Need a New Windows 8 Laptop or Ultrabook. Any suggestions?

Lots (most?) linux s/w runs fine from the command line in OSX. Sometimes a recompile of a library is needed, or a bit of path tweaking. Remember, OSX is Unix.

I still don't understand why Windoze people pay attention to reboot times if they are just cleaning the memory house a couple times a year, or even once a month.

 

People obsess about things that are easy to measure.

 

Get an iPad with a keyboard/cover. Just get the WiFi version and get the hotspot option for your phone to provide internet access.

To get a 10 hour battery, touch screen Ultrabook will cost about $1400. Sony is the only one who makes an Ultrabook with an additional battery "sheet" to get close to the 10 hours of an iPad.

Been on the road for a couple weeks with the iPad/keyboard setup and it totally replaces my Windows laptop which is gathering dust.

 

I agree - have done quite well with the basic wifi iPad and a portable key board on the road. Every file I ever kept is in dropbox and available wherever I am.

 

Perhaps lots/most of software, but none i.e. 0% of important-to-me and most electrical engineers. You can't recompile libraries you don't have source for, and when you pay $20,000.00USD per seat for a simulator, they don't give you source.

The people that care about boot times, do so because they don't know what is really important. Standby resume time is what is important. And on almost any machine it is instant. But the more RAM you have the more it will parasitically drain your battery. So for long idle periods, a hibernation might be best.

 

You need a MacBook Pro with the Mag Safe power connector. You can run Windows 7 on it (probably Windows 8 too, but I don't know why you might want to.)

 

Yep, wed to Windoze due to proprietary applications is a pretty common story for engineers, architects and CAD. Thankfully the other 99% of computer users have a choice.

Like OP, MS office users tend to think they have to buy Windoze or at least MS Office, when in fact Open Source Office s/w probably serves them just fine if Google Docs does not.

 

Wed to Windows and Linux because of specialized and powerful applications is common. But why would a multi-million dollar corporation puts its eggs into the Windows or Linux basket if it didn't benefit them. For people that use computers almost every waking hour of the day, insight to the stability, resource allocation, performance, and other characteristics of the machine makes the knowledge extensible to those who just want something that works.

If it works under the heaviest of loads and hardest of use cases, it will work for grandma sending pictures via emails. Since XP SP1 I have not had any hardware or software issues. No crashes or anything, that weren't caused by me. A couple blue screens caused by my driver code having a runaway memory hole (my own trouble code), and then I shorted the 5v rail on one of my laptops when my custom USB device overcurrented the H-bridge design.

Open Office is not comparable to Microsoft Office at all. M$ Office is far superior, but obviously a high cost. Google Docs however is awesome. On my Linux VMs I run M$ office because it is the best. But I use Google Docs to sync everything between all devices.[/quote]

 

I really could not say which 'Office' suite is superior; I was only saying that the open source suite is likely fine for most office workers.

As for your contention that proprietary programs were written for Windoze because of some inherent superiority -- I'll have to politely disagree. Mostly I think it happened from inertia of having mostly Windoze boxes in the business world, and because Windoze used to have a well regarded IDE. Nowadays MS Office is the main inertia, and that is changing pretty quickly. It also helps that M$ does not have the monopoly power to 'embrace and extend' standards anymore (not that they do not keep trying.)

Cheers to Google Docs! I use the SS component to run my self-employed s-corp. Works great.

I am curious about one thing though: Closed S/W available for Linux and Windows -- do you know if two separate codebases are kept, or is there a common one ?

 

I use Libre Office as my regular office suite because I prefer it's interface to MS Office's. Libre Office is a fork of OpenOffice. Even though I like both forks, they both fail occasionally opening MS Office documents that have much formatting so I have to use MS Office more than I care to.

Of course, MS Office sometimes fails to open MS Office documents made with other versions of MS Office and there are sometimes incompatibilities between the PC version and the Apple version.

 

I run into this occasionally too. I just ask the person to send me a pdf since I do not have to edit the document.

 

That is one of my solutions too. I usually need to do some editing but am able to do it with PDF converter Pro if it isn't a bunch.

 

If I had things my way, all my editing of text documents would be in gmail
Unfortunately, Gmail does not have strikethrough, which forces me to go through Google Docs first.

 

Time to boot and to Windows desktop are relatively easy to measure. Time to which the machine is usable is slightly fuzzier but there is a tangible benefit to it being faster. But seriously, as I said before: good SSDs rock!

