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Currently am using a maxxed Dell XPS M1530 for play....
Love it but it leaves a lot to be desired for my busy travel schedule.
Carrying two notebooks (work and play) around gets tiring very quickly.
So, while I perused the options I made do with my work laptop and a S10-2 netbook.
By the way, the s10-2 with Win7 and 2gb is a slick little machine!
On to the shopping!
Choice one: I do not need an optical drive. If so I have a portable LG Lightscribe DVDRW....
What I looked at (under $1000 US):
Dell 14z, ThinkPad Edge, HP Pavilion dm3t, Toshiba U500, Asus UL30vt
What I skipped (over $1000 US):
Dell Adamo, MacBook Air, Alienware M11x, HP dv4i, Thinkpad X201
After comparing all of these and getting an opportunity via numerous resellers here in southern Cali to try these out, I went ahead an bought the UL30vt-x1 from Amazon for $779 (US) with free 2-day shipping and no tax.
What I wanted was the overall build quality, looks and performance.
When comparing all of these I quickly dropped the HP and Toshiba. It was a combination of build quality and the over-all feel/function.
The HP while looking nice just did not seem to perform well (periodic slowdowns for no apparent reason) and the trackpad was aweful.
The Toshiba ran okay but quickly got a bit warm on the left side and you could almost see the battery draining in front of your eyes. Additionally it was loadded with more crap-ware than any other system I looked at. OucH!
The Dell 14z was okay but in both battery life and performance could not keep up with the ul30vt (no benchmarking, just user impression).
When I played with the UL30vt (the test model was silver which I personally do not care for) I was impressed with the over looks and the keyboard was a treat to type on. The performance was great (snappy and quick) and I loved the switchable graphics.
The more i tried these different models, the more I gravitated to the Asus.
So I just ordered it.
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Have this baby and have to say I am impressed!
COuple of benefits: Amazon gave me an extra years warranty - free and ASUS threw in 1 year accidental damage warranty free.
Impressions:
Speed is better than I had hoped.
I did use http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=380681) to remove unneeded bloat - great info!!
I have installed Microsoft Security Essentials as my AV - dumped TrendMicro.
Installed MSOffice 2010 - Beta, Movie Maker, and MS Mail and the NeverWinter Nights series.
Been doing work stuff, play stuff and browsing stuff and have been impressed.
While not the same speed as my M1530 (Dell), this think is a close second in Turbo mode.
Build quality looks very good, small flex in keyboard center on top only.
In battery saver mode, Kindle, internet and some MSOffice Word/Excel stuff I am getting around 9 hours.
Playing HD movies via flash drive I got just under 6 hours. I expect this will improve slightly with a few cycles of the battery.
And did I mention it runs very cool? It does!
Impression to date: A great buy and does everything advertised!
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Went on-;ine asnd called a fair number of local resellers to see what the had available as instore models I could visit and play with.
Took a while but was able to get "hands on" enough to allow me to form an intial opinion.
A couple my co-workers had (I work with a lot of consultants) and was able to try out.
Buying Decision for Ultra Light - Made
Discussion in 'Asus' started by dkunzman, Mar 7, 2010.
