Looking for a lightweight laptop

[squee116]

I'll be going to grad school soon, and I was hoping to get a Windows 8 laptop/ultrabook/tablet/hybrid/whatever that had a 13" to 10" inch touch screen, good battery life, lightweight, and a haswell processor.

I'll be using it for taking notes, possibly watching movies, and sporatic, occasional, light gaming. (think DOTA 2 at the most taxing).

I've looked at the Asus T300, but I'd prefer a full size keyboard if I could help it. I don't know why they shrink that right Shift key. Backlit keyboard may come in handy, but it wouldn't be necessary. I just want to make sure that if I lug this sucker around, I won't be keeling to one side to keep myself balanced after who-knows-how-many hours of classes.

I'd like to keep it at 1000 dollars, but could spend more for the extra performance. I'd love a zenbook infinity, but I think that price is just too steep for me.

 

[nforce4max]

Just don't get him anything that has an Intel Atom or a Celeron (they are called "Sluggeron" for a reason) or anything from HP/Compaq due to board issues. Asus have build issues due to cheap plastics. Lenovo has some good ultra portables in that size range but only go with a business class machine as they are better quality and they last. Don't buy anything retail if it has only a 1 year warranty or none at all.

If he plays games you could get a Alienware m11x as they are not so heavy that it is a problem but built very well. The R3 model when used floats around $700-900 and new they can soar well over that. The R1 and R2 are very usable performance wise and much cheaper but have only one serious issue with the screens. The R3 can break if dropped, the fix is easy and often less than $10 but isn't discrete.

 

[LummusMaximus]

Unless you can deal with a second hand laptop, take nForce's advice. A new model, with all those specs, at that price, wouldn't exist even with a far larger budget.

 

[squee116]

The T300 has those specs and price, which is why I ask if others offer that level of performance. I figured there must be other manufacturers who offer that value level.

 

[alicepattinson]

How about the Asus Zenbook Prime Touch? It only weighs 3.2lbs, 7 to 8 hours of power during mid to heavy use

 

[squee116]

That's an impressive alternative. Double the hard drive space, lighter by a pound, same price, and the only sacrifice is going from haswell to ivy bridge. (Bay trail vs whatsitsname) That's definitely something to think on.