A challenge to all Apple-haters! (my sis needs a ~13" laptop for uni)

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molo9000

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Hi folks,

my (half)sister wants a laptop for christmas because she will be going to university early next year but her dad set her a price limit of about $700.

Requirements:
13"-15" screen (I think 13" is preferred)
Long battery life (5hours+)
Not too heavy (she's skinny)
More performance than a netbook (no slow ultra low voltage stuff)
No gaming required
Optical drive (it will most likely be her only computer)

I'd just tell her to buy a 13" MacBook or 13" MacBook Pro (like I have), but her budget doesn't allow that.
Now a lot of people (the kind I'd label "Apple-haters") keep telling me that I could have gotten a laptop similar to a MacBook Pro for a lot less money.
If you are one of those, please step forward!

Would be very grateful for some help.
 

IsabellaWinTeam

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Hi there,

She might also be interested in the Asus UL80Vt-A1. It has a 14" screen and is ultra-portable. It even has switchable graphics and is energy efficient. It is within her budget at $644.

What do you think?

Cheers,
Isabella
MSFT Windows Outreach Team
 

molo9000

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Thx for the input so far.



Have already looked at that but it doesn't have an optical drive and she might need one since it's most likely going to be her only computer.




Definetly a good pick. Portability and battery life is excellent, but I'm not sure if a 1.3ghz core2duo is fast enough.
This machine is certainly good enough for H.264 video and youtube HD and even some light gaming, but it still sounds a bit underpowered...
Might be good enough for her though. I think she's far from being a power user.
I'll recommend it to her anyway.

btw: Microsoft "reaching out" like that to potential buyers is an interesting marketing tool and I definitely appreciate the effort, but it seems kind of desperate.
 

IsabellaWinTeam

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Hi there,

What kind of activities will your sister mainly be using her laptop for? That processor should be enough for most purposes.

Also, as an arm of the MSFT Windows Outreach Team I strive to provide useful recommendations to users like yourself :). Let me know what I can do to help!

Cheers,
Isabella
MSFT Windows Outreach Team
 
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