Lightweight Notebook Recommendation?

[beehgly]

It's been a long time since I've bought a laptop (about 4 or 5 years ago) and with all of the various options around, everything looks good to me as I've not kept up with any new releases and don't really understand the differences in specs and what to expect from it.

If possible, I'd like to get some recommendations for a notebook which has these features:

- At least 13" screen
- Good keyboard (Something that doesn't feel too small and does not have a weird layout for the regularly used keys. It has to feel nice of course )
- At least 7-8 hours of battery life (longer the better, of course)
- Light (<1.5kg ideally)

Would be nice to have:

- Touch screen or matte screen finish (Can't decide which one is more important, maybe some feedback from usual laptop users can help? I plan to use my laptop in school mostly)

I usually browse with a large number of windows and tabs open on Chrome (Usually around 40-60 tabs) so anything that can handle that would be good enough. A good screen would be nice for movies as well but that isn't a feature I'm hung up over so I wouldn't consider it essential.

I'm looking for a laptop below $2300 (slightly above is still ok). Also, would it be better to look for the new laptop in the coming IT Show or should I just look around Funan/ SLS for similar/ better deals?

 

[michael_thm]

Definitely the Dell XPS 13 @$2199.

Pity there is no promo price in Singapore.

But if you got malaysian relatives, the MY Dell online store sell it for RM5149.

 

[beehgly]

Definitely the Dell XPS 13 @$2199.

Pity there is no promo price in Singapore.

But if you got malaysian relatives, the MY Dell online store sell it for RM5149.

While searching around I came to that conclusion as well... IT Show has no promo price for it unfortunately

I don't know if I should get the XPS 13 i5 version at $1699 instead though... In this case, it's really a battle between matte screen finish and the touch screen... what would you go for?

 

[michael_thm]

While searching around I came to that conclusion as well... IT Show has no promo price for it unfortunately

I don't know if I should get the XPS 13 i5 version at $1699 instead though... In this case, it's really a battle between matte screen finish and the touch screen... what would you go for?

there are pro and cons to both.

the i7 touchscreen model has the advantages of a large 256GB SSD. You are likely to need more than 128GB? Do you need touchscreen?

On the other hand, it seems that the i7 with QHD+ screen means a battery life of 11hrs vs the i5 with FHD battery life of 15hrs. And the QHD+ screen may have a problem with apps/programs unable to use the QHD+ resolution, for example Civ5 is said to be unplayable in full screen mode on laptops with 13" QHD screens.

Different people have different priorities, so you got to make your own decision.

 

[beehgly]

there are pro and cons to both.

the i7 touchscreen model has the advantages of a large 256GB SSD. You are likely to need more than 128GB? Do you need touchscreen?

On the other hand, it seems that the i7 with QHD+ screen means a battery life of 11hrs vs the i5 with FHD battery life of 15hrs. And the QHD+ screen may have a problem with apps/programs unable to use the QHD+ resolution, for example Civ5 is said to be unplayable in full screen mode on laptops with 13" QHD screens.

Different people have different priorities, so you got to make your own decision.

Hmm.. If it really lasts for 11 hours that sounds about good enough for me already. I'm really far behind on my game list on Steam so it shouldn't be an issue if a few games don't run as intended as I have plenty of stuff to clear

I was worried more about the scaling issues, with a large monitor at a high resolution it wouldn't be an issue but with a 13" screen, will the text appear really tiny if you aren't using applications on full screen? I tend to use my computer with one side on the browser and another side on Word for school work.

 

[cbyen]

Do they have the i5 model with touch screen FHD?

 

[Teo Ming Ern]

Is price an issue? Otherwise a much cheaper alternative would be the ASUS UX305... this Dell XPS won't run your games from Steam as well... actually none of the ultrabooks would... for that you need to look to a gaming laptop.... which we all know are thick and heavy... the lightest of which I think is the 14 inch Razer Blade... but that's very dear...