Thin, light , portable and sexy around 1000-1300USD mark

[saltynay]

I am looking for a new laptop in the 1000-1300USD range that offers excellent bang for buck in a small neat package. My current laptops are a lenovo X61 and a HP Tx1000 but the lenovo I need to pass on and the Tx1000 has the common graphics chip soldering issue that plagues the series. I am a student with an interest in photography. Going to get my Lga775 quad core, gtx260 desktop from the uk sent over so don't need a desktop replacement just something to go to uni daily with and take notes and sync with the mother computer. I don't like netbooks as I find the keyboard restrictive and find 13" screen laptops the perfect niche for small whilst productive for myself. Battery life is important as I frequently go overseas,

My current considerations are:

Dell Vostro 3350:

PROCESSOR (CPU) 2nd generation Intel® Core™ i3-2310M processor 2.10 GHz edit
OPERATING SYSTEM (OS) Genuine Windows(R) 7 Professional SP1 64bit (English) edit
MICROSOFT SOFTWARE Microsoft(R) Office Starter 2010 edit
SECURITY SOFTWARE Trend Micro Worry-Free Business Security Services - 15 months edit
LAPTOP DISPLAY SCREEN 13.3" HD WLED Anti-Glare (1366x768) edit
MEMORY (RAM) 4GB 1 DIMM (4GB x1) DDR3 1333Mhz edit
HARD DRIVE (HDD) 500GB Hard Drive, 7200 RPM edit
OPTICAL DRIVE 9.5mm SATA tray load DVD+/-RW edit
VIDEO CARD AMD (TM) Radeon HD 6470 GDDR5,512MB edit
BATTERY 8-cell battery edit
POWER ADAPTER 90W AC Adapter for UK edit
COLOUR KITS LCD Back Cover - Lucerne Red edit
WIRELESS NETWORK CARD Intel® Centrino® Wireless-N 1030, Bluetooth v3.0+HS

$1,294

The site lets me set the modified graphics chip but then states its a compatibility issue with the harddrive however won't let me change the hdd so need to call them up to check.

HP TM2T:

Operating system Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit edit
Processor and Graphics Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-470UM (1.33GHz, 3MB L3Cache) +512MB ATI Mobility Radeon(TM) HD 5450 [HDMI, VGA] edit
Memory 4GB DDR3 System Memory (1 Dimm) edit
Hard drive FREE Upgrade to 500GB 7200RPM Hard Drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection edit
Office software No Additional Office Software edit
Security software No additional security software edit
Primary battery 50% OFF! Two 6 Cell Lithium Ion Batteries (standard) edit
Display 12.1" diagonal High Definition HP BrightView LED Touchscreen (1280 x 800) edit
External optical drive No Internal DVD or CD Drive edit
Personalization HP TrueVision Webcam and FingerPrint Reader (on the display) edit
Networking 802.11b/g/n WLAN and Bluetooth(R) edit
Keyboard Standard Keyboard edit

Price $975

Thats with 2 batteries as opposed to one

Lenovo (I can't get a price as singapore has no online stores for these laptops just physical establishments)

Thinkpad E220s
Main Features
Processor 2nd generation Intel® Core™ i7-2617M Processor ( 1.50GHz 4MB )
Operating system Genuine Windows 7 Professional 64
System graphics Intel Integrated HD Graphics 3000
Total memory 4 GB PC3-10600 DDR3 1333MHz
Display type 12.5 " HD Wide LED with HD camera 1366x768
Hard drive device 320GB 7200
Network card Intel Wireless Wi-Fi Link 1000
Bluetooth Bluetooth Version 3.0
Fingerprint Reader Fingerprint Reader
Warranty One year
Battery Li-Polymer

Thinkpad X220
Main Features
Processor 2nd generation Intel® Core™ i5-2540M Processor ( 2.60GHz 1333MHz 3MB )
Operating system Genuine Windows 7 Professional 64
System graphics Intel HD Graphics
Total memory 4 GB PC3-10600 DDR3 SDRAM 1333MHz
Display type 12.5 " HD Multitouch 1366x768
Hard drive device 320GB 7200
Network card Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6205 (2x2 AGN WiFi 300Mbps)
Bluetooth Bluetooth Version 3.0
Fingerprint Reader Fingerprint Reader
Warranty Three years parts and labour (system battery: one year)
WWAN Integrated Wireless Wide Area Network upgradable
Battery 6 Cell Lithium-Ion


I like the X303 I think it was but strangely it has dissapeared off the website.

 

[MindoverMaster]

Did you ever look at ASUS laptops? The higher grade looks about what you want.

 

[saltynay]

I did I found their website difficult to navigate

 

[saltynay]

No-ones going to chip in any other opinions on this matter, I am still completely undecided and open to suggestion.

 

[mrnotu]

I have a HP DV-7 enertainment notebook that I like pretty well. 16.9 inch wide screen HD. It is big tho. But if I bought again I think I would go with a Toshiba or Asus. Hope this helps

 

[Puddle Jumper]

I have the X220 and absolutely love it. The battery life is superb and the optional Premium LCD display is an IPS panel that is simply stunning.

Personally I'd pass on Asus. Lately they have been using the cheapest (and therefore lowest quality) LCD panels available in their laptops which isn't acceptable for laptops in this price range. It's unfortunate they started doing this since their laptops are otherwise excellent.

 

[saltynay]

Well lenovo has always had good quality as far as I know although ugly excellently engineered so if no one else can pitch in the x220 is pretty high up.

 

[Lilluda_5]

Honestly if you want something nice and sexy and you have an open mind you check out the Asus Transformer.

Here's a link to my review of it:

Asus Eee Pad Transformer Review | Google Android Tablets

I guess the screen is a little small for your liking but it's so flexible its definitely worth a look imo.

 

[Vapkez]

Try Xotic Pc and their Sagers or Asus'. They should be a lot easier to navigate.

Gaming Laptops - XOTIC PC - Gaming Notebooks - Custom Laptops - Custom Notebooks

 

[saltynay]

Honestly if you want something nice and sexy and you have an open mind you check out the Asus Transformer.

Here's a link to my review of it:

Asus Eee Pad Transformer Review | Google Android Tablets

I guess the screen is a little small for your liking but it's so flexible its definitely worth a look imo.

Looks awesome but its not for me. I have been looking quite a lot at the samsung series 7 tablet which is the same size but running win7 UI which is a nice addition.