Worth it? ~$600 / 15.6", 6+ Hour battery, 8GB Ram, 128GB SSD

[omnilobster]

I decided to start looking for a portable/student laptop since college will be upon me before I know it. I'm well versed in the gaming realm of PCs, but a student laptop if something different. (go big or go home right )

This caught my eye while surfing Xotic.

http/www.xoticpc.com/asus-x501adh31wt-preorder-p-4978.html

I can configure it with a 128GB SSD, 8GB of RAM and an External ODD for ~$600. I may be mistaken, but this seems like a pretty good deal to me. (an psuedo-ultrabook, IMO).
I'm also considering upgrading the Wireless Card in it since I'm going to be using wireless %100 of the time. What in the available options would be good for movie streaming/constant connection (without being overkill)

I chose the SSD option because this is strictly going to be a student/portable entertainment machine and will be backing up all my data unto an external SSD so there shouldn't be a space problem. I've got a gaming desktop that I plan to bring with me, so I have little need for a gaming laptop.


Like I said, I have little experience with laptops. I'm not quite sure whats a good deal or not when priceerformance is so much farther apart than it for Desktops.

Also, would it be worth it to upgrade the wireless card? I'm going to be using it in the dorm and all over campus. Greater range and performance would be worth the extra money, IMO. But I want to know your opinions. (also, which should I go with out of the available options?


Edit: Apparently I should have made it price-to-performance instead. Wasn't expecting that.

 

[Tibbs01]

Looks to be a solid machine for the money. The only "meh" I see is the screen resolution, as the lowest resolution I would consider in a 15.6" is 1600x900 personally, but for the price/performance I think it looks to be a great choice for a student notebook.

If I recall correctly the reviews I have seen for the upgraded wireless card suggest that you would gain very little performance increase for the upgraded wifi cards, but I don't have a link handy for you. Might be worth researching further though.

 

[omnilobster]

Looks to be a solid machine for the money. The only "meh" I see is the screen resolution, as the lowest resolution I would consider in a 15.6" is 1600x900 personally, but for the price/performance I think it looks to be a great choice for a student notebook.

If I recall correctly the reviews I have seen for the upgraded wireless card suggest that you would gain very little performance increase for the upgraded wifi cards, but I don't have a link handy for you. Might be worth researching further though.

Okay thanks. I'm not picky about screen resolution, because if I want something better, I'd probably have to spend ~$150 more.


My other concern is Windows 8. I've been practically living under a rock when it comes to windows 8.

Are there any big changes that I might like/dislike?


All I know about it is that people have had problems playing some games on it.