Ultrabook?

[Greenswale]

I am in the market for a new laptop, and am considering purchase of an ultrabook, something with a solid state 'hard drive', Windows 8 and USB 3 ports. The local Hardly Normal store had an Asus U38N which seemed pretty close to the mark, the touch screen was pretty cool.

So, what recommendations and warnings from those who know? Please keep it simple, because I am not up on the latest hardware jargon!

[04Stefan07]

Haha "Hardly Normal", love it!

To be honest I would stick with Windows 7. I have Windows 8 but will not be upgrading to it yet, not a huge fan of it. I do not like the idea of using Windows 8 on a laptop, it is much better suited for a tablet.

May I ask a few needs/wants?
- What is your budget?
- You mentioned a SSD (Solid State Drive) but would you rather more storage space and slower drive or less storage space and a faster drive?
- Your main use? (Gaming, surfing the web, storage, photo/video editing)

Here is a review I found.

http://www.laptopmag.com/review/laptops/asus-u38n.aspx

Battery life is not so good which is a concern.

Once I know more about what you are after I will have a look around.

[NovaStar]

Hi Greenswale, I browsed at the specs and noticed it does not have a firewire port. Firewire is still one of the fastest comm ports for cameras.

[Colin_Fraser]

USB3 a theoretical maximum rate of 5Gbps
Firewire 800 full duplex at 800Mbps
even the latest Firewire 3200 is slower then USB3

Apple who created Firewire are no longer supporting it. It has disappeared from the latest iMac
You will find fewer companies will go with Firewire in the future.

[Colin_Fraser]

If you must stay with Windows I'd suggest shopping around for an Intel i7 based machine rather than AMD which are slower and run hotter than Intel.
Windows 7 is a better option too. The touchscreen might be "cool" but that's about it.
The battery life is pretty poor as well. There are far better notebooks than this one.

[NovaStar]

OK Colin, I did not realize that. Both my Nikon D1 and Panasonic Video use firewire, but both are getting old.

[Greenswale]

Thanks for the replies, it confirms that it is a confusing wordl!

My use is for internet meandering, electronic mail, data storage, ie simple stuff. I do like instant on and touchscreen, having bought an ipad. Nt an apple fan though, hate the restrictions. Ipad goes when the laptop arrives.

Agree that Intel is the way to go, and I'm aware that I will need an external hard drive if I get really active.

Budget is up to 2k.

Sales people reckon that the ultrabook thing is just beginning, and a bit of patience would be prudent?

[pluto]

I'm pretty sure Ultrabooks run low-voltage Intel chips which are not the same as the versions of the I5 or I7 that you find in normal notebook computers which are different again from the I5 or I7 processors found in desktop boxes. I think the Ultrabook chips have the letters "UM" after the name and the faster mobile versions have just "M" after the name. I'm pretty sure you won't find dedicated Nvidia or ATI cards in an Ultrabook either.
While you will get better battery life and a slimmer case with an Ultrabook I personally would go for a lappy with the faster I7 because I hate waiting while I'm processing in Lightroom and a dedicated video card just because I like to play the odd game of Kerbal Space Program :)

For your budget I'd get this: http://www.onlinecomputer.com.au/product_info.php?products_id=10859
And buy a 512gb Samsung 840pro SSD to either swap with the main HDD or swap with the optical drive. You should still have some change over from $2k.

EDIT: You can get dedicated video cards in Ultrabooks, at least from Asus

[Greenswale]

Thanks Hugh, a nice lead.

Instant on certainly overcomes one of my main issues, and so changes my thinking about an ultrabook.

Decisions, decisions!

[04Stefan07]

I agree with Hugh even though 16GB RAM is overkill unless you are running MANY applications at once.

I highly recommend spending the extra cash on an SSD. When I built my gaming PC I put in a 120GB SSD for the OS and programs and it is the best thing you can do to a computer! I recently put a Samsung 840 Series 250GB SSD in my MacBook Pro and boy is it fast! Boots up in under 15 seconds.

If you require a lot of space do what Hugh said and take the optical drive out and add an SSD and keep the standard HDD that came with the laptop. If 512GB SSD would be enough and you need the optical drive then just buy the SSD!

Good luck mate!

[04Stefan07]

Just to give you an idea about the SSD speed I recorded a video booting up my MacBook Pro that has the Samsung 840 Series 250GB SSD in it.

As you can see it is very fast!

Check the video out here.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/w9din9tzcpg0w05/MacBook%20Pro%20SSD.m4v

[pluto]

I just recently put a 128gb Samsung 840pro in my lappy and it's the best $150 bucks I've ever spent on a computer.

[Greenswale]

Well, it gets interestinger, and interestinger!

Thanks for adding further options.......