Author Topic: New laptop purchase (Read 4009 times)

Master KChief · « **on:** January 28, 2013, 07:15:19 PM »

Bought a new laptop yesterday. Wondering if the computer nerds can tell me if this was a decent purchase or not:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Asus+-+Ultrabook+13.3%26%2334%3B+Touch-Screen+Laptop+-+4GB+Memory+-+128GB+Solid+State+Drive+-+Radiant+Black/6906246.p?id=1218812711231&skuId=6906246&st=asus%20ultrabook&cp=1&lp=14

MrMiYoda · « **Reply #1 on:** January 28, 2013, 08:53:17 PM »

I am an Asus fanatic. I know you will enjoy this purchase with no regrets. Asus has been known to work extra perfectly with MS software. Kudos!

Master KChief · « **Reply #2 on:** January 28, 2013, 08:59:56 PM »

I tried finding a good screen protector for it, but the Best Buy 'specialist' said they don't make screen protectors for laptops. Which really perplexed me, you figure you'd want to protect your laptop screen just as much as you would your phone or handheld gaming system, especially for a laptop that has a touchscreen.

MrMiYoda · « **Reply #3 on:** January 28, 2013, 09:02:22 PM »

You can actually custom-make your screen protector. Not sure but I think some Ebay sellers sell a sheet that you can cut yourself. But you may want to wait for a ready-made one to fit your laptop.

I wish I had money to buy the Taichi....but....

http://incredibletogether.asus.com/taichi21.html

Master KChief · « **Reply #4 on:** January 28, 2013, 09:07:22 PM »

Whoa, two screens. That's pretty incredible. If I saw that at Best Buy, I would have undoubtedly got that. My impulse purchases usually involve something along the lines of bigger numbers = better, and sparkly objects.

MrMiYoda · « **Reply #5 on:** January 28, 2013, 09:10:24 PM »

The Taichi has a smaller screen.

And now that i've seen the one you had bought, I'm thinking of buying one and just doing Nexus 7 as my tablet when it comes up with the next gen.

Kudos on your purchase, brother!

Peace.

Prof Underwood · « **Reply #6 on:** January 29, 2013, 12:01:42 PM »

Pros:
Multi-touch screen
Asus is a great brand
Size is small for easy mobility

Cons:
Processor is a bit weak (ranked #113)
Graphics card is weak (ranked #222)
Screen is small (13in)

Overall, I don't think I would've paid $1100 for it (I got a Toshiba 17in with a better processor and graphics card for $800 a year ago). But I assume that your priorities in what you are looking for in a laptop are different than mine, so you'll probably still be happy with it

lp670sv · « **Reply #7 on:** January 29, 2013, 12:02:29 PM »

His processor and graphics card are weak because it's an ultrabook.

The SSD alone is usually $130, the touchscreen adds a lot of value, it's made for portability, in short it's an ultrabook and a pretty good one at that. It's not made for gaming, it's made for 8+ hours of battery life, light weight, and efficiency in everyday tasks.

I don't know if you've used Windows 8 before but once you get used to the change, I think you'll like it. I ended up switching back to 7 but if I had a touchscreen I would've stuck with 8. There's really nothing you can't do on 8 that you could on 7, some of the base system stuff is a little harder to access since they made the interface more geared towards casual users but it's all still there you just have to find it.

Professoralstad · « **Reply #8 on:** January 29, 2013, 02:09:38 PM »

Quote from: lp670sv on January 29, 2013, 12:02:29 PM

His processor and graphics card are weak because it's an ultrabook.

The SSD alone is usually $130, the touchscreen adds a lot of value, it's made for portability, in short it's an ultrabook and a pretty good one at that. It's not made for gaming, it's made for 8+ hours of battery life, light weight, and efficiency in everyday tasks.

I don't know if you've used Windows 8 before but once you get used to the change, I think you'll like it. I ended up switching back to 7 but if I had a touchscreen I would've stuck with 8. There's really nothing you can't do on 8 that you could on 7, some of the base system stuff is a little harder to access since they made the interface more geared towards casual users but it's all still there you just have to find it.

My impression with Windows 8 was that they wanted the laptops to be similar to the Windows Phone functionality so that people would be more seamlessly able to transition between the two. I haven't used either Windows 8 or the Windows Phone, but I can imagine that the touchscreen would probably give the advantage to Windows 8.

lp670sv · « **Reply #9 on:** January 29, 2013, 02:15:17 PM »

Quote from: Professoralstad on January 29, 2013, 02:09:38 PM

My impression with Windows 8 was that they wanted the laptops to be similar to the Windows Phone functionality so that people would be more seamlessly able to transition between the two. I haven't used either Windows 8 or the Windows Phone, but I can imagine that the touchscreen would probably give the advantage to Windows 8.

Which is why, if my desktop had a touchscreen, I probably would've kept 8 and why I think he'll like it. The only thing thats really the same is the menu structure obviously, and I think most of the apps that are common between the desktop PC and mobile will also seamlessly sync like you mail and IMs and things of that nature. I've only used 8 on a desktop so I have no idea what the mobile version is like compared to the full PC version but I don't believe he has a Windows Phone anyway.

