Portable Laptop, $1300 budget

vmem

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Feb 17, 2012
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Hi Guys

after searching far and wide, I'm torn between what I want to get as a portable laptop for work/general traveling. I have a decent desktop tower at home, and have had an Alienware M11X for years now, I want something that is portable with decent battery life, and can handle some low res gaming. my budget is somewhat flexible, but generally below $1300 (unless there's good reason to go slightly above).

Some top candidates are:
Lenovo yoga 2 pro
macbook air 13"
Samsung Ativ book 9
Surface pro 2
Zenbook UX301LA-C4006H (i5 model w/ 1080p touchscreen, donno if it'll be available in US)

So what do you guys think? should I wait for a low-end zenbook infinity to come out (really love that build), or get one of the others? FYI if I do go for the macbook air I will bootcamp it at minimum, and use windows 7/8.1 most of the time.
 
Solution
I ordered an Asus UX301LA, waiting for it to get delivered. I chose this because.
- bigger screen than Surface 2 pro, and I also like a beautiful laptop.
- lenovo forums have people complaining about the yoga 2 pro's yellow saturation in the display
- comes with 802.11 ac (yoga 2 does not)
- the high end i7 option includes intel iris graphics. Most alternatives do not
- it offers a 512 gb SSD option
- track pad performance has good reviews, and is gorilla glass
- it has a Sharp IGZO panel, even the macs have not done this yet
- the Samsung Ativ 9 only offers a 128gb SSD, i5, and intel 4400 graphics
- macbook air is interesting, but is below 1080p

Belgarion37

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Dec 8, 2013
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I ordered an Asus UX301LA, waiting for it to get delivered. I chose this because.
- bigger screen than Surface 2 pro, and I also like a beautiful laptop.
- lenovo forums have people complaining about the yoga 2 pro's yellow saturation in the display
- comes with 802.11 ac (yoga 2 does not)
- the high end i7 option includes intel iris graphics. Most alternatives do not
- it offers a 512 gb SSD option
- track pad performance has good reviews, and is gorilla glass
- it has a Sharp IGZO panel, even the macs have not done this yet
- the Samsung Ativ 9 only offers a 128gb SSD, i5, and intel 4400 graphics
- macbook air is interesting, but is below 1080p

 
Solution

vmem

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Feb 17, 2012
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Ahh, thanks for the reply Belgarion

I actually forgot this thread was still open XD about a week and a half ago I decided on a Lenovo Yoga 2Pro, and couldn't be happier (tho the UX301LA was a close 2nd choice)

1. for similar specs: i7 4500U, 8gb ram, 256GB SSD, the Lenovo is $1200 from BB, while the US301LA is around $1800 or more. (I have a workstation/gaming desktop at home as well as home server, no need for a bigger SSD)
2. the lack of 802.11 AC problem was solved by purchasing an Intel 802.11 AC card for $37, and I upgraded it myself :)
3. Again, since I have all my gaming and workstation needs taken care of at home, this laptop is exclusively used for while i'm mobile, thus I couldn't justify the $600 or so difference for iris graphics and better yellow saturation.

our usage for this purchase are probably very different, and I must congratulate you on getting the UX301LA as it's just such a beautiful beast. but yeah, just wanted to give everyone else the update :)
 

vmem

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Feb 17, 2012
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Lenovo released a BIOS fix that fixes the problem somewhat. it is now good enough for everyday purposes such as looking at pictures and movies, as well as simple stuff like powerpoint etc etc. yellow does look yellow. but if you want to do any serious design work, the yellow is still off and slightly green-ish.

personally I don't mind since I don't do much serious work on this laptop, and as long as I remember to double check colors on a proper monitor it's fine :)
 

Belgarion37

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Dec 8, 2013
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Thank you so much! I was hoping I wasn't throwing away money on the expensive UX301LA, but I need as faithful a representation of colors as possible. Now I can justify the outrageous cost to myself :)
 

vmem

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Feb 17, 2012
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YW, glad to have settled that :) yeah if you needed accurate colors the Y2P is definitely out of the question