| Mandarinez United States. June 13 2012 07:13. Posts 41 | Profile Blog # |
I'm looking for an Ultraportable laptop to take to class for college to supplement my gaming desktop. I'm not really concerned with specs (maybe League of Legends on low?), but build quality and feel is really important to me. Things like keyboard and touchpad quality, fan noise, and durability are at a premium.
I feel kind of defaulted into getting a Macbook Air (that touchpad...) but I want to explore my options. The most compelling PC alternative I've found is the upcoming Zenbook Prime. However, I've heard concerns about the quality of their touchpad. I've heard that new Zenbooks have the same touchpad as the prime, so if anyone has experience with that, some input would be amazing!
Are there any other ultrabooks you guys would recommend? Or would sticking with the Air be my best bet. |
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| MannerBro United States. June 13 2012 09:04. Posts 17 | Profile # |
| I right now have an alien ware desktop and a gateway FX laptop both for gaming . But when it comes to work computers you really should go with mac even though i am a PC at heart mac is your best option here |
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| Malhan Spain. June 13 2012 09:18. Posts 8 | Profile # |
Have you checked Asus ultrabooks? Look them up on their website, they have different setups depending on how much you are willing to spend on it.
I don't now if the models with the Intel 3000 graphics are going to be able to run LoL in low, but definately the one with the Intel 4000 should be able to.Last edit: 2012-06-13 09:19:08 |
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| iTzSnypah United States. June 13 2012 09:38. Posts 1222 | Profile Blog # |
On June 13 2012 09:18 Malhan wrote:
Have you checked Asus ultrabooks? Look them up on their website, they have different setups depending on how much you are willing to spend on it.
I don't now if the models with the Intel 3000 graphics are going to be able to run LoL in low, but definately the one with the Intel 4000 should be able to.
Intel's HD3000 graphics is the bare minimum to play sc2 on low. HD4000 graphics has twice the amount of ROP (raster operating processors) as HD3000 which equates to ~50% more performance. Also HD4000 graphics is only offered on the new Ivy Bridge Processors, which are slightly more powerful than their Sandy Bridge counterparts while using less energy.
for reference:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/5865/laptop-graphics-face-off-diablo-iii-performance/3
at 1366x768 Intel HD3000 gets 22.2FPS while HD4000 gets 34.5. |
| | Team Liquid needs more Terrans. |
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| jacosajh June 13 2012 10:46. Posts 2522 | Profile Blog # |
If you are concerned about build quality, just go with a Mac.
I've heard good things about other ultrabooks, but really what do you expect?
Apple has had so much more experience in this arena.
AFAIK, most are priced reasonably within the MBA anyways. |
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| Pwnographics New Zealand. June 13 2012 11:57. Posts 1048 | Profile # |
The new Macbook air sounds good  |
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 Womwomwom June 13 2012 12:40. Posts 5520 | Profile Blog # |
Zenbook Prime still has a god awful keyboard. The only real major difference is the 1080P screen, which may be good/bad in a 13" laptop.
The trackpad is fine if you treat it as simply a mouse. It is when you need to use complex multi-touch shortcuts that gets people angry with non-Mac laptops. The reason why Apple's trackpads don't suck balls is because their whole OS is centered about trackpad interaction; Windows 7 doesn't have any built in need for a trackpad so no one gives a shit about making the experience better.
I'm not sure about Windows 8 since I have no idea how that is going to work with anything but touchscreen + finger. Using a mouse or trackpad seems counter-intuitive and really similar to the bullshit Rainmeter crap people install.
Anyway, the build quality of all premium priced ultrabooks are all more than acceptable. The difference is that only the Macbook Air offers a complete package with everything you would want in an ultraportable device. Last edit: 2012-06-13 14:44:30 |
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| Ben... Canada. June 13 2012 17:01. Posts 1706 | Profile # |
I've heard bad things about the Zenbooks from a couple different tech sites, particularly with regards to the keyboard. One claim I read was that the keys were quite unresponsive, sometimes to the point of not really working at all (IE you hit the shift key to capitalize something and it doesn't register or if you hit space consecutive times it might only register once).
