HP Envy 14 (i5 + HD 5650). Similar to a MBP 15. Big and heavy for ultra-mobile.
Toshiba Satellite Pro L650-1CH. Similar to Envy. Big and powerful. Much cheaper.
HP DV3 2310ea (i3 + HD 4550). Mobile, with some limited graphics capabilities.
Acer 3820TG (i3 + HD 4570 / i5 + HD 5650). Good balance, not the best screen quality / build quality, heat problems with high spec models.
Samsung QX310. Not out yet.
HP 311c. N470 + ion. 12'' netbook with graphics capabilities. Battery life not so great.
Asus 1215N. Dual core Atom D525, ion2, 12''. Like a new and improved 311c with better battery life and power.
Lenovo Edge 13 (Neo X2 L625 / SU7300). Ultra mobile, no dedicated GPU. Solid choice if you don't need graphics. I'd go with the cheaper, CULV range, others are not so cost effective.

In the UK, the Dell Studios don't have switchable graphics, so poor battery life.

I'd personally go for 13'' ultra mobile with decent battery life. I Have a Asus UL30A for my travelling needs, it's like a beefed up netbook, and it's awesome. Under 4 pounds, massive battery life, cheap as well (£350). Built a bit cheap, and the screen as poor viewing angles, but I'd look for something similar for your use.

[Edited by - oliii on October 14, 2010 11:03:11 AM]

Quote:

Original post by Eelco Youll need a bag anyway, and if you are bothered by the weight of a 15" laptop, you can use the exercise.

I have to disagree with that. My netbook is easily carried in a wider range of packs than a 15" would be, and is easier to carry with other items.

Add in 3 text books, a sketch book, 4 or 5 note books, first aid kit, nintendo DS, gloves, and a number of other odds and ends,... Weight starts to matter if you have a 5km walk to and from work/school.

Also I have to say that my netbook is by far easier to carry around by itself, or it and a note pad. It tucks in under the arm far easier than a 15" laptop, and feels far more protected. I don't feel as if I'm likely to drop it, or have it slip out of my hand if someone bumps into me while I'm walking down town.

Plus, it's cheap. If it gets nicked or damaged, you won't be £500 out of pocket. You can get netbooks for under £200. Netbooks are ok, they lack CPU power, and screen resolution. I found that they were the main drawbacks of my NC10. Some netbooks come with full laptop (1366 x 768) res, as well as dual core CPUs (Neo X2, SU2300). Like the Dell M101z, acer Ferrari One, Acer 1810T and so on.

Much as I'd love to, having an extra-powerful desktop is not an option at the moment. I might be able to grab an extra monitor at home, but probably not anywhere else. And since this needs to be my primary computing platform for a while, a netbook is out too (again, as much as I'd love to have one...).

I don't expect processing power to be a huge issue. With an i5 or i7 or similar, I expect the performance to be so far above my experience that I won't bother wishing for more. [grin]

I don't want a Mac right now. I'm determined to run Linux.

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Original post by tstrimp14" with a 1600x900... 15.6" laptop instead with a 1920x1080 resolution.

See, I didn't know that was possible, either from BestBuy or research on Amazon. More homework, I guess. That last one sounds almost perfect.

I know I can work on a 1024x768 screen; that's actually the largest I've ever had. I don't want to be stuck at a desk if I can help it. I see myself carrying this thing around most of the time. I guess that should have been a stronger indicator to go for portability than it was at first. If I can get bigger than 1366x768 in a small package, I think I'd go with that.

Thanks, everyone. Keep it coming.

Get the best 12'' or 13'' you can find, plus a decent 22-24'' monitor, mouse and keyboard for your home. An external hard drive and a USB hub are good add-ons, too. You can get all that in $1000 with money to spare.

If you care about overall performance, add a 64-80GB SSD drive and the machine will become a dream to use. You can still squeeze that into your budget and the performance improvement is an order of magnitude higher than an equivalent CPU upgrade. Not kidding, Ubuntu boots in <5'' on my Intel SSD, programs launch instantly and software installations end before I can lift my hand from the keyboard. This has changed the way I use my computer (I no longer dread rebooting, OpenOffice is actually usable now, software compiles faster than ever, ...)

If you care about 3d, make sure the laptop has Nvidia or Ati graphics (instead of Intel). Nvidia has better closed-source drivers, while Ati has superior open-source drivers (pick between practicality and politics). Intel's linux drivers are pretty good, but they lack performance (and their Windows drivers suck).

