My four old laptop is acting up and I need to buy a new one before the current one dies. I need it mostly for writing and surfing and not for watching movies, videos etc. But it helps if it is relatively lighter and has a good battery life.I also don't want to get one of the ultra thin ones where you have to send to the maker to change the battery.

Any suggestions? I have been recommended Fujtsu and Asus with the salesman saying Asus gives two year warranties and therefore Asus must be good. Would appreciate any ideas on what sort of laptop would suit me. Thanks.

I think Dell are doing a great job at this time, with their Ultrabook
http://www.dell.com/html/global/ ... ST=dell%20ultrabook

very light, super fast, and great battery life, due to the flash hard-drive.  Looks nice too.  

FYI there is a Dell shop in WanChai Computer Centre, where they give an additional discount off the internet price for computers, and they have some popular models in stock so you can just walk up, pay a cheaper money, and walk off with the one you want right there.

Samsung Ultrabook Series 5. Check out their websites. Prices are around 5-8k HKD. Shop them at Golden Centre in Sham Shui Po or Wan Chai Computer Center or Mon Kok Computer Centre for the best prices.

Best value-price would be an Asus ultrabook, or Lenovo if you like Chinese products. I went for Samsung cos im a Samsung fan, i would say they charge around 10% more than other same-spec products cos of their brands, similar to how Sony prices their products

Thanks. I think I will get the Samsung - though I would like to be different and get something else - I guess it is better to go with the winner for now..

in that case, here's the website: http://www.samsung.com/hk_en/bus ... oducts/notebook-pc/

An i7 processor would cost you nearly 8k, while an i5 would be around 6k. For office use, i5 would suffice for videos and low settings for modern games.

i7 would let u play medium settings on modern games, as well as better rendering if you do that shit.

CNET does a pretty good job at reviewing laptops:
http://reviews.cnet.com/best-mainstream-laptops/

If all you want to do is some office work, and can work in the google cloud, you might want to consider a chromebook.  PRO's are very low price, light weight, and long battery life.  CONS are limited apps.

This guy gives a pretty good assessment of life working with a chromebook.
http://www.theverge.com/2012/9/2 ... -my-cautionary-tale

Macbook air

its more pricey than all the other options but its very well worth it.

SSD + lightweight + slim.  

It feels solid all around. No issues with battery either.

I agree Macbook Air. Super thin and light, aluminium case, I use an 11" model and get around 6 - 7 hours battery life depending on what I am doing.

Touch pad works exactly like an iPhone with all the touch gestures etc making it super easy to use and of course also has the OSX operating system which is just easier to use, surf etc. Much less danger with virus' compared to PC.

I have had my current Macbook air for 12 months and I have NEVER turned it off and it has NEVER crashed and needed rebooting once.

Thanks for all the tips.

I have heard good things about Mc Book Air too but somehow I dont like "closed" systems selling for premium prices. PC is messy and chaotic just like life!

I have just bought the Samsung 5 series - took a while to figure out the Windows 8 which actually looks quite good but the 5 series is light, feels solid and is only HK $6,000

Thanks once again for all the tips.

To the posters saying a Mac Air is good because it's light: Ultrabooks are the PC version of "mac air", it's as thin and light as a mac air with various specs, some with cd roms, some without, but you can surely find one who's spec is the same as a mac air.

The only thing good about a mac is their touch pad gesture system, otherwise no sane person would get anything that has to do with apple.

Spoken like a man who's never owned a Mac LOL... I'm not going to make this a Mac vs PC thread because that was not the OPs original request but your last sentence is very naive so I'll assume your just joking and agree that both Macs and PCs have good products...

but next time you need to reboot, just remember... "I'm still surfing" LOL

I had my first personal computer based on Cosmac 1802 chip. This was late 1970's.

Worked over 30 years with all kind of computers, big, bigger and small.

So I'm now sane as I'm happily using also a MacAir 11". Well I also have 2 other Macs and
2 windows based machines.

For me it's more about which operating system and the applications the computer has inside
it. Sorry to say here that the WIndows machines are still behind Unix based (including the current
Mac's).

