For those of you who didn’t see my intro post, here’s the deal – send your PC buying questions to benthepcguy@live.com, find me on Twitter, or leave a question in the comments of one of my posts, and I’ll pick a few each month to answer publicly. I’ll always look to answer questions.
Before I get started, thank you to the dozens of readers who wrote in! I’m sorry that I’m not able to answer every question directly, because there were some really great questions about PCs and Windows that came through.
Hey Ben, looking to get a good school laptop for my 12 year old. He’s not a huge gamer but does want something that can handle some games. - Greg M. (via face-to-face chat at Bellevue Square Mall) The last two offer machines that I covered – the Toshiba e205 and the Sony VAIO EB, are exactly the kind of machine you should be looking for. Each one is a reasonable size and weight (14” and 15” respectively) has a Core i5 processor, big, bright screen, and reasonable graphics power. And you can get them each for under $1000. You might also check out the 14” Samsung R480, which you can get with high-end specs like a Blu-Ray drive and a Core i5 processor. I just took a new job and will be doing a lot of international travel. Need something small and fast. No gaming for me so I’m not too concerned with graphics power. - Jeff O. (via email) Right now I am in love with the Asus UL series. They’re thin, light, and you can get them in 13” (the UL30vt), 14” (UL80vt) or 15” (UL50). Each has a big hard drive – up to 500GB, 4GB of memory, an HD screen, and a Core2Duo ULV processor. What really stands out for me is the fact that the UL line has switchable graphics (NVIDIA GeForce G 210M discrete graphics for better performance, Intel HD Integrated graphics for better battery life), and gets 10+ hours of battery life. And you can get them for around $600! If you’re in the market for a high-end machine, the Sony VAIO Z is one of the most powerful 13” ultrathins out there, and you can get it with killer options like 512GB of SSD storage and Blu-Ray. And of course, if you’re traveling on a budget and aren’t doing a lot of heavy typing, there are tons of great netbooks that might work. I like the Gateway LT210, the Sony VAIO W (which I just posted on a few days ago), the HP Mini Vivienne Tam, (another one I reviewed), and the Asus eeePC Karim Rashid Edition, which you can get in hot pink or coffee brown. So I’m in the market for a new (home) laptop - and I’m looking for something that’s light (~5 pounds or less), thin (1” or less), has awesome battery life (>4 hours), and looks as cool as a MacBook Pro. I’ve boiled it down to three competitors: Dell’s Adamo, HP’s Envy or a new MacBook Pro (running Windows 7 naturally!) - Mark A. (via email) First off, if you’re going to run Windows 7, then you should buy a Windows 7 PC! We work with our OEMs constantly to make sure that their hardware works great with our software. And of course, you can always get more for your money with a PC at any size or price point. In terms of PC choices, I like both the Adamo and the Envy line, so it really depends what you’re looking for. The Envy series is much more media-friendly and they sport powerful discrete graphics and a brilliant screen (as I’ve said before, its one of my favorites). The Adamo is geared towards mobile professionals and features a huge SSD and great battery life. Think about what you want to do, and make the call based on that – they’re both good boxes and are comparably priced. If you like the Adamo you should also check out the Dell Vostro v13. It’s the same chassis as the Adamo, but with more moderate specs (i.e., no SSD), so you can get it loaded up for about $1000, about half price of a top-of-the-line Adamo.
Hey Ben, looking to get a good school laptop for my 12 year old. He’s not a huge gamer but does want something that can handle some games.
- Greg M. (via face-to-face chat at Bellevue Square Mall)
The last two offer machines that I covered – the Toshiba e205 and the Sony VAIO EB, are exactly the kind of machine you should be looking for. Each one is a reasonable size and weight (14” and 15” respectively) has a Core i5 processor, big, bright screen, and reasonable graphics power. And you can get them each for under $1000. You might also check out the 14” Samsung R480, which you can get with high-end specs like a Blu-Ray drive and a Core i5 processor.
I just took a new job and will be doing a lot of international travel. Need something small and fast. No gaming for me so I’m not too concerned with graphics power.
- Jeff O. (via email)
Right now I am in love with the Asus UL series. They’re thin, light, and you can get them in 13” (the UL30vt), 14” (UL80vt) or 15” (UL50). Each has a big hard drive – up to 500GB, 4GB of memory, an HD screen, and a Core2Duo ULV processor. What really stands out for me is the fact that the UL line has switchable graphics (NVIDIA GeForce G 210M discrete graphics for better performance, Intel HD Integrated graphics for better battery life), and gets 10+ hours of battery life. And you can get them for around $600! If you’re in the market for a high-end machine, the Sony VAIO Z is one of the most powerful 13” ultrathins out there, and you can get it with killer options like 512GB of SSD storage and Blu-Ray. And of course, if you’re traveling on a budget and aren’t doing a lot of heavy typing, there are tons of great netbooks that might work. I like the Gateway LT210, the Sony VAIO W (which I just posted on a few days ago), the HP Mini Vivienne Tam, (another one I reviewed), and the Asus eeePC Karim Rashid Edition, which you can get in hot pink or coffee brown.
