Which Laptop?

[qmul]

I have finally managed to narrow my list of potential ultraportable laptops to buy to just a few;

1) Sony Vaio TT - £1124 w/ 3 yrs warranty
At only 11.1" screen size this is the most portable of the lot. The huge pluses are the carbon fibre chassis, isolated keyboard, dvd drive and it even has space for an HDMI port. The use of the ULV core 2 duos at 1.2GHz gives it a very healthy battery life of 9 hrs.

2) Lenovo Thinkpad X200 - £1194 w/ 3 yrs warranty
This is bit bigger than the Vaio but still very portable. The Mg-alloy chassis along with its roll cage makes this probably the most robust of the lot. The keyboard is as you would expect from a Thinkpad excellent. The use of LV core 2 duos at 1.86GHz still makes this laptop have a respectable battery life of approximately 6 hrs, but still no where near the Vaio. The lack of a built in optical drive is not too bad since I hardly ever use it and it's just one less thing to break.

3) Apple Macbook Pro (13.1") - £1094 w/ 3 yrs warranty
I can't believe that a Macbook Pro made my short list, but given the specs it was hard to not consider it. The new 2009 Macbook Pros have an exceptional battery life of 7 hrs considering they aren't even using the ULV/LV core 2 duos. The nvidia 9400 that it uses edges out the Intel X4500MHD used by the other two. My "only" concern is the the performance of the trackpad in Windows. I have two programs, SPSS Clementine and Minitab which I must be able to use but they can only run in Windows. I have heard how the trackpad is unusable in Windows via Bootcamp. Can someone please confirm. Also, a workround for right clicking in Windows would be great. If this can't be resolved, then this will be the first to drop off the list.

I won't consider any laptop from HP (I use these at work and hate it), Samsung, Fujitsu, Acer or Toshiba (the build quality of the Porteges aren't exactly great imo)

[wh666-666]

Definitely the lenevo, you'll be very pleased with the build quality

[Ashpool]

Lenovo with the Mac at a hair-thin second.

Never heard of the trackpad dying in Windows. Plus it's a bit silly to use bootcamp nowadays considering that Parallels and VMWare make fantastic virtualization software. The only exception would be playing games and I hear that's slowly disappearing.

[kent1146]

You didn't explicitly state your selection criteria, but I can imply what you want out of a laptop based on your description of the ones you listed.

1) Ultraportable laptop (11" to 13.3" size)
2) Durable and sturdy chassis
3) Built-in optical drive is a plus.
4) HDMI port is a plus
5) Battery life
6) Powerful discrete (non-integrated) graphics are a plus
7) Having 2 mouse buttons is almost a must.

I don't know if you realize this, but ultraportable laptops are slow. I mean S-L-O-W. The low-voltage (LV) or ultra low-voltage (ULV) processors are really slow. They typically use 1.8" drives, which are slow, even if you use a 1.8" SSD. If you want any decent performance, you'll need something with a true Core 2 Duo laptop processor, and a 2.5" hard drive factor (7200rpm mechanical, or SSD).

Because of this, I recommend the Dell XPS M1330 or M1340. It is:
- 13.3" laptop screen with LED backlighting. Weight is about 4.2lbs (1.9kg) with battery.
- Sturdy and solid build quality.
- Built-in slow-loading DVD burner, or Blu-Ray drive (option)
- HDMI and VGA ports
- Uses GeForce 8400M (for the XPS M1330) or GeForce 9400M (for the XPS M1340)
- About 3 hours of battery life on the smaller portable 6-cell battery, about 5-6 hours on extended battery.
- 2 mouse buttons on trackpad
- Uses true Core 2 Duo processors (up to T9500 processor (2.6Ghz / 6MB cache / 800Mhz FSB)
- Uses 2.5" SATA hard drives (up to 500GB/7200rpm mechanical, or SSD. The fast SSD's are 2.5" form factor, not 1.8" form factor).

Just some food for thought...

[qmul]

Many thanks for that reply Kent and everyone else.

Kent, you have hit the nail square on the head over what I am looking for. I am aware that the ULVs and LVs are built for extreme power management not for speed.

Ashpool's reply was very interesting. I had no idea VM has come so far on OSX. Having read up on Parallels and VMware Fusion, I am very impressed at how seamless they have managed to get windows running in OSX. My primary use for the laptop is office applications, a few stats packages with some music and video. Gaming is not high on my list at all so the requirement for running windows natively is not a must. So VM can get round this issue very comfortably.

As for the cost, I am heavily leaning towards the Macbook Pro now since on reflection, getting it for £899 is a very significant saving by dropping the extended warranty (since my home insurance can cover the laptop if anything happens), not to mention the very cheap upgrade to snow leopard later on. Like you said Kent, I really need the ability to right click on my windows apps, so I'll pop into my local Apple store later this week to try out their multitouch trackpads to see how well it really works.

