Recommend me a current Haswell touch-ultrabook?

Forums › Laptops and mobile computers › Recommend me a current Haswell touch-ultrabook?

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#914243 12-Oct-2013 22:25

At this point apple is very unlucky their macbook air has no touch otherwise i would get one and run windows lol

Can i ask the uktra res laptop users - does windows 8 let you use the ultra hi res screen like an ipad? Eg if you pinch out on the 2 inch video will it fill the screen (without needing to click full screen)? What about words do they fill the screen with pinching?

heavenlywild

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#914244 12-Oct-2013 22:31

Martynnz: Hi,

I recently imported a duo 13 from Sony Japan (through tenso.com, great service with usual Japanese efficiency). Specced a 256gb ssd and i7-4650 with hd5000 graphics which is better than you can get here (and in NZ). Came in at just over 1800aud which is almost a $1000 better than I could buy for anywhere else.
Duo is good. Tablet form takes some getting used to due to the widescreen but perfectly usable. Weight isn't terrible and easily handled in one hand. Pen helps a lot when using it as a tablet and my fat fingers can find it difficult when in desktop mode. In notebook form the keyboard takes some getting used to but don't notice it now.
Overall it is a great package and the pen is good for notes/annotations. Highly recommend!

Any issues with the WiFi as widely reported?

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lyonrouge

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#914246 12-Oct-2013 23:05

networkn: joker: seriously, I would consider the Toshiba Kira, it's mind boggling, or the Z930 if you want something more corporate friendly.

I'll be looking very very seriously at the HP Zbook with the 3200x1800 screen!

In my experience, Asus, and Sony have terribly slow service records. I have had my sony in for a hinge repair, 10 days, that was on "rush" and it's happened twice. I've had customers wait 2-3 weeks for their asus repair.

Asus do make some nice gear, as do Sony (Z) but I would never ever ever buy one as my primary machine as warranty response==painful.

+1 on the Sony aspect. Although they did come through with fix, it took over a month (Sony Pro 11 BIOS update so that VT worked).

lyonrouge

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#914247 12-Oct-2013 23:08

joker97: At this point apple is very unlucky their macbook air has no touch otherwise i would get one and run windows lol

Can i ask the uktra res laptop users - does windows 8 let you use the ultra hi res screen like an ipad? Eg if you pinch out on the 2 inch video will it fill the screen (without needing to click full screen)? What about words do they fill the screen with pinching?

When you're in what was previously known as Metro, then the answer is usually. Pinch / zoom behaviour is application specific, so support it well, others have some support and others have no idea.

It's quite interesting how much touchscreen behaviour is mouse emulation based, as I now run RemoteApp XP and Win7 on the Win8 host, I'm surprised how touch screen works OK with these previous generation OS.

Martynnz

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#914488 13-Oct-2013 22:37

heavenlywild:
Martynnz: Hi,

I recently imported a duo 13 from Sony Japan (through tenso.com, great service with usual Japanese efficiency). Specced a 256gb ssd and i7-4650 with hd5000 graphics which is better than you can get here (and in NZ). Came in at just over 1800aud which is almost a $1000 better than I could buy for anywhere else.
Duo is good. Tablet form takes some getting used to due to the widescreen but perfectly usable. Weight isn't terrible and easily handled in one hand. Pen helps a lot when using it as a tablet and my fat fingers can find it difficult when in desktop mode. In notebook form the keyboard takes some getting used to but don't notice it now.
Overall it is a great package and the pen is good for notes/annotations. Highly recommend!

Any issues with the WiFi as widely reported?

Haven't had any wifi issues with signal strength but this is just around home/work. I also don't run anything bluetooth which can give it problems due to the way the chip works. I'm not sure how it would be if you were a heavy downloader as It runs a little slower on large files than I would expect, but It streams etc perfectly well.

Batman

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#915947 16-Oct-2013 11:24

lyonrouge:
joker97: At this point apple is very unlucky their macbook air has no touch otherwise i would get one and run windows lol

Can i ask the uktra res laptop users - does windows 8 let you use the ultra hi res screen like an ipad? Eg if you pinch out on the 2 inch video will it fill the screen (without needing to click full screen)? What about words do they fill the screen with pinching?

When you're in what was previously known as Metro, then the answer is usually. Pinch / zoom behaviour is application specific, so support it well, others have some support and others have no idea.

It's quite interesting how much touchscreen behaviour is mouse emulation based, as I now run RemoteApp XP and Win7 on the Win8 host, I'm surprised how touch screen works OK with these previous generation OS.

so i can pinch to zoom into a 2 inch wide video on say chrome to make it big? (i know in windows 7 sometimes you can ctrl + and the video will get big and sometimes it wont)

what about the desktop? can you make the icons and words bigger on a super high res screen? (i know you can't in windows 7)

lyonrouge

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#916018 16-Oct-2013 13:42

I can't say how browsers other than IE behave as I only have ones that MS supply. Send me an example video URL and I'll give it a try. You can increase item size as you can in Win7

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Batman

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#916536 17-Oct-2013 11:56

that trick doesn't work for 2 reasons

1) there are programmes that are coded such that the message boxes won't fit the larger fonts and you are only able to see half the words, or worse can't click on the missing options that didn't fit the box

2) it doesn't resize videos in browsers so your average webpage will give you a video box 2cm x 3cm and if there is no option to click to full screen you need to use a magnifying glass

I think i'll start another thread specific for this

lokhor

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#916581 17-Oct-2013 13:28

Have you had a look at the Dell XPS 12? the newest model uses Haswell and from reviews it sounds pretty decent with a 12.5" 1080p touchscreen.

All comments are my own opinion, and not that of my employer unless explicitly stated.

langers1972

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#916588 17-Oct-2013 13:45

HP ZBook 14?

http://www.engadget.com/2013/09/10/hp-zbook-mobile-workstations/

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#916611 17-Oct-2013 14:33

The zbook is between 3-4kgs ...

The vaio pro13 red is awesme! Only 1kg and lasts all day! Bt why is it red???

langers1972

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#916625 17-Oct-2013 14:54

joker97: The zbook is between 3-4kgs ...

You sure, think you're confusing pounds with kilos?

http://www8.hp.com/us/en/campaigns/workstations/zbook-14.html

"Nonetheless, the ZBook felt comfortable at 1.62kg and sturdy, with no hint of give in the chassis"

Read more: http://www.itpro.co.uk/desktop-hardware/20554/hp-zbook-14-ultrabook-review-first-look#ixzz2hwLox3PW

Batman

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#916871 18-Oct-2013 09:23

hmm .. the pricespy ones are defintitely in kgs ... not that they give you any more information when you click on the NZ links

i think the US one refers to 14" and the NZ ones i search for are 15"

not sure ...

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#916872 18-Oct-2013 09:24

can anyone tell me which has the best touch screen experience and longevity (not the eye candy the usability)

TFT, gorrila glass, IPS ???

apple ones are IPS and the touch experience beats EVERYONE hands down - why??

lokhor

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#916881 18-Oct-2013 09:35

joker97: can anyone tell me which has the best touch screen experience and longevity (not the eye candy the usability)

TFT, gorrila glass, IPS ???

apple ones are IPS and the touch experience beats EVERYONE hands down - why??

IPS is nothing to do with the touch part of the display, it's to do with how it produces the image. IPS displays have a much wider color gamut.

All comments are my own opinion, and not that of my employer unless explicitly stated.

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