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Really, why can't somebody make a PC laptop that can compete... Required things to sell: 1. Good battery life. (7hrs or more under light use) 2. Good form fac

Really, why can't somebody make a PC laptop that can compete... Required things to sell: 1. Good battery life. (7hrs or more under light use) 2. Good form factor - this means light weight, metal chassis + decent smallish lightweight charger, ideally with non-fatal charge connection when power cord is tripped over by animal/small child/drunk person. I don't want a 2kg laptop if I have to carry around a 1kg charger. 3. SSD + good GFX + high res panel 4. Good keyboard + trackpad The only thing I've seen come close is this: http://www.engadget.com/2014/01/08/gigabytes-aurous-dual-gpu-one-inch/ http://www.engadget.com/2014/01/08/gigabytes-aurous-dual-gpu... And that gets a three hour battery life, which fails on my no. 1 priority list. Looks like I just need to pay up for a Macbook Pro Retina, which according to Apple's site, is "New" and it was released in October 2013. I will happily drop £2k+ for the above.

lclarkmichalek 13y ago
I'm sure there will be something that I've overlooked that disqualifies it from your requirements, but I've been using a Yoga 2 which seems to do what you want. Graphics aren't great (Intel :/), but it runs DOTA 2, so that's me covered. Decent battery life (6hr of video playback), excellent form factor (kinda the point of the machine), 3200x1800 screen, and nice leopard (though that's subjective I guess)
- seanmcdirmid 13y ago
  How is the trackpad? Is it Macbook quality? I'm asking this as someone who is really looking to buy a Yoga 2.
  - lclarkmichalek 13y ago
    I don't love it, but I've never loved a trackpad. Usually I'll be using the touchscreen and/or an external mouse if I plan on doing any serious work, as navigating with one finger is hardly my idea of fun. On the other hand, Macbook users seem to love their mouse controls, so I presume the trackpad must have some secret sauce to induce such a usage pattern (I've never used a Macbook for long enough to comment).
    - seanmcdirmid 13y ago
      Trackpads on non-MacBooks generally suck, I've never used one that is really usable. On the other hand, even a MacBook running windows via bootcamp has a nice trackpad experience, so it must be more than just the driver's fault.
- pacaro 13y ago
  I do have to say that i love the leopard on the Yoga 2 also. For me the 13" screen isn't a problem for my 40+ year old eyes, but I do understand why someone wants a larger form factor. For me the portability and tablet<->laptop convertibility are way more important.
  - christoph 13y ago
    This is one of the more exciting machines on the market. It's about the only thing that tempts me...
VonGuard 13y ago
If you're willing to shill out so much, try these guys: http://www.emperorlinux.com/systems/small/ http://www.emperorlinux.com/systems/small/ They do Linux laptops, so everything arrives working. They have a number of form factors, and build custom machines. They're a small company, but I had one of their OEM's for a few years and it was great.
- christoph 13y ago
  Again... they look nice, but: up to 14" @ 1600x900 2000 - 2900 MHz 4 G - 8 G RAM 180 - 500 GB Hard Drive DVDRW Drive 3 pounds That in all honesty is not what I'm looking for. For comparison, Apple specs, for the same money (or less): 15-inch: 2.0GHz with Retina display Specifications 2.0GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 Turbo Boost up to 3.2GHz 8GB 1600MHz memory 256GB PCIe-based flash storage1 Intel Iris Pro Graphics — Built-in battery (8 hours)
- rch 13y ago
  Looks like I can get closer with the medium builds, but they still don't have a metal chassis (unless I'm missing something). I didn't see a way to ditch the optical drive either. Edit - This is very compelling however: > nice portable empkernel RPM (or DEB) ... Yes, it's still open, and you get all the sources. - http://www.emperorlinux.com/quality/value/kernel/ http://www.emperorlinux.com/quality/value/kernel/
Steko 13y ago
http://www.cnet.com/laptops/hp-spectre-13t-3000/4505-3121_7-35827864.html http://www.cnet.com/laptops/hp-spectre-13t-3000/4505-3121_7-... Plenty of good Windows laptops.
- christoph 13y ago
  I should have said above, ideally I want 17" of screen real-estate. 13" is just too little for my 30+ year old eyes. It does look nice though. Also, this fails massively for my high res panel criteria. The above is 1366x768. I honestly can't imagine running something like xcode on a resolution that low. Certainly not in a productive fashion anyway. Forget having Photoshop or Illustrator open at the same time.
  - Steko 13y ago
    "Spectre 13 can upgrade to 2,560x1,440 for an extra $70"

