Asus Zenbook ux32a or Toshiba Portege z930 or something else before I buy?

runswithascript

1) What is your budget?

Around €900/$1155/£722

2) What size notebook would you prefer?

c. Thin and Light, it's 13.x" I want.

3) Where will you buying this notebook? You can select the flag of your country as an indicator.

I live in Ireland so usually from the UK, though I would consider Germany if it was possible to swap out the QWERTZ keyboard for an En-GB QWERTY.

4) Are there any brands that you prefer or any you really don't like?

I'll consider any quality laptop suiting my requirements.

5) Would you consider laptops that are refurbished/redistributed?

No.

6) What are the primary tasks will you be performing with this notebook?

Remote IT work, note taking at lectures, and playing games where possible.

7) Will you be taking the notebook with you to different places, leaving it on your desk or both?

Both, but to college every day and away from home two days a week.

8) Will you be playing games on your notebook? If so, please state which games or types of games?

I understand Intel HD 4000 will run World of Warcraft and many other games just fine. Gaming would be nice, but in truth it's not the priority of this laptop and I've accepted that to find one suiting my budget and form factor.

9) How many hours of battery life do you need?

6 I guess? Whatever's standard.

10) Would you prefer to see the notebooks you're considering before purchasing it or buying a notebook on-line without seeing it is OK?

Yes, but not completely necessary with YouTube etc - and the local PC World store has a similar Zenbook to the one I'm looking at and the Toshiba in stock.

11) What OS do you prefer? Windows (XP or Vista or Windows 7), Mac OS, Linux, etc.

It doesn't matter, I will dual boot Windows with Debian.

Screen Specifics

12) From the choices below, what screen resolution(s) would you prefer? Keep in mind screen size in conjunction with resolution will play a large role in overall viewing comfort level. Everyone is different. Some like really small text, while others like their text big and easy to read. Click here for Screen resolution information.

The best I can get, though I do like high resolutions and small text.

13) Do you want a Glossy/reflective screen or a Matte/non-glossy screen?

Matte or non-glossy preferably

14) Are the notebook's looks and stylishness important to you?

Yes.

15) When are you buying this laptop?

Friday.

16) How long do you want this laptop to last?

As long as possible.

Notebook Components

17) How much hard drive space do you need; 80GB to 640GB? Do you want a SSD drive?

500gb would be nice, but I think I could survive with a 128gb for the benefit of an SSD.

18) Do you need an optical drive? If yes, a DVD Burner, Blu-ray Reader or Blu-Ray Burner?

No

*I want a minimum of a third generation Intel Core i5.

*Currently there are two laptops I have my eye on and I am torn between them, perhaps you can help me choose.

*If you know others I should consider please let me know.

*Tested the z930 keyboard in PC World and I can type on it just fine.

*There is a cheaper Acer Aspire S3-391 13.3-inch Ultrabook (Intel Core i5 3317U 1.7GHz, 4GB RAM, 128GB SSD, LAN, WLAN, BT, Webcam, Integrated Graphics, Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit) but I have read bad reviews on it regarding noise and the display.

TOSHIBA Satellite Z930-13N 13.3" Ultrabook™ - Silver

Asus UX32A Zenbook 13.3-inch Laptop (Silver) - (Intel Core i5 3317 2.6GHz, 4GB RAM, 500GB HDD, WLAN, Webcam, BT, Integrated Graphics, Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit)

Alanstrainor

Have the UX32a myself these are my comments:


The machine is gorgeous, really nice case. However it scratches v easily.

The mine currently is running 10GB of RAM and has an i5 something or another processor:p. It's relatively spritely, only game I installed was medal of honour (version released in 2010), and it runs grand on lowish settings.

Screen is average, but it's matte and it's pretty okay.

Battery life can leave a lot to be desired, I wouldn't bank on more than 5 hours.

Generally speaking I'm happy.




I happen to have a z830 which is very similar to the 930. Main advantages would be the full fat SSD, which will make it a good deal quicker. The things I dislike however, the keyboard is poor enough, I don't like the track pad, and the case feels very flimsy.

runswithascript

Alanstrainor wrote: »

Have the UX32a myself these are my comments:


The machine is gorgeous, really nice case. However it scratches v easily.

The mine currently is running 10GB of RAM and has an i5 something or another processor:p. It's relatively spritely, only game I installed was medal of honour (version released in 2010), and it runs grand on lowish settings.

Screen is average, but it's matte and it's pretty okay.

Battery life can leave a lot to be desired, I wouldn't bank on more than 5 hours.

Generally speaking I'm happy.




I happen to have a z830 which is very similar to the 930. Main advantages would be the full fat SSD, which will make it a good deal quicker. The things I dislike however, the keyboard is poor enough, I don't like the track pad, and the case feels very flimsy.

Finally bit the bullet and ordered one, and I am happy with the choice - it's not a perfect Ultrabook, but it does everything I need and will perform better than a chrome book.

I have read differing ports regarding upgrading the storage memory and RAM on ux32a, some saying it cannot be upgraded, others than it cannot.

Ideally, I will eventually upgrade the 500GB HDD to a 256GB SSD and probably the RAM too. Because of that I opted for the version with just a 500GB HDD, instead of a 500GB + 26GB SSD *cache*, and also because that SSD cache apparently only increases the drive speed by 7% on average.

Alanstrainor

dusf wrote: »

Finally bit the bullet and ordered one, and I am happy with the choice - it's not a perfect Ultrabook, but it does everything I need and will perform better than a chrome book.

I have read differing ports regarding upgrading the storage memory and RAM on ux32a, some saying it cannot be upgraded, others than it cannot.

Ideally, I will eventually upgrade the 500GB HDD to a 256GB SSD and probably the RAM too. Because of that I opted for the version with just a 500GB HDD, instead of a 500GB + 26GB SSD *cache*, and also because that SSD cache apparently only increases the drive speed by 7% on average.

Are you sure the UX32a doesn't come with the cache drive? It's built into the motherboard as far as I was aware?

Anyway, as for RAM, no worries there. As someone who is running 10GB it works just fine.

Another point, update the bios to the latest version, my battery life increased substantially. Love the machine now actually. I'm the same as yourself, may upgrade to a 256GB SSD in the future, but for now it's plenty fast.

runswithascript

Alanstrainor wrote: »

Are you sure the UX32a doesn't come with the cache drive? It's built into the motherboard as far as I was aware?

Anyway, as for RAM, no worries there. As someone who is running 10GB it works just fine.

Another point, update the bios to the latest version, my battery life increased substantially. Love the machine now actually. I'm the same as yourself, may upgrade to a 256GB SSD in the future, but for now it's plenty fast.

Nice nice, glad to hear. Mine was delivered yesterday but not to my home so I will have it tomorrow

Are you getting the €15 Windows 8 upgrade on-line? It would be handy if that includes a DVD or the facility to download W8 in its entirety so I could use it for clean re-installs, and dual booting Windows properly.

Have you tried many games? I have read it will run many, just not the latest, and not things on highest settings - would not bother me too much.

You mention SSD in the future - do you expect the HDD to get slow? I'm not sure if that' something that naturally occurs or not, even with maintenance.

runswithascript

Also, the screen is just okay?

From Amazon:

In addition to the full HD wide-view and anti-glare IPS panel

I had read the display was great elsewhere, and much better than the Toshiba's z930's.