Buy ultrabook now or wait for Haswell?

[casparolesen]

Hey guys!

I'm currently in the need of a laptop (I don't own one atm), and I think it's going to be an ultrabook, as I'm going to be carrying to school every day. But then I thougt, is this a bad time to buy a new laptop, when Haswell is just around the corner? Besides school stuff (office programs), I would also like to be able to play some games on it (CS:S, TF2, LoL and maybe some WoW, on Low/Medium quality), and I heard, that the Haswell CPUs will have much better integrated graphics than Ivy. I really want a laptop ASAP, but I can wait if it's worth it. What's you guys opinions on that subject - wait or buy now? Btw, the ultrabook I'm looking at is the ASUS UX32VD-R4002H, which has a dedicated GF GT620M graphics card in it. Is the Haswell integrated GPU going to be better than the 620M?

Thanks for your time!

Best regards,
Caspar

 

[samuelspark]

I would probably wait then.

 

[casparolesen]

Do you know anything about the graphics performance?

 

[apache_lives]

unless its coming out next month, dont bother waiting

something new ALWAYS comes out its pointless waiting a long time for nothing

 

[lxgoldsmith]

if it's an ultrabook, definitely wait. intel's next series will be designed for mobility and efficiency.

 

[Sakkura]

Haswell is still several months out. If you need an ultrabook now, buy one now and don't worry about Haswell.

Edit: As for the GPU, there's still a pretty big gap from the GT620 to Intel HD4000. Haswell might perhaps provide more GPU performance than the GT620, but it's not going to be by much. So I wouldn't really worry about that either.

 

[samuelspark]

http/www.anandtech.com/show/6600/intel-haswell-gt3e-gpu-performance-compared-to-nvidias-geforce-gt-650m

 

[casparolesen]

First of all, thanks for all your responses.
Wow, it actually looks almost identical to the 650m - but do you think the ultrabooks with these high quality graphics will also increase the ultrabook prices by a lot? And when do you guys think laptops equipped with Haswell CPUs will reach the consumer market?

 

[Sakkura]

First of all, thanks for all your responses.
Wow, it actually looks almost identical to the 650m - but do you think the ultrabooks with these high quality graphics will also increase the ultrabook prices by a lot? And when do you guys think laptops equipped with Haswell CPUs will reach the consumer market?

Nah. Getting just a CPU with integrated graphics is going to be cheaper than a CPU plus dedicated graphics. Normally that would mean worse graphics performance, but that's where Haswell will change things a bit. You'd get a little more graphics performance at a lower price point. With a lower power consumption (longer battery life) as well.

 

[casparolesen]

I think you guys just solved it for me - I'm waiting.
When do you think the laptops with Haswells will hit the market?

 

[Sakkura]

I think you guys just solved it for me - I'm waiting.
When do you think the laptops with Haswells will hit the market?

Scheduled for June.

 

[casparolesen]

Great, that's just in time for Back to School (we start in August in Denmark)

 

[Sakkura]

Just try not to buy it at Elgiganten.

 

[jaguarskx]

First of all, thanks for all your responses.
Wow, it actually looks almost identical to the 650m - but do you think the ultrabooks with these high quality graphics will also increase the ultrabook prices by a lot? And when do you guys think laptops equipped with Haswell CPUs will reach the consumer market?

Something to consider....

In the laptop models there will likely be different levels of performance with the Intel HD 5000 (GT3) based on the mobile CPU itself. For example, the Intel HD 4000 have maybe 5 different clockspeeds depending on which mobile Core i3/i5/i7 you buy. The Intel HD 4000 in the quad core i7-38xxQM will run at the highest speeds. However, UltraBooks uses the ULV (ultra low voltage) CPUs like the i5-3317U which emphasizes low power consumption over performance, therefore the Intel HD 4000 will be less powerful compared to what's in an i7-3840QM CPU.

