Budget 51-70k Right time to buy an Ultrabook?

comp@ddict

comp@ddict

Skilled
After my failed attempts at buying an Android tablet (Xperia Z disappointed me with its exhoribantly high pricing), I realized that putting away my plans to own and use a light-to-carry device isn't going anywhere.

I need an Ultrabook, the lightest possible, with a screen size ideally around 13-inches (any lesser is too small for me). I would most definitely prefer a Haswell processor inside. My primary need is writing, the keyboard is of maximum importance. Battery life, screen quality and light weight are the 2nd set of priorities right after keyboard comfort.

Is this the right time for an Ultrabook? Should I chuck plans and stick to my Lenovo for another year? I have to carry around this brick everywhere in college. Not only does it consume space, it's battery life is like 2 hours long and it gets heated up, and uncomfortable to put my hands and type afterwards.
 
comp@ddict said:
After my failed attempts at buying an Android tablet (Xperia Z disappointed me with its exhoribantly high pricing), I realized that putting away my plans to own and use a light-to-carry device isn't going anywhere.

I need an Ultrabook, the lightest possible, with a screen size ideally around 13-inches (any lesser is too small for me). I would most definitely prefer a Haswell processor inside. My primary need is writing, the keyboard is of maximum importance. Battery life, screen quality and light weight are the 2nd set of priorities right after keyboard comfort.

Is this the right time for an Ultrabook? Should I chuck plans and stick to my Lenovo for another year? I have to carry around this brick everywhere in college. Not only does it consume space, it's battery life is like 2 hours long and it gets heated up, and uncomfortable to put my hands and type afterwards.
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I am in the same boat bro. Like I was in the case of Tablet Z. I would have bought it but I don't use a tablet that much so thought of replacing my laptop instead with either a ultrabook or a Windows tablet. Currently one can get the Lenovo Twist and the Surface Pro(used like new) for around $600-800 making them very tempting.
If you wanna stick to ultrabooks you can grab the outgoing Air within your budget. If you don't wanna buy Apple I would suggest the Acer Aspire S5 and S7.
Lenovo laptops like twist and X230 can be bought at a bargain from US and they carry international warranty which you can avail and even extend here in India. Same can be said for the Air.
 
I don't want all complicated laptops, twist and all :p

Okay. If there was a Ultrabook whose display could be pulled off and used independently, and then attached back to the keyboard.

I told u, KEYBOARD NEEDS TO BE BEST!
 
See I told you we should have a dedicated thread for your buying needs :p

Jokes aside get a Macbook Air. Don't think anything else will give you super duper battery life in that form factor. And by super I mean over 10 Hrs on a charge.
 
This is what I don't get with peeps. Macbook Air is a hardware product which can also run Windows really well. Suits all your requirements and has a awesome track-pad to boot. Its the best machine which money can buy and comes with an awesome OS with other software which you have to buy at an additional cost with Windows based laptops.

The people at verge reviewed more then 10 different ultra-books/laptops/hybrids and what not and concluded 2013 air is the best. Its still not available but the moment it lands here I will get one for myself.


Watch This http://www.theverge.com/2013/6/20/4449364/top-shelf-014-alive-and-haswell
 
@prateekS
My wants:
1. ULTRA LIGHT WEIGHT
2. BEST KEYBOARD
3. Minimum 13-inch HIGH resolution display
4. 6-8 hours battery life

@Switch
What would the price be?
 
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comp@ddict said:
No No No Mac. Need Windows buddy
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Wake up and smell the coffee son. BOOTCAMP!

From your post it seems you want this for typing/writing more than anything else. You want to spend up to 70K on a machine just to write? I know it's your money and stuff but It doesn't really make sense. Nothing currently comes close to the MBA in terms of battery life. The only downside of it is probably a strictly average screen resolution.
 
The price on the Apple India site for the 13" base version is 75K. You can get the 6% student discount once it lands here.
 
The MBA does lose considerable battery life when running Windows via Parallels.
Have seen the results for the 2012 MBA go from 7hrs to just 4.5hrs when running Windows as opposed to running MacOS.
 
dafreaking said:
Wake up and smell the coffee son. BOOTCAMP!

From your post it seems you want this for typing/writing more than anything else. You want to spend up to 70K on a machine just to write? I know it's your money and stuff but It doesn't really make sense. Nothing currently comes close to the MBA in terms of battery life. The only downside of it is probably a strictly average screen resolution.
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I'll be doing every multimedia related activity on it. Movies, research, looking at the screen for long hours at a stretch, carrying it all around, typing on the keyboard excessively.
 
This is not the best time to buy an ultrabook. There's an array of amazing machines coming next quarter that could put to shame everything available today. Top of the list is Samsung Ativ Book 9 Plus - 3200x1800 IPS touchscreen, 12 hour battery life, ridiculous 13mm thickness, etc. Zenbook Infinity looks extremely good too with an Iris IGP, finally making gaming a possibility on ultrabooks. It is also easily the best looking laptop out there. Basically what you should expect in the coming months is a whole bunch of ultrabooks with at least 2560x1440 top notch IPS touch panels, 10-15 hours battery life and/or crazy thin and light, etc. A lot of stuff to be announced too.

For now the only two options are Vaio Pro and MacBook Air. The Vaio Pro is a bit of an extreme, it is just crazy light. In fact the 11 it is closer in weight to tablets than ultabooks! Of course there are some trade-offs. For example, the battery life is "only" 7 hours or so. Also, it uses carbon fibre, which some people don't like compared to aluminium or magnesium due to flexibility, although in reality it is actually more durable over time. As for MacBook Air, only use it if you want OS X, superior options available for Windows now and especially in Q3.

One final word for touchscreens - you have to live with it to believe it. It is the new mouse - once you start using it, you can't live with it. Luckily, all Haswell ultrabooks will ship with touch.

Also, for the best keyboard, check out the Ideapad Yoga 13. An updated Haswell version might just be perfect for your needs. It is also the simplest and most intuitive convertible. Other ultrabooks, though good, might be a bit shallow for your liking. For the best ultimate keyboard you would have to sacrifice thinness and go for something thicker than ultrabooks for optimum key travel. Thinkpads generally have the very best keyboards. But unless you are a professional writer who is writing 8 hours a day, an ultrabook should suffice.
 
@Sub
Okay cool. I can totally wait till September-October (Diwali time) to buy the ultrabook. Perhaps I should make a thread with updated requirements then.

MODS can please close this thread.
 
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Sub said:
Also, for the best keyboard, check out the Ideapad Yoga 13. An updated Haswell version might just be perfect for your needs. It is also the simplest and most intuitive convertible. Other ultrabooks, though good, might be a bit shallow for your liking. For the best ultimate keyboard you would have to sacrifice thinness and go for something thicker than ultrabooks for optimum key travel. Thinkpads generally have the very best keyboards. But unless you are a professional writer who is writing 8 hours a day, an ultrabook should suffice.
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I do write 8 hours a day at times. And the Ideapad Yoga refresh, any idea when it might hit the market? I'm not looking for "crazy" thin and light, but "very" thin and light is what I want, with a "crazy" good keyboard and "between crazy and very good" display. And of course, a "very" good battery life.
 
The X240 will be good from what I have heard. Option for a FHD screen with Haswell and if you check out the leaked pics it is thinner this time, just not crazy thin.
 
comp@ddict said:
I do write 8 hours a day at times. And the Ideapad Yoga refresh, any idea when it might hit the market? I'm not looking for "crazy" thin and light, but "very" thin and light is what I want, with a "crazy" good keyboard and "between crazy and very good" display. And of course, a "very" good battery life.
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I agree with rdst, best to see how the X240 or T440S turn out. These <18mm ultrabooks simply cannot beat a real Thinkpad keyboard. Yoga is pretty good but it still lacks the key travel of X230 which might be the best keyboard out there for a laptop weighing under 2 Kg. I know Thinkpad purists prefer the X220, but it is a pretty good evolution.
 
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