List of New Haswell Laptops

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  p1 ama on 02/08/2013 - 19:54

  +1

  Surprisingly Apple's 13" MBA actually looks reasonably well priced. $1249 ($1199 for Education) is actually pretty darn decent for what you get.

  Windows notebooks had a high around a year ago, with excellent notebooks in all categories, Zenbook Prime, Samsung Series 9 for the ultraportable market and the ASUS N56V amongst others for the 15" mainstream market. Great high resolution screen (FHD), ultrabooks that came with proper SSDs. Then something happenned and all of a sudden Windows notebooks became rubbish again, 1366 x 768 everywhere, 500GB HDDs with 32GB Cache, like what idiots make these decisions.

  Personally, I wouldn't buy a computer with a HDD unless I could replace it myself with an SSD (can't with most ultraportables that come with a HDD) and also, I would not settle for a 1366 x 768 screen. Just when I thought Windows notebooks were getting decent, it's become a race to the bottom again.

  It's a shame when I'm considering buying a MacBook and running Windows on it. (Yes, I like Windows and I don't like OSX, I need Windows for certain things…etc. don't mean to start arguments on Windows vs. OSX).

  • 

    Riczter on 02/08/2013 - 20:26

    Yeah it's like they purposely don't make notebooks that tick all the boxes :(

    • 

      p1 ama on 02/08/2013 - 21:04

      +1

      The sad thing is, they were doing well once upon a time, then they got carried away with meaningless gimmicks like touch screens, like who actually uses a touch screen on a notebook? It looks silly, you'll get sore arms and there's just no use.

• 

  Orte on 02/08/2013 - 21:05

  I've recently been looking at semi-high-end/gaming laptops and I think Clevo/Horize/Metabox has the edge in terms of bang for buck. For example, the W230ST has crazy specs for a 13" laptop, and the price is lower than the Alienware (for similar specs but with better GPU it's $1,468, and you can go up/down according to requirement).

  MSI GE60 prices also look good for the specs (from $1,449 though I haven't looked at other places), plus they come with 2 yr pick-up warranty (or 1 yr international warranty). Just have to be careful you're looking at the Haswell ones; StaticIce seems to show only Ivy Bridge ones.

• 

  arsics on 03/08/2013 - 15:58

  -1

  I agree that the laptops are crippled without logic, especially the advanced business users are left out. As a programmer I want a powerful laptop WITHOUT a 3GB graphic and with a SSD by default. And I definitely do not care for a touchscreen. Haswell is so promising for laptop configurations I just hope that somebody will have the inteligence to give us what we need:
  - a strong i5/i7
  - 240+GB SSD
  - 12+GB of RAM
  - integrated graphic (hopefully Iris)
  - at least 15.6" (ideally a 17.3) no-glare FullHD screen

  Right now all we have are tiny ultrabooks or gamer laptops, hope this changes.

  • 

    p1 ama on 03/08/2013 - 19:32

    +1

    I have a good recommendation for you, the ASUS N56V!

    Btw, if you want a 17.3" screen, you're really wanting a desktop.

    • 

      arsics on 03/08/2013 - 20:43

      Thanks for the recommendation, it's a nice one but it still isn't the perfect business desktop replacement: no SSD option, has dedicated graphic (unnecessary power consumption and price increase for a business user). The screen size is OK, a bigger screen is just my thing, I don't carry around my laptop too often.

      This is not just my preference, many software companies today (at least where I'm from) want to switch to laptop usage for many reasons - employee mobility, lower power bill, no problem with power outages and UPS needs. The manufacturers don't seem to recognize that market.

      A professional rarely needs 2TB drive, he needs a fast machine even with an encrypted drive.
      A professional does not need a 2+GB dedicated graphic.

      For the common user there are many cheap laptop options, and they will eventually switch to tablets. Gamers like desktops (customization, power/price ratio) but they do have nice offers. I believe that business users, especially power users are being left out.

• 

  Riczter on 03/08/2013 - 16:11

  I think (wishful thinking??) as SSDs become cheaper we will see more 240 and 480 SSDs in ultrabooks with HDDs hopefully slowly start phasing out.. When I got my first SSD in a laptop I was amazed and I'll never go back. It's a shame the cost of RAM has spiked so much, coz 8GB ram chips were quite cheap a little while ago, meaning getting 12-16gb ram in a laptop was no problem. Hopefully it's just a waiting game until prices settle again.

  I think PC manufacturers are slowly catching on that the educated consumer demands full HD screens now and we are starting to see them more common in the high end laptops, but they are still taking advantage of the less savvy consumers with 5400RPM hard drives and 1024 x 768 screens and celery CPUs :(

  One thing I mentioned in another post that I love is they promote the graphics performance of the AMD Fusion integrated graphics, then stick in a low end dedicated graphics like a HD 7670 AS WELL (like what's the point? It's a waste of silicon and money) and market it as a gaming laptop even though the dedicated is hardly stronger than the integrated! But the fancy "DUAL AMD GRAPHICS" Sticker looks good on the laptop and makes the consumer think he's getting some kind of advanced crossfire solution. Grr.

  Shits me off almost as much as $50 HDMI cables. /rant

  • 

    p1 ama on 03/08/2013 - 19:34

    +1

    It happens cause people don't know what they want. Many people who buy ultrabooks and such buy them to use as their primary computer, not as a supplement to their desktop PC, which is what us more saavy users want. Thus, they get annoyed when they realise they can't store their 1TB worth of files on their ultrabook.

    With me, 128GB SSD is all I need in my notebook, all files are stored at home on my desktop (currently in the process of building a home server).

• 

  wbeer on 03/08/2013 - 22:25

  +3

  i5/i7
  HD 5000/5100 Graphics
  8GB RAM+
  SSD
  13"-14"-15" FHD Screen.
  Light/Thin,Good build quality

  when? :(

  • 

    Riczter on 03/08/2013 - 22:42

    That's pretty much exactly what I am waiting for too :/

• 

  Riczter on 07/08/2013 - 16:51

  +1

  Venom Blackbook Zero looks pretty solid :) http://www.pcauthority.com.au/Review/352624,hands-on-preview…

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  jadenathanau on 30/08/2013 - 20:42

  What about the Rugged laptops and getac V100 - for more information visit - http://www.roamingtech.com.au/