[kent1146]

Qmul-

Another thing that you might want to consider is that you will be able to use all of the buttons on an external mouse. So if you do decide to go with a Mac, and plan on using an external mouse most of the time, then the right mouse button would be less of an issue.

[qmul]

I went and bought the new Macbook Pro (13.3") and I am extremely impressed with the machine. The build quality is amazing with the unibody aluminium. The multitouch pad got some getting used to, but it is definitely superior to anything I have used before.

Using Parallels to run windows XP within OS X for my windows apps is a dream to work with. It just works and the coherence mode is seamless.

Getting to know OS X will take a bit of time, but I am sure it will be a joy to learn. All in all, I am very happy with it so far.

[Nabby]

I went and bought the new Macbook Pro (13.3") and I am extremely impressed with the machine. The build quality is amazing with the unibody aluminium. The multitouch pad got some getting used to, but it is definitely superior to anything I have used before.

Using Parallels to run windows XP within OS X for my windows apps is a dream to work with. It just works and the coherence mode is seamless.

Getting to know OS X will take a bit of time, but I am sure it will be a joy to learn. All in all, I am very happy with it so far.

Hehe, another convert. Welcome my friend .

My company recently re-allocated the 15" macbook pro I was using to another department, it came out of that departments budget and made a short stop in IT so I used it for a while. I tried to switch back to a Dell D620, standard notebook issued here, and hated life briefly until I ordered a personal macbook pro for myself. You just can't go wrong with the build quality and the ease of OS X. I am currently using VMware for a windows xp machine in case I absolutely need it but I find myself using it less and less.

Either way it was a good choice on your part. I bought mine refurbished however and have the model right before the current one. I needed the PCI-Express slot that was taken out of the latest model 15" macbook pro. Also, the price was extremely attractive too.

[Johnmcl7]

Although an ultralight and a 13in machine seem close, they're very different - I have an TX (predecessor to the TT), X200 and XPS M1330 and it's the 13in machine I use most of the time. While it's considerably bigger and heavier than the TX with nothing like the battery life (only around 6 hours against the 18 the TX can manage on its pair of batteries) it's a much more powerful workhorse machine but still reasonably small and light for carrying around. I had my doubts initially as the machine seemed pointless slotting in between the TX and the XPS M1710 but was neither good at portability or performance but it strikes such a great balance that I'd definitely recommend the 13in size.

The TX is a clever little machine and when I'm travelling a long time from the mains and when weight is important it's my first choice (had it when across in the states recently) but the small screen and lack of performance are very much an issue which stops it being a more general purpose machine and really needs to be paired with another. I find the X200 a little pointless, it's not that much smaller than the 13in machines but isn't a functional either whilst still bigger than the likes of the TT.

John

[qmul]

@Nabby,
It has been two weeks now with the Macbook Pro and I am very pleasantly surprised at how easy it is to use. One thing that has struck me is how good the keyboard on this thing is. I am not sure why it is just Sony and Apple using and isolated key set up. The god of keyboards would be an isolated setup with the tactile response of a Thinkpad. Gaming on this laptop is quite nice too, being able to play Homeworld 2 and Civ 4 is a joy.

@John,
I agree, the 12" laptops have been made redundant with the TT/TZ at the 11" spot and a load at the 13" spot. The 13" size laptop is a sweet spot if you want a balance of portability and performance and I am glad I have made this choice.

[Nabby]

@Nabby,
It has been two weeks now with the Macbook Pro and I am very pleasantly surprised at how easy it is to use. One thing that has struck me is how good the keyboard on this thing is. I am not sure why it is just Sony and Apple using and isolated key set up. The god of keyboards would be an isolated setup with the tactile response of a Thinkpad. Gaming on this laptop is quite nice too, being able to play Homeworld 2 and Civ 4 is a joy.

I actually don't game much these days and just do work on my Macbook Pro. The thing is a workhorse. Especially when I have multiple linux/windows virtual machines running for testing purposes. And yes the simplicity of it all is a bliss. All I'm waiting for now is Snow Leopard so I can dump Microsoft Entourage, I hate this mail client. We use exchange and with meeting requests and what not I cannot simply use imap/pop3 with the mac mail client.

As far as it being a joy, well let me tell you something. I have yet to meet anyone who has honestly made the switch and tried OS X and wanted to go back. With the exception of hardcore gamers and those that do a lot of DVD re-rendering and what not. The most selection of software in these departments is still on Windows. This is why I keep my desktop around .

[qmul]

The most selection of software in these departments is still on Windows. This is why I keep my desktop around .

I am not going to forsake windows completely either since a couple of apps I need are windows only. So I run windows XP through Parallels 4