Click the below link to check out 4 of Intel's mobile CPUs and scroll down to see the Graphics Specifications section. The models are the high performance i7-3840QM, a typical i5-3360M, the i5-3317U used in many ultrabooks and the newly released i5-3339Y which is Intel's latest limited production run of extremely low power consumption mobile CPUs (as low as 7w). Notice the different base and dynamic clockspeeds.

http/ark.intel.com/compare/70846,64895,72013,65707

 

[jaguarskx]

I am not sure if the Intel HD 5000 (GT3) will have a price premium. There are basically 3 versions of the integrated graphic core in Haswell; GT1, GT2 (HD 4600 ??) and GT3 (HD 5000).

I know that the GT1 is only for the desktop and GT3 is only for mobile CPUs. The question is does the GT exist for both desktops and laptops? If the GT2 and GT3 are both offered in mobile CPUs, then yes, expect to pay a premium for the mobile CPUs with GT3 because they are likely to be in the higher performing CPU models.

 

[jaguarskx]

Personally, I am going to wait for Haswell to come out before buying a new laptop. My current Lenovo IdeaPad Y470 is good enough for now. However, I feel that the low 1366x768 is a bit too limited for multitasking, researching, and studying.

I could just buy a new laptop now, but I figure I'll simply wait for Haswell to get something that uses less power and provide better battery life... and have a 1920x1080 resolution screen similar to a ThinkPad T530. It would be nice if Lenovo can make the supposedly upcoming T540 a little lighter than 5.6lbs though.

 

[buwish]

From what I have gathered, Haswell is due out sometime in March through June. So who knows when we'll start seeing laptops with Haswell chips. I just bought a Dell XPS 12, which has a Core i7-3517U (along with Intel HD 4000 graphics). It's not exactly the world's best ultrabook in terms of battery life, i.e. I'll maybe get 3 hour on a "balanced" power plan. So if you're looking for better battery life at the 22nm lithography process, you may as well wait.

 

[casparolesen]

Thanks for your time everyone! I really appreciate it. I've made my final decision: I'm waiting for Haswell

 

[3rain3ug]

Definetly wait !
I have now tried two devices... the last one i tried was the sony vaio duo 11... realy nice concept but...
The HD-Super Display is crap... flickering effects in low brightnes mode and burn-in effects on the corners of the display all the time...
The Webcams are so crappy that you cant look on the images, beacause of pain in the eyes... its like a minecraft screenshot...
The Mic quality is realy bad too... it sounds like the mic is build in the cooling fan of the ultrabook... totaly noisy ... realy bad...
The right caps key is to small and you hit often the arrow up key instead... not good for writing...
The keyboard backlight is crap too... beacause its not well balanced over all keys and it blinds thrue the gaps in some angels...
The case is cheap plastik ...specialy the display frame is realy bad... scratches after one day normal use...
Powerport/connector feels like bad durability ...
no changeble battery and ssd ( maybe possible with some disasamble work )

The realy good things are:
HD reasolution
Nice Pen / input ... realy nice drawing capabilitys...
good convertible concept
perfect selection of ports and placement...

 

[casparolesen]

Definetly wait !
I have now tried two devices... the last one i tried was the sony vaio duo 11... realy nice concept but...
The HD-Super Display is crap... flickering effects in low brightnes mode and burn-in effects on the corners of the display all the time...
The Webcams are so crappy that you cant look on the images, beacause of pain in the eyes... its like a minecraft screenshot...
The Mic quality is realy bad too... it sounds like the mic is build in the cooling fan of the ultrabook... totaly noisy ... realy bad...
The right caps key is to small and you hit often the arrow up key instead... not good for writing...
The keyboard backlight is crap too... beacause its not well balanced over all keys and it blinds thrue the gaps in some angels...
The case is cheap plastik ...specialy the display frame is realy bad... scratches after one day normal use...
Powerport/connector feels like bad durability ...
no changeble battery and ssd ( maybe possible with some disasamble work )

The realy good things are:
HD reasolution
Nice Pen / input ... realy nice drawing capabilitys...
good convertible concept
perfect selection of ports and placement...

Thanks for your answer, but it was not ultrabook models I was looking for - it was the CPU / integrated GPU