 14" 1600x900 screen, nvidia GT 330m, and a blu-ray drive. Pretty insane price for what you do get. Just wish it wasn't so bulky and didn't use glossy plastics.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage...p=&qp=&list=n&iht=y&usc=All+Categories&ks=960
 
Don't underestimate the C2D CULV CPUs. Sure they are not the fastest things out there by a long shot, but guess what, they AIN'T slow and they have incredible power consumption and thermal numbers at only 10W TDP. Close to an Atom but MUCH faster.

The 1.6 Ghz coupled with an HD 4550 gives some decent gaming capabilities to my HP tm2 Tablet PC. Between 5 to 7 hours of battery life with the ability to switch over to the Intel IGP for better battery life.

The CULV couple with a dedicated GPU give a very good mobile experience with good performance and strong battery life.
 
skchan said:
how about the dell vostro v13? starting price is about $600 i believe...
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The Vostro v13 is pretty nice, especially for the price. I think that may be my backup if I can't find anything like it with a decent GPU.
bluehaze013 said:
Lookup Asus UL30JT, most all the good stuff in the 13" market is coming out next month so be careful what you buy right now definitely do some research and try to avoid anything with CULV core 2 duo because they are most all in the process of refreshing to i5/i7 which is a huge upgrade.
Click to expand...
Actually, I'm a bit worried about the switch to i5 for a lot of these notebooks. Since the GPU is integrated into the CPU, I'm afraid a lot of manufacturers may consider that good enough and not bother with anything better on the GPU side. That said, I'm a little bit encouraged by Nvidia's new switchable Optimus platform. The UL30JT does look like it may be what I'm looking for (battery life seems like it could be a concern though). I'll have to keep my eye on that one.
 
Itchyeyes said:
The Vostro v13 is pretty nice, especially for the price. I think that may be my backup if I can't find anything like it with a decent GPU.

Actually, I'm a bit worried about the switch to i5 for a lot of these notebooks. Since the GPU is integrated into the CPU, I'm afraid a lot of manufacturers may consider that good enough and not bother with anything better on the GPU side. That said, I'm a little bit encouraged by Nvidia's new switchable Optimus platform. The UL30JT does look like it may be what I'm looking for (battery life seems like it could be a concern though). I'll have to keep my eye on that one.
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Why would you be worried? The integrated in the Arrendales is actually decent and will have no problems playing 1080p content. We've already seen plenty of notebooks with discrete graphics even with the i3/i5 cpu's so I don't see any concern with the gpu. As well, there is no reason to be concerned about the battery life on the UL30JT, the Arrendale UM + it's integrated gfx only consumes 18W. The battery life will be similar to the UL30VT.
 
Itchyeyes said:
The Vostro v13 is pretty nice, especially for the price. I think that may be my backup if I can't find anything like it with a decent GPU.

Actually, I'm a bit worried about the switch to i5 for a lot of these notebooks. Since the GPU is integrated into the CPU, I'm afraid a lot of manufacturers may consider that good enough and not bother with anything better on the GPU side. That said, I'm a little bit encouraged by Nvidia's new switchable Optimus platform. The UL30JT does look like it may be what I'm looking for (battery life seems like it could be a concern though). I'll have to keep my eye on that one.
Click to expand...

Battery life will be similiar with i5 the chipset is integrated, everythings on the chip so even though it has a higher TDP it is actually less than the TDP of the old C2D plus chipset being run off the motherboard. You might end up with slightly more battery drain due to the higher overall mhz the chip runs at however it won't be very significant and there is even a chance battery life will be better.
 
Ok, after a bit more research I think that the Asus UL30Jt might be the laptop for me when it comes out. The only real concern I have is that the GeForce 310m may not be enough for my needs. I don't know much about mobile GPUs. Does anyone know how the 310m compares to some older desktop components that I might be more familiar with? I'm not looking for a top of the line gaming machine, and I understand that there are trade-offs to be made. But I would be pretty disappointed if I couldn't at least play something like SC2 or Civ 5, when they come out, on my laptop.
 
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Ok, so I ended up getting an Asus UL20A. Not quite what I was looking for. But it looks like I won't really be satisfied until there are a bit better video cards in an ultra portable form factor, and I needed a notebook right away. So the plan is for the UL20 to serve as a decent stop-gap for the next 6-9 months then replace it with something a bit more powerful. I'll update with impressions as soon as it arrives.
 
Hey, Im kind of in the same bout. I have up to $2500 to spend on a laptop and at first thought alienware but I see now that they are using old GPU's like the 260 or 4870 instead of the newer stuff. Let me just say that I am looking for 2 GPU's or 2 cores on 1 GPU totaling 2GB or above for video processing. Processor and RAM as well as hard drive space arent to important to me right now seeing as they can be upgraded later. I am looking at the i7 cores though. HELP ME FIND THE RIGHT LAPTOP PLEASE! Forgot to mention, i prefer NVIDIA over ATI but am willing to open up to ATI if they are becoming better.

last thing, sorry if this is considered hijacking but I cant seem to start a new thread...
 
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