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Thread ID: 135447	2013-11-04 03:36:00	13.3" Business Laptop / Ultrabook	swazi (16894)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
1358680	2013-11-04 03:36:00	Hi I am currently using a Sony S Series 13.3" laptop with Win 7 and i5 processor. It is now over 3 years old and whilst still does everything I need, it is getting a bit slow and I am looking to upgrade. It is for business use and is at least on (if not in use) for probably 12 hours a day every day and endures a fair bit of travel. I am wanting something that will see me through for another 3 years so needs to be both sturdy and future proofed as much as possible. I like the 13.3" size. I am fairly relaxed on budget but am hoping to get something good for under $2k. Can't be an Apple. I guess one has no choice but to accept Win 8 these days? (I have no problem using Win 8 itself, its just that half the accessories around the office will no doubt stop working once I upgrade...). Any recommendations would be much appreciated. Also, I need to replace a battery for a Dell Vostro 3500. is there anywhere in particular that is best to get replacement laptop batteries from? Many thanks.	swazi (16894)
1358681	2013-11-04 03:48:00	www.global-battery.co.nz I would look at something like this for a replacement. www.pbtech.co.nz This is good value, but I personally don't think much of those HP ultrabooks. www.pbtech.co.nz The lenovo carbon series is very very nice, they are probably a bit out of your price range though.	wratterus (105)
1358682	2013-11-04 04:18:00	A few of my friends use macbook aris running windows 7 for school with no problems. It is a beautifully designed laptop.	Nerdtastic (16693)
1358683	2013-11-04 04:52:00	Is your reason for not wanting to consider a Apple laptop/Macbook Air/iPad/ based on a business decision, price limitation, pre existing software limitation, or more or of a "I won't consider anything with an "i" in front of it" type choice? And yes, judging by what Ive seen, when you buy a new PC laptop these days you pretty much have to run Windows 8 FWIW.. PB Tech for $2000 or less www.pbtech.co.nz	Webdevguy (17166)
1358684	2013-11-04 06:14:00	Thanks guys Watterus thanks, will check out that Lenovo range. Don't know much about them. Maybe I need to increase my budget a bit. What about these Samsung Series 9 laptops which seem to get top reviews (or is it just the Samsung buzz at the moment)? Nerdtastic, Webdevguy, whilst I do have a little bit of the "I don't want to consider anything with an "i" in front of it" mindset, the main reason is we have enough computer accessories lying around the office that I am already worried won't work when I upgrade to Win 8 let alone changing OS. Besides, I do a lot of travelling overseas with work and I very rarely (if ever) see Mac's in the workplace and when I need to plug into printers and projectors etc in far flung places it is far easier being mainstream. Cheers	swazi (16894)
1358685	2013-11-04 06:59:00	Thanks guys Watterus thanks, will check out that Lenovo range. Don't know much about them. Maybe I need to increase my budget a bit. What about these Samsung Series 9 laptops which seem to get top reviews (or is it just the Samsung buzz at the moment)? Nerdtastic, Webdevguy, whilst I do have a little bit of the "I don't want to consider anything with an "i" in front of it" mindset, the main reason is we have enough computer accessories lying around the office that I am already worried won't work when I upgrade to Win 8 let alone changing OS. Besides, I do a lot of travelling overseas with work and I very rarely (if ever) see Mac's in the workplace and when I need to plug into printers and projectors etc in far flung places it is far easier being mainstream. Cheers Fair enough. With regards to printing to different printers various business premises from a Mac. Pretty much every printer on the market should have downloadable drivers available online for the recent versions of OS X so that wouldn't be an issue. (unless its a really old printer that predates Windows XP.) <gasp> FWIW, pretty much any Mac laptop will have longer battery life than the "equivalent" model PC laptop. Other than that, happy hunting for your new PC laptop.	Webdevguy (17166)
1358686	2013-11-04 07:01:00	How about another Sony Vaio? www.playtech.co.nz (can probably be found cheaper) It's pretty much the new Macbook without the "retina" display (1080p instead) and made by a company that isn't Apple. Might be worth looking at the Lenovo Carbon X1 as well, think it's just outside your price range. These are also nice: www.trademe.co.nz (only problem is it's running on the old gen cpus so it won't have as good battery life as the new haswell stuff) In regards to Apple and being incompatible: computers are computers. If you install Windows onto it and it's the same as a windows laptop. The only time I can see issues arising is if the bootcamp drivers are bad for proprietary hardware. In which case you have no other option but to put up with horrible drivers. This will be for specific components only e.g. if the thunderbolt port on the new macbook is running through some obscure oem controller. Everything else usb, gpu, ethernet etc etc should have minimal incompatibilities.	icow (15313)
1358687	2013-11-04 07:08:00	With regards to running Windows on a Mac, as icow just mentioned there is Bootcamp (comes pre installed with every Mac and its free)which runs Windows natively but requires you to restart your laptop if you want to switch between OSs for what ever reason. Macs by default will boot up to OSX for obvious reasons. I find that can be a bit fiddly if you happening to be working across platforms. The other alternative is VMWare or Parallels which allows you to run both systems in parallel without any loss of performance.	Webdevguy (17166)
1358688	2013-11-04 18:13:00	With regards to running Windows on a Mac, as icow just mentioned there is Bootcamp (comes pre installed with every Mac and its free)which runs Windows natively but requires you to restart your laptop if you want to switch between OSs for what ever reason. Macs by default will boot up to OSX for obvious reasons. I find that can be a bit fiddly if you happening to be working across platforms. The other alternative is VMWare or Parallels which allows you to run both systems in parallel without any loss of performance. Parallels is nice, but it you bought a Mac with the intention of dual booting Windows as your primary OS then you wouldn't really be doing much switching. As far as I have seen, there have been no issues with Windows 7 on the MBA and most peripherals should, the only real problem is the lack of ports. 2 x USB3, SD card reader, headphone jack and thunderbolt/mini-displayport sometimes aren't enough. (especially only 2 usb ports.) Though I guess you would get that with most ultrabooks wouldn't you :)	Nerdtastic (16693)
1358689	2013-11-04 19:01:00	Yes I'd say some smaller laptops would be limited in the amount of USB ports. With regards to dual booting, I've found it's mostly a convenience thing where 80 percent of my work is done on a Mac and the last 20 percent has to be done on Windows (IE 8 and 9) and for that I prefer the switching option rather than the dual boot option.	Webdevguy (17166)
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