Looking for Ultrabook recommendation ($1250/256GB SSD)

[brettjrob]

My father needs to purchase a new laptop ASAP and I haven't been following them for quite some time. Some recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Criteria:

- Price $1250 preferable, but could possibly stretch $1400.
- 256 GB SSD preferred. However, other included storage options might be OK as long as they are swappable and not soldered (after all, SSDs are cheap now). Soldered storage is a dealbreaker though unless it's >=256 GB SSD.
- 8 GB RAM, preferably not soldered.
- Minimum 13.3", though 14.1" is ideal.
- IPS preferred. At least 1080p.

So far I've come across the Yoga 2 Pro and ASUS UX301LA, though both have surprisingly mixed user reviews on Amazon/NewEgg. Am I missing anything else?

Seems from other threads I've browsed that rMBP is going to come up a lot. My concerns with that: he will be running Windows 8, so battery life will suffer, and I'm unsure of how well Windows handles scaling at that resolution. Further, he really prefers larger than 13.3" if possible, which only leaves 15.4" -- those are well above his price range even refurbed, as far as I can tell. (Can you use a student discount on refurb models? Might be able to stretch it if so).

Anyway, some non-rMBP options with quality screens and as many upgradeable components as possible would be ideal!

 

[jchu14]

I've had good luck with Dell Latitude ultrabooks.

From some quick googling, the Latitude E7440 fits your requirement quite nicely.

PROS:
* 14.0"
* Takes mSata or regular 7mm sata drives. I couldn't figure out if you can do both at the same time though.
* RAM is non-soldered and user replaceable
* battery is removable.
* 1080p IPS touch and non-touch screen available.

CONS:
* Heftier than you would expect from an ultrabook
* Pricey. You won't be able to get a new machine at your pricepoint, but a dell outlet refurb would be in the ball park.

Your best bet would be to wait for a decent sale at the Dell outlet store. But if you can't wait, getting one from eBay wouldn't be a bad idea either. You can get one with a hard drive then upgrade it to SSD yourself.

 

[HOSED]

I recently purchased the Sager NP2740 AKA clevo w740su . It has 1920 X 1080 Display with great viewing angles http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?p=36047351&postcount=11
RAM is limited to 16 GB (2 slots). You can add an MSata Drive if needed, the primary drive is a standard notebook drive (upgradable)
NOte Clevo is the manufacturer, but they are sold under many various names such as Sager, Schenker S413, System76 Galago ....
I purchased mine from http://www.gentechpc.com/showpages.asp?pid=1330 after a lot of research on this model and the etailer and am very happy with both.

 

[MrSquished]

in the same boat spec wise, except would like to keep the budget around 1200.

128gb SSD is ok but a backlit keyboard is required.

found a promising Asus. THinking of sticking with either Asus or Lenovo brands.

 

[PinchedNerve]

I recently purchased the Sager NP2740 AKA clevo w740su . It has 1920 X 1080 Display with great viewing angles http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?p=36047351&postcount=11
RAM is limited to 16 GB (2 slots). You can add an MSata Drive if needed, the primary drive is a standard notebook drive (upgradable)
NOte Clevo is the manufacturer, but they are sold under many various names such as Sager, Schenker S413, System76 Galago ....
I purchased mine from http://www.gentechpc.com/showpages.asp?pid=1330 after a lot of research on this model and the etailer and am very happy with both.

I've also got a Clevo W740SU and am very happy with it. I have 16gb Mem, 128 gb SSD with 1 tb storage drive, 802.11 AC wireless, and Win 8.1 Pro with Media Center. I got mine here http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/system/Zeus_Hercules_Gaming_Notebook

 

[crashtestdummy]

Seems from other threads I've browsed that rMBP is going to come up a lot. My concerns with that: he will be running Windows 8, so battery life will suffer, and I'm unsure of how well Windows handles scaling at that resolution. Further, he really prefers larger than 13.3" if possible, which only leaves 15.4" -- those are well above his price range even refurbed, as far as I can tell. (Can you use a student discount on refurb models? Might be able to stretch it if so).

Anyway, some non-rMBP options with quality screens and as many upgradeable components as possible would be ideal!

I have the Yoga 2 Pro, which fits your criteria except that the screen size is only 13.3". I can also speak to the bolded above.

How windows (and older windows programs) handles the high DPI screen is really my only major gripe about the device. There's really two issues. The first is that many programs (especially Adobe stuff) don't scale their UI at all, leaving their interface buttons and text unusably small. Microsoft blames Adobe for this, Adobe blames Microsoft. This can be worked around by lowering your resolution to 1600x900, but that kind of defeats the purpose of having a high resolution display to begin with.

The second frustration is that if you plug in a monitor, you can use a different DPI scaling, but you have to log out than back in before the scaling is fully adjusted. Since I my laptop like a desktop when I'm at home, this is a particular annoyance to me, but might be irrelevant to someone who doesn't do this.

A lot of the mixed reviews for the Yoga came from the fact that its color balance and wifi were a bit buggy early on, but as far as I can tell they've ironed all those out.

 

[Ravynmagi]

Seems like everyone is calling their laptops "Ultrabooks" now. Though Intel's rules seem to have gotten looser on the matter, so pretty anything is an Ultrabook now. But to me anything Latitude or that almost 5 pound Sager definitely not Ultrabooks.

