Cheapest ultrabook

[EunSoo]

I'm looking for the best ultrabook that is around or under $500. This isn't a strict budget but I am looking for the minimum, not the best I can get for my budget. I am upgrading from a HP Laptop that has an a10 and it gets uncomfortably hot,is thick, has a poor screen, has terrible battery life, and is too slow to do anything but wait for Word to load. Here is what I want in the laptop

1. Roughly 13" or so. I want it to be small and portable
2. Needs a HDMI port
3. 1080p screen
4. It can't be thick, I want it to be thinnish
5. Touchscreen would be nice but is not necessary

Here is what I have been looking at:

https://www.amazon.com/VivoBook-E403SA-US21-Quad-Core-Processor-Metallic/dp/B01B9APNG0

 

But I don't like that it only has 128gbs of storage but I can deal with that. Is that the best I'll get or is there something else? I'll get a proper good gaming laptop later but for now I just need something for web-browsing and writing and editing documents. Thanks!

[Droidbot]

https://www.amazon.com/ZenBook-UX360CA-UBM1T-13-3-inch-Touchscreen-Convertible/dp/B01HZT6AR0/ref=sr_1_2?m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1482131713&sr=1-2&keywords=ultrabook&refinements=p_6%3AATVPDKIKX0DER

 

Core M3 is surprisingly performant. It's around where a U-series i3 is in terms of performance, and is enough for 25 Chrome tabs and Word open at the same time. 

[fjdhdhcyfhf]

have a look at lenovo's range. I have a quad core celeron and i would not recommend it, go for an i3 if you can. Stay away from eMMC storage, they are not SSD

[JefferyD90]

13 minutes ago, SCGazelle said:

I'm looking for the best ultrabook that is around or under $500. This isn't a strict budget but I am looking for the minimum, not the best I can get for my budget. I am upgrading from a HP Laptop that has an a10 and it gets uncomfortably hot,is thick, has a poor screen, has terrible battery life, and is too slow to do anything but wait for Word to load. Here is what I want in the laptop

1. Roughly 13" or so. I want it to be small and portable
2. Needs a HDMI port
3. 1080p screen
4. It can't be thick, I want it to be thinnish
5. Touchscreen would be nice but is not necessary

Here is what I have been looking at:

https://www.amazon.com/VivoBook-E403SA-US21-Quad-Core-Processor-Metallic/dp/B01B9APNG0

 

But I don't like that it only has 128gbs of storage but I can deal with that. Is that the best I'll get or is there something else? I'll get a proper good gaming laptop later but for now I just need something for web-browsing and writing and editing documents. Thanks!

Sounds like something is wrong with your notebook...  You should fix it instead.

[EunSoo]

1 minute ago, JefferyD90 said:

Sounds like something is wrong with your notebook...  You should fix it instead.

I just reinstalled Windows last week so it shouldn't have any software issues

[EunSoo]

11 minutes ago, Droidbot said:

https://www.amazon.com/ZenBook-UX360CA-UBM1T-13-3-inch-Touchscreen-Convertible/dp/B01HZT6AR0/ref=sr_1_2?m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1482131713&sr=1-2&keywords=ultrabook&refinements=p_6%3AATVPDKIKX0DER

 

Core M3 is surprisingly performant. It's around where a U-series i3 is in terms of performance, and is enough for 25 Chrome tabs and Word open at the same time. 

 

I'm liking it a lot. Thanks for the suggestion

[JefferyD90]

10 minutes ago, SCGazelle said:

I just reinstalled Windows last week so it shouldn't have any software issues

There is nothing wrong with a A10, and it will probably perform better than anything in the $500 range anyways.  Now this isn't to say there isn't something wrong with your notebook, but yea.  The A10 series is actually pretty powerful.

[EunSoo]

1 minute ago, JefferyD90 said:

There is nothing wrong with a A10, and it will probably perform better than anything in the $500 range anyways.  Now this isn't to say there isn't something wrong with your notebook, but yea.  The A10 series is actually pretty powerful.

 

Hmm... That is odd then. It I got it 4 years ago so it is a tad old and was used a lot by my brother but I'm not sure if being 4 years old will make it lose performance especially after a reinstallation of windows. The model is the a10-4600m if that brings any light.

[JefferyD90]

1 minute ago, SCGazelle said:

Hmm... That is odd then. It I got it 4 years ago so it is a tad old and was used a lot by my brother but I'm not sure if being 4 years old will make it lose performance especially after a reinstallation of windows. The model is the a10-4600m if that brings any light.

That is a older chip, but contrary to popular belief...  there is little to no electron leakage that happens in modern day electronics.  So unless it has heat damage or something like that, then its just as "fast" (god I hate using that word) as it was on day one.

 

the A10-4600m should be capable of playing 95% of all games on at least lower settings.  And battery life probably has more to do with a old degraded battery.

[EunSoo]

15 minutes ago, JefferyD90 said:

That is a older chip, but contrary to popular belief...  there is little to no electron leakage that happens in modern day electronics.  So unless it has heat damage or something like that, then its just as "fast" (god I hate using that word) as it was on day one.

 

the A10-4600m should be capable of playing 95% of all games on at least lower settings.  And battery life probably has more to do with a old degraded battery.

 

OK, it might just be because I am spoiled with a PC that fully boots up in seconds and that I am being unreasonable with it (I only just started to actually use it because I now have a use for a laptop unlike before for the last couple years). But I just don't like how long it takes to open chrome and even file explorer. But the big thing I have with it is that the battery dies in like 20 minutes of chrome usage. Its definitely the battery being old and is probably almost dead and putting an SSD in it would probably speed it up but I don't feel like putting money into such an old laptop. I would rather get a way more portable laptop (the HP one is massive) and invest in that. I don't need the gaming performance of this laptop anyway so I can't find a good reason to stick with it.

[Crowes]

7 minutes ago, SCGazelle said:

...the big thing I have with it is that the battery dies in like 20 minutes of chrome usage. Its definitely the battery being old and is probably almost dead and putting an SSD in it would probably speed it up but I don't feel like putting money into such an old laptop. 

I almost argued against your proposal then. 

 

Yeah, Chrome is a battery hog, but should never kill your battery that quickly. If you could replace the battery and get an SSD (and, well, you don't need more power), then you're literally better off sticking with what you have.

 

If you wanna throw some cash around for the sake of portability (I did that to hell and back by spending money on a Dell XPS 13 I use a few times a week), then sure, but you may find yourself seriously disappointed when your brand spanking new ultrabook is more or less the same as what you had, in retrospect.

 

(Oops.)

[EunSoo]

8 minutes ago, Crowes said:

I almost argued against your proposal then. 

 

Yeah, Chrome is a battery hog, but should never kill your battery that quickly. If you could replace the battery and get an SSD (and, well, you don't need more power), then you're literally better off sticking with what you have.

 

If you wanna throw some cash around for the sake of portability (I did that to hell and back by spending money on a Dell XPS 13 I use a few times a week), then sure, but you may find yourself seriously disappointed when your brand spanking new ultrabook is more or less the same as what you had, in retrospect.

 

(Oops.)

 

 

 

hmmm.. Ok. I'll think about that