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looking for quiet, lightweight, reasonably fast machine

B

bingunginter

Junior Member
Is there any laptop that has core i5 or similar performance that is quiet and lightweight (max 3.5 lb) ? my budget is $1000max.

I bought toshiba r835-p56x. This laptop is great except it sounds like blow dryer, too bad I end up returning it. Lenovo x220 seems good but a lot of people on the forum complain about the fan noise problem.

I will be running the laptop 24x7 so its good to have removable battery.
My usage will be development(visual studio), skype video, 1080p movie watching, and browsing. No games.

another choice will be the 2011 mac mini, the spec is good. Since I already have ssd drive and 8gb ram right now, I can opt to buy the cheapest mac mini. The only problem is I'm not sure if I can install Windows Only on fresh empty hdd from usb drive without using boot camp. I don't care about mac os and don't want to use it.
 
it doesn't have too but i've looked and can't find pc that as small, fast and quiet like mac mini.
If i build it myself, I'll end up paying similar price.
 
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You could run Boot Camp and then once the Windows installer launches, just format the entire drive.
 
bingunginter said:
ic so mac will be able to boot windows without any mac os at all ?
Click to expand...

You only need to run bootcamp so that it can partition the drive and to flip some switches in the EFI I think. Once you run that first time, you don't need it to boot Windows.
 
ok, so if the hdd is fresh empty. I can't run the boot camp, i have to install osx first in order to do so. I would prefer to avoid it if i can. Is mac bios/efi able to boot from windows 7 installation usb drive.
 
No you see it will already have OSx on it, you will just boot up run bootcamp (which is an apple tool) it will walk you through the steps of installing windows from either an ISO on your computer you have downloaded or a USB flash drive or a DVD. once you have windows up just open it up and format the drive using windows.
 
yes I understand that but I'm talking about if I have newly empty hdd that has nothing on it.

On the pc its easy, I just go to bios and choose boot from usb. I'm not sure I can do the same way with mac.
 
Why would you have a brand new HDD? The current newest Mac mini has space for two HDD's if you wanted to ADD a second one.
 
ok regardless of why would i want a brand new hdd,

is it possible to install windows 7 on it without boot camp from usb flash drives?
 
bingunginter said:
ok regardless of why would i want a brand new hdd,

is it possible to install windows 7 on it without boot camp from usb flash drives?
Click to expand...

Here is what I would suggest doing;

A: Boot Mini
B: Run Boot Camp Assistant (Applications>Utilities)
C: Tell it you want to make a bootable USB drive from an ISO
D: Partition the drive (for giggles)
E: It will do its thing and then tell you to restart, shut down instead
F: Crack that sucker open and swap the drives
G: Turn it back on, with your thumbdrive plugged in, and hold ALT
H: Select the thumbdrive and install
 
bingunginter said:
Is there any laptop that has core i5 or similar performance that is quiet and lightweight (max 3.5 lb) ? my budget is $1000max.


another choice will be the 2011 mac mini, the spec is good
Click to expand...

You realize a mac mini is gonig to be a lot more than 3.5 lb by the time you add a monitor, mouse, keyboard to actually use it for something?

IMO waste of money to buy a mac if you aren't going to at least run Mac OSX. I'd be looking at 14" laptops.
 
I would prefer laptop actually if I can find one that suite me, please refer to my original post, I've stated my requirement and needs. Any recommendation? the new macbook air seems good but the price a bit too high.
 
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bingunginter said:
I would prefer laptop actually if I can find one that suite me, please refer to my original post, I've stated my requirement and needs. Any recommendation? the new macbook air seems good but the price a bit too high.
Click to expand...

You never stated your needs, why do you need this so small? Are you going to be transporting it regularly? Do you need it to fit someplace in particular? Are you just being mental and wanting either a laptop for a Mac mini? (no offence just trying to figure out WHY you want what you want)
 
The x220 is a great idea. I have the tablet version, and the fan only REALLY kicks in when you have the system set to high power and turbo boost enabled. But the x220 will be pushing your $1,000 max if you opt for any upgrades. (ie: faster processor, webcam, bluetooth, wimax, 3g radio, etc.)

2d
 
bingunginter said:
yes small will be easier to transport, easier to store, save space.
Click to expand...

I'm still confused by the requirements you have a listed. A mac mini + LCD monitor is going to be a lot heavier than a 5lb laptop, for example, but you list your limit as 3.5lbs. Are you just willing to break your listed limit for a mac mini because you want one so badly, or is the 3.5lb requirement incorrect?

For example, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834246129

5.73 lbs. Still lighter than mac mini + keyboard + monitor + mouse.
 
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