I'm also thinking about buying an Ultrabook. Originally I was dreaming of finding the perfect 2-in-1, but have seen realized that's mostly a bad idea. Most 2-in-1 seem to have annoying design compromises. Though the Yoga 2 Pro looks like the most promising 2-in-1. I've seen eliminated having a tablet form fact as a requirement, now it's just a nice bonus if it can pull it off and not suck at it.

Yoga 2 Pro
Samsung Ativ Book 9 Plus
ASUS UX301LA
Acer S7-392
Dell XPS 12


I like the Yoga 2 Pro because of that impressive 3200x1800 resolution. And I mentioned the tablet mode is a bonus for me. One problem though is it's rather expensive on Amazon and almost $200 cheaper at Best Buy and I'm kinda banned from Best Buy at the moment (some weird TRE voodoo crap I don't understand). Also wish I could find this in Black or Orange, I only see the boring Silver model available.

The Samsung Ativ Book 9 Plus (Series 9 was a better name I think) looks pretty nice. Also featuring the 3200x1800 resolution display. Metal construction looks very good.

The ASUS UX301LA looks really cool with it's glass lid and palmrest. And I've heard pretty good things about it. The display is "only" 2560x1440, but ASUS usually has pretty good and bright displays. I like it includes two SSDs in a RAID0 configuration for more performance. Somewhat concerned about the glass though.

The Acer S7 I haven't really made up my mind other than it's below the Samsung and ASUS on my list. Guess I just don't know if I like the white. And I think this is a lot of glass too like the ASUS.

The Dell XPS 12 I have on my list because like the Yoga, it supports a tablet mode. The screen flips around on an easel hinge and they say it's an well designed hinge. However I really dislike chrome accents and it's kinda large for only a 12.5 inch screen. But it also seems cheaper than almost everything else I've been looking at.


I've never owned a Macbook, but I'm open to that possibility. One thing that has me interested is apparently Apple is way ahead of Microsoft when it comes to DPI scaling. However the Macbook Air's resolution is disappointing and not even an IPS display, I can't remember if the Macbook Pro had IPS or not, but touch is a must have feature. So I'm thinking of waiting to see if the new Macbook Air might have a touch IPS retina display... Probably wishing for too much.

 

[Ravynmagi]

I was at the Microsoft Store playing with some of the Ultrabooks.

They didn't have the UX301LA at the store. But did have the UX31LA, which is mostly the same but with a 1080p display and aluminum build instead of the 1800p display and glass build. And with Window's scaling issues, I don't think 1080p is all that bad of an idea still anyway.

Also checked out the Samsung Ativ Book 9 Plus, Acer S7-392, and the new Toshiba Kirabook.

$1000 ASUS UX31LA, i5-4200u, 8GB, 128GB, 1920x1080
Unfortunately the display model was hosed up and I couldn't open any websites, test the sound or much. But for the price, the specs looked good, the keyboard felt nice and in the brightly lit store the display looked okay. I really liked the aluminum build with bluish spun pattern on the lid and 3.1 pound weight.

$1450 Samsung Ativ Book 9 Plus, i5-4200U, 8GB, 128GB, 3200x1800
Almost a $500 price jump over the ASUS for basically a higher resolution display. But it does look very nice, aluminum build and a dark blue color all over. Also had a nice keyboard.

$1500 Acer Aspire S7-392, i7-4500U, 8GB, 256GB, 2560x1440
Nicer specs for about the same price as the Samsung. The keyboard and build quality severely disappointed though. Keyboard only has 5 rows of keys instead of the normal 6. All the F# and other function keys are mashed onto the number row. There is plenty of room, no idea why they eliminated that row. And it has a glass lid, looks good. But the rest of the ultrabook is built of plastic, has some rough feeling seems along the edges, and just feels cheap. However it also feels incredibly light, so that's a plus.

$1500 Toshiba Kirabook 13, i5-4200U, 8GB, 256GB, 2560x1440
It's got a nice aluminum build. But the design looks so dull and a couple years old. The lid is a rounded brushed aluminum, doesn't have the tapered design most ultrabooks went with. The keyboard and power button have an kinda gaudy looking chrome bezel around them. Seems like a nicely built machine if you are not turned off by it's appearance.


For me it was a toss up between the $1000 ASUS UX31LA and $1450 Samsung Ativ Book 9 Plus. I picked the ASUS because it had similar specs but much cheaper and while a 3200x1800 display sounds really awesome I'm not sure how practical it really is on an ultrabook since I'll be viewing the display from a further distance than a tablet. So the pixel density seems like overkill.


Sadly I got my UX31LA home and it's got problems.

Problem #1: Terrible backlight bleeding. Usually I don't complain much about this type of issue, pretty much every display I have has this issue to some degree and normally it's only noticeable in dark room with dark backgrounds. I turned on the UX31LA and holy **** this thing has severe backlight bleeding all around the display. Even when it got to the blue Windows setup screen I could still see the massive backlight bleeding. This is nuts.

Problem #2. "A" key on the keyboard is stuck. I can't push it down at all. I tested the other keys and found the Spacebar was broken too.

So I got to return this definitely.