Best Ultrabook? is now a good time to get them?

[Rich'[ard]]

hellooo there, i've tried searching for 'ultrabooks' but nothing came up so hoping this hasn't already been asked lol.

Uni holidays are finishing soon and i'm looking to upgrade my HP Mini to a solid ultrabook.
i've found the 10.1" screen a bit too small, and the netbook doesn't have enough grunt.
i'm looking at a 13" ultrabook with solid battery life. A backlit keyboard would be a nice bonus as well
i've looked up the following:
Asus UX31
HP Folio
Toshiba Z830
Acer Aspire S3
Samsung Series 9 (bit too expensive for me)

are there any others that i haven't seen/heard about?
so far i'm going with the Asus UX31, cos it just looks sexy, and has a 1600x900 screen res. the battery life is ok...but it looks a lot sturdier and refined than the Toshiba and Acer IMO. i recently saw the HP Folio on display and it looks more like a slim notebook than an ultrabook. it has a claimed 9 hr battery life, but i'm still trying to find a review that can give me some real world figures.

Is now the right time to buy one though?
i read an article and it highlighted a few reasons why we should wait; such as Windows 8, ultrabooks moving to Ivy Bridge CPUs, and pricing expected to drop by the end of the year.

i'm not sure what Windows 8 has to do with it, because you can upgrade whenever. i'm thinking that prices won't be dropping that much, and there's no real point waiting for the next hardware to come because there's always something newer...but moving to Ivy Bridge will bring more cpu and graphics performance + battery life yeah? any ideas on when the new CPUs will be implemented? i do plan/hope to keep the ultrabook for at least a few years.

thanks guys!

 

[Mjolnir]

Delete your other thread if you can please.. In Thread Tools.. (Not sure if you can though ). You've posted twice ^^.

Out of the list you've picked; I'd pick the Asus Zenbook for sure. I actually run a 11.6 inch Macbook Air. Before 'ultrabooks' started rolling out I bought this.. I love it.

I believe; however, there are some new ones rolling out soon. At least there were several at the CES conference being shown off.. Even Dell is getting into the game..|

But at this point; gogo Zenbook

 

[Rich'[ard]]

hey man thanks for the quick reply. yeah there's nothing in the scroll down list, but i've messaged a Mod, hopefully it'll go away soon woops

i've read the keyboard isn't that great. i've had a go at it myself in the shops, and it feels kind of soft but i can put up with that.
i like it over the others mainly because of the brushed aluminium shell and the screen.
and do all ultrabooks have all the hardware concealed, including the battery?

 

[Mjolnir]

I believe so. You'd have to research otherwise.. But that's the idea of it.. To remain thin they need to do that. :\. I dread the day my battery goes out or gets so weak it can barely hold a 2 hour session.. XD

 

[Neuromancer]

What is an ultra book? Judging by this thread its a mac?

Oh.. googled and its an Intel trademark.. Still no idea what it means. Doesn't mean it s not a mac either since they are intel.

I would suggest going with what you like. Or whatever is on sale. you can get some kick *** laptops for about $450. i5 Sandybridge with HD3000 Gfx. dunno personally at those prices I almost consider gettign a laptop. Not that desperate though.

 

[Mjolnir]

Neuro; an Ultrabook is basically a ultra thin notebook. But generally with enough power in it to have the same type of speed a larger notebook contains (bar any discrete graphics cards). But they also come with SSD's so the general experience is faster.

The first 'unclassified' ultra book was the macbook air. Though it was never classed as one. (I believe; correct me if I'm wrong please).

But ultra books as they are now are window 7 machines with SSD's in them running a Sandy Bridge proc with intel HD 3000 onboard graphics in small/thin form factors. With sizes ranging from 11-14 inch.

 

[snowbrd]

A ultrabook is defined as being less then a inch thick, over 6 hours of battery life, and basically stuff like that. Its intel's version of the everyman's macbook air,

 

[Fureh]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834127584

 

[Rich'[ard]]

hey Neuro, yeah there are some nice laptops for around that price but here you can only find the bulky as 15" laptops for that kind of price. i just can't imagine myself carrying one of those around Uni, and i'm guessing those laptops don't have good battery life either.

Mjolnir, just remembered you're from Australia as well!
i've been keeping an eye on the deals at JB Hifi and i can get the Zenbook around $1.2k. i'm not in a rush or anything, so i might wait either until they're a bit cheaper or wait for the new CPUs are out and see how they perform =).
one of the things i am fearing is like you said; i don't know what i'm going to do with the battery in a few years time when the battery goes bad. it'd seem pretty expensive to replace...
i have considered other options like a proper thin notebook. the Asus U36JC has pretty nice battery life, pretty thin shell...but it just looks dull compared to the 13" Zenbook .
the zenbook is just too damn sexy lol

 

[SteveLord]

Waiting on HP Envy Spectre so I can buy/deploy to staff. Zenbook looks great except no backlit keyboard is a dealbreaker for me.

Have been eyeballing the ultrabook market since Intel first announced it and they started pouring out. /end hipster rant.

 

[fcomstoc]

I know that it is pretty high priced but have you considered the MacBook Air. (2nd Gen intel, Backlit kbd, long lasting battery, and multi-touch trackpad. I recently bought a MacBook Pro as my portable school computer and it is the best laptop I have ever had.

 

[Mjolnir]

The air is nice. But the battery just isn't as good as the other ultra books out there. The screen and performance are great though. The multi touch pad is fun when you get used to it.

But for the price.. it's a bit much. I love my air. But if you're in no rush why not wait another couple months. Maybe ivy bridge books will start rolling out with their better IGP for light gaming lol.

 

[fcomstoc]

Yeah I guess I would agree, Last summer when I was debating what notebook to get I was deciding between the MacBook Pro (13) and the Air. I decided on the Pro because of the power, screen size and battery life. I am sure that there are good windows-based products but after the bad luck I had with the ones I bought I just decided enough is enough and bought a mac. I am not one of those anti-windows people though. My gaming rig is windows and I am happy with that. I do think that Mac does make a very nice laptop.

 

[hafa]

I'll wait for the release of the Lenovo Yoga and see how they spec out and how they fare in the reviews.

 

[Neuromancer]

Ahh.

Thanks for the info.

Air definitely meets your requirements then. ASUS makes the Zenbook which appears to be about hte same. SandyB processor 5+ hour battery life and 720P screens.

 

[Rich'[ard]]

Haha, fcomstoc, i dont really have a reason but i'm not an apple person . it looks good and probably performs better than most ultrabooks but apple just isn't for me lol.
i heard about the hp envy line. Are they meant to be ultrabooks as well?
after watching some unboxings and whatnot on yotube i think i'm tending towards the hp folio. it's a bit thicker than others but i can get a pair of beats solo headphones with iy at the moment =D

Hafa, havent heard of the lenovo yoga. will look it up on my next break at work

 

[fcomstoc]

I have had the worst luck with HP, I found their products to be unreliable and inferior in every way. I have owned 3 of them including 2 laptops. They all broke within a year of getting them and for most of the time I had them they suffered serious issues. Lenovo would be my recommendation, I have had great luck with their products. If I hadn't gotten a Mac that was what I was going to get.

 

[Mario1]

I have had the worst luck with HP, I found their products to be unreliable and inferior in every way. I have owned 3 of them including 2 laptops. They all broke within a year of getting them and for most of the time I had them they suffered serious issues. Lenovo would be my recommendation, I have had great luck with their products. If I hadn't gotten a Mac that was what I was going to get.

I've owned a HP 5something laptop since early 2005 and its been running fine so far.

 

[Rich'[ard]]

Just youtubed some vids on the lenovo yoga. that thing is pretty sleek. Did lenovo buy out IBM? i know they build business laptops which all seemed pretty basic and non flashy. since when did they come out with fashionable products? or is the yoga the start of it

 

[fcomstoc]

Just youtubed some vids on the lenovo yoga. that thing is pretty sleek. Did lenovo buy out IBM? i know they build business laptops which all seemed pretty basic and non flashy. since when did they come out with fashionable products? or is the yoga the start of it

I have been wondering the same thing for some time. I have always loved IBM's business laptops (the design, specs, etc). When lenovo started selling them I was worried that they would stop that line and was very happy when they didn't. I am still not sure who owns who but they do make some great products.
I bought a Lenovo S10-3T convertible tablet a couple years ago and was fairly happy with it. Its a little low on power (CPU/Video Card) but it has a 10 hour battery life and the multi-touch tablet is great. I still use it occasionally around the house or as a second laptop.