I'm in love . . . with a laptop that doesn't exist

[angelsneverdie]

Ok, so ever since CES I've been lusting after a laptop shown off at the show:

http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/05/marvell-shows-off-an-odm-smartbook-thinner-than-strict-decency-p/

The problem is that no one is making it (and knowing the cruel nature of the world, no one will make it.)

So, my question is - does anyone have any recomendations for something similar (that you can actually buy)?

Here's what I like about it:
1.it's thin and light without having a tiny 10 inch screen. I'm tired of lugging my heavy and slow dell around campus.
2. it runs ubuntu (without having to pay for windows)
3. it's cool. I mean, just look at the thing.
4. it's powerful enough for me. Really all i want is to word process, browse the web, maybe watch some streaming daily show and listen to pandora. i'm not a gamer and if I want to watch 1080p res movies i'll use my larger tv, not my simple/light laptop
5. it's cheap. $200. sold.

is there anything out there that comes close to this machine's general awesomeness? I need a new laptop for taking to school and back and this thing seem like just the ticket, so what out there is comparable?

thanks guys!

[Greenwidth]

So, my question is - does anyone have any recomendations for something similar (that you can actually buy)?
No.

Great looking though, can't believe that would be $200.

[angelsneverdie]

I've been looking at dell's adamo. with the price drop to 999 it's very tempting. good thing i'm already broke or i would become so buying one.

[avilella]

In the ultrathin line, if price is number one feature, I would go for the Asus UL30Vt or the Acer Aspire 380T or 380TG. If it's power that you want, then Sony Vaio Z-series, but those are expensive. If it's coolness, then Dell Adamo or HP Envy 13.
Those mentioned have good Linux support and lots of Linux users already.
http://linux-macbook-air-killers.blogspot.com/


I've been looking at dell's adamo. with the price drop to 999 it's very tempting. good thing i'm already broke or i would become so buying one.

[thedutchrockstar]

You made me fall in love as well :O
And still looking for a laptop/netbook that nice =D and cheap

[angelsneverdie]

In the ultrathin line, if price is number one feature, I would go for the Asus UL30Vt or the Acer Aspire 380T or 380TG. If it's power that you want, then Sony Vaio Z-series, but those are expensive. If it's coolness, then Dell Adamo or HP Envy 13.
Those mentioned have good Linux support and lots of Linux users already.
http://linux-macbook-air-killers.blogspot.com/
thanks for the ideas avilella!

i keep trying to find people to talk me out of buying an adamo but everyone is trying to help me justify it instead. most of the reviews i see for adamo say it isn't worth the original 2k price, but now that it is half that . . . ?


The asus looks nice and is under consideration.

Does anyone think it is worth it to wait a few months? Is there anything coming around the corner that will make any of the purchases now seem silly? I realize that there is always something better but if i'm looking for a good deal on power vs. price is there something i should be looking for?


While battery life isn't my main concern (i'm not above throwing the ac adapter in my bag) i like the sounds of the machines with good battery life like the acer aspire timeline or the msi something or other. also i'm very nervous about buying a computer that doesn't have a removable battery. every laptop i've ever owned has gone through at least one battery.
the problem is i'm also looking for the coolness factor and most laptops just don't have it.

And i want to find the person responsible for first making a laptop out of glossy black plastic and shoot them.

[angelsneverdie]

Also, those laptops with two graphics cards and switchable graphics - does that feature work in ubuntu? i don't really want to pay for it if it won't work.

[angelsneverdie]

anyone have any experience with the lenovo thinkpad edge 01972cu? that's the 13.3" model with the amd athelon neo x2 dual core l325 1.5ghz, 3gb ddr2 667mhz, 320 gb hd, ati radeon hd 3200. it's at $629.

does it perform decently? does it run ubuntu well? i'm having trouble finding reviews.

[uberbuntufan64y]

when will this be in stores?

[PatrickVogeli]

get yourself some 11,6" with a SU7300 or SU4100 cpu.. much better than those AMD neo CPUs. There are some very nice, like the HPs. Personally, I'm in love with my Acer 1810TZ.. cheap, nice, "powerful", long battery life (6+ hours) and light (less than 1,5kg).

[angelsneverdie]

Thanks for the recomendation, i'll look into the acer 1810tz. I also just ran across the MSI x600 which looks like a pretty good deal, but again, having trouble finding reviews of it

[niffcreature]

take a look at the sony x series if you think the dell adamo is worth it.
that crap weighs so much more than any cheaper, better ultraportable.

i have a sony z. im running intrepid. right now i dont even have the intel drivers installed... if i did i would have to restart to switch. however, this is all only cause im running 8.1 :) in lucid lynx im pretty sure there will be near full support!!!
http://linux-hybrid-graphics.blogspot.com/

the thinkpad edge is really pretty silly.
get yourself an x300 or x200 and it weighs less and is much nicer.

there are two things you might want to wait for coming up around the corner:
in march, the sony z is getting really insanely better. 1gb graphics card (330gt) support for 4 (FOUR) ssd, intel core I7 620 screen up to 1920 x 1080 res and the chassis has a much much prettier redesign.

#2 is the lenovo x200 update, x210 or something like that which has a touchpad. i would guess you like touchpads.

[Speshio]

I got a good deal on mine (<$500), uses the SU4100, has a great little screen, outstanding battery life, and is ever-so thin and light.

Toshiba T135-S1309

[angelsneverdie]

"like" is a pretty strong word to describe how i feel about touchpads. I'm used to them. I've never owned a thinkpad so that little red pointer thing is something i'm not used to (i'd be willing to try though).

