Recommend a laptop that will compare to a MacBook Air

RagingSamster

RagingSamster

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I need to recommend to a customer a quality laptop that is light and powerful enough to run MSOffice, stream video in hd and have good battery life. An added bonus would be a physical network connector. Would a surface pro fill the bill?
 
If you can wait until 10/21, Surface Pro 2 is out and is probably the closest thing MS has to the Air.
I've preordered one myself and didn't see any mention of a physical network port so pretty sure that is not there but otherwise, I think it would fit the bill.
 
BHenry said:
The Samsung Series 9 Ultrabooks fit that bill.
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also check out the asus zenbook prime.

edit

Biggest problem with the surface pro 2 is that the keyboard does not support the screen; therefore, it is hard to use on your lap.

Also, my personal favorite in the laptop/tablet hybrid would be the asus transformer book.
 
Also the new Yogas from Lenovo (ideapad and thinkpad versions). Could look into the Thinkpad X1 Carbon as well.
 
I would go with an X1 Carbon personally. If I didn't ever want to game again I would definitely get one as my main device.
 
Thinkpad X230 here, love it. It's not perfectly comparable to the Macbook but it might be worth looking at.
 
OrangeWolf said:
Thinkpad X230 here, love it. It's not perfectly comparable to the Macbook but it might be worth looking at.
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Have an x230t that I have been enjoying as well. Great machine! Thought about recommending it, but assumed it might be too large in form factor if OP was considering an air.
 
Why not just recommend a MacBook Air instead of looking for an alternative? Is it a price concern?
 
Lots of people don't want a MBA, they just don't know what else to say because they lack the vocabulary or knowledge. Ultrabook is the word he is looking for but trust me you go out into the population and most people do not know that term.
 
Maybe an Acer S7 would be a solid choice. Good screen, decent battery life, and powerful enough for an ultrabook.
 
Yup. Surface Pro or Pro 2 is a good recommendation. If he doesn't really use demanding softwares, Dell's upcoming 2013 Venue series is good as well.
 
Lots of good options listed, I will ask, what's wrong with a MacBook Air?

It runs MSOffice just fine, the files are 100% interchangeable, and because of Apple's rather impressive systems integration, the Air will get better battery life then anything listed (assuming no slice batteries/etc).

It can't be cost as a MBA is +/- the same cost as many of the options listed. It could be OSX, but it's not that different.

I'm just curious.
 
Depending on what's needed with Office, you may need to buy a Windows license, a virtualization program (VMware Fusion, Parallels, VirtualBox {free}), as well as the Office license itself. It could get expensive if you need to run anything outside of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, & Outlook.

My X230t with 6 cell gets about 8 hrs of battery life, if I had an X230 instead I would probably get more, as it offers a 9 cell battery where I'm maxing at 6 cell. That's more than my MacBook Air gets, but it's a used one still running on a 2 year old battery. At least the X230s allow battery swapping.

Another thing mentioned was an Ethernet jack. No $30 external dongle needed on the X230.

The MBA is a fine laptop; I'm certainly envious of the new one for the drive speed and improved battery life. However, the OP was asking for recommendations.
 
burritoincognito said:
The MBA is a fine laptop; I'm certainly envious of the new one for the drive speed and improved battery life. However, the OP was asking for recommendations.
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Agreed, in all honesty there could be a price point or just an unfamiliarity with the Apple OS. The customer probably asked for something like the MBA because they liked the specs and design just no the OS. This is speculation, but I can see this happening.
 
Unless there's very specific Office requirements, I would seriously consider the Air and a copy of Office for Mac. You won't find much better battery life in an Ultrabook than 12 hours of real-world web use (in the 13-inch model).

Alternatives that you'd want to consider if you're simply not allowed to suggest Apple:

- Acer Aspire S7 (make sure it's the 2013 model).
- Samsung ATIV Book 9 Plus
- Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 2 Pro
- Sony VAIO Pro 11 or 13

Don't look at the Toshiba Kirabook. Nice display, but that's its only real positive point.
 
Aurelius said:
You won't find much better battery life in an Ultrabook than 12 hours of real-world web use (in the 13-inch model).
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There are two things to note about this though;
1. You only get 12 hours (if ever) if you remove Adobe Flash.
2. One of the reasons why you get longer battery life is that the MBA has a low res display of 1440x900.

The Samsung ATIV 9 NP900X3F-K01US (see: http://www.samsung.com/us/computer/pcs/NP900X3F-K01US ) has a better CPU than the MBA, the same amount of RAM, and then same 128 SSD capacity for the same price as an MBA but does come with an HD (1920x1080) display.

That's roughly 3/4 million more pixels on the display, which in turn consume more power.

IMHO it's misguided to by a non HD display in 2013. I am constantly amazed that companies are still turning out low res displays and that people still buy them.
 
Thuleman said:
There are two things to note about this though;
1. You only get 12 hours (if ever) if you remove Adobe Flash.
2. One of the reasons why you get longer battery life is that the MBA has a low res display of 1440x900.

The Samsung ATIV 9 NP900X3F-K01US (see: http://www.samsung.com/us/computer/pcs/NP900X3F-K01US ) has a better CPU than the MBA, the same amount of RAM, and then same 128 SSD capacity for the same price as an MBA but does come with an HD (1920x1080) display.

That's roughly 3/4 million more pixels on the display, which in turn consume more power.

IMHO it's misguided to by a non HD display in 2013. I am constantly amazed that companies are still turning out low res displays and that people still buy them.
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Odd that the Samsung you listed only advertises ~6 hours of life (and likely get's less), when the MBA's get the advertised 12 hours in any number of independent tests. Granted, you're not going to get 12 hours under heavy computing load, but 12 hours if moderate computing (office/internet/etc) is a very reasonable number.

The MBA makes a few design choices to maximize battery life, one is the use of an ULV processor instead of the more traditional i5 (like in the samsung), but a huge advantage is Apple's almost obsessive attention to hardware/software integration.
 
All ultrabooks have ULV CPUs that's pretty much what makes them ultra books..... That's not why the MBA gets longer battery life. The Samsung linked has a gen 3 CPU not gen 4. It also has a higher clocked one. This is probably largely where it loses battery life.

Most likely the MBA speced was with a 1.3 ghz CPU well anyone quoting the $1000 price point is looking at that.

I don't care much for ultrabooks but I think its funny that now days a lot of phones are coming out with batteries bigger than some of these ultrabooks.

Unfortunately the Ethernet cable is going to be a hard one, the whole point of tablets and ultrabooks is to keep them thin and the old RJ45 jack while awesome has not kept up with the times. However you can hook up a USB adapter to most ultrabooks and he could just leave the adapter where ever he plugs in. If he wants battery life only take a 4th gen intel CPU.

I think your client needs to think a little about if he wants a tablet or a laptop because I think they point in very different directions. Surface Pro 2 is going to be nice but it is a tablet more than a laptop which has its advantages and disadvantages. Something like the Samsung ativ book 9 plus is a more traditional form factor. Also many of the windows based ultrabooks are now shipping with touch screens. Something to keep in mind.
 
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