Transformer + Big screen Latop Combo

[someonelse]

Hi all,

I have not been keeping up with laptops and am lost in terms of what to get. Any advice would be appreciated.

I am thinking of getting an ASUS Transformer 300 and a big screen value laptop. I will be getting the big screen laptop first while I wait for the price to drop a bit on the transformer. I would like to keep laptop under $1000, flexible tho.

Budget- 1000 usd
1-Screen(15-17inches/Highest Resolution reasonably possible); keyboard[number-pad, good feed back(the closer to Cherry MX Blue switches the better)]/non-shity track-pad
2-Well built/good looking(No shiny/reflective plastic porfavor, Should hold together ~4 years); thin/light(Non-bulky); battery life(~5 hrs min)
{optional}3-Computational ability CPU/GPU [IVY bridge should do fine by itself, a dedicated GPU would be a luxury tho]

Some questions about buying the Transformer:
-Do you think if I buy the android version I can put windows 8 on it later?
-Do you think they will come out with a 12 inch version this year?
-I plan to use it mainly for note taking, and plan on taking it everywhere with me.

I do not care too much about internals. I figure laptops get outdated fast so I depend on my desktop which I can update cheaply for my more cpu/graphics intensive tasks.

Many thanks!!

 

[IGemini]

I am thinking of getting an ASUS Transformer 300 and a big screen value laptop. I will be getting the big screen laptop first while I wait for the price to drop a bit on the transformer. I would like to keep everything under $1000, flexible tho.

What I want from my big screen laptop in order of importance:
-value value value value value value
-Screen(resolution/ good size/{Good constancy across the screen}/ability to use in sunlight); keyboard; track-pad
-value value value value value value
-Well built/good looking; thin/light; battery life
-some light gaming

I can tell you right now you'll have to sacrifice half of your criteria based on your budget, see why below.

More info might be needed. How "big screen" do you want to your laptop to be? Beyond 15" you start having problems of poor battery life while being much heavier. What games do you hope to play? What else will the laptop be used for?

-Do you think if I buy the android version I can put windows 8 on it later?

In principle, it should be possible. In practice, I'm not sure. ASUS hasn't made any mention if current TF300s will support installing Windows 8.

-Do you think they will come out with a 12 inch version this year?

I seriously doubt it. The Transformer is made as a tablet first and a laptop second. 10 inches is already pushing it for tablet size.

-I plan to use it mainly for note taking, and plan on taking it everywhere with me.

If you're serious about note-taking, you'll want the keyboard dock. Even the best touchscreen keyboard won't keep up. I assume you knew that, but it'll also eat more than half of your budget. Both the Transformer and dock go for $550. $450 for a laptop makes a really short list of not-so-great choices.

 

[someonelse]

IGemini,

Thank you for your reply.

I need a laptop very soon so taking your reply into considerations I would allocate around $1000 just for the laptop, and drop the transformer.

How "big screen" do you want to your laptop to be? Beyond 15" you start having problems of poor battery life while being much heavier.

Right now I have a ASUS netbook{screen cracked} with a 10 inch 1024x600 screen, and a desktop with a 24 inch 1920 x 1200(HP ZR24w, which has inconsistencies unfortunately). My eyesight is very very good(I can see the pixels on my hp without leaning in), so higher resolutions work very well for me even in smaller form factors.

That being said, I love my netbook dearly but the screen size got annoying fast when I had to sit in the library for long periods of time getting work done. The size was awesome for class tho, especially given those tiny surfaces your given in lecture halls. Which why I thought it would be nice to have both.

So for the screen a high resolution screen at as about as big as it can reasonably get, it is more important then battery life and mobility but not to an extreme. From what you tell me 17-15 inches with a high resolution sounds good.

What games do you hope to play? What else will the laptop be used for?

I can do without the games. I am a systems and control major with minors in mathematics and physics. I do alot of modeling and optimization so problems can range from running on my netbook to large clusters. So tough question. I decided not worry about it haha. Its still a laptop so I would like it to still serve its function and be mobile. I just need it display multiple documents side by side in a pinch and not struggle with around 40 tabs, 1 or 2 HD streams, torrents, word/latex, excel, adobe, skype, notepad+, and VCL/foobar open at once. Which I think nowadays with CPU's where they are has more to do with the amount of ram(6 to 8 gb, fine with putting it in myself).

TDLR;
Criteria in order of importance. I do not expect criteria 2 and 3 to be fully met at this price point. I just want the best bang for the buck meeting the first criteria with two attempted and three as bonus.

Budget- 1000 usd
1-Screen(15-17inches/Highest Resolution reasonably possible); keyboard[number-pad, good feed back(the closer to Cherry MX Blue switches the better)]/non-shity track-pad
2-Well built/good looking(No shiny/reflective plastic porfavor, Should hold together ~4 years); thin/light(Non-bulky); battery life(~5 hrs min)
{optional}3-Computational ability CPU/GPU [IVY bridge should do fine by itself, a dedicated GPU would be a luxury tho]

Do you guys need more specific criteria then this?