Which laptop for frequent traveller?

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For the true traveller test - can you happily balance it on your leg going to the toilet? This is a true mark of versatility. While the iPad is the ultimate in the toilet test, it is not business friendly IMHO. Surface has the form factor to read in bed, on the throne, and then use for presentations in Native MS Office apps.
 
I'm surprised to see that the Samsung Series 9 ultrabooks haven't cracked a mention here! I've been travelling now with mine since purchasing it last year. It definitely ticks the light box as per the OP (13" model), and has a nice finish to it too. Maybe something to be considered?

Hi cat. The Samsung is on my short list - can you expand on how you have found it to use? Reliability, build quality, any negatives you have found etc ? Their web site says 9 hrs battery life but the only review I found said just over 5 hrs - can you comment on what your experience is? Thanks
 
No worries vetrade! What else were you looking at in comparison?

Reliability: 9 hours is definitely pushing it a bit too far, 5 hours is more a realistic estimate with moderate use going though it (I'm sure if you kept the backlight off and stared at your desktop for 9 hours there's a chance you'd reach it, but don't think and desktop wallpaper can really keep someone's attention for that long!). I should note though that I've also enabled a setting keeping it to a max charge of 80% battery, which I was told is better for the battery, so I wouldn't be surprised if it pushed into the 6-7 hours range, but I haven't tried it given I'm not often that far away from a power source. I've been mostly using it for word documents, internet browsing and movie playback, and it hasn't given me any real troubles so far. Can't speak for its performance though if you're looking at performing high intensity tasks such as movie editing, photoshopping etc.

Build Quality: Without a doubt Samsung's "borrowed" elements from the Macbook Air design, but that doesn't take away from its looks. Have had many people go out of their way to comment on it, which has been nice to hear. Whilst I've been quite careful with it, I've found it hasn't been picking up scratches, something which always is often bound to happen as soon as you buy a shiny new toy. It also doesn't seem to get any warmer than other laptops would underneath when using it on the couch or the like. Its weight has been a dream especially when having it in a backpack all day, though you'd expect that from any ultrabook I guess. The lid seems sturdy, has a nice smooth feel when opening it up and overall the laptop has a premium feel to it.

Negatives: I think for its shortcomings they're really down to personal taste. Most of the laptops are essentially the same but with a different brand on the front, so look and feel play a decent role. I'd have loved an extra USB point but I know that's a sacrifice I made when going for the 13" model, and there's the occasional lag when I'm using a number of tabs at once in Chrome (though I've only really noticed it since upgrading from Win7 to Win8 - whether its got something to do with being an early build of Win8 I'm not sure, though I don't find it to really cause much trouble for me).

At the end of the day though it gets the job done, and after cashing in on a price protection claim with my 28 Degrees card I picked it up for <$1,100 which I thought was pretty good value.
 
Appreciate the longish reply cat. Not in any hurry to decide yet - just want to buy prior to a RTW trip in August and I have deliberately held off in case any new models are released.

I travel socially rather than for business and the main consideration is weight - even though my present HP is only 2 YO I found it annoyingly heavy on our last trip.
Hence the appeal of the Samsung at only 1.15kg. I had been thinking about a Thinkpad or a Toshi Portege (mainly because of favourable comments about reliability, battery life etc from AFF members) and only came across the Samsung when I was investigating the Samsung 840 series SSDs.

I'm only interested in Windows and don't have any advanced tasks I need to use it for - web access and Word/Excel are all I need but my wife will want to watch an occasional movie. Having said that, I am one of those people who prefer to have a higher spec'd model even if it eventuates that I don't really need it. Priority is to get the machine that best suits our needs - price is essentially irrelevant. The other thing is that my fingers are a bit gnarly (a legacy of some broken fingers from working with racehorses) so I need a keyboard/mousepad that doesn't require too much finesse to use.

Which model do you have - 128GB/i5 or 256GB/i7 ? Was there anything in particular which swayed you towards the specs of the model you decided on?
 
Also check out the Acer Aspire S7. I'm ordering one for mum shortly almost purely because she wants a white ultrabook! :p
 
If weight is a key consideration then you'll definitely be on a winner with the Samsung, I've actually even once left it at an airport security check after forgetting to put it back into my bag! (all ended well though, noticed an unzipped pocket where it should have been just before boarding and thankfully security still had it, but didn't notice the weight different at all).

