Buying a new laptop or ultrabook - high end/business grade

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blair003

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#115304 20-Mar-2013 21:51

Hello,

I need to buy a new work laptop ASAP.

I want something portable, high quality/business grade and something that doesn't get too noisy or hot (except perhaps under full CPU load for more than a few minutes). I'm a power user, I frequently have a dozen or so apps open. Do a tiny bit of video editing (just youtube HD stuff), some semi-advanced excel stuff (pivot tables and large tables) but no gaming.

I would prefer to buy in New Zealand as I want to buy this week. Budget is between $2.5 and $4k.

I was looking at the Asus Zenbook Prime. Can you get the high spec version here, and should I get the touchscreen version with Windows 8?

I was also looking at the Samsung Series 9..

Anyone bought a laptop recently they can recommend?

Cheers

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Dangerous Chocolate
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#784728 20-Mar-2013 21:57

Hiya

I just got a Lenovo X1 Carbon Ultrabook ... touchscreen, core I5, Windows 8 etc ... just over $2k. Very nice piece of kit. Also has a sim card slot which I had not seen in a laptop before.

I did have to wait about 10 days for it, you may be looking for something a little speedier.

Cheers

Lurking ...

billgates

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#784729 20-Mar-2013 21:58

Another vote for Lenovo X1 Carbon. I too also have the touch version. Get the i7 version for yourself which comes with 8GB RAM.

Do whatever you want to do man.

ubernoob

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#784730 20-Mar-2013 22:00

I bought the 17R Special Edition for my son for his 21 recently, Hi Spec. On special for Easter

http://www.dell.com/nz/p/popular-laptop-deals.aspx?c=nz&l=en&s=dhs&~ck=mn&ref=hp1

Regs

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Snowflake

#784731 20-Mar-2013 22:08

i've had a few brands over the years, and Lenovo has been the best. I've been using the 'corporate standard' T/W series models.

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networkn

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#784737 20-Mar-2013 22:19

Toshiba Z930 is a stunning bit of kit, as is the 9470M, the Samsung is amazing, but it's hardly what I would consider "business grade" their top end machine doesn't even have Professional Windows on it, and furthermore it's warranty is fairly consumer with some customers I've worked with waiting 10 days for repairs to be completed.

freitasm

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#784743 20-Mar-2013 22:36

I am quite happy with my HP Folio 13, but it is tricky to get its memory to 8GB. I did have a Lenovo Thinkpad before and those are nice machines too.

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blair003

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#784744 20-Mar-2013 22:37

So I'm leaning towards the Samsung NP900X4C-A05AU or the Thinkpad X1 Carbon. I am pricing them including office 2013 home and business.

Samsung is $3137 inc GST from ascent with free 3 year warranty, 256GB SSD and I'm assuming they have them in the country so I would get one overnight.

The thinkpad upgraded to a 3 year onsite(!) warranty is $3078 inc GST, but it has a 128GB SSD and the 256GB upgrade is an extra $653 inc GST which I find hard to justify. It has a i7-3667U CPU versus the slightly slower 3517U and 14" versus the 15" on the samsung.

I'm learning towards the X1 but the biggest issue is 8 days from factory, plus another 7 working days delivery, so 2-3 weeks before I get it..

bener

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#784748 20-Mar-2013 22:48

Another vote for Lenovo from me, have pulled apart/repaired a fair few, and they are very well constructed (at least the higher end business ones) - aluminium subframe, keyboards with outlets for spillage, etc. etc. Well thought out machines.

I have seen one that took a very large glass of water directly over the keyboard and there was no internal damage - it all leaked out the drain holes in the base...

Edited: Grammar failure.

blair003

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#784749 20-Mar-2013 22:49

networkn: Toshiba Z930 is a stunning bit of kit, as is the 9470M, the Samsung is amazing, but it's hardly what I would consider "business grade" their top end machine doesn't even have Professional Windows on it, and furthermore it's warranty is fairly consumer with some customers I've worked with waiting 10 days for repairs to be completed.

Thanks for pointing that out, they seem to just list 'Windows 8 64-bit' now, it never even occurred that it wouldn't be the professional version.

I will checkout the toshiba, otherwise it looks like I'm waiting for the thinkpad (need pro to connect to a domain)

blair003

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#784750 20-Mar-2013 22:52

bener: Another vote for Lenovo from me, have pulled apart/repaired a fair few, and they are very well constructed (at least the higher end business ones) - aluminium subframe, keyboards with outlets for spillage, etc. etc. Well thought out machines.

I have seen one the tool a very large glass of water directly over the keyboard and there was no internal damage - it all leaked out the drain holes in the base...

The only issue is that are the ones you are talking about the ones that Lenovo have designed/built themselves in the last few years, or older ones that IBM designed/built which earned the line the rock solid reputation it has enjoyed.

bener

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#784753 20-Mar-2013 23:00

Ah - I'm talking about slightly older ones, this was a while ago - thanks for pointing that out. Has the quality degraded? I have supplied a few new low end ones lately and the build quality appeared to be quite good, but that is just from checking them out when I cleaned off all the bloatware.

The only comparison on the new ones I have is that the Lenovo B590 (entry level model) seems to be of a far better build quality than the HP 650 (entry level also) - the HP was VERY disappointing. That being said, the higher end HP Probooks etc. have been excellent.

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billgates

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#784755 20-Mar-2013 23:05

Lenovo X1 Carbon with i7, 8GB RAM and 256GB SSD along with built in 3G modem is NZ$3040 incl GST with 1 year warranty. I agree that upgrade from 128GB to 256GB is a plain rip off. Could just get it with 128GB as it would be really cheap and have a portable USB3.0 external hard drive for additional storage.

X1 Carbon has rapid charge tech which charges the battery from 0 to 85% in 30 minutes. This is not a gimmick. It actually does this. Tying this from a X1 Carbon :-)

Do whatever you want to do man.

blair003

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#784756 20-Mar-2013 23:07

Not sure. The guys in this thread seem to be pretty impressed but I have read build quality has gone backwards in recent times. But perhaps lower end models now borrow the thinkpad name but are completely different to the high end ones.. who knows.

I'm not sure if its quite what it was in the past, but either way its probably as good as or better than whatever else I am going to get today.

macuser

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#784759 20-Mar-2013 23:11

This could be a great option, mind longer deliver times, Dell currently have 20% off their 1080P 13" ultrabook

http://www.dell.com/nz/p/xps-13-l321x-mlk/fs

freitasm

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#784761 20-Mar-2013 23:17

billgates: Tying this from a X1 Carbon :-)

Obviously your laptop has a fault. The "P" is not working ;)

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