ASUS U46 Series Laptops - Availability?

DirkVoodoo

Having a hard time tracking down somewhere that sells these. The only place I have found is an Amazon.co.uk reseller. Price looks good and I am pretty much sold on the laptop as it meets my needs, but I was hoping to find a better deal.

Any suggestions or indeed alternatives welcome:

Need:

• Lightweight
• < 15" screen
• Long battery life (~ 8 hours)
• Powerful enough to run Football Manager and nothing more really
• Good keyboard

Willing to spend up to 800 euro, but would Ideally like something closer to 600 euro (I know this rules out the Asus).

marco_polo

Its not a whole bundle cheaper here than the reseller, and I have never dealt with them personally but AFAIK they do deliver to Ireland.

http://www.asusoutlet.com/PRD_ProductDetail.aspx?cid=28&prodid=1305&Product=Asus-U46SV---i5-2410---4GB---500GB-HDD---Win-7-Pro---14

(Note: Komplett laptops are US layout, if that is a deal breaker then ignore following )

This 13.3 samsung would be a decent cheaper alternative if they come back into stock.

http://www.komplett.ie/Komplett/product/ZKB_02PC/02_NOTEBOO/20_121/productdetails/80003091/Samsung_13_3_NP300V3A_i5_2410__4GB__500GB_HDD/NP300V3A_S01NL/default.aspx

Or the 14" MSI if you want to go nuts (Frankly a GT540 GPU is way overkill for just FM, but is roughly in the same price range bracket as the U46 albeit slightly dearer)

http://www.komplett.ie/Komplett/product/ZKB_02PC/02_NOTEBOO/20_121/productdetails/80003302/MSI_14_X460DX_033NL_i5_2410M_4GB_640GB/X460DX_033NL/default.aspx

EDIT: Not certain that the samsung meets the 8 hour battery requirement, I think it is in the 6 hour bracket, the MSI is fine.

dazzday

Had a go on it myself recently, excellent laptop to be fair. Looks and feels stunning (the "grainy" texture is class).
My gripes though would be its poor speakers, which for some unknown reason are located in the left corner alone and really don't do the laptop justice. Screen isn't as good as I'd like either tbh...seems a little grainy and a little washed out. (i'm very picky though!). Place bought from:

http://www.anvika.com/product/Asus_U46SV-WX044X_14_i5_W7HP_4GB_500GB/asu14508

Spec wise seems quite overkill for your needs and the non dedicated -gpu version isn't available in Europe. For FM the integrated sandybridge gpu would more then suffice.

Another option would be the Acer TimelineX 4830T which comes with the i3 or i5.

http://www.johnlewis.com/231309613/Product.aspx?source=63320
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/acer-aspire-timeline-x-4830t-14-1-laptop-blue-10783795-pdt.html

By far the best real life battery in the 14inch bracket.

DirkVoodoo

Thanks for the advice guys. I loved the look of the U46, but dazzday's comments about the screen were a little off-putting. My brother picked up an Asus bargain from saveonlaptops there, and while it is a very impressive machine, the screen indeed had that same hazy, low contrast grain and I found it to be a dealbreaker.

Shame the screen isn't better.

I like the look of the MSI, but I decided to take a trip up to PC World and have a look at the 4830T. Nice laptop, not a massive fan of Acers in general but it seems to fit my criteria.

So I bought one. Now to remove as much bloatware as possible from it!