lclarkmichalek 13y ago

I'm sure there will be something that I've overlooked that disqualifies it from your requirements, but I've been using a Yoga 2 which seems to do what you want. Graphics aren't great (Intel :/), but it runs DOTA 2, so that's me covered. Decent battery life (6hr of video playback), excellent form factor (kinda the point of the machine), 3200x1800 screen, and nice leopard (though that's subjective I guess)

seanmcdirmid 13y ago
How is the trackpad? Is it Macbook quality? I'm asking this as someone who is really looking to buy a Yoga 2.
- lclarkmichalek 13y ago
  I don't love it, but I've never loved a trackpad. Usually I'll be using the touchscreen and/or an external mouse if I plan on doing any serious work, as navigating with one finger is hardly my idea of fun. On the other hand, Macbook users seem to love their mouse controls, so I presume the trackpad must have some secret sauce to induce such a usage pattern (I've never used a Macbook for long enough to comment).
  - seanmcdirmid 13y ago
    Trackpads on non-MacBooks generally suck, I've never used one that is really usable. On the other hand, even a MacBook running windows via bootcamp has a nice trackpad experience, so it must be more than just the driver's fault.
pacaro 13y ago
I do have to say that i love the leopard on the Yoga 2 also. For me the 13" screen isn't a problem for my 40+ year old eyes, but I do understand why someone wants a larger form factor. For me the portability and tablet<->laptop convertibility are way more important.
- christoph 13y ago
  This is one of the more exciting machines on the market. It's about the only thing that tempts me...

VonGuard 13y ago

If you're willing to shill out so much, try these guys: http://www.emperorlinux.com/systems/small/ http://www.emperorlinux.com/systems/small/ They do Linux laptops, so everything arrives working. They have a number of form factors, and build custom machines. They're a small company, but I had one of their OEM's for a few years and it was great.

christoph 13y ago
Again... they look nice, but: up to 14" @ 1600x900 2000 - 2900 MHz 4 G - 8 G RAM 180 - 500 GB Hard Drive DVDRW Drive 3 pounds That in all honesty is not what I'm looking for. For comparison, Apple specs, for the same money (or less): 15-inch: 2.0GHz with Retina display Specifications 2.0GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 Turbo Boost up to 3.2GHz 8GB 1600MHz memory 256GB PCIe-based flash storage1 Intel Iris Pro Graphics — Built-in battery (8 hours)
rch 13y ago
Looks like I can get closer with the medium builds, but they still don't have a metal chassis (unless I'm missing something). I didn't see a way to ditch the optical drive either. Edit - This is very compelling however: > nice portable empkernel RPM (or DEB) ... Yes, it's still open, and you get all the sources. - http://www.emperorlinux.com/quality/value/kernel/ http://www.emperorlinux.com/quality/value/kernel/

Steko 13y ago

http://www.cnet.com/laptops/hp-spectre-13t-3000/4505-3121_7-35827864.html http://www.cnet.com/laptops/hp-spectre-13t-3000/4505-3121_7-... Plenty of good Windows laptops.

christoph 13y ago
I should have said above, ideally I want 17" of screen real-estate. 13" is just too little for my 30+ year old eyes. It does look nice though. Also, this fails massively for my high res panel criteria. The above is 1366x768. I honestly can't imagine running something like xcode on a resolution that low. Certainly not in a productive fashion anyway. Forget having Photoshop or Illustrator open at the same time.
- Steko 13y ago
  "Spectre 13 can upgrade to 2,560x1,440 for an extra $70"