It’s been a few years since my last laptop, and the old one didn’t support Windows 8, nor was it touchscreen. So when the end of financial year rolled around, I thought it was time to jump all the bargains that were happening and pick up a touch screen laptop for the full Win8 experience.

So, um, why didn’t you just get a Macbook?

I did :-) I had one for several years around 2008-2011.  Great hardware, no doubt. But I’m not going back. I know devs love them. And they’ve always been hip. But I’ve done my time in that ecosystem.

As many of my friends know, I simply became more and more disillusioned with the direction Apple was heading and what they were about and just got rid of my Mac stuff (iMac/Macbook/iPod). To be honest, I was just a bit sick of being told things about what was good for me. Found the hardware amazing, though. Ecosystem was just a bit evil for me to stomach (at the same time I read iCon, and all my fanbois was then truly dead and buried). I was also sick of running old JDKs (not a problem now, I appreciate). So I jumped ship. And have never regretted it.

So what did you get & what are you comparing your experience to?

I picked up a Lenovo X1 Carbon Touch laptop (the high-end i7 one).  They normally retail for some around $2100 (!), but they had a $700 end of finyear special (!) which made the sticker price $1400AUD. Add $1 for a Thinkpad backpack, and you’re in business.

My most recent three laptops have been:

  • ASUS PL80J (2010-now)
  • Macbook Black (2008-2010)
  • Thinkpad (2005-2008)
     

Good and Bad?

I’ve been using this laptop for about a month so I have a pretty good feel for it. And it’s, without a doubt, the best laptop I’ve ever had!

What I like:

  • Touch Screen. Don’t listen to the haters here, once you start using a touch laptop, you won’t ever go back. It’s just too convenient for browsing/navigating/launching and swiping. I underestimated how much sense this makes for a device that’s parked directly above your keyboard. Great for dragging icons around, and all the new Office365 stuff runs great on touch.

  • Instant boot. By the time the lid is half open, the thing is running. Swipe my finger on the bio-reader, and I’m back working. I’ve never had a laptop that’s got this right. My old Macbook never managed to spark fast without beachballing for ages (pre solid state). Ditto for the ASUS (even with Solid state).

  • Lightening Recharge. They include some fast-charge thing with this laptop where you get 80% charge from 30 mins charging. I’ve been testing that out, and it’s accurate. Perfect for me since I often get up in the morning and haven’t thought about charging before embarking on road-warrior activities. Great innovation.

  • Keyboard. Best. Keyboard. Ever. The Thinkpad models have long been renowned for this (even my old Thinkpad had an amazing keyboard). I had similar island keys on both my last Asus and Macbook before that, but neither of those have felt anywhere near as good for prolonged typing. The backlit was important to me, which I really missed on my last laptop (and loved on the Macbook). I also really like having hard keys for volume/mute/mic mute on the X1. Epicly good.

  • Biometric. My ASUS had this too, but I never used it. Never seems to work right. But I use this all the time now, both for login and, more conveniently, as a LastPass master password. Actually really useful. Particularly when getting up to give a presentation and you need to logon.

  • Super light. Not in the league of a Macbook Air, but the Carbon Fiber case makes this beast super light, at least compared to any of my recent laptops. Build quality is just sensational all round. Screen will pivot until completely flat.

  • Speakers are just fantastic. I didn’t realise how bad the sound was on the Asus until I switched over. I’m still not sure where the speakers are actually located, but they are totally great for watching video content and Skype. Haven’t watched any movies yet.
    What I’m not so fussed about:

  • Heat. Runs too hot on your lap when charging.  It’s not hot on the desk (like my ASUS was), and the fan doesn’t run much. But when it’s on your lap charging, it’s a “wear jeans, not PJs” level of comfort which is not ideal. When not on charge it seems fine for PJs :-).

  • Battery Life. I’m not sure what the official claims are, but the battery life is definitely on the “good” side, not the “amazing” side. The fast charge makes up for it in my case, but I’d be living the dream if I could have 7 hours of compiling on battery AND 30 min charge :-)

  • Display Port. I appreciate that ultrabooks are thin. But it would have been handy to have onboard VGA (carrying a dongle around is just another thing to remember, particularly for those who do presentations and have busy heads already).

  • Not silent. This may well not bug another soul, but it has a very quite purr when you’re in a dead silent room. I’m often up very early in the morning when the house is dead silent, and I’m not fussed to be able to hear it running. You can’t hear it when I’m in the office, though, over normal office sounds, air con, etc. Still, I’m a bit of a fusspot about such things.

So Overall?

It’s jam packed full of amazing. If you’re due to upgrade and want to go touchscreen, just go buy one of these.