For me one big reason to use 11" MAcAir is that I travel a lot and need to have a real computer with
me. I don't even own a iPAd (or any other these kind devices) as need to do things that these devices
don't allow me to do.

For TonyToro. If you haven't booted the MAcAir then it hasn't been travelling by Air! Mine goes off when
I go inside the planes when travelling.

We have different tastes in girls, in drinks, in cars, ... let's just understand others tastes.

kim53

Guys, latest IT intel.

Apple will be launching their new 2013 Notebook worldwide.

Already launched in Africa.


Highly recommended.
Anybody know when we can get it in HK?

Dont get me wrong I'm a huge PC guy. My gaming rig will forever be PC!

But for on the go browsing/work/travel. My MB air is the way to go!

For comparison I also own the latest alienware 11" (they stopped making), its pretty powerful and light. But for work i still favor my mb air.

Theres a certain polish that Macs laptops have that gives it an edge over the PC laptops.

Also IMHO OSX > Windows on a laptop.

Granted it is almost apples and oranges when comparing the Alienware 11" to MB Air and the other current slim laptops.


Congrats on your purchase btw!

[ Last edited by  bmberman at 24-1-2013 16:48 ]

I use an HP Folio13, which is about the same size, weight and thickness as a Macair.  It's got a solid state drive etc...  The reason I prefer it over a Mac isn't because of the hardware, but because I can use it the way I want, without Apple always trying to look over my shoulder.  It drives me crazy how they always try to keep track of everything I'm doing.  They think it will be easier for me to just hand over control to them, but they log everything while doing it.

Also, honestly, it's easier to get pirated software for Windows.  So my PC is even cheaper in the long run.

I'm currently using the Samsung Series 5 laptop i won from a raffle last Xmas.
Performance isnt as good as my MacBook Pro specially its battery life w/c last for only a little over 3 hrs.
Anyway i got it for free so simply maximizing its usage to give my MacBook Pro some break.
Btw, current price of this samsung model here in the Philippines is 26k pesos (about 5k HK$) with free external optical drive.

[ Last edited by  devilgodspeed at 24-1-2013 20:42 ]

I think it is like living in Singapore or Hong Kong - Singapore is pretty, well arranged but you have to obey the one ruler - like Mac
Computers...HK is a bit dirty and sloppy but you have more "freedom" to improvise and suffer too...what you choose is a matter of taste but ultimately the "one man genius" society stagnate...

I can see that Mac is the trend setter and that ultra books copy Mac air and Windows 8 follows Apple OS but how much premium do
do you want to pay for "beauty"?

you can't compare a samsung series 5 with macbook pro. there are 19 basic models of series 5, ranging from 1.2kg to over 2kg, from i3 to i7, from cd rom to no cd rom, from HK5k to HK12k so really, if you want to compare, list the series 5 model and price, then compare with the macbook pro/air specs and price, then we can argue.

honestly you can't really compare anything with the macbook pro - nothing matches the screen resolution,
so if you want that you have to pay, period.  

For those that aren't hung up on screen resolution, and want any of
  - price / performance
  - compatibility with 80% of the rest of the World (i.e. the non-Mac community), including things like web browsing, video, and more   
  - flexibility
  - want hardware and software options
  - prefer to be able to fix components when they go wrong, rather than replace an entire device
  - and more ...
... well, it's pretty obvious that there are a range of attractive alternatives to Apple.  

I greatly respect the Mac brand ... it's particularly great for non-technical beginners ... but every time I've walked into a Mac store my eyes have watered at the pricing.  This was particularly rammed home during a dispute (when they literally lost my iPad!) during which they were offering to give me a big discount on something as a compensation, and even after the big discount everything I was offered still cost more than I could get on the high street.  

It's not at all surprising that Apple is the richest company in the World ... so if you like what they have and have the cash to spare, go ahead and make them even richer!  

At the end of the day there's a close parallel with this debate, and the HG / Walkup debate (bringing this neatly back to the subject of this forum!!) ... your choice comes down to personal preference, cash flow, image, and the effort you're willing to make to do research and shop around

you might want to check out alienware if you want to compare with macbook pro.