CPU performance is secondary. Just make sure you get a dual-core processor that is not an Atom.

Finally, check the reputation of the machine online before committing. Pay special attention to overheating issues and fan noise (heat is an indicator of poor build quality and fan noise will drive you crazy).

So, Nvidia for 3D (if I bother). [smile]

I'm a bit confused about how this SSD thing works. I'm guessing that the OS uses it as a cache and manages it itself, but I'm not sure.

For me, I like the portability of my 13.3" macbook (original unibody) -- I've owned a 12" dell 700m years ago that was a great machine, but the small screen size (though it was still 1280x800, same as my macbook) to be a bit tight, and most 12" portables tend to cramp up the keys -- anything above 13.3-14 inch models ought to have full-size keyboards with decent layouts. 1280x800 is sufficient for Visual Studio and similarly-configured IDEs, but I find more window-heavy IDEs to tight for the tiny screen (The debug view under Eclipse is particularly bad).

On the other end, I find 15.6" laptops to be the largest I could conceivably put up with lugging around, though I've not owned one that large. 13.3 and 14 inch models are the sweet spot for me.

As for Macs themselves, I realize there is a perception of Apple charging a premium for "value" which seems entirely lost on many techies ("I can get the same specs for cheaper!", etc.) but this macbook is seriously the nicest laptop I've ever owned, and the large, multi-touch trackpad is the *only* laptop pointing device I actually *enjoy* using. Top that off with the solid-body, aluminum construction, built-in goodies (802.11n, Bluetooth) and high build quality (it just *feels* like a serious machine, much less of a "toy" feel than any other laptop I've experienced first-hand) and its quite worth the price. It's honestly worth considering -- Also, you mentioned Linux earlier... you do realize that OSX is based on Mach, correct? Which itself is a BSD/UNIX -alike kernel. You can do most anything you'd want to do in Linux on a Mac quite easily, including running all the familiar Linux tools. Failing that, Bootcamp makes it easy to boot into honest-to-god Linux if you need. I use bootcamp for Windows 7 (XP previously) and honestly only boot into OSX for a few programs I use infrequently -- my mac runs Windows 98% of the time. If you've been swayed to consider a Mac, they're going to be refreshing most of their hardware lineup this coming Wednesday, including the laptops, so you might want to at least see what's in store. Finally, if you're a student of a k-12 or college, you probably qualify for a educational discount, which usually amounts to 100-200 bucks, and sometimes a free iPod as well.

Getting back to more general advice, I think the biggest thing to consider is having adequate graphics support for your intended use, since that's probably the only thing you're truly stuck with (and to a lesser extent, the CPU) -- RAM and hard disk are easy upgrades, and most anything else you'd want to add can come through USB or ExpressCard if you're lucky enough to have it.

Quote:

Original post by theOcelot So, Nvidia for 3D (if I bother). [smile] I'm a bit confused about how this SSD thing works. I'm guessing that the OS uses it as a cache and manages it itself, but I'm not sure.

an ssd is just a hdd for the system. think about it like an usb stick or an external hard drive. both are the same for your os. one is flash, one is a hdd. an ssd is like an internal usb stick, but with more storage, and a much better logic chip.

If the new mbp 13 has good battery life in win 7, I'd be all over it. Probably the best package, and there is no quality equivalent PC atm, apart from the VaioZ, much more expensive (and may the new Samsung QX310).

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Original post by Sirisian Quote: Original post by szecs It depends. Are you an insane user who wants to use it on the bus/train/during lunch/standing in the lift/sitting in the toilet? It not, I'd go for >= 15" Having just used my laptop on the bus this morning I resent that statement. Also a table where you're eating is normally large enough for an extra 2".

My experience is different. Yes, the table can hold the extra couple inches, but only by making the table more crowded. One reason I like my netbook is its small footprint and the footprint increases as the square of the listed screen size. On a table full of papers, food, other computers, or whatever, there's less stuff I need to juggle to make space for the netbook. This also makes it easier to pass around to show to someone else, and it's easier to talk over without playing Wilson from Home Improvement. On a plane or crowded bus, I'm not invading the personal space of my neighbor. It's also small enough (and has a good enough battery life) that I toss it in my bag with a "sure, why not." Even the people I know who consider >=15 inches portable (even 13 inches is pushing it for me) think twice before taking it along.

Between virtual desktops, transparent terminals, and rearranging a few widgets (hiding many menus that I don't use anyway, putting the task bar and icon bars on the side, etc.), the lack of screen space isn't as big an issue as I'd thought.