So I’m in the market for a new (home) laptop - and I’m looking for something that’s light (~5 pounds or less), thin (1” or less), has awesome battery life (>4 hours), and looks as cool as a MacBook Pro. I’ve boiled it down to three competitors: Dell’s Adamo, HP’s Envy or a new MacBook Pro (running Windows 7 naturally!)
- Mark A. (via email)
First off, if you’re going to run Windows 7, then you should buy a Windows 7 PC! We work with our OEMs constantly to make sure that their hardware works great with our software. And of course, you can always get more for your money with a PC at any size or price point.
In terms of PC choices, I like both the Adamo and the Envy line, so it really depends what you’re looking for. The Envy series is much more media-friendly and they sport powerful discrete graphics and a brilliant screen (as I’ve said before, its one of my favorites). The Adamo is geared towards mobile professionals and features a huge SSD and great battery life. Think about what you want to do, and make the call based on that – they’re both good boxes and are comparably priced.
If you like the Adamo you should also check out the Dell Vostro v13. It’s the same chassis as the Adamo, but with more moderate specs (i.e., no SSD), so you can get it loaded up for about $1000, about half price of a top-of-the-line Adamo.
Thanks again to everyone who wrote in a PC question. Keep ‘em coming!
For Microsoft OneNote, a tablet PC with pen support seems optimal for notetaking. What should I look for when it comes to pen/multitouch technology? Also, how does tablet PCs differ from windows based slate devices?
I apologize because this is off-topic, but I stumbled on a bug today that I'd like to report, but I couldn't find a contact email or anything so I decided to make the request here. Could you please send me the details to the registered email address on this account? Thanks. PS: you may delete this post as well. Thank you.
hi Ben!
Am looking for a laptop which has the higest life cycle upgradation inbuilt. This will help me own a laptop on which i only have to upgarde the RAM only if required. Can you please suggest a brand or an OEM who would have it or help m build one?
thnx & cheerz!\
dheerajj sangyam
@tola1005 - assuming you mean a bug with Windows 7 - you can visit the support links listed at the bottom of this page to submit your issue through the right channels. Thanks!
This is a live Sync & Mesh question, and kind of a comment.
I love Windows live Sync, and Mesh I have been using them for over a year. I use Mesh for controlling my work computers and home computer. it is Awesome. I work for a non-profit and use live Sync to deliver review videos and source content to producers, editors, and transcribers, all the way from South Africa to Australia, once again it has been awesome. Finding an alternative would have been hard to impossible. I have Sync running on Win server 2003, XP, Vista 64, Win 7, and Mac OS X. I am concerned that I have heard that the new version is only going to support Vista, and Win 7. Is this true? Being a non-profit in the current economy, the Win XP hardware will not support Win 7, and even with the Non-profit discount we can't afford the change. Win 7 starter or Home might run on these machines but those OS's don't support network domain connections. Please maintain compatability with Win XP. If it requires XP be updated to SP 3 that is not a problem.
Also I don't know if you know the answer to this but can Mesh or the new version of Mesh/Live Sync be run on Server 2003. I don't have a spare machine to test it on?
When will the old version be end of lifed? Will the old version simply quit, or continue to work as long as updates are not installed?
I'd just like to add that I'm also in love with the Asus UL Series. I have the UL20A and I really hope they do a refresh to this 12 inch in their new series. Very well built and stylish hardware at a very low cost!
Hey Ben, what laptop is best for music production? I would also be using it often for web browsing and watching movie. Am particular about great speed, battery life, bluetooth. Budget is $1000 max. A friend recommended Toshiba. Pls, what do you think?
@HeZy Keep an eye on the blog...there's an upcoming post that you need to see!
@JohnCz: Check out the Lenovo x201t. It's got a very nice multi-touch display and works well with a stylus.
Ben, I have a Windows 7 Sony Vaio which I use One Note to take notes with. I'm trying to use Windows Live email to email a page from the note, however when I use the attachment feature it only brings up the whole tab and not the particular page that I want to email. Is there a way around this?
Ben, please excuse if this is a duplicate comment. How long of a wait for a windows tablet that's light (i'm currently using an Acer Aspire for all my needs) and has handwriting/drawing capabilities?
Ben, could you please help me pick a good desk top solution for my photo studio that I am about to set up? There are so many options and I feel at loss.