On my main desktop at home (i7-860 I put together in ~end of April 2010; boot and programs drive is an Intel X25-M G2 SSD, very good for back then), I usually just put it to sleep and wake it up when needed. It's not rebooted much but has to be rebooted at least once a month due to Patch Tuesday - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

My T61p laptop that was featured in the video is frequently shut down completely. Why? Well, if I put it to sleep and it's not plugged in, that's draining the battery. That puts unnecessary cycles on it. So, I shut it down.
(I'm still using the original battery even though the laptop was bought late 2007. I haven't timed it formally but last year, when doing a joint project w/some team members, I was actively doing work on it for over 3 hours unplugged and still had battery left. How many people w/4+ year-old non-Lenovo laptops can still get 3+ hours of battery life on their original battery?)

I used to not hibernate due to fear of putting excess wear on the SSD but judging by Samsung 830 SSD torture tests, the fears seem unfounded... but hibernating tends to be slower than shutting down and I just have a habit. Also, I believe in hibernate (it can in sleep), the machine can wake up to check Windows Update or whatever. I've witnessed it doing that (waking up from sleep). If I'm not plugged in, that'll drain the battery a bit...

I've slept my machines only to sometimes find that they're resuming from hibernate, sometimes (always?) due to the above wake up.

My other laptop is hardly used, so I just shut it down. Same reasons.

As for Linux and OS X, they often need reboots after updates.

Uhh.... and Linux has its own set of issues... too long to list. Ever try plugging in a 2nd monitor via VGA port into a Lenovo T61 (my dad's laptop) running Ubuntu with Nvidia video? (Yeah, yeah, I'm sure there's a story about Nvidia and Linux. I've seen

.). Last time I tried, I found out the hard way that it didn't work at all and the machine goes all wonky. I couldn't get any readable display anymore (even after disconnecting the 2nd display) and couldn't properly shut it down.

I suppose I could try ssh-ing to it from another machine or something if I had the daemon enabled...

 

I notice that the things I most care about in a notebook are rarely emphasized by Windoze users:

The order varies ...
1. Size and Weight
2. Power consumption
3. Battery duration
4. Aesthetics
5. Ergonomics

I take for granted that OSX will be reliable and a pleasure to use, the hardware will last longer than I care to keep the machine, and my rather pedestrian processing demands will be handled just fine. I also give very little thought to malware.

Honestly, any open standards OS would be a reasonable choice for me. That precludes Windoze. I keep returning to OSX from Linux because I like the consistency of the interface, I love LaunchBar, and one of my electronic clerical staff resides in an OSX only program called SOHO.

 

Indeed the order varies a LOT and from person to person.

Before Ultrabooks (there still were thin and light laptops and sub-notebooks), I've seen people on planes carrying ginormous 17" laptops. IMHO, 17" laptops are insane for traveling, esp. some of the heavy and bulky units I've seen. IMHO, even 15" laptops are borderline too heavy and big. My T61p is a 14.1" w/1400x1050 4:3 screen (ratio virtually extinct on current laptops) and it's a bit bulky and heavy to travel around with.

If you step into a Fry's or office supply store (e.g. Office Depot or Max, Staples), there a number of el-cheapo crap laptops w/often w/slow hard drives, crap CPUs (much slower than my over 5-year old Core 2 Duo T7500), crap build quality and they're bulky and heavy to boot. Many of these have sub-$500 price tags...

Aesthetics are all over the map too w/many business (non-consumer) Lenovos admittedly being rather bland. Some consumer laptops are downright cheesy looking but some look pretty good.

I've seen a # of light and thin (usually expensive too) Sony laptops over the years but it seems they've sacrificed durability for the thinness and lightness. I suspect they wouldn't hold up too well to someone who's constantly mobile.

Side note: Ages ago, I had a Sony VAIO PCG-SR5K Overview & Specs - Laptops - CNET Reviews. The Pentium III 500 and it coming w/Win 2K should give you an idea of its age.

 

My kids have the MacBook Pro. Any time I pick it up I think (and sometimes say) "what a brick!" They are not amused.

I am definitely a MacBook Air snob. However, If I ever had reason to buy an additional second notebook I'd seriously consider a ChromeBook.

 

^^^
Yay! I can't see the specs but I do see Core i5. I'd imagine it boots and is usable after logging in MUCH quicker than your old laptop.