- Dec 21, 2009
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I'm in need of a 11-12" Laptop (as ultraportable as you can get) to replace my 2008 Macbook Pro 15" that is good all around in terms of battery life, performance, comfort, etc. and is in the price range of $1300 or less (including upgrades - throwing in a SSD and more RAM) - I plan to buy it within the next month.
It will be used for light work - primarily Microsoft Office 2010/2011, no games or intense applications.
I've considered the following laptops:
Dell M101z
Asus UL20
Asus Eee PC 1201N/PN
Asus Eee PC 1215N
Asus VX6
Alienware M11x
Acer Timeline Series (all of the 11-12" models)
Macbook Air 11.6" and 13"
Toshiba T215
MSI U230
I am leaning toward the Macbook Air 11.6" simply because most of those options lack something other than the Intel GMA (it has serious issues with JPGs in Word on my Dell Mini 10v), and the Alienware is just too heavy. I'd like to avoid Atoms if possible, but my primary concern is the GPU since that limits the performance of almost all computers in this range.
Reviews say that Acer's Timeline Series is cheap (build quality is crap) and not comfortable in terms of ergonomics. Enough to make me not want to buy it.
The Dell M101z sounds like the front runner in terms of price and performance, but the AMD chipset doesn't stack up quite the same in terms of power (battery) vs. performance as the Intel chipsets.
Toshiba is the same story, since it uses the same chipset and is the same price.
Asus could do better than the ION GPU, from what I hear, and the ION isn't *that* much better than the Intel graphics. Also, the keyboards are pretty flexy, which isn't a good thing.
The Apple has solid build quality, a great GPU and CPU, but lacks a bit in terms of battery life. It's also about $500 more expensive than a comparable Windows option. I may go up to the 13" ($10 difference with same storage and RAM) because of the larger screen; need to play with them more at Best Buy or the Apple Store.
Does anyone know of any other computers in this category that I should look up? I know the price differences between the Windows and Mac computers is high, but if I get a Windows computer, I'll be replacing the HDD with a 120-160GB SSD and upgrading the RAM to 4GB. I have an OS and software, so none of that needs to be taken into consideration.
Thanks!
It will be used for light work - primarily Microsoft Office 2010/2011, no games or intense applications.
I've considered the following laptops:
Dell M101z
Asus UL20
Asus Eee PC 1201N/PN
Asus Eee PC 1215N
Asus VX6
Alienware M11x
Acer Timeline Series (all of the 11-12" models)
Macbook Air 11.6" and 13"
Toshiba T215
MSI U230
I am leaning toward the Macbook Air 11.6" simply because most of those options lack something other than the Intel GMA (it has serious issues with JPGs in Word on my Dell Mini 10v), and the Alienware is just too heavy. I'd like to avoid Atoms if possible, but my primary concern is the GPU since that limits the performance of almost all computers in this range.
Reviews say that Acer's Timeline Series is cheap (build quality is crap) and not comfortable in terms of ergonomics. Enough to make me not want to buy it.
The Dell M101z sounds like the front runner in terms of price and performance, but the AMD chipset doesn't stack up quite the same in terms of power (battery) vs. performance as the Intel chipsets.
Toshiba is the same story, since it uses the same chipset and is the same price.
Asus could do better than the ION GPU, from what I hear, and the ION isn't *that* much better than the Intel graphics. Also, the keyboards are pretty flexy, which isn't a good thing.
The Apple has solid build quality, a great GPU and CPU, but lacks a bit in terms of battery life. It's also about $500 more expensive than a comparable Windows option. I may go up to the 13" ($10 difference with same storage and RAM) because of the larger screen; need to play with them more at Best Buy or the Apple Store.
Does anyone know of any other computers in this category that I should look up? I know the price differences between the Windows and Mac computers is high, but if I get a Windows computer, I'll be replacing the HDD with a 120-160GB SSD and upgrading the RAM to 4GB. I have an OS and software, so none of that needs to be taken into consideration.
Thanks!
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