4 ms·

I love laptops and follow the market quite carefully. But why is this here? I can understand the discussion about the new Apple Macbook, and the Google Pixel

by nfoz 12y ago

I love laptops and follow the market quite carefully. But why is this here? I can understand the discussion about the new Apple Macbook, and the Google Pixel 2015, and the Dell "Sputnik" linux laptops. Because they all have some element that's a bit "out there" for discussion. This one... is just another laptop, there are many laptops on the market. Why not discuss this one instead? It's much more interesting IMO: http://panasonic.jp/pc/products/mx4h/ http://panasonic.jp/pc/products/mx4h/ The Panasonic MX4, only available in Japan, features: - 2.6lbs (same as this Asus), but it's durability-tested like it's a lightweight Toughbook, they have drop-test videos etc. - 1920x1080 touchscreen - Flips around to become a tablet (yoga), pen is included. - Advertised 12hr battery life, but there are two batteries: the one that drains first is hot-swappable, leaving you with a few hours of battery life for you to swap in a replacement. - An extra accessory allows you to charge your removed-battery from the wall via USB. So you can keep the laptop on battery forever, swapping them out and charging them. - More connectivity options than anything else: VGA, HDMI, separate mic/headphones, SD card, 2xUSB3, and physical wireless on/off switch - Physical touchpad buttons - Ample-size trackpad, and the keyboard buttons are advertised as a decent 2mm of travel distance (deeper than most small laptops nowadays) - Optical disc (blu-ray) drive. In that tiny form factor with exceptional battery, pen-included yoga-tablet, lighter-than-macbook-air durability-tested machine. Amazing!

cwyers 12y ago
If I had to guess: > The most amazing thing about the ASUS UX305 though is that the company has crafted an all-aluminum, thin, light, and capable Ultrabook for only $699. With this kind of price point, one would expect sacrifices to be made in the specifications, but that is not really the case at all.
- stevenjohns 12y ago
  It was more or less the same with the last two generations, with the first generation only really suffering from a 'poor' keyboard.
ossreality 12y ago
Seriously, how do you keep posting this piece of shit with a low res screen and a god damn optical drive. I've never even SEEN a damn bluray before.
IkmoIkmo 12y ago
> This one... is just another laptop It's pretty significant when you have a potential MBA/MB killer, a line which was very very hard to beat the past decade or so. Some competed on better build quality, some did on specs, some did battery life, some did a screen, some did price, but rarely multiple or all combined. But this new ASUS at $700 or so has 2x the Ram of an $1000 MBA (4->8) 2x the storage (128->256). Has a higher resolution (HD -> Full HD). Is thinner (0.68 -> 0.48). Is lighter (2.96lb -> 2.7lb), and slightly smaller in width/length, too. Its performance and battery life benchmarks are virtually similar to the Air. (slightly better, slightly worse in the charts) It has a metal unibody excellent build. It's fanless. That was pretty holy shit to me. If you decide this over the MBA, they will give you $300. And they will give you 4gb more memory. And 128gb storage. And make it thinner. And make it lighter. And make it fanless. And increase the resolution. And make it smaller. In short it's absolutely crazy value. It's the type of thing that heralds a decade in which ultrabooks which are tiny, thin, fast, with great battery life, are available for bargain prices of $700, probably $500 in a few years. Compared to 8 years ago with the launch of the MBA which was $1800, and an extra $1000 if you wanted a 64gb SSD, with a weak performing chip and a few hours of battery life, this seems like a new generation of ridiculous 'performance/price' ratio. I know performance/price always improves... but somehow for me this was a significant laptop. I haven't before seen anyone nail these specs, this build quality, this performance, this battery life, at this price. It feels as if the Nexus 4-5-7 just arrived for laptops, only then even a little bit better. It's not perfect by the way. Biggest gripe is no backlit keyboard and a noisy click on the touchpad. But they feel minor and I expect future iterations to be really solid.
apricot 12y ago
Yes, Panasonic "business rugged" laptops are generally very well made, amazingly light and robust, and come with niceties that you seldom find elsewhere: a good, spill-resistant keyboard, optical drive, physical wireless kill switch, ability to survive 200 pounds of pressure on the lid, etc. I have an older CF-Y7 model from 2008, with a 14-inch 1400x1050 screen. It's still my primary laptop. With Arch Linux and a tiled window manager, it feels surprisingly zippy.

by nfoz 12y ago

cwyers 12y ago

If I had to guess: > The most amazing thing about the ASUS UX305 though is that the company has crafted an all-aluminum, thin, light, and capable Ultrabook for only $699. With this kind of price point, one would expect sacrifices to be made in the specifications, but that is not really the case at all.

stevenjohns 12y ago
It was more or less the same with the last two generations, with the first generation only really suffering from a 'poor' keyboard.

ossreality 12y ago

Seriously, how do you keep posting this piece of shit with a low res screen and a god damn optical drive. I've never even SEEN a damn bluray before.

IkmoIkmo 12y ago

> This one... is just another laptop It's pretty significant when you have a potential MBA/MB killer, a line which was very very hard to beat the past decade or so. Some competed on better build quality, some did on specs, some did battery life, some did a screen, some did price, but rarely multiple or all combined. But this new ASUS at $700 or so has 2x the Ram of an $1000 MBA (4->8) 2x the storage (128->256). Has a higher resolution (HD -> Full HD). Is thinner (0.68 -> 0.48). Is lighter (2.96lb -> 2.7lb), and slightly smaller in width/length, too. Its performance and battery life benchmarks are virtually similar to the Air. (slightly better, slightly worse in the charts) It has a metal unibody excellent build. It's fanless. That was pretty holy shit to me. If you decide this over the MBA, they will give you $300. And they will give you 4gb more memory. And 128gb storage. And make it thinner. And make it lighter. And make it fanless. And increase the resolution. And make it smaller. In short it's absolutely crazy value. It's the type of thing that heralds a decade in which ultrabooks which are tiny, thin, fast, with great battery life, are available for bargain prices of $700, probably $500 in a few years. Compared to 8 years ago with the launch of the MBA which was $1800, and an extra $1000 if you wanted a 64gb SSD, with a weak performing chip and a few hours of battery life, this seems like a new generation of ridiculous 'performance/price' ratio. I know performance/price always improves... but somehow for me this was a significant laptop. I haven't before seen anyone nail these specs, this build quality, this performance, this battery life, at this price. It feels as if the Nexus 4-5-7 just arrived for laptops, only then even a little bit better. It's not perfect by the way. Biggest gripe is no backlit keyboard and a noisy click on the touchpad. But they feel minor and I expect future iterations to be really solid.

apricot 12y ago

Yes, Panasonic "business rugged" laptops are generally very well made, amazingly light and robust, and come with niceties that you seldom find elsewhere: a good, spill-resistant keyboard, optical drive, physical wireless kill switch, ability to survive 200 pounds of pressure on the lid, etc. I have an older CF-Y7 model from 2008, with a 14-inch 1400x1050 screen. It's still my primary laptop. With Arch Linux and a tiled window manager, it feels surprisingly zippy.