~£700 for a 'portable' laptop

[JN]

Hi guys,

I've just sold my existing laptop as it was far too powerful and the battery could only keep it going for 1:20hr with light usage on the train.

I've been looking at ultra-portables but I think most of them are going to be too basic for my needs. Does anyone have any suggestions for a laptop that:

- Has a 12-13" screen

- Has a battery life of 4+hrs under

- Is well built and looks nice (Jim likes shiny / aluminium things)

So far I've got it narrowed down to a couple of Sony Vaio's, the Samsung NC20 or a MacBook (Aluminium).

This really is just for the train, so i'm not too fussed about what OS it's got on it (hence the Mac). I just want something I dont have to charge twice a day, isn't going to break my back and doesn't look like I pulled it out of a dustbin.

 

[SwaleSmith]

I know you said no netbooks but what about the Asus Eee PC 1004DN I'm considering seling my laptop as I find my netbook as good as.

 

[JN]

I know you said no netbooks but what about the Asus Eee PC 1004DN I'm considering seling my laptop as I find my netbook as good as.

Some of the Eee's don't look too bad, I just dont think I could be dealing with a 10" screen. Need a 1/2 decent vertical resolution.

 

[monkey7]

LeNovo's making a nice one, fits your budget pretty well.

Dutch spec site 4GB, P7370, nVidia 9300GT @ 1280*1024. I don't remember completely but I think lenovo claimed 4 hours of battery time.

EDIT: screen res is 1280*800

 

[mrapoc]

Interesting thread

I too need something that won't break my back, last a good battery life and capable of running all apps

Mine only last like 30 mins on battery life, rubbish for the train! >.<

 

[Hassan]

how about this:

clicky

 

[monkey7]

That's certainly a good one hassan. 1366*720 on a 10.1" is a good density. If the "HD ready" claim is completely true of course.

 

[Bungral]

Ya know my feelings... NC20 or if you can stretch then I'd consider the Toshiba R500 Portege...

Had 6 turn up here the other day and they are light as a feather!! Things are so so so lush.

Just under 1KG so less than a bag of sugar... 7 - 8 hours battery life apparently as well as a core 2 duo. Optical drive too if I remember correctly.

For myself though after hours and hours of research, I'm going with the NC20 for the price and size. Like you I want a decent res but also wanna keep the weight down along with the price. The girlfriend is happy with this one too so she wont take any convincing.

That said... I so very nearly pulled the trigger on an NC10 earlier as they were £259 on Viking with a 20% off voucher and 7% quidco along with a 800g bag of biscuits thrown in for free. Think total would have been like £222. Missed out by about 20 mins on the deal though

Edit: Ps. Just looking at price of NC20 again and look at the lil icons below the netbook: Linky Ha ha!

 

[DeMoB]

I've been looking for a laptop that's in this very category too

I'll just steal the best recommendation from this thread

*yoink*

Dan

 

[Hassan]

I actually know somebody who has the Sony which I have linked.

The screen colour is amazing. He told me apparantly the battery lasts him upto 5 to 6 hours after full charge, which I thought was very good for that machine.

 

[mrapoc]

Made a decision yet jim?

I might MIGHT consider a macbook with student discount for £620 iirc

its got a nvidia 9400 and 2.0ghz c2d and 2gb of ram

although iv never used a mac b4 and not sure if u get the best for ur money

 

[deathwish]

SL300 are a good bet well built machines

Weight & Dimensions

Weight: 2.1Kg

Height: 36mm

Width: 318mm

Depth: 238mm

Travel weight: 2,07Kgs

Power Management

Heat emissions: 65W

Sound emissions: 36dB

Battery life - min/max: 4.5 Hrs

Battery type(s): 6 Cell Lithium-Ion

Charge time - on/off: -- / --

Specs

 

[JN]

Made a decision yet jim?

I might MIGHT consider a macbook with student discount for £620 iirc

its got a nvidia 9400 and 2.0ghz c2d and 2gb of ram

although iv never used a mac b4 and not sure if u get the best for ur money

Get ready for it...... Thats what I bought. I'm actually posting from it now

Macbook 2.4ghz, 4GB DDR3 and soon to have a 120GB SSD

Its luuuuuuuuuuurvley

 

[DeMoB]

Did you get one of the unibody 13" ones?

If so, how is that mirror for a screen treating you?

Dan

 

[JN]

Did you get one of the unibody 13" ones?

If so, how is that mirror for a screen treating you?

Dan

Yeah I did. I'm a right sucker for aluminium and glass. So far the screen is fine. Sometimes the reflections from it can be slightly distracting, but other than that its extremely sharp and clear. I havent tried it outdoors yet which is the real test i guess.

 

[mrapoc]

Your first mac experience?

Is it good to use? Bootcamp?

Is the extra 400mhz worth it? I mean its quite a price increase from the standard model to the alu model

I take it I can change the ram myself at a later date anyway with the standard model

 

[JN]

Your first mac experience?

Is it good to use? Bootcamp?

Is the extra 400mhz worth it? I mean its quite a price increase from the standard model to the alu model

I take it I can change the ram myself at a later date anyway with the standard model

Nah I've used Hackintosh a few times. Its a nice OS for laptops as its quite basic on the surface. Does what it needs to do reliably and nothing else. It gets a bit boring for main desktop use tho (imo).

I tried bootcamp last night and Vista deleted my OSX install. I prolly did something wrong. Good thing is the Mac's are VERY good at recovering from problems. For example, holding down the option button while booting allows you to select what partition to boot from.

OSX seems very efficient with resources - i doubt you'll see any difference at all with 400mhz (or even 2gb vs 4gb) unless you use photoshop or other pro tools

 

[Bungral]

That thing is a little over a grand aint it?

I dragged the girlfriend down Tottenham Court Road today to go have a look at all the netbooks and ultra portables. Took a look at the NC10s in person and they are nice, but as every review points out, the track pad thing is tiny.

Main purpose of the journey was to get my hands on the NC20 and any other 12" alternatives.

The Toshiba Portege range still amaze me.. Next time your in a shop that will sell one just have a feel of how much it weighs.. It's crazy.

What does that Mac weigh?

We're pretty much sold on the NC20 though as it's got a decent res, battery, looks and isn't too dear for what we're gonna use it for.

 

[mrapoc]

think he got it off ebay bnib

I might go for the bog standard plastic macbook, 2ghz, 2gb ddr2 ram and 140gb

the difference between that one and the alu one is

£300-400, aluminium, 400mhz, 40gb hdd, ddr3 vs ddr2

 

[JN]

Yeah I got mine off ebay. Was about £950 once i'd added some extra ram to it (mostly for the sake of Vista). I've got an SSD in it at the mo, but I get the feeling that it's not actually improved the performance (under OSX at least). The system booted in about 5 seconds on the normal 5400RPM one and came out of suspend in about 2 seconds