Looking for something specific, new laptop

Eogclouder

Hello,

I'm looking for a very specific machine for my final year of college. I'm in a Computer Science course and will be programming a lot on the machine. I've been looking for something that'll have all of the following. I could buy a cheap amchine but I'd rather invest in something I'll have for 2-3 years as I'm dating a girl in the US and travel there 2-3 times a year.

• weighs 2.2kg or less
• Haswell, preferably with iris.
• 5+ hours battery life
• 1920x1080 Screen (may consider less if all other req's are met.)
• 8gigs of ram
• 256gb+ storage
• windows based (will be dual booting debian)
• no mechanical hdd or optical drive.
• reasonably durable, not indestructible but able to take a knock or two in a schoolbag for example.
• reasonable keybaord
• Touch screen would be a bonus but not necessary.

Money is not an issue right now so sky's the limit.
suggestions?

Edit: I've had my sights on the sony vaio pro 13 and some clevo laptop from Pc specialist, but I'm worried about the build quality of both

Torqay

For £700, you'll get this MSI laptop, Haswell Core i7, 8 GB RAM, GT 740M, Full HD, 2.39 kg... replace the 1 TB HDD (use as portable with an enclosure) with a 256 GB SSD (should reduce the wight a bit too).

Other than that, configure the PCS Optimus V to your likings. It's got the better GPU and battery life but is also slightly heavier.

Eogclouder

Torqay wrote: »

For £700, you'll get this MSI laptop, Haswell Core i7, 8 GB RAM, GT 740M, Full HD, 2.39 kg... replace the 1 TB HDD (use as portable with an enclosure) with a 256 GB SSD (should reduce the wight a bit too).

Other than that, configure the PCS Optimus V to your likings.

I'll check those out, thank you for your reply!

Eogclouder

Torqay wrote: »

For £700, you'll get this MSI laptop, Haswell Core i7, 8 GB RAM, GT 740M, Full HD, 2.39 kg... replace the 1 TB HDD (use as portable with an enclosure) with a 256 GB SSD (should reduce the wight a bit too).

Other than that, configure the PCS Optimus V to your likings. It's got the better GPU and battery life but is also slightly heavier.

Both of these machines are great, the only drawback is the onboard nvidia graphics. It's a battery drain and something I won't use at all.

This has been my main difficulty finding a machine. That, and crappy 1366x768 displays.

Torqay

Well, you better wait a few weeks. Haswell laptops are still like gold dust here. Dell have the dual core ULV Core i7 Haswell in their new 12" XPS for 1500 yoyos

looking_around

you can contact PCspecialist and remove the nvidia, they have other boards if you don't need it.
__

I recently ordered from PCS, and I'm quite happy with the quality, it's not over the top, and the laptop looks 'standard'...which I like.
Paint on trackpad was 'gritty' however, but mostly has rubbed down now.

BUT atm they are slow to get to building stage of the laptop. And are shipping with only a day of testing (rather than the 2 days they claim).
I've been having issues with the sleep function and top range wifi Killer card. Amazing card btw, but you have to restart the PC every time the computer goes to sleep to get internet connection again. (I just turned off sleep when plugged in, and on battery, well, I have an SSD, so it's not too annoying.. )

Just 2 cents on PCS, XD

Overheal

all your criteria fall within certification for 4th Generation Intel Ultrabooks, even battery life, which is by requirement 6+ hours HD video and 9+ on light duty.

Unfortunatley I havent spotted a 4th gen ceritified ultrabook in the wild yet. laptops with 4th gen processors yes, but the certification must be hard to come by. The Lenovo U430T might be the closest thing but it doesnt have an SSD. Good keyboard though. I'll probably start a new thread once I've spotted one or two on the shelf - I will take great pleasure doing my project-team guy's job of unboxing the unit and fiddling with it.

Torqay

Overheal wrote: »

all your criteria fall within certification for 4th Generation Intel Ultrabooks

Not quite all criteria, Ultrabooks are not exactly known for robustness and if processing power is of importance, a dual-core ULV i7 doesn't really cut it.

P.S.: the Dell XPS ultrabook with Haswell chip is already "in the wild".

Eogclouder

looking_around wrote: »

you can contact PCspecialist and remove the nvidia, they have other boards if you don't need it.
__

I recently ordered from PCS, and I'm quite happy with the quality, it's not over the top, and the laptop looks 'standard'...which I like.
Paint on trackpad was 'gritty' however, but mostly has rubbed down now.

BUT atm they are slow to get to building stage of the laptop. And are shipping with only a day of testing (rather than the 2 days they claim).
I've been having issues with the sleep function and top range wifi Killer card. Amazing card btw, but you have to restart the PC every time the computer goes to sleep to get internet connection again. (I just turned off sleep when plugged in, and on battery, well, I have an SSD, so it's not too annoying.. )

Just 2 cents on PCS, XD

What model did you get? Was it heavy?

Eogclouder

Double post, sorry

looking_around

Eogclouder wrote: »

What model did you get? Was it heavy?

this model: Vortex IV LE
It's a little on the heavier side, but nothing that really inhibits portability. Bout standard with most laptops.

Overheal

Torqay wrote: »

Not quite all criteria, Ultrabooks are not exactly known for robustness and if processing power is of importance, a dual-core ULV i7 doesn't really cut it.

P.S.: the Dell XPS ultrabook with Haswell chip is already "in the wild".

I havent seen them in the flesh, which I prefer

raw power may not be in the remit of a U-prefix CPU but in fairness it should be more than ample for college level program compilation. Unless much has changed in the coursework demand in the last 5 years, everything is still OpenGL/C++ etc isnt it? Can't be that obscene

Taking the SSD out of the equation and replacing that with a DIY swap, maybe this will also suffice. The unit is a decent balance of build and performance

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Asus+-+15.6%26%2334%3B+Touch-Screen+Laptop+-+8GB+Memory+-+1TB+Hard+Drive+-+Black/8937158.p?id=1218954926513&skuId=8937158

This one is the fellow I mentioned on the Macbook thread

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/ATIV+Book+8+15.6%22+Touch-Screen+Laptop+-+8GB+Memory+-+1TB+Hard+Drive/8965053.p?id=1218957864443&skuId=8965053&st=samsung%20ativ%20book&cp=1&lp=4

Note however it looks like the ASUS is more powerful

Torqay

Also keep on mind, OP is looking for a processor with Iris GPU rather than dedicated graphics. They have not been released yet, only a few i7 with GT2 graphics are available as of yet.

Overheal

Yeah Im waiting to see an Iris myself and see what it can do