Looking for laptop recommendation (ASUS UL30A-X5?)

[shikhan]

Hi guys,
I'm looking to get a laptop for my wife. After taking her around to some stores, here are the requirements:

Price: 400-800
Battery: 6+ hours
Screen: At least 12-13"
Weight: <4lbs

Uses: Internet, Microsoft Office, Occasional videos

DVD drive not necessary.

She wants to use this as her primary work laptop (translations) and have the portability to work in cafes and the like. It doesn't need to be a powerhouse, but needs to get the job done.

After looking around, I'm really leaning towards the ASUS UL30A-X5. Any other thoughts or suggestions?

 

[Brainonska511]

It certainly looks like a solid choice, but from the Anandtech reviews of the recent Asus laptops, the screens were rated fairly poor. Though, they were rated a good buy overall.

You could look at one of the Lenovo IdeaPad notebooks, particularly the U series.

 

[Plester]

Acer Timeline AS3810 series are excellent. Bought my wife one a few months ago - came with a C2D SU9400, 4gb DDR3, and a 80gb Gen 1 X25-M for $680 after Bing Cashback. Build quality is excellent - a notch above Asus from what I have read. Super light, good LED backlit screen, and while not 10+ hours of battery, it can do close to 8 hours under the same usage scheme as the Asus uses when it gets the big numbers...A really nice laptop for not much money.

 

[shikhan]

Plester, where did you get your AS3810? The amazon version of it does not include the X25-M...

Did you find any good sites with complete reviews on it? I'm having trouble finding more than quick summaries on the Acer AS3810

 

[ElFenix]

Acer Timeline AS3810 series are excellent. Bought my wife one a few months ago - came with a C2D SU9400, 4gb DDR3, and a 80gb Gen 1 X25-M for $680 after Bing Cashback. Build quality is excellent - a notch above Asus from what I have read. Super light, good LED backlit screen, and while not 10+ hours of battery, it can do close to 8 hours under the same usage scheme as the Asus uses when it gets the big numbers...A really nice laptop for not much money.

can that watch hulu HD or netflix streaming ok? how about h.264 video?

<--- has no clue about this stuff anymore

<--- has old D600 notebook that can't run hulu all that well

 

[Plester]

Plester, where did you get your AS3810? The amazon version of it does not include the X25-M...

Did you find any good sites with complete reviews on it? I'm having trouble finding more than quick summaries on the Acer AS3810

got it from tigerdirect, i am assuming that the x25-m version was a pretty limited run though.

here is a pretty extensive thread on the timeline series:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=391646

and a review here:

http://techreport.com/articles.x/17435

the one complaint the reviewer had was keyboard flex and mushy keys, but ours has no flex and my wife is a very fast touch typist and she loves the keys.

as far as flash performance, from my limited testing it does fine with 720p hulu content.

Since the x25-m drive is a Gen 1, it doesn't support TRIM, so depending on your usage, it is recommended that once or twice a year they be imaged and secure wiped and the image restored - which I just did since the drive was slowing down and now it is wicked fast again.

It reminds me alot of the little Sony SZ or TZ series of 13.3" laptops that cost a few grand last I checked. I really can't say enough good things about this little sucker!