Electron Hut: Kyle Bedell’s Blog

I just sold off my Lenovo X61 Tablet, and I’m in the market for a new notebook for home and school. The problem is that I’m torn. My inner gamer, having used only portable computers with crummy integrated graphics, is clamoring for something that could handle TF2 on the go. On the other hand, this thing is going to be moving all over the place, so I’d prefer something that didn’t have a 17 inch screen and weighed as much as a small elephant. I have something hovering around a $2000 budget, so I’m fairly flexible in what I could go with.

That being said, I basically have three options that I’ve narrowed myself down to.

The lightest (and also the most expensive) would be a new Sony Vaio Z-Series. It’s powerful, portable, and has discrete graphics that don’t completely stink. Not so sure about the very MacBook-like keyboard, but the quality certainly seems to be there.

The middle-of-the-road model (and likely the most inexpensive) would be a Lenovo IdeaPad U330. It’s not a slim or light as the Sony, but the keyboard is the rock-solid ThinkPad one (I love ThinkPad keyboards) and it’s pretty powerful. The only issue (apparently) is that the “mirror-like” screen can cause headaches.

And finally, the heaviest option (at 7 pounds) is a Clevo M860tu (aka Sager NP8660). The bang for the buck ratio here is simply incredible (this thing is basically better than my desktop, crammed into a laptop shell). The quality appears to be top-notch as well. Again, the only issue at the end of the day is the weight (really heavy).

In a perfect world, LG would sell their P300 in the United States, but (despite what they’ve said), that doesn’t look like it’s going to happen anytime soon.

Thoughts?