New Ultrabook

[lunatic59]

I don't know about you guys, but the trend I've seen lately in 'books, 'tops, etc. is either to have a 15"+ screen with a numeric keypad on the keyboard or sub-12" with minimal features along the lines of a netbook.

All I was looking for was something in the 14" range that was uber-thin with a decent battery-life. One other thing I wanted was true 1080p resolution.

Woot had some recertified ASUS Zenbooks last week that fit the bill for a decent price so I broke down and wooted.

The Asus Zenbook UX31A is ridiculously thin. I thought my previous laptop (Acer Timeline from 2009) was thin, but crap ...

Spoiler

Sitting on top of my old laptop. Pen for size reference.

At less than 1" thin, the Acer was What I thought to be thin enough.

So, I'm still getting used to the tiny little text and Win8.1, but so far so good. I'm hopping this will last me 4 years like the Acer.

 

[MoodyBlues]

I don't know about you guys, but the trend I've seen lately in 'books, 'tops, etc. is either to have a 15"+ screen with a numeric keypad on the keyboard or sub-12" with minimal features along the lines of a netbook.

I hear you! My recent Chromebook purchase really showed up the size issue:

But despite its small size, it's not a victim of minimal features--it functions just like a larger laptop, and is happily running Kubuntu 13.04.

The Asus Zenbook UX31A is ridiculously thin. I thought my previous laptop (Acer Timeline from 2009) was thin, but crap ...

Spoiler

Sitting on top of my old laptop. Pen for size reference.

At less than 1" thin, the Acer was What I thought to be thin enough.

Whoa! That really is thin.

So, I'm still getting used to the tiny little text and Win8.1, but so far so good. I'm hopping this will last me 4 years like the Acer.

Isn't the text size adjustable? And...as for window$...oh, never mind. I know everybody is sick of me spouting my Linux stuff.

 

[lunatic59]

I hear you! My recent Chromebook purchase really showed up the size issue:


But despite its small size, it's not a victim of minimal features--it functions just like a larger laptop, and is happily running Kubuntu 13.04.


Whoa! That really is thin.


Isn't the text size adjustable? And...as for window$...oh, never mind. I know everybody is sick of me spouting my Linux stuff.

That's exactly what I'm talking about. This 13.3 IPS display is perfect for me, but because of the high resolution, the text is small. Yes it's scalable, but I don't mind the small text, I just need to get used to it.

Unfortunately, I support a Windows network and we are just now putting some Windows 8 machines out to the users, so I really need one for reference/testing.

I've been a Linux user since the mid '90s (Red Hat 5, i think ... if i dig in the basement I could probably find the disks ) Other than the enterprise stuff, most of my servers are running CentOS.

 

[MoodyBlues]

Unfortunately, I support a Windows network and we are just now putting some Windows 8 machines out to the users, so I really need one for reference/testing.

That makes sense.

I've been a Linux user since the mid '90s (Red Hat 5, i think ... if i dig in the basement I could probably find the disks ) Other than the enterprise stuff, most of my servers are running CentOS.

I knew that. Just chalk the oversight up to terminal brain farts!

 

[AntimonyER]

Congrats on the new toy! I wish I had bought an Asus instead of the Dell I did. Not impressed.

 

[lunatic59]

Congrats on the new toy! I wish I had bought an Asus instead of the Dell I did. Not impressed.

I've had Acer, Asus, Dell, Toshiba, HP, Compaq, Sony and IBM laptops personally, and a few others through work and I can tell you they all have their issues ... including Apple. If i was asked what the best brand would be, my only truthful answer would be "none of them".

 

[9to5cynic]

I agree on the 14in mark. I've been in the laptop market and I can't seem to find many that fit the form factor I want and the power. Looks like you've found a good fit!

 

[mikedt]

I hear you! My recent Chromebook purchase really showed up the size issue:

But despite its small size, it's not a victim of minimal features--it functions just like a larger laptop, and is happily running Kubuntu 13.04.


Whoa! That really is thin.


Isn't the text size adjustable? And...as for window$...oh, never mind. I know everybody is sick of me spouting my Linux stuff.

Doing diddy laptops are we?

There's one of mine. Fujitsu Lifebook UH900 compared to the Macbook, running Linux Mint 13 Maya Cinnamon with Hong Kong wallpaper, where it was bought a couple of years ago. 1.6GHz Atom CPU, 2GB RAM, 128GB SSD, 1280x800 screen, Originally came with Win 7 Home Premium, which is still on there as dual boot, but never use it.

 

[Dngrsone]

I just wish my Toshiba has a replaceable battery...

 

[MoodyBlues]

Doing diddy laptops are we?

There's one of mine. Fujitsu Lifebook UH900 compared to the Macbook, running Linux Mint 13 Maya Cinnamon with Hong Kong wallpaper, where it was bought a couple of years ago. 1.6GHz Atom CPU, 2GB RAM, 128GB SSD, 1280x800 screen, Originally came with Win 7 Home Premium, which is still on there as dual boot, but never use it.

View attachment 64581

Wow! That looks even more dramatically different than mine. What are the screen dimensions on each? My HP has a 17.3" screen, and the Acer's is 11.6".

 

[mikedt]

Wow! That looks even more dramatically different than mine. What are the screen dimensions on each? My HP has a 17.3" screen, and the Acer's is 11.6".

It's a 13 in Macbook and the the Lifebook is 5.8 in screen, so it's slightly larger than a Galaxy Note 2 phone. It's resistive touch screen with an attached stylus visible at bottom of pic, but rarely use it. It also has a track-point as well as plugging in a mouse. I only bought it because I thought the idea of a coat pocket sized PC laptop would be a cool thing to have. It does have its limitations though, namely the battery life is short, 90 minutes, and with the default font size, it's absolutely tiny, so one has to make the fonts larger. Think they called them UMPC, Ultra-Micro PC.

It does have VGA out and Ethernet sockets provided by a plug-in dongle. So I do use it for lessons sometimes in the classroom, students find it rather interesting, wow that's a small laptop... LOL.