Unfortunatly i think the vaio z is out of my price range, I'd love to keep this below $1k.

I'd like to find one with at least a 13" screen. I'd rather have a lighter/thinner laptop than one with an optical drive. I would like to use it at school so battery life is important.

aesthetically i'd like to avoid glossy black plastic. I'm over it. My current laptop (which is on its last legs) is an inspiron 6000 which is white and grey and ugly as sin. I really like those that are made of aluminum/magnessium instead of plastic.

I thought about a netbook for a while but i really want something that is a bit bigger and more powerful but still light.

[Speshio]

The Toshiba T135 is slick black and a fingerprint collector - that's about its only downside. I'd much prefer a plain ol' utilitarian black pebbled surface, but that cosmetic shortcoming notwithstanding, this little jewel is the laptop I didn't think existed either. It's like a feather in my backpack, 8+ hours battery life, usable keyboard, brilliant 13" screen, boots Karmic from a live USB stick, tentative success getting ndiswrapper to work with win2k drivers, blah blah, and I'm done now.
:popcorn:

http://img685.yfrog.com/i/laptops25pct.jpg/

[angelsneverdie]

Ok i just discovered the HP Probook 5310M and the HP Pavilion dm3z

anyone have any thoughts on those? they appear to have good design and decent specs.

i'll continue looking at that toshiba t135, thanks.

[Speshio]

More info here:

http://linux-macbook-air-killers.blogspot.com/

good luck!

[angelsneverdie]

ok, so here are three that i'm considering:

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y96/dystopias/compare.jpg

Engadget said that the msi x600 seemed pretty flimsy with a poor build quality. The HP Probook 5310m only has a displayport plug so i'd have to buy an HDMI/displayport adapter.

Does anyone have any concerns about any of these that you would like to share with me? The pavilion DM3z seems like the best deal but i don't know much about its amd cpu - is it pretty fast?
does ubuntu run well on all of these?
what do you think?

[angelsneverdie]

And i just found out that HP has a student discount program which would lower the cost of the dm3z to $695.35 which is even better.

and a further update: the dm3t actually seems like a little better of a deal. with the only difference being:
Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo Processor SU7300 (1.3GHz, 3M Cache) with 512MB NVIDIA GeForce G 105M and 3 gig ram same or better performance and double the battery life according to one review, and only a few dollars more.
is this a decent machine or am i going crazy here? final price of that system is $706 (+50 tax) is 756

[angelsneverdie]

Argh! I just discovered the dell vostro v13 . . what does everyone think about that?

[Speshio]

I looked at all these offerings from Dell, HP, Asus and others you've mentioned. They all have fairly major flaws, either in relatively poor battery life, high price, weak cpu power, heavy weight, small screen size, and others.

I decided the 'flaw' I could live with is the slick black molded finger-print grabbing plastic case, especially since this machine outclasses everything else I saw, and I've been looking for awhile.

Look at that picture I posted above. The Toshiba sits next to my older HP full-size laptop, but is twice as powerful with less than half the weight, cost 1/3, and the battery life is 5x better on the Toshiba.

Other than the fingerprints, the Toshiba is beautiful. I see people typing on netbooks and I laugh. It's like the commercial with the guy eating the tiny hamburger. The keyboard on the T135 is not great, and it's the same shiny black plastic as the case, but it's definitely usable for any touch typist.

Do your research. Note for example, there is zero support here - so far - for that Vostro you mentioned. It's always worthwhile to search these forums for any model you're considering to get an idea of potential problems getting Ubuntu installed.

[angelsneverdie]

you have the option of ordering the vostro directly from dell with ubuntu preinstalled, so i'm not worried about the support for it. As for the toshiba I just can't get around the plasticness of it. i'll keep checking it out though. right now i'm still leaning towards the hp dm3t. Now i just need to convince my wife.

[Speshio]

I liked the HP dm3t too, but it has two serious operational flaws, imo, that are much worse than the plasticky look of the Toshiba: heat build-up in one corner of the machine, and a balky touch-pad.

Now, if they made my Toshiba T135 with the cool brushed aluminum case of the HP, then we'd have our perfect little laptop, eh? 'Trouble is the HP's case looks great, but it's not really "cool."

With a woman, I can live with good looks and bad performance -at least for a while:lolflag: - but not with a laptop. That's not to say the HP doesn't have good specs - it does - but certain flaws are definite show-stoppers for me, and the dm3t has 2 biggies.

http://www.laptopmag.com/review/laptop/hp-pavilion-dm3t.asp

[angelsneverdie]

yeah, i'm starting to think i should just wait until something a little more to my liking comes out. Unfortunatly i'm not in a position where i want to spend that much money on something unless i'm sure i'm going to love it. hopefully laptop manufacturers will start understanding that design and functionality can and should go hand in hand without costing and arm and a leg.

[angelsneverdie]

Just in case anyone ever wonders, i ended up getting a Vaio Y series. It was on sale for $100 off so I picked one up and I absolutely love it. Right now i'm dual booting Windows 7 and Ubuntu but Windows probably won't last too long.

thanks for all the suggestions and good luck to you in your searches.

[chris200x9]

yea me too, I got tired of waiting though and bought one of these (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834115733)

edit: I think they are creating a self fulfilling prophacy: We won't sell these right away because it's an unsure market, but by waiting they are forcing people who need them to now get traditional laptops / netbooks. Whereas if they released them when there was huge hype they would have sold many more.