<p>I'm looking for a sub-$1,000 portable 13'' laptop with 10 hours of battery life. Can anyone recommend one?</p>
<p>I want it to be light and reliable. It needs a 200+ GB hard drive, 2+ GB of RAM, DVD/CD reading/writing, built-in webcam, wifi (802.11a/b/g/n) and bluetooth 2.1 EDR. Screen resolution should be at least 1280 by 800. Speed and graphics are not the most important, but the laptop should be somewhat capable. The CPU/GPU on the Apple Macbook are fine.</p>
<p>I hear people SCREAMING about how Apple computers are only overpriced "fashion symbols". So far, the Macbook fits my desires perfectly. Can anyone recommend what might be a better option? $1,000 is a lot of money and I'd love a cheaper alternative. As you can see, I'm mostly looking for portability and battery life. Netbooks are not an option.</p>
<p>I will probably end up getting the Macbook.</p>
<p>I think this shows that the Macbook is a smart option… not just a “fashion accessory”.</p>
<p>I can’t find a SINGLE laptop with an advertised 10 hour battery life, with everything the Macbook offers. (Some have 7 hours of battery life, but no internal optical drive… also, the HP listed above is the same price as the Macbook… etc)</p>
<p>but it would still be an extra $50, compared to the macbook w/ education discount…</p>
<p>plus, I hear the macbook gets much better wifi reception, which is more important to me than firewire 800 or the back-lit keyboard of the pro. for ~$50, I could en add the extra 2GB of ram, and i’ll still have the better wifi reception.</p>
<p>Thinkpad X201. Student discount/shareholder discount + Lenovo’s ever-frequent seasonal discounts make it cheaper than a MacBook. Better processor, better stock RAM, significantly better build quality (ThinkPad’s trademark, along with nice keyboards), blah blah. 11 hr advertised battery life if that tickles your fancy.</p>
<p>PS. Advertised battery life is usually far from real-world usage.
PPS. I didn’t realize you don’t even own a Macbook when you were singing praises in other threads
PPPS. No one gives a **** about battery life. You’re always within 20ft. of an electrical outlet. In that regard, the ThinkPad has a smaller AC adapter than the MacBook.</p>
<p>I’d recommend looking at the Asus U/UL series. They’re solidly built and most of them are clearly above the MacBook in all specs, except for an optical drive. They run ~$700.</p>
<p>As for the optical drive, but an external for $60.</p>
<p>i have a $300 laptop (toshiba satellite). i figured it will last until i graduate. i’m holding off to buy a real laptop until i graduate. i dont really need a high end laptop right now.</p>
<p>inconnu: thanks but unfortunately the current X201i price is $999, just like the Macbook. Macbook w/ education discount is $950, and I’m guessing the ThinkPad’s education discount would bring it down to about the same.</p>
<p>In addition, the Thinkpad has about the same processor speed (they’re both 2.4GHz, and the i3 seems to be a re-fashioned Core 2 Duo anyway), the same battery life, same RAM, a smaller hard drive, a smaller screen, NO optical drive, NO graphics card, and NO bluetooth, all for the same price. I appreciate the suggestion, but how is this a better deal?</p>
<p>@caltanner: keep in mind that the X201 is a 12 inch tablet (it’s essentially a netbook on steroids), so of course it would not have all that stuff you mentioned. Something like that is not built to play Starcraft 2. </p>
<p>You may want to look into the 14 in models, like the T410, which starts at about 700 after discounts. It’s solidly built and, in my opinion, definitely better than a mac. If you’re worried about the battery life, just upgrade to a 9 cell, which I think lasts about 9 hours.</p>
<p>@caltanner: I don’t know where you’re looking, but the base model X201 with SPP and seasonal discount (coupon code: USXSAVE10X0812) comes out to $764.23+tax+S/H. S/H is not atrocious from Lenovo either. That’s a good chunk cheaper and has all the right things for a student. Core i3 is not a refashioned Core 2 Duo, although performance characteristics are similar. I believe you get slightly better battery life with the Core i3. Bluetooth is a $20 add-on. No graphics card is not a dealbreaker…Intel HD is suited for media playback (hardware acceleration was the focus in its development) but I can play SC2 on low/med settings, you won’t miss the optical drive, smaller screen but much higher resolution than a MacBook means you can do more on your screen, hard drives are extremely cheap these days and you have upgrade options, etc. It’s a better deal. </p>
<p>Here’s a more compelling argument:
Core i7-620M Processor (2.66-3.33GHz, 4MB L3, 1066MHz FSB), 4 GB DDR3 RAM, 320 GB Hard Disk Drive (7200rpm), Bluetooth (because you mentioned it), 9-cell battery: $972.48+tax+S/H. Of course, aside from the vastly superior processor, more RAM, interchangeable battery, you get more real-estate on your screen and it’s still cheaper than a MacBook. On top of that, you get a significantly lighter and more portable computer. Oh, also, since you mentioned that a strong WiFi connection is important to you, food for thought: a) unless you get mobile broadband, you get a 3x3 antenna matrix with the ThinkPads (more throughput than 802.11n’s theoretical max) b) you’re saturated in WiFi while you’re on campus so getting a poor signal is hard.</p>
<p>Look, you honestly sound like you have your heart set on a MacBook. No matter how legitimate of an alternative any of us present, you’re probably going to end up with a MacBook because you’re not approaching this quite rationally. </p>
<p>@soulkamikaze: X201 isn’t a tablet X201t is. </p>
<p>@excelblue: Yeah, the U/UL series are pretty great as well.</p>
i figured it will last until i graduate. i’m holding off to buy a real laptop until i graduate. i dont really need a high end laptop right now.</p>
X201t is. </p>