ultra book to replace Mac Book Air

Sniipe

I'm looking into an upgrade of my Mac Book Air 2010 (late) 11". I like the size and design. I'm willing to increase the screen size.

Here are my current considerations:
Cost|Make + Model|Review|Processor|Hard drive|Memory|Comments
1099|ASUS UX303LN-R4141H|link|i7 4510U|256SSD|8|13inch
1504.99|Lenovo ThinkPad Helix 3698||i7 3667U|255SSD|8|11.6inch
1421.1|MS Surface Pro 3|link|i7 4650U|256SSD|8|Keyboard costs extra, has digital pen
1638 (1310 with 20% back)|Lenovo Yoga 3 Pro|link|Core M 5Y70|256SSD|8|13.3inch , 20percent cashback (if purchased before 5th Dec)

I'm leaning towards the Asus as its a decent price. However they seem to be out of stock... anywhere else I can buy that laptop from? scan, dabs, elara or expansys don't seem to stock it. Is there another company I should consider?

Alanstrainor

Any reason to avoid the current Mac Air?

As for the Asus, I would personally want to try it before buying, purely to make sure the touchpad is good and works. Mine (Asus UX32a) has crap drivers for the touchpad, which makes it frustrating to use at times. It's a small enough thing really, but things like the drivers for multitouch take an age to load for some reason, and can be flakey. When they are running it's largely fine, but not as good as (or anywhere near...) a Mac.

Out of those the Yoga would have to come out on top for me.

Sniipe

Hi Alastrainor,

Hmm... interesting that you chose the Yoga. I haven't seen one, however I have seen the surface pro 3 and it looks class. The Asus is most like the MBA, but now that you mention dodgy drivers I'd have to try it out before I purchased... (difficult to find one in a shop locally - Galway)

I probably won't go for another Mac purely based off the fact that I'm not in love with the operating system. Would you give back your Asus for a Mac of similar spec?

Tom Dunne

I've been doing a lot of research on the Yoga and the primary difference between it and the Surface (from what I can see) is the fact that you get a decent keyboard. In addition, it has the Core-M processor, the latest and greatest in terms of battery power (not necessarily processing power, mind you).

I've pretty much made up my mind to buy the Yoga. All I have to do now is convince herself that a 1500 Euro laptop is what I need.

td2008

I have a yoga 2 pro - great laptop. Core i7, 8 gig ram, 256gb sdd, excellent hd screen.

The yoga 3 pro is actually slightly slower - but has a more efficent chip so you get a better battery life. The yoga 2 should be around 1K

Sniipe

td2008 wrote: »

I have a yoga 2 pro - great laptop. Core i7, 8 gig ram, 256gb sdd, excellent hd screen.

Interesting. That's the spec I was thinking of. I wonder how heavy it is... (and how it would compare to the yoga 3)

For Forks Sake

Keyboard for the Surface Pro3 is an extra €121 which is highway robbery.

VenomIreland

Would the Asus from hardwareversand not have a German qwertz layout?

td2008

Sniipe wrote: »

Interesting. That's the spec I was thinking of. I wonder how heavy it is... (and how it would compare to the yoga 3)

Lighter than the mac air iirc, the yoga 3 is lighter and thinner again though.

Sniipe

VenomIreland wrote: »

Would the Asus from hardwareversand not have a German qwertz layout?

good point... I didn't think of that