Recommend a premium Windows laptop?

KraniX · 6 Mar 2013 at 16:48

Hi guys,

I've been looking at replacing my aging Dell XPS for a while and am struggling to find a decent spec laptop with good build quality for around the £1k mark that beats anything from Apple.

I have a good desktop machine but it's in the lounge and I usually sneak off to the spare room to study so the laptop comes in handy.

I would prefer to stick to Windows but as a mature student I have access to the Apple education store so can pick up a 13", 2.5 Ghz Retina display MacBook Pro for £1074 (rather than £1249).

All I'm looking for is a laptop which isn't too heavy (won't carry it about much), with a great screen and good keyboard for my studies. The better spec I can get the happier I'll be but I'll be using it for work primarily so gaming not a big factor.

'Harry · 6 Mar 2013 at 20:31

Lenovo for build qaulity.

KraniX · 6 Mