New laptop - recommendations?

[snipez999]

Am after a small laptop for work travel etc (don't like the breeze blocks I have been offered by the IT people at work plus I can't download anything hooky to those!)

Preferably not a small screen/processor notebook (though the Acer Ultrabook would be superb if it were out now of course) and don't like Macs out of principle.

Macbook air is nifty though, and something akin to that size - 13.3 inch maybe and weighing less than 2kgs - would be preferred.

Budget up to 1k. PC World have 10% off lappies until Weds and I need to get it by Mon so need to order tomorrow to get online discount anyway.

Shortlist Samsung series 9 (989 GBP with coupon or 972 in the duty free at the airport, drawback is no access to load stuff on to it first plus a box to dump) and Lenovo Ideapad U260 (810 after discount but SS HDD which I don't mind for speed but could limit me a bit)

Curveball could be a Sony Vaio but I tend not to go with the herd.

Usage is general web stuff (email, forums, possibly Skype VC), office stuff and viewing films/listening to music. The new HPs have a decent soundcard but are too heavy. This has got to slip easily into a manbag (though I do not want a notebook if I can help it; too small to watch anything and limited processor/plug-ins).

Any ideas/comments and experiences welcome, ta.

[AW8]

Have 2 mac's in the house but you dismiss these say out of principle. I like look of Vaio but you wont go with the herd.

Typing on a trusted & dependable Thinkpad T42, (built before Lenovo bought rights), so cant advise with experience of living with more modern MS OS based kit.

IMO Thinkpads feel solid & purposeful but then again I am drawn to the no nonsense durability. I am 1st to admit I wouldnt have a clue which one to buy though if I had a circa £1k budget then a Thinkpad W520 would be on the consideration radar.

[snipez999]

Saw a Thinlpad X1 in a store on eth weekend being used by the sales team to run up records/product details etc and was impressed by the overall look/design. However I don't have long enough to get one made up in time before the trip hence limited to off the shelf choices. Everyone I know who has a Mac say they are great but all the software I have is for windows so I am screwed there!

[X5Sport]

Current PC Pro 'A' lister is the Lenovo (what was IBM) 'IdeaPad G570' - retails at £400 with an i3 CPU. Weighs 2.4kgs and has a 15.6in screen. Their price is from saveonlaptops (dot) co (dot) uk. The alternative is the IdeaPad Z570 which is BluRay capable and has USB3.

Netbook screens are too small IMHO. All right for a tablet but not for real work. You could run a dual boot Mac Book, assuming BootCamp still works on 'Leopard' or 'Giraffe' or whatever the latest is

You could always up the CPU spec if you need to do any serious work on it. Macs only use Dual-Core CPUs, and though the i3 is a dual, you could choose an i5 Quad or i7 Quad (there are duals of both i5 and i7). Make sure it's the 'SandyBridge' variant though. They include on-board graphics.

Might be worth a look..........

[snipez999]

Thanks for comments. A techy m8 who works at HP recommended the Samsung Series 9 so I have plomped for that. This was partly due to lack of time to piddle around with everything properly on this occasion, and imminent expiration of the PC World 10% voucher (today). I will be replacing 3 other domestic laptops in the next year so will remember to check the latest spec of those models out beforehand on the websites given. Cheers.

[X5Sport]

Funny how HPers don't recommend their own kit. I work for em too........ Printers yes, run if the mill pc's yes, laptops? Er no! I detest shiny screens!

[brewer]

HP just dropped WebOS, along with the tablets and phones which run this. There has been a recent firesale on them (£399==>£89).
They are moving out of the laptop and consumer pc business in the next 12 months with a sale being sought (a'la IBM-Lenova).
You may see some bargains during that time.

The consumer markets just dont pay for them (margins way to tight) and they dont fancy a fight with Google, Apple et al, who are far more agile and web 2.0 savvy.

With the acquisition of Autonomy, they have shown their long term strategy of focusing on higher margin software and services in the Enterprise business space.

[X5Sport]

£69 to us.........and very hard to get hold of. Our internal networks nearly crashed when the staff purchase began!