Need Laptop/Netbook Recommendation

[Spooner]

Wife needs one to support her new job

Requirements:
- Lightweight and easy to travel with
- Windows
- Large storage
- Good battery life
- $800-$1k price point

Usage:
- Microsoft office
- General internet, music, and pictures browsing

Initial research came up with this:
http://www.amazon.com/Acer-AO725-068...s_1232596011_1

Other thoughts?


EDIT:

OK, I think I'm set on the Yoga

Question now is do i get the i5 4GB ram 128GB SDD for $920 ?

or do i step up and get the i7 8GB ram 256 GB SDD for $1299?

I'm quite certain the first one would fulfill her needs, but the "techy" in me is finding it hard to resist the extra juice

Significant different, or negligible?

 

[crashtestdummy]

If you're willing to wait a few months for Kabini-based notebooks, that might be an option. What defines "good enough" for sound? You're never likely to get great sound quality or volume out of a laptop, especially a small one.

You really don't want the c-70. It lags well behind my 5 year old laptop, and is just going to feel sluggish. Even something like a surface with the Tegra3 is going to do you better.

Edit: I think the above comment is a bit harsh, on reflection. The c-70 will work and run most of what she wants to do, but it will feel sluggish and struggle with multitasking of any kind.

 

[fralexandr]

how about one of these? they don't use severely crippled "netbook" processors (amd brazos/intel atom), still manage 5 hours of battery life (the same as the c-70 netbook you posted), and weigh less than 4 lbs.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834200702

http://www.adorama.com/ACV51716675R....m_source=gbase

-----
how much do the speakers matter?
does she need them to do presentations with?
most people i've seen do presentations on notebooks that require audio use external speakers, since the notebook speakers aren't "good" and can't reach sufficient volumes for larger rooms

by travel, do you mean your wife might use it while on some noisy form of public transportation?
if yes, your wife might want some headphones of some kind (in-ear are more portable, but comfort depends on the person otherwise there are closed air over or around ear headphones)
it will be a lot better than netbook/notebook speakers turned up to any "high" volume, though if you live somewhere dangerous, it might not be a good idea due to loss of awareness of the surroundings

notebook speakers start sounding off if they reach high volumes; their small cheap speakers start to distort.

-----
do you have a portable/usb cd/dvd drive? it'll help a lot for installing office on the portable notebook you buy if your copy of office is cd based

 

[Spooner]

I think portability, hard drive, and battery are the real keys here. She's going to be a "general" user (no hardcore gaming/overclocking/etc..) but she wants to be able to throw it in her bag and take it to/from various offices she'll be working from

Is this any good?
http://us.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/series/aspiresseries

 

[Spooner]

I think our budget just increased to something under $1k if that helps...

 

[crashtestdummy]

I think portability, hard drive, and battery are the real keys here. She's going to be a "general" user (no hardcore gaming/overclocking/etc..) but she wants to be able to throw it in her bag and take it to/from various offices she'll be working from

Is this any good?
http://us.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/series/aspiresseries

That will do her fine, if you're willing to pay the extra for it. Make sure to get one with the "U" processor for better battery life (some of the models on Amazon still have the "M" processor, which have twice the TDP).

This guy will also do you and is in your price range.

 

[crashtestdummy]

I think our budget just increased to something under $1k if that helps...

At 1k, the ultrabook world opens wide. You may want to wait for the Haswell books to come out, of which the low end will be around 1k.

 

[Spooner]

Actually leaning heavily toward this one now, but everything i read up on has some positive and some really negative reviews

Makes it complicated..............

http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-ViVoBook-...pr_product_top

 

[Spooner]

btw... can't wait for Haswell as she starts the job next week and wants to be able to be all set

 

[crashtestdummy]

btw... can't wait for Haswell as she starts the job next week and wants to be able to be all set

Gotcha. At 15", that notebook might be a little large if she really wants portability. It'll work fine in all other regards, though. As for the problems, unfortunately, all laptops compromise somewhere. Of having a computer that's fast/full featured, cheap, having long battery life, great build quality, and very portable, you get to choose three.

Take a look at this guy as well. It's in the right range, good build quality. The only downside is the lack of a touch screen.

 

[Spooner]

Gotcha. At 15", that notebook might be a little large if she really wants portability. It'll work fine in all other regards, though. As for the problems, unfortunately, all laptops compromise somewhere. Of having a computer that's fast/full featured, cheap, having long battery life, great build quality, and very portable, you get to choose three.

Take a look at this guy as well. It's in the right range, good build quality. The only downside is the lack of a touch screen.

Valid point on the 15", now that i'm thinking about it, might be too large for her purposes

the one you linked is 4GB RAM and only 128GB of HDD. I know that's because it's SSD, but i think she'd err on the side of larger capacity than speed in that regard

 

[Ancalagon44]

I would look at an IdeaPad Yoga or a Sony Vaio T Series

EDIT: Otherwise this

Larger hard drive, but still with an SSD cache. Battery life will not be as good as a laptop that only has an SSD. But it is also $300 cheaper.

 

[Spooner]

EDIT: Otherwise this
.

The Lenovo looks decent, but is this one a better one? looks to be the same except for the processor http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-ViVoBook...Laptop/dp/B00BC4QMVE/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

 

[Ancalagon44]

The Lenovo looks decent, but is this one a better one? looks to be the same except for the processor

There is another major difference - the one that you linked to has a 15.6 inch screen, so it is larger.

However, it is rated pretty good.

The IdeaPad is also rated decently.

There is also an Asus VivoBook S300CA, which is like the one that you linked to, only with a smaller 13.3 inch screen.

 

[Spooner]

I know I'm all over the map here, but currently leaning heavily toward the Lenovo Yoga 13

I really think she'll dramatically enjoy the "tablet" and "laptop" style to this and it looks like the SDD is upgradeable if 128GB ever becomes a problem

 

[Ancalagon44]

They are rated quite highly, as far as I know.

I do seem to remember that a newer, similar notebook had a feature that disabled the keyboard when the notebook was in tablet mode, but I cant remember which notebook it was. Maybe it was the Yoga?

 

[Spooner]

OK, I think I'm set on the Yoga

Question now is do i get the i5 4GB ram 128GB SDD for $920 ?

or do i step up and get the i7 8GB ram 256 GB SDD for $1299?

I'm quite certain the first one would fulfill her needs, but the "techy" in me is finding it hard to resist the extra juice

Significant different, or negligible?

 

[fralexandr]

the i7 is a dual core part, it just clocks a bit higher and has a bit more l2 cache.
I would buy the 2nd if it was an i7 quad but it isn't

you could just get the 1st one and buy a larger ssd (msata type).
then you could stick the 128gb (msata) in another machine (if you have another device that supports msata i.e. recent mitx desktop, etc).

 

[Essence_of_War]

the i7 is a dual core part, it just clocks a bit higher and has a bit more l2 cache.
I would buy the 2nd if it was an i7 quad but it isn't

For what it's worth, the laptop i7's also HT don't they? So if you really are doing heavily threaded work it'll behave like a quad-core.

 

[fralexandr]

For what it's worth, the laptop i7's also HT don't they? So if you really are doing heavily threaded work it'll behave like a quad-core.

yeah, but the i5s do too: 2 core/4 thread

 

[Spooner]

I'm a sucker for technology...ordered the i7

 

[Essence_of_War]

yeah, but the i5s do too: 2 core/4 thread

My mistake, I thought i5s were never HT, but apparently that is not the case in general.