Ultrabook meeting certain criterias

[LimeX]

Hi!

I am Will, a 16yo Front end developer/Gamer! After my old laptop broke down I am looking for a replacement. It was a pretty cheap laptop from MSI, to be precise the C620, with Intel HD graphics and a low-end i5 processor, 1st gen.

A few qualities I am looking for in my soon-to-be new computer are the following: (13.3" or 15.6", but I would prefer the smaller one..)

• Lightweight - My old laptop was on the heavy side with it's 2.5kg. Not very good for carrying to and from school & work.
• Thin - I guess lightweight laptops usually are thin, but one can never be clear enough when speicifying on a forum I need it to fit easily in my bag without taking up too much space.
• 6GB RAM(or more) - 4GB just doesnt do it. I surf, run a development server, photoshop, IDE and more at the same time and need to have lots of ram.
• Battery life - 3h or more productive use. School or trips, i usually find myself in cases where i run out of power! But i won't need +4h, not that it is a bad thing to have more..
• Processing power - i7 or maybe i5, but I do not want to find myself in need for an upgrade in a year... I tend to play some games on the computer, even though I have a beast desktop at home! I need to process photographs and such.
• SSD space - I do not have a problem with buying a separate SSD and putting it in myself to get more storage, as long as there is space for it!
• Resolution - 1920x1080p AT LEAST. This is part reason why I wanted the Samsung Ativ Premium Ultrabook lalal with 3200x1800, although that might be a bit of an overkill... And I've heard that they will only release a 128GB SSD/4GB RAM version in Sweden where I live.
• Price - Everything is more expensive in sweden, and I do want the swedish keyboard layout. About 1.5k dollars is max.

If you find any laptop that you think might meet these criterias, I would be so happy!

Should I wait for incoming Haswell series? Honestly I do not think I will need more graphics than the one included in a i7 Mobile processor.

Laptops I have found yet:

Asus Zenbook UX32VD-R4013H - Seems like a good laptop. i would replace the SSD, and MAYBE toss out the HDD if it is heavy and loud, although a extra 500GB won't hurt...

Samsung 9 series - Seems a bit low on the ram.

 

Once again, Thank you!

Best regards,

Will

[rashdanml]

Thinkpad X1 Carbon is a sexy machine, but won't be refreshed with Haswell for at least a few months (Haswell variant should have 1080p screen). 14" screen. Unless I'm mistaken, the X1 supports 2 HDDs - regular 2.5" (comes with 128GB SSD built in) and mSATA.

 

RAM is upgradeable, screen resolution is the only one that doesn't meet requirements (1600x900). Battery life is excellent on stock battery.

[Dave :)]

I just purchased the Samsung Series 7 ultra and so far so good. Battery life is good; only a dual core but i'm sure there is a new version out with an i7 quad core out (it might be renamed to the Ativ 7 or something similar). The model i bought has a dedicated GPU which is a nice extra - not sure if this is something you're looking for? Has a 128GB m-sata SSD and is very slim and fairly light. The screen is superb aswell. Also has 6GB ram which fits your criteria perfectly. 

[LimeX]

Thanks for replies!

Yeah, the Samsung Series 7 looks really promising!

 

The 1600x900 res in The Thinkpad is too low for me, thanks for the suggestion though!

 

Are there any rumors on upcoming Haswell laptops that seem promising? I can't seem to find much besides the Samsung Ativ Ultrabook Pro...

[rashdanml]

Upcoming Haswells I know of personally (all Lenovo):

T440s - 14-15" screen, usually 10 hours of battery life. S denotes ultrabook form factor.

X240s - 12.5" screen usually. 7-8 hour default battery, upgradeable to nearly 20.

W540s - workstation grade, expensive.

 

These should all have both 1600x900 and 1080p options. All 3 are SSD-upgradeable and should have an mSATA slot. RAM may be upgradeable (rumour that it's only 1 DIMM with 8GB by default), might take a single 16GB DIMM if that ever becomes available

 

Of the non-S variants, only the X series can be considered close to ultrabook due to the size. It's not as thin as a typical ultrabook though. Then again, there's no word on the X240, so no idea what it'll be like.

 

I have my eyes on them for now.

[LimeX]

Awesome!! Thanks a lot!

I hate buying a product only to find that a new, improved product is released a month later (Who doesn't...)

[LimeX]

I have decided to pick the XPS 12 Haswell (i7 4550U and 12.5" 1080p)!

Fits my movie watching and web-designer needs very well!