If you are going to go for that price range, might as well get a MacBook Air, it is the best laptop out of all of that type. With regards to the touchpad, I have a MacBook Pro with that same touchpad, and it is absolutely amazing to use. I am almost at the point where I prefer it to regular mice when it comes to web browsing and basic usage (obviously it is inferior for games). I noticed you had concerns about the keyboard on a potential laptop and again I feel the Mac does it the best. I've given several of the Ultrabooks a try and I don't feel that the keyboards on them are comparable to to the Mac keyboard. There's a certain responsiveness and snappiness that the Mac keyboard has that none of the Ultrabooks have been able to emulate (I still feel that Apple has been the only company to successfully pull off the chiclet style keyboard). |
| | "Cliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiide" -Tastosis |
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| Mandarinez United States. June 13 2012 18:25. Posts 41 | Profile Blog # |
| For those advocating for the MacBook Air, do you think the 11 inch or the 13.3 inch would be better suited for me? |
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| Womwomwom June 13 2012 21:17. Posts 5520 | Profile Blog # |
11" ultrabooks, IMHO, look/feel like those toy laptops. I personally think the best laptop size is 13"-15". Those sizes are large enough to not feel cramped but not too large/heavy to be very difficult to carry around. The weight between 11" and 13" ultrabooks should be close to non-existent since they're all featherweights anyway.
In the case of the Macbook Air, you also get a resolution upgrade to 1440x900 which is a very usable resolution at 13". The ratio is also 16:10, which is very nice for web browsing and productivity. Last edit: 2012-06-13 21:22:57 |
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| HomeWorld Romania. June 14 2012 02:28. Posts 564 | Profile # |
On June 13 2012 07:13 Mandarinez wrote:
I'm looking for an Ultraportable laptop to take to class for college to supplement my gaming desktop. I'm not really concerned with specs (maybe League of Legends on low?), but build quality and feel is really important to me. Things like keyboard and touchpad quality, fan noise, and durability are at a premium.
I feel kind of defaulted into getting a Macbook Air (that touchpad...) but I want to explore my options. The most compelling PC alternative I've found is the upcoming Zenbook Prime. However, I've heard concerns about the quality of their touchpad. I've heard that new Zenbooks have the same touchpad as the prime, so if anyone has experience with that, some input would be amazing!
Are there any other ultrabooks you guys would recommend? Or would sticking with the Air be my best bet.
Seems that you already decided yourself, if you can afford to buy a macbook (or your parents), go do it, but imo it costs way too much for its specs and its "legendary" build quality.
Btw , ultrabook is a term coined and used by Intel, Macbook Air is not an ultrabook tho it may look like one (speaking of size bla bla bla)
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| Alryk United States. June 14 2012 03:36. Posts 2237 | Profile Blog # |
I think the zenbook prime is supposed to be good, like others have said. I highly doubt the prime will have nonresponsive keys, that sounds a little exaggerated to me, but the keyboard might be mushy.
Specs wise, the zenbook prime will still probably outdo the macbook. 1080P display, and probably a better processor/those kinds of specs. Mac will definitely have better build quality, although a lot of the premium ultrabooks are very well built, it might be hard to actually notice a difference. And the zenbook's display is an IPS display, iirc the air is not. Keep that in mind. |
| | Team Liquid, LG-IM, Azubu.ViOlet! |
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| Suende United States. June 14 2012 05:28. Posts 43 | Profile # |
| I personally just got the HP folio have NO problems with it, its fantastic, love the keyboard and mousepad work great. |
| | EG.HuK, EG.DeMusliM, EG.IdrA, Liquid.HerO |
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| gosuzombie Canada. June 14 2012 06:32. Posts 27 | Profile # |
just as a heads up buying select sony VAIO laptops nets you a free VITA or PS3, so why not?
i find macbooks to be overpriced, and i dont think LoL runs on macs?
i think that going with 13 is better than the 11 because my friend has the 11" alienware, and the screen is tiny
the zen looks really pretty, but it looks kinda flimsy
you can always support TEAMLIQUID and buy the razer blade lol Last edit: 2012-06-14 06:32:33 |
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| Filter Canada. June 14 2012 06:55. Posts 590 | Profile Blog # |
| If you do go the macbook route, check out the 13.3 macbook and compare it to the air. It'll give you a bigger hard drive at the cost of solid state, but the screen is glass and a lot more durable than the airs screen. It's still small and fairly light, not quite an ultrabook but still a great laptop for what you want. |
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| lac29 United States. June 14 2012 07:25. Posts 1407 | Profile Blog # |
You guys ... Zenbook Prime, the newer one, is not the same as Zenbook.
I plan on getting the ASUS n56vm which is also coming out soon. |
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 kafkaesque Germany. June 17 2012 00:20. Posts 2000 | Profile Blog # | |
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