Which Ultrabook would be best for college student?

[Kelly Montgomery]

I am a college freshman and in about a month I will be ordering a new Ultrabook because I need something light weight and portable. I am a business major. I will use my Ultrabook for papers, online homework, research, social networking, skype, and some minimal gaming(the sims 3 and emulators) I have three ultrabooks of choice but leaving out names due fanboyism
Option 1

13.3" inch 1080P touch screen
3rd Gen Intel® Core™ i5-3317U processor 1.7GHz turboboosts to 3.0GHz
4GB DDR3 memory
128GB Serial ATA III solid state drive
Built-in 1.0MP webcam and microphone
Multiformat media reader
2 USB 3.0 ports
Built-in high-speed wireless LAN (802.11n)
Bluetooth
ENERGY STAR certified
MiniVGA
Micro HDMI
Chiclet BackLit Keyboard
Multitouch TrackPad
6 hours of battery life
Intel Graphics 4000
2.9lbs
Headphone Jack
.8 inches thick
$1300

Or

Option 1A

13.3" Matte Screen 1080P
Intel Core i5-3317U 1.7 GHz turbo boosts to 3.0 GHz
128 GB Solid-State Drive
4 GB SO-DIMM RAM
Intel HD 4000 Graphics
802.11bgn wireless
2 USB 3.0 Ports
Micro HDMI
SDXC slot
Mini VGA
Headphone Jack
2.9 pounds
.8 inches thick
1,0 MP webcam
BackLit Keyboard
6 Hours of Battery Life
$600-800

or


Option 2
13.3 inch non touch screen LED glossy display 1440 x 900
1.3GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i5, Turbo Boost up to 2.6GHz
8GB 1600MHz LPDDR3 SDRAM
Intel Graphics 5000
2.9lbs
.68 inches thick
720P HD webcam
2 USB 3.0 Ports
Thunderbolt port
SDXC card slot
802.11ac wireless
Headphone port
Up to 10 hours of Battery Life
128 GB SSD
$1200

 

[Elektrey]

Second option looks the best just looking at prices/specs but It would help if you posted the actual options... I am open to most brands so fanboy-ism won't be a problem. I just picked up a DELL XPS 14 Ultrabook and its been great so far, on the heavy side for an ultrabook but very sturdy and great quality materials. I got it for college too as I am a freshman in engineering. Sims 3 and emulators will run on all of these and the Intel HD 5000 isn't much better than the Intel HD 4000 so don't let that extra 1000 scare you. I'd like to know more about your preferences because all 3 of these will do what you want, it's just how much you want to spend, what you want it to look like/feel like/battery life/etc.

 

[Kelly Montgomery]

Option 1 is Asus Zenbook Prime Touch UX31A with Windows 8
Option 1A is Asus Zenbook Prime UX31A with Windows 7 (Non Touch)
Option 2 is a Apple Macbook Air 13" with upgraded ram with OS X Mountain Lion

I know a lot of people are anti-Apple however I am not, Ive owned the original MacBook and I loved the OS, and I own an iPhone as well. I also own a Windows 7 laptop Acer Aspire 7560, I am fan of apple and windows, I am not into the whole fanboy thing, and it is just a bit frustrating. I am not a fan of windows 8, but I will use it and have on several occasions.

 

[Elektrey]

Being an Business major, both OS should work for you, however I think a 1080p screen is a great benefit for typing pages as you can fit more onto a page. Honestly it sounds like the only difference between 1 and 1A is touch/windows 8? I would go with 1A. I was looking at the touch ultrabooks when I was finding my ultrabook and thought it would be cool, but in reality it's not going to be all that practical. The multi-touch gestures on the trackpad are excellent and a great way to navigate the tiles in windows 8 if you ever upgrade. Windows 7 and 8 are very close and not really much of a difference in performance etc. As far as the 8GB ram in the mac: see if the RAM is upgradeable in the other 2 as it probably is, but 4GB is plenty most of the time. My desktop PC has 4GB and runs all games on ultra no problems while multi-tasking.