90K+ Upgrade time : Looking for a new laptop from US

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cbrcoder

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Before answering questionnaire, I would like to give a you brief profile about my needs. I need a laptop basically mostly working in docked setup (27" IPS at both places + Logitech keyboard/mouse combos). at home and at work (same laptop). My basic work is web programming, some light photoshop, light ms office, and heavy use of Visual Studio 2012 with Resharper plugin. I am looking to replace my 3 year old HP HDX 16t. I am unsure at this point if the ULV CPUs are going to work for me or not? If not which full processor laptops do you recommend.

Also I am getting this from US through a family member returning on June 18, so any new models upto May 15th can be accomodated :).


  • What's your Budget? >100K, not more than 150K
  • What will be your primary usage for the notebook be? programming, casual gaming starcraft kind
  • What size and weight considerations do you have? Lighter and smaller the better, as I hook up to external monitor most of the time.
  • Any brand that you prefer, or any brand that you detest? Would love a Lenovo, Sony or Apple. Only reason I am not going for MBP Retina is because my 99% usage is windows 8, I have heard some driver problems with MBP and Windows 8.
  • Any other considerations? Would prefer Anti-glare display. Also if possible with touchscreen and digitizer. This is an aspiration not a requirement.

I would like to have a combo of SSD and HDD if at all possible. Also if you are recommending full-voltage CPUs. I also prefer battery life to be atleast 6 hours if not more.

I was very much interested in Surface PRO, however battery life is too bad :( . Also I am not sure if ULV i5 can fulfill my programming needs (speed of compiling etc).

Thanks in advance.
 
Thx chaitu.genius, that looks HOT. However I am concerned about it's battery life... Also I am not into gaming that much (have xbox for that!) and would love something that is lighter, and more professional looking... Though I love the design, I am still look for more options...

Also do you know how is ASUS support here in India ?
 
I donot understand what kind of GPU would suit you best, but I see your options as follows :

Lenovo thinkpad x1 - Lightweight 14inch laptop. No extra battery options though
Lenovo thinkpad x230 - Geared towards business users, sheet battery options upto 24h, not a looker
Sony vaio z- external module with a gpu + optical drive, sheet battery options. Nice and light.
If you want a 15 inch screen, you might take a look at the Asus UX51 as well. quad core, nvidia gpu, ssd raid :bleh:

All of the above have superb screens.
 
Dell Precision 6700 bought through a corporate account (or maybe individual too) has world wide on site warranty 3years.

I think you would want some peace of mind and focus on your work rather than staring blankly at a blank screen in case it goes bust for what ever reason.

- - - Updated - - -

and since requirement is in May 15, April first week may be a better time to revisit this question, Also I just noticed you said lighter the better, then maybe the Precision 14" model, I forget the model number.
 
Thanks guys for excellent suggestion. I will bump this thread again in early April to see if any newer options come to horizon (specially the ones that were announced in CES ala Helix, Samsung Chronos etc).

Does anyone know though how Visual Studio 2012 with Resharper work on ULV cpus (most of the ultrabooks) ? I think that may be deciding factor. I don't care much about GPU (or lack of it). Would love it if someone shares their experience on it.
 
cbrcoder said:
Thanks guys for excellent suggestion. I will bump this thread again in early April to see if any newer options come to horizon (specially the ones that were announced in CES ala Helix, Samsung Chronos etc).

Does anyone know though how Visual Studio 2012 with Resharper work on ULV cpus (most of the ultrabooks) ? I think that may be deciding factor. I don't care much about GPU (or lack of it). Would love it if someone shares their experience on it.
Click to expand...

Call Dell India (or other companies) and ask them the question. Dunno about the others, but Dell is very happy to answer questions when someone inquires about they top end note books, also have a look at minimum requirements for your software, multiply that by 2, and then take a call. Personally, I toss budget out of the window when it comes to work related notebooks, I look for power and onsite premium maintenance. (4 hrs max) Average in Mumbai was less than 2 hours, well worth a few grand spread over 3 years.

And while you are travelling onsite is a boon, I once had to have it attended to while travelling, he11 who wants to go looking for a service center, when it can come to you.
 
Thinkpad T series or the W series - should cost you between 1k-2k US$ and will carry 1 - 3 yrs of international warranty with options to customize and upgrade your warranty once you're in India. Thinkpads are the best built most reliable laptops ever. IBM honours international warranty including international CC - complete cover - in India and services thinkpads within 24 hours onsite (if your laptop has onsite warranty options). I know about the international warranty bit because I own an x220 with international warranty.
The thinkpads are probably the best laptops to upgrade - almost everything can be upgraded in a thinkpad.
 
^ Agree with Sunny (I'm a ThinkPad fan too :) )...

Your requirements need a ThinkPad W series. Opt for one without the wacom or color calibrator as you don't need it for heavy photoshop. Opt for the 'Rapid drive' option, that gives you the SSD (primary OS partition) + a regular HDD.

If you can forgo the GPU then it's the X1 carbon... It's incredibly sexy but lacks the usual array of ports a regular X230, T430 or W530 would offer. But at ~1.3kg, you get mobility + core i7 & a decent screen.

The Helix looks to be good on paper but lets see what the user reviews say... (Surface Pro is showing up as mediocre at best...)
 
Hi Guys,

May is fast approaching and so far I have shortlisted two choices (since I will start offering IOS development services in my company, need a Mac too) :
1-> ThinkPad Helix with 256 GB SSD and Macbook Air 13" with 128 GB SSD. ($2k + $1.2K)
2-> Macbook Air with 512 GB SSD (using Virtualization - Parellels Desktop to run Windows 8). ($2k - top end model)

For Choice #1, I will be spending atleast $1k+ more, however on the plus side I don't have to adjust my workflow based on virtualization (Parellels Desktop). Does anyone have experience with this setup? I love the battery life of Helix (close to 10 hours) and I don't need GPU just CPU (80% coding, 20% word,excel,outlook). Helix is tempting and hence I am thinking of spending more :).
 
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