Given what it sounds like you'll be using it for, it won't have any problems holding up to the task. I've got the 128GB/i5, though I recall at the time the 256GB/i7 was only on the 15" model, and I wasn't interested in carrying something that big around (so made it a pretty simple decision, really). The i7 was all I was missing out on though, as I've got my core files loaded up, with movies etc. on a 1TB portable hard drive - the extra 128GB probably wouldn't make much difference there. Do you need the i7 for what you're after? Probably not. Could it hurt to have the i7? Definitely not!

The trackpad is nice and big, though I've dedicated one of my USB slots to a receiver for a wireless mouse - find myself so much more efficient with it. Can do a few neat tricks with the trackpad (though not at an Apple level I'm pretty sure), and find the keyboard friendly enough to use (no obvious complaints, and glad it has my favourite keyboard key: the 'right click'!...even if it is a 'fn' button).
 
Your welcome vetrade, let me know how it goes!

Unfortunately it looks a long hard slog ahead for our boys, though it'll be all the more sweeter when things finally turn around, especially after sitting through the (far prolonged) tough times. The win against Essendon last year was one of the best I've ever experienced though, standard of the play aside, my heart was definitely beating true that day!
 
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Samsung have recently announced a re-vamp of their 9 series ultrabooks which might be of interest to those in the market for an upgrade. There will be 2 models - the ATIV Book 9 Plus and the ATIV Book 9 Lite. Only the release date for the Lite has been announced so far - 28th July in the US with a price of $USD799. The Lite will have lower specs - 128GB SSD, 4GB RAM, i5 with lower screen resolution. The Plus model will be released later this year but date and price not announded yet. It will be 13mm thick, 1.4kg, 256GB SSD, 8GB RAM, i7 Haswell CPU, a claimed 12 hr battery life, 2 x 3.0 USB ports, WIN 8 and a category first 3200 x 1800 resolution touchscreen. That should give the MBPs some stiff competition!
 
Just bought a new Mac Book Pro with Retina, 13.3". 8gb/256... Couldn't get the 512gb without ordering it which sucks but I think 256gb will prob do me just fine.

Didn't want the 15" as I think it's just too big for a tray table, but I like that the 15" has more memory. Oh well... Bought it at David Jones an my DJ's Amex with a Dick Smith price match, so a handy 8,000 points in the bank..
 
Fwiw I bought the macbook air 13 " about two months ago and couldn't be happier. Came from a 15.6" hp that weighed a ton.

I think it's the battrey life that really got me over the line. I don't even bring the charger home during the week!
 
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I looked at the Air, but I think I talked myself out of it.

I asked the guy at Dick Smith what the differences were between them and he said basically a MacBook Air is an iPad with a keyboard. That sort of put me off.

I need to but another one for my fiancé later this year and I will prob look more so at the iPad Air for her.

I should of read this thread first as it seems most people are happy with the Air.
 
I looked at the Air, but I think I talked myself out of it.

I asked the guy at Dick Smith what the differences were between them and he said basically a MacBook Air is an iPad with a keyboard. That sort of put me off.

I need to but another one for my fiancé later this year and I will prob look more so at the iPad Air for her.

I should of read this thread first as it seems most people are happy with the Air.

An iPad with a keyboard? Interesting... consider I haven't used my iPad since! :)

I looked at the Macbook Pro as it's a bit more powerful but I still have my old laptop hooked up at work for CAD work if required, but for everything else the Air does the job.
 
Yup, your comments support what everyone else has said to me since I bought mine, why didn't you get an iPad Air.

Oh well, next time,
 
Yup, your comments support what everyone else has said to me since I bought mine, why didn't you get an iPad Air.

Oh well, next time,
If you are happy with what you have, then that's the main thing. Grass is greener - that sort of thing.

As far as a MB Air being like an iPad with a keyboard - That just shows a lack of understanding of their products. Dare I say it, but typical DS BS.
 
If you are happy with what you have, then that's the main thing. Grass is greener - that sort of thing.

As far as a MB Air being like an iPad with a keyboard - That just shows a lack of understanding of their products. Dare I say it, but typical DS BS.

Could not agree more. The MacBook Air I bought is perhaps my best ever tech purchase. I need some grunt to process the mathematics I need. It runs Windows without missing a beat, it's fast and all that with a battery life approaching 12 hours. The DS guy does not have clue.
 
As I mentioned earlier in this thread I love my MBA 13 inch however the battery life is terrible and drives me mad.
 
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