Haswell Laptops 14" and smaller with at least FHD screens

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Stereodude

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What Haswell laptops are people buying these days? I've been perusing what's available in the market, and there's some interesting machines, but none seem exceptionally compelling. I've been looking on 14" or less system that offer 1920x1080 (or better) resolution non-TN screens.

Lenovo:
T440s
T440p
X240 (1920x1080 screen isn't being sold yet)
U430p (not on sale yet)

Samsung:
13.3" ATIV 9 Plus (don't think there's one without a touchscreen)

What else should I be looking at?
 
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I can't find any evidence that they're available in the US, but the Asus Zenbook UX301 was announced a couple months ago and looked drool-worthy from a specs standpoint. The Zenbook Prime has been my go-to choice for an ultrabook since this summer and I've gotten them for as little as $550.
 
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It looks like there are a variety of premium ultrabooks from Sony, Toshiba, Acer, etc as well. Unfortunately they are almost all saddled with glossy touch screens on the front and sky high pricing.
 
timwhit

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I have been looking for something like this for my wife for Christmas. Here's what I'd like to find:

  • Resolution: 1920x1080 or higher
  • Display: 13.3"
  • Memory: 8GB or 4GB that supports up to 8GB
  • HDD: 256GB SSD
  • Price: $1000 or less

The Asus Zenbook UX301 matches these specs, but it's $1800.
 
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Considering a MacBook Pro with basically the same specs a the Zenbook UX301 is $1500, I would consider the Asus to be overpriced by quite a bit.
 
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timwhit said:
Considering a MacBook Pro with basically the same specs a the Zenbook UX301 is $1500, I would consider the Asus to be overpriced by quite a bit.
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Pretty sad that the Apple hardware looks like the bargain. I think I have a problem with buying an expensive Apple product though.
 
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Stereodude said:
Pretty sad that the Apple hardware looks like the bargain. I think I have a problem with buying an expensive Apple product though.
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I was pointing this out because generally Apple is considered overpriced. I find it ridiculous that Asus is charging more than Apple for very similar hardware.
 
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timwhit said:
I was pointing this out because generally Apple is considered overpriced. I find it ridiculous that Asus is charging more than Apple for very similar hardware.
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Yeah, not real inspiring.

The Lenovo U430P should be closer to your objectives if you can accept the extra .7" of display.
 
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fb said:
What about the Yoga 2 pro? Or is it just a toy?
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Not sure. I saw a lot of complaining about the Yoga, but that may have been the predecessor and not the Pro 2.

I don't know what timwhit's priorities are, but I have no interest in a touchscreen. I'd rather have a nice matte LCD. I also have some concerns about how Windows will handle the very high resolution displays some of these systems have. I'm also not obsessed with thin and light. I'd rather the system still have normal ports on it, like Ethernet, HDMI, etc rather than require goofy adapters and dongles because the system has been shrunk to the point they just don't fit. I'd also rather get a system with a HDD so I can put in the SSD I want rather than get whatever the maker is choosing to drop in.
 
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One of my boss's kids is pestering me about getting a sub-3lb. notebook with discrete, gaming graphics, a desktop-class CPU and "decent battery life." Money is not an object but of course that notebook does not exist in actual reality. I actually thought about pointing him at an MBP but it turns out that the versions that ship with discrete graphics hardware have something that's only about 50% faster than Intel HDwhatever integrated, which is not worth a whole hell given the screen resolutions involved.
 
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It seems the U430p has a 1920x1080 screen that's matte. Now if Lenovo would only release it in the US I could at least find out how much they want for it or if it can be configured to a proper setup.
 
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Here's where I found it was a matte screen:

[video=youtube;NWdWN97bBeA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWdWN97bBeA[/video]

When he tilts the screen you can see it's matte, as he comments that it's matte.
 
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By the way, I got a T440s (without touchscreen) yesterday. The T440p is probably a better all round workhorse, but I'm pretty satisfied so far.
 
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It was inevitable that they would climb down to the level of the others and be part of the lowest common denominator. Just surprised it took them this long. The old IBMers must have retired.
 
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I completely stripped down a ThinkPad E-something today. Even though this is a massively cheap model, it was still built like a tank.
 
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Mercutio said:
That's an Ideapad. It's explicitly not a Thinkpad. Not all GMs are Cadillacs.
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Yeah, but before it was finally put up for sale there were 4 CPU choices, Nvidia graphics or not, and two screens. They rolled out only the lowest and worst possible config. And, they removed all the information about the other possible components.
 
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So the Lenovo T440s is in their black Friday promotion for 18% off which basically makes it the same price as the pretty much equivalent HP EliteBook 840 G1 config I was looking at. The custom built T440s ends up at about $1250 with no SSD and 4GB of RAM. I would add a SSD myself and a 4GB SODIMM. The HP still has real touchpad buttons and supports 16GB of RAM instead of 12GB in the T440s. This is because the HP has two SODIMM slots vs. 1 slot and 4GB of RAM soldered to the motherboard in the T440s.

There are some pros and con's to each and both are a lot of money. I'm not sure if waiting is the right thing to do or not...
 
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I have 16GB in my T420 that's supposed to max out at 8GB. It works just fine. I don't think I'd worry too much about RAM limits.
 
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ddrueding said:
I guarantee if you wait long enough, such a configuration will be under a grand. It just might be for Christmas 2014.
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FWIW, I wasn't the one with a price cap of $1k. I have no set budget, but I need to feel I'm getting something for my money, not like I'm being fleeced.
 
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Mercutio said:
I have 16GB in my T420 that's supposed to max out at 8GB. It works just fine. I don't think I'd worry too much about RAM limits.
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When it has 4GB soldered on the main board, and only has 1 SODIMM slot, I'd say it is accurate. The chipset doesn't support larger DIMMs. I'm also unsure what happens to dual channel operation with 12GB.
 
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But do you really notice dual channel operation? But the G1 looks like a nice machine. I think it's mostly a matter of taste if you choose it or the T440s.
 
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fb said:
But do you really notice dual channel operation? But the G1 looks like a nice machine. I think it's mostly a matter of taste if you choose it or the T440s.
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Supposedly yes when using the on-chip Intel graphics. Unfortunately, I couldn't find many CPU based benchmarks on Haswell comparing single and dual channel memory.
 
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You don't need to show me benchmarks, I trust you.

I can tell you about a couple of minuses with the T440s so far. It doesn't have NFC and it looks like won't be available in a while (at least not in Sweden). And the screen has some bleeding in the bottom. It's not important in my applications but it might be to some.

I love the keyboard though, I understand that some doesn't like the new layout but the feeling when typing is great. Same with the touchpad, I used a T430s the other day and I clearly prefer the new solution.
 
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timwhit said:
I have been looking for something like this for my wife for Christmas. Here's what I'd like to find:

  • Resolution: 1920x1080 or higher
  • Display: 13.3"
  • Memory: 8GB or 4GB that supports up to 8GB
  • HDD: 256GB SSD
  • Price: $1000 or less

The Asus Zenbook UX301 matches these specs, but it's $1800.
Click to expand...
How about this one? I think it checks all your boxes, but it's an Ivy Bridge, not a Haswell.
 
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