Best 11.6" Lightweight Laptop

Togepi

Budget: €500 (maybe €600, depending on the laptop) (And that's converting from US prices, so it'd probably be higher if you're looking at European prices.)

I've been looking at the Acer V5 series, but I was wondering if there was anything better within my price range.

Any suggestions?

Gonna copy over what I posted in 'Buying a laptop thread' to show what I'm looking for other than a light and small laptop:

I'm looking for something to see me through college (I'm in 1st Year - doing languages so I don't think there's anything major the laptop needs to be able to do, although I wouldn't mind being able to play the likes of The Sims, Football Manager, Fifa, etc on it), and it has to be very small and light as I will be traveling for the majority of the next 3+ years.

I want a good processor (i5 or i7), but RAM I'm not too bothered about as it can be upgraded. Only problem is, most laptops I've looked at can only be upgraded from 6GB to 8GB, which seems a bit pointless for the price of the laptop.

Not sure if it's all that relevant, but I'll be buying from America in the next month, so I'm looking to get a great value laptop. The budget's around €500, slightly flexible.

gctest50

e300 off , 6gb ram, i3 -3217U processor - dunno if they're any good


http://www.pcworld.ie/Product/ACER-Aspire-V5171-116andquot-Laptop-Silver/313709/301

Torqay

Well, if you're looking for a 11.6" gaming laptop with a Core i5 or i7, the PCS Inferno with its GT 650M is probably what you want, but you may have to stretch your budget somewhat.

If you already have an operating system, the following configuration costs €644 (incl. delivery)

Togepi

Thanks for the replies! I'm willing to stretch my budget a bit, but I don't want a gaming laptop, gaming is one of my lowest priorities really. The battery life on that seems relatively poor, and as I said, I don't want a gaming laptop.

And I'm buying from America to save money so unless they have a US site then I probably won't be getting one of their laptops.

Fiskar

gctest50 wrote: »

e300 off , 6gb ram, i3 -3217U processor - dunno if they're any good


http://www.pcworld.ie/Product/ACER-Aspire-V5171-116andquot-Laptop-Silver/313709/301

Concur with GCTest50, saw this today myself and was surprised it had an i3 for the price. Have an Acer 751 netbook 11.6 " and so far after 2 and 1/2 years the kids even cannot break it. Still has all its keys Etc. Keyboard has function keys as well as opposed to using the Fn and other keys.
Would buy myself if I needed a lappy in the morning.

Torqay

Togepi wrote: »

And I'm buying from America to save money so unless they have a US site then I probably won't be getting one of their laptops.

Well, PC Specialist is a reseller of Clevo laptops in the UK. I'm sure you'll find places in the US where you can get the same model (under a different name) customised to your likings for even less.

Edit: AVADIRECT is selling this model (Clevo W110ER) with the same specs but a 750 GB HDD for $819/€626, or $919/€702 with a quad Core i7 3630QM (probably the best 11.6" laptop you can get, although I'd prefer a SSD).

Togepi

Yeah I had a look there and found them on AvaDirect and XoticPC. This is the one I was looking at (same one you suggested, actually), looks very good even without any extras, although I might get one or two. http://www.xoticpc.com/sager-np6110-clevo-w110er-p-4343.html?wconfigure=yes The price looks like it'll be a bit massive, but I'll definitely consider it, thanks.

Edit: Out of interest, any cheaper suggestions, even if it means the specs are a good bit worse?

Torqay

Well, don't forget the GT 650M, a decent mid-range graphics card.

I suppose, the battery life is pretty good with a Core i5 and the 62WH battery, a fairly balanced machine. The i7 3630QM is a performance monster alright but also a power-guzzling 45W max TDP processor and probably overkill.

Togepi

Any other suggestions bearing in mind that I don't really want a gaming laptop?

And are the Clevo ones fairly durable?

Torqay

Togepi wrote: »

Any other suggestions bearing in mind that I don't really want a gaming laptop?

Well, you're asking for the best...

Normally you only get some wannabe Ultrabooks for that kinda money. ULV (Ultra Low Voltage) processors, made for power efficiency rather than performance. For example the Acer you have linked, the performance is closer to a Pentium B980 than a normal Core i3 laptop.

Togepi wrote: »

And are the Clevo ones fairly durable?

The ones I have seen so far were quite impressive and people seem to be quite happy with their purchase.

Togepi

Torqay wrote: »

Well, you're asking for the best...

Within the price range I mentioned!

Torqay wrote: »

Normally you only get some wannabe Ultrabooks for that kinda money. ULV (Ultra Low Voltage) processors, made for power efficiency rather than performance. For example the Acer you have linked, the performance is closer to a Pentium B980 than a normal Core i3 laptop.

Is that fairly terrible? I thought the one I linked had an i5/i7 processor, no?

Torqay wrote: »

The ones I have seen so far were quite impressive and people seem to be quite happy with their purchase.

Good to hear! Do you have a Clevo yourself?

Torqay

Togepi wrote: »

Is that fairly terrible? I thought the one I linked had an i5/i7 processor, no?

You tell me...

Togepi wrote: »

Good to hear! Do you have a Clevo yourself?

No, I don't really need a laptop (I have 2 Asus netbooks, they suit me just fine) but if I would have to buy one, I'd definitely get the 15.6 UltraNote from PCS, a really impressive piece of kit.