I'm actually a little surprised (pleasantly so) that you went with a PC given your love of Apple products and the fact that this price point put you in the Macbook Air range (though this is pretty superior to a Macbook Air IMO and most benchmarks.)

Master KChief · « **Reply #10 on:** January 29, 2013, 04:53:58 PM »

You pretty much nailed it, it was down to this or a Macbook Air. One big thing kept me from getting the Air: I have less than zero percent experience with the Mac OS, only Windows, therefore switching to it would be like switching from Star Wars to Star Trek for me.

Thanks for the detailed analysis Lp, that was pretty much what I was looking for. Although I'm not sure I understand the difference between a regular laptop and an ultrabook. Is the ultrabook designed to do just the base essentials as efficiently as it can? That's fine with me, I do zero PC gaming, and I prefer smaller laptops to bigger ones (never understood the point of getting a monster laptop when I would assume they are supposed to be portable creatures). 8+ hours of battery you say? That is AMAZING. My laptop now barely gets over an hour on a single charge...I couldn't be happier about the huge battery life. I did notice my machine has no disc drive...not a big deal, I can't remember the last time I used the one on my old laptop, but it'd still be nice to have. Better to have and not need than need and not have, right?

lp670sv · « **Reply #11 on:** January 29, 2013, 05:02:46 PM »

I don't know if that specific model gets 8+ hours of battery life but that and being thin and lightweight is what Ultrabooks are designed for. Basically Ultrabook is to laptop as Macbook Air is to Macbook Pro. The overall performance of the machine might not be the same (though since there aren't many budget ultrabooks, most of them are actually better machines than what people think of as a standard laptop) they're extremely lightweight and portable, and have much longer battery life than standard laptops. Ultrabooks, just like the airs, ditch a disk drive in favor of the thinner form factor but you can get pretty cheap USB drives for when you REALLY need it which won't be often anyway. This will get less battery life than a lot of ultrabooks however because this is at the performance end of the spectrum as apposed to the portability side but should still get several hours none-the-less and can handle most everything you throw at it that's not graphics intensive.

Master KChief · « **Reply #12 on:** January 29, 2013, 05:32:36 PM »

Very nice. One other thing I was concerned about was the amount of RAM, I saw another laptop at Best Buy that had a whopping 8GB of ram whereas this one only has 4GB. Will that be enough if I'm a heavy multi-tasker? I tend to do multiple things at once and keep multiple screens/programs open at the same time. Also, is the ram expandable?

lp670sv · « **Reply #13 on:** January 29, 2013, 05:52:09 PM »

I can't find anywhere that says if the RAM is upgrade-able, rule of thumb means probably no but it's possible. Regardless 4 should be plenty for now as long as you don't have 30+ tabs open at once or something like that. If you hadn't already bought this one, they do make a model for $50 that is the same thing with 8 GB but like I said it shouldn't be a big deal.

Master KChief · « **Reply #14 on:** January 29, 2013, 05:59:15 PM »

Yeah, already bought it on Sunday

$50 more for double ram seems like a steal.

Any tips or advice on what to do when first setting up the ultrabook? More in regards to making it more efficient by getting rid of unnecessary stuff, like bloatware. Any easy way to do this?

lp670sv · « **Reply #15 on:** January 29, 2013, 06:02:14 PM »

Immediataly uninstall IE

I'm not sure what Asus puts on there laptops at the moment, for the most part just look for things that start when the computer starts and disable those. If you need help navigating the Metro interface let me know.

Master KChief · « **Reply #16 on:** January 29, 2013, 06:16:26 PM »

Whats the Metro interface?

lp670sv · « **Reply #17 on:** January 29, 2013, 06:17:10 PM »

Metro is the new windows start screen in windows 8. replaces the start menu basically.

Master KChief · « **Reply #18 on:** January 29, 2013, 06:28:53 PM »

Yeah I have no experience with that either, its a big jump from before. Any help with it would be appreciated.

lp670sv · « **Reply #19 on:** January 29, 2013, 06:30:21 PM »

It takes a little getting used to but you'll get the hang of it. You can also just start typing whenever it opens up to use good ol' search to start anything.

Master KChief · « **Reply #20 on:** January 30, 2013, 12:45:21 AM »

Do you know where I can find a good quality screen protector for it? Any other cool accessories I can get for it as well (case, etc)?

lp670sv · « **Reply #21 on:** January 31, 2013, 08:50:04 PM »

I don't know for either, I do t pit screen protectors on my devices and have a swiss gear backpack that has pockets for all size devices. If you like this laptop when you get it and get used to the OS let me know, I'll be looking yo get a laptop at some point and like the looks of this one

drb1200 · « **Reply #22 on:** February 01, 2013, 11:40:47 AM »

Ugh, metro.

STAMP · « **Reply #23 on:** February 01, 2013, 11:50:26 AM »

Ditto. My laptop is country strong!

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Author Topic: New laptop purchase (Read 4009 times)

drb1200