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Ideal Ultrabook?

minervx
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I'd like to have a Windows version of a Macbook Air with a full operating system and a beautiful display.

 

Requirements

  • <$1000
  • 13"-14" Display
  • <3.25 lbs
  • 400nt Brightness
  • IPS Panel
  • 1080p Resolution
  • 6-8+ hours battery life
  • Backlit Keyboard
  • Quality Key Buttons
  • Responsive Multitouch Trackpad
  • Aluminum Chassis
  • Solid State Storage

Obviously, gaming is not a factor at all (it would be for MS Office, multitask browsing, Skype, light Photoshop/DAW/video editing)  but having a decent processor and 8GB of RAM would be great.

 

PC Build: R5-1600.  Scythe Mugen 5.  GTX 1060.  120 GB SSD.  1 TB HDD.  FDD Mini C.  8 GB RAM (3000 MHz).  Be Quiet Pure Wings 2.  Capstone-550.  Deepcool 350 RGB.

Peripherals: Qisan Magicforce (80%) w/ Gateron Blues.  Razer Naga Chroma.  Lenovo 24" 1440p IPS.  PS4 Controller.

Audio: Focusrite (Solo, 2nd), SM57, Triton Fethead, AKG c214, Sennheiser HD598's, ATH-M50x, AKG K240, Novation Launchkey

Wishlist: MP S-87, iPad, Yamaha HS5's, more storage

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If you don't mind a Chinese brand, the XiaoMi Notebook Air is very good for the money.

Quote me to see my reply!

SPECS:

CPU: Ryzen 7 3700X Motherboard: MSI B450-A Pro Max RAM: 32GB I forget GPU: MSI Vega 56 Storage: 256GB NVMe boot, 512GB Samsung 850 Pro, 1TB WD Blue SSD, 1TB WD Blue HDD PSU: Inwin P85 850w Case: Fractal Design Define C Cooling: Stock for CPU, be quiet! case fans, Morpheus Vega w/ be quiet! Pure Wings 2 for GPU Monitor: 3x Thinkvision P24Q on a Steelcase Eyesite triple monitor stand Mouse: Logitech MX Master 3 Keyboard: Focus FK-9000 (heavily modded) Mousepad: Aliexpress cat special Headphones:  Sennheiser HD598SE and Sony Linkbuds

 

🏳️‍🌈

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  • Author
2 minutes ago, kelvinhall05 said:

If you don't mind a Chinese brand, the XiaoMi Notebook Air is very good for the money.

I don't mind chinese brands, but some kind of reputation of consistency would be nice.  With Apple, I know for a fact that the chance of computer failure or other hardware problems is minimal, but with a company like Dell, it's a crapshoot.  Does Xiami have that?

PC Build: R5-1600.  Scythe Mugen 5.  GTX 1060.  120 GB SSD.  1 TB HDD.  FDD Mini C.  8 GB RAM (3000 MHz).  Be Quiet Pure Wings 2.  Capstone-550.  Deepcool 350 RGB.

Peripherals: Qisan Magicforce (80%) w/ Gateron Blues.  Razer Naga Chroma.  Lenovo 24" 1440p IPS.  PS4 Controller.

Audio: Focusrite (Solo, 2nd), SM57, Triton Fethead, AKG c214, Sennheiser HD598's, ATH-M50x, AKG K240, Novation Launchkey

Wishlist: MP S-87, iPad, Yamaha HS5's, more storage

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Just now, minervx said:

I don't mind chinese brands, but some kind of reputation of consistency would be nice.  With Apple, I know for a fact that the chance of computer failure or other hardware problems is minimal, but with a company like Dell, it's a crapshoot.  Does Xiami have that?

I mean, as far as Chinese brands go, I think they are actually pretty good. Read or watch some reviews to get a better idea, though.

Quote me to see my reply!

SPECS:

CPU: Ryzen 7 3700X Motherboard: MSI B450-A Pro Max RAM: 32GB I forget GPU: MSI Vega 56 Storage: 256GB NVMe boot, 512GB Samsung 850 Pro, 1TB WD Blue SSD, 1TB WD Blue HDD PSU: Inwin P85 850w Case: Fractal Design Define C Cooling: Stock for CPU, be quiet! case fans, Morpheus Vega w/ be quiet! Pure Wings 2 for GPU Monitor: 3x Thinkvision P24Q on a Steelcase Eyesite triple monitor stand Mouse: Logitech MX Master 3 Keyboard: Focus FK-9000 (heavily modded) Mousepad: Aliexpress cat special Headphones:  Sennheiser HD598SE and Sony Linkbuds

 

🏳️‍🌈

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I only know 1 model that has over 400nits of brightness but that goes over your budget, the Samsung Notebook 9 ($1199), it has quite small battery (only at 30Wh). If you don't mind 300nits, I can recommend you the LG Gram 13 (2017) which checks all your boxes except the brightness and the build, which actually uses Magnesium alloy instead of Aluminum (that's why the weight is just about 2lb)

Daily drivers:

- HP Elite x2 1012 G2: Intel Core i7-7600U, Intel HD Graphics 620 + Aorus Gaming Box GTX 1080 eGPU, 16GB LPDDR3-1867, 256GB Toshiba NVMe PCIe 3.0 x4 SSD + 128GB Toshiba Exceria UHS-1 U3 MicroSD, 12.3" 2736x1824 + HP Pavilion 22cwa Monitor 21.5" 1080p IPS, Windows 10 Pro 64-bit

- LG V20 (H990DS): Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 (ARM-based), Adreno 530, 4GB LPDDR4, 64GB eMMC UFS 2.0 + 64GB SanDisk Extreme UHS-1 U3 V30 MicroSD, 5.7" IPS LCD 1440p + 2.1" 160x1040, Android 7.0 (LG UX 5.0)

 

Other devices:

- Lenovo IdeaPad Y400: Intel Core i7-3630QM, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M SLI, 16GB DDR3-1600, 120GB Kingston mS200 mSATA SSD + 1TB HGST Travelstar 7K1000 7200rpm 2.5" HDD, 14" 768p, Windows 10 Pro 64-bit + Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 64-bit [retired]

- Dell Venue 11 Pro (7139): Intel Core i5-4300Y, Intel HD Graphics 4200, 8GB LPDDR3-1600, 256GB SanDisk X110 M.2 2260 SATA3 SSD, 10.8" 1080p IPS, Windows 10 Pro 64-bit + Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 64-bit [retired]

- Acer Iconia W4: Intel Atom Z3740, Intel HD Graphics, 2GB DDR3L-1033, 64GB Samsung MCG8GC eMMC, 8" IPS WXGA (1280x800), Windows 10 Home 32-bit

- Asus ZenFone 2 ZE551ML: Intel Atom Z3580 (x86-based), PowerVR G6430, 4GB LPDDR3, 64GB eMMC, 5.5" IPS LCD 1080p, Android 6.0.1 (Asus ZenUI)

- New Nintendo 2DS XL

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4 hours ago, aisle9 said:

ThinkPad X270. Upgrade the display and bump it to 8GB of RAM and you're golden. Only thing it might be missing is the backlit keyboard.

 

He's asking for a 13-14" inch display though, while the X270 is only 12.5"

 

The X1 Carbon or the T470s both meet his requirements, though both are out of the desired price range.

 

 

 

Patrick

We specialize in work which few understand

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1 minute ago, GR8-Ride said:

 

He's asking for a 13-14" inch display though, while the X270 is only 12.5"

 

The X1 Carbon or the T470s both meet his requirements, though both are out of the desired price range.

 

 

 

Patrick

Which is why I undershot the display by 0.5"...

I enjoy buying junk and sinking more money than it's worth into it to make it less junk.

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12.5" display is doable if it compensates in some other way.

PC Build: R5-1600.  Scythe Mugen 5.  GTX 1060.  120 GB SSD.  1 TB HDD.  FDD Mini C.  8 GB RAM (3000 MHz).  Be Quiet Pure Wings 2.  Capstone-550.  Deepcool 350 RGB.

Peripherals: Qisan Magicforce (80%) w/ Gateron Blues.  Razer Naga Chroma.  Lenovo 24" 1440p IPS.  PS4 Controller.

Audio: Focusrite (Solo, 2nd), SM57, Triton Fethead, AKG c214, Sennheiser HD598's, ATH-M50x, AKG K240, Novation Launchkey

Wishlist: MP S-87, iPad, Yamaha HS5's, more storage

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8 hours ago, minervx said:

I'd like to have a Windows version of a Macbook Air with a full operating system and a beautiful display.

 

Requirements

  • <$1000
  • 13"-14" Display
  • <3.25 lbs
  • 400nt Brightness
  • IPS Panel
  • 1080p Resolution
  • 6-8+ hours battery life
  • Backlit Keyboard
  • Quality Key Buttons
  • Responsive Multitouch Trackpad
  • Aluminum Chassis
  • Solid State Storage

Obviously, gaming is not a factor at all (it would be for MS Office, multitask browsing, Skype, light Photoshop/DAW/video editing)  but having a decent processor and 8GB of RAM would be great.

 

https://m.bestbuy.ca/en-CA/product/asus-asus-zenbook-ux430-14-laptop-grey-intel-core-i5-7200u-256gb-ssd-8gb-ram-windows-10-ux430ua-bs51-cb/10573747

 

Here's a review: http://www.ultrabookreview.com/14425-asus-zenbook-ux430-review/

 

It checks off everything but the brightness requirement. 

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  • Author

I'm looking at the Zenbook 3.

  • 13.3"
  • 1080p 
  • i5 7200U
  • 8GB RAM
  • 256GB SSD
  • 2 USB-3 Ports
  • 12 hr Battery Life
  • 2.6 LBS

Compared to Macbook Air (at $100 higher), it's even lighter, has comparable battery life, double the storage,  better display, better processor.

 

I'm not even going to count the brightness because very few laptops excel in that regard.

 

PC Build: R5-1600.  Scythe Mugen 5.  GTX 1060.  120 GB SSD.  1 TB HDD.  FDD Mini C.  8 GB RAM (3000 MHz).  Be Quiet Pure Wings 2.  Capstone-550.  Deepcool 350 RGB.

Peripherals: Qisan Magicforce (80%) w/ Gateron Blues.  Razer Naga Chroma.  Lenovo 24" 1440p IPS.  PS4 Controller.

Audio: Focusrite (Solo, 2nd), SM57, Triton Fethead, AKG c214, Sennheiser HD598's, ATH-M50x, AKG K240, Novation Launchkey

Wishlist: MP S-87, iPad, Yamaha HS5's, more storage

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