Best Power To Weight ratio laptop/ultrabook?

[InfiniteLurker]

I'm in the market for a new development (Visual Studio, SQL Server, vm's, etc.) laptop, and I'm wondering what the current best power-to-weight ratio machines are. 8GB of ram would be the minimum, and 128GB SSD would be the bare minimum as well. Cost doesn't really matter, I'm looking for sheer speed and portability.

I've been watching the Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro (8GB/256GB config) which weighs just under 3 pounds, and the new Razer Blade 2014 which is about 4.5 pounds.

I should mention that the keyboard on the new ThinkPad X1 Carbon touch is a deal breaker for me, so I won't consider that one.

What others should I bring in to the mix?

 

[paperwastage]

macbook air 11" is 2.38 pounds (and smaller), has a i5-4260U 1.4ghz

the Yoga 2 Pro you listed goes up to a i7-4500U, which is only 0.3ghz faster than the MBA (both are 2/4 Core/Thread)

(obviously screen resolution difference too)

http://ark.intel.com/compare/75030,75460

 

[PowerEngineer]

I've been watching the Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro (8GB/256GB config)

Me too. Be aware, however, that the high screen resolution causes problems for some non-scaling applications (like Adobe?), that yellows display as mustard (partially fixed by a bios upgrade?), and that wifi connections can be intermittent when signal strength is low.

 

[holden j caufield]

yoga 2 pro would have been perfect with upgradeable ram but the soldered ram made it a no go for me.

I like to keep my browsing vm separate from my work vm, then I have some dev vms and 8gb wasn't cutting it. I ended up ordering a dell e7240 12.5 FHD 1080p touch ultrabook with 2 msata slots and 2 ram slots all for under 3lbs. It cost an arm and I've yet to receive it so I'll let you know how it works out.

I've had lenovo x61t sxga+ 12.1 1440 x 1050 and I loved that res on a small laptop. Hopefullly 1080p won't be too small on a 12.5 screen.

 

[InfiniteLurker]

Has anybody had any experience with the Dell Precision M3800 Workstation?

 

[Hail The Brain Slug]

I have a pre-order in for a new Razer Blade 2014 model, and I plan to use it for Visual Studio and Unity development (Mostly in school, some out of school). If you're not looking for something very soon I can give you my impressions after I receive it (Current ETA according to Razer is shipment on May 23rd).

I ordered a 128 GB model and already have a 512GB M550 M.2 SSD I'm going to swap into it. I wish there was a 16GB option for memory, but I have a desktop that is 110% capable so I was willing to sacrifice that in a laptop. The rest of the machine looks solid and awesome. So far, no overheating has been reported on notebookreview despite the higher TDP graphics card. The laptop looks like it's going to be amazing.

Edit: I'll add that I've been looking for the perfect laptop to balance speed, gaming power, and quality for my portable device. I have a Surface Pro 2 (128GB/4GB RAM model) and it's not cutting it for gaming nor unity development. The SSD is relatively slow and it throttles under any kind of load (Which makes me angry, grr!)

 

[Fox5]

I'm in the market for a new development (Visual Studio, SQL Server, vm's, etc.) laptop, and I'm wondering what the current best power-to-weight ratio machines are. 8GB of ram would be the minimum, and 128GB SSD would be the bare minimum as well. Cost doesn't really matter, I'm looking for sheer speed and portability.

I've been watching the Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro (8GB/256GB config) which weighs just under 3 pounds, and the new Razer Blade 2014 which is about 4.5 pounds.

I should mention that the keyboard on the new ThinkPad X1 Carbon touch is a deal breaker for me, so I won't consider that one.

What others should I bring in to the mix?

Are you looking for GPU power as well, or just cpu power?

The Dell XPS 15 is similar to the Razer Blade 2014.
So is the Macbook Pro 15".

Then there's the Toshiba Kirabook and the Asus Zenbook Prime.

The Dell Precision M3800 is basically the same thing as the Dell XPS 15.

 

[InfiniteLurker]

GPU power isn't specifically required for me, but it seems that to get the most horsepower for the rest of the machine, it usually ends up being required. Be it a gaming machine or a workstation for high-end graphics work.

Thanks for noting the XPS 15, Toshiba and Asus items - I'll take a look at them too.

 

[Hail The Brain Slug]

GPU power isn't specifically required for me, but it seems that to get the most horsepower for the rest of the machine, it usually ends up being required. Be it a gaming machine or a workstation for high-end graphics work.

Thanks for noting the XPS 15, Toshiba and Asus items - I'll take a look at them too.

Part of my requirements after looking at a number of Notebookcheck reviews was no throttling under their test conditions (100% prime95 and 100% furmark load, simultaneously). Almost every single laptop out there that isn't over 1.5 inches thick throttles........ except....

The Razer Blade. Of course, I haven't looked at the review of every model laptop, nor does Notebookcheck have every model reviewed (But they have a whole lot).

Looking at their review of the XPS15 it throttles and actually hits 64 C on the exterior of the casing, then repeatedly shuts down. Of course that's not normal usage but I still don't like it.

 

[InfiniteLurker]

I heard the Microsoft stores are now carrying the Razer Blade 2014 so I stopped in today to get my hands on it and see how the keyboard feels. I then ran to the Best Buy in the same mall to try out the Yoga Pro 2 keyboard. I ended up going back to the Microsoft store and getting the Razer Blade.

Installing all my various development tools on it now, and it is screaming fast.

 

[Imaginer]

I have a Surface Pro 2 (128GB/4GB RAM model) and it's not cutting it for gaming nor unity development. The SSD is relatively slow and it throttles under any kind of load (Which makes me angry, grr!)

I can see the 4GB limiting you greatly, but have you tried setting the power options for High Performance or Balanced Performance? I have not had the SSD throttle on me in access speed that I noticed with my Pro 2.

 

[Hail The Brain Slug]

I can see the 4GB limiting you greatly, but have you tried setting the power options for High Performance or Balanced Performance? I have not had the SSD throttle on me in access speed that I noticed with my Pro 2.

Whoops, I did not mean the SSD throttles. Those were two separate thoughts. The SSD is slow and the processor throttles under any notable loads.

 

[Imaginer]

Whoops, I did not mean the SSD throttles. Those were two separate thoughts. The SSD is slow and the processor throttles under any notable loads.

Some playing around between Task Manager and Power options to Balance or High Performance and setting priority a bit above normal for the major programs that uses the CPU may help out. I haven't had to do this, because usually things respond in time for me to access.

AutoCAD will give some delay upon loading or executing some processing commands. I noticed that the only time I have some delays elsewhere is when I initially launch Painter X3. 3dsmax, definitely, but workable. All of which, I did ran into memory limitations of the 4GB configurations - which is why I immediately jumped on the 8GB Pro 2.

But for switching back and forth between all of the desktop programs opened and Modern areas (snapping too) - balanced seems to be my best bet, if I really want to sip power while just lightly navigating/reading, I would switch to a Power Saver with some changes in power profiles. These things may not be as "automatic" and can limit performance in favor of less energy usage - but they are all there - much like driving a manual at times.

Of course, there are reasons for very heavy hitter files that I keep a powerful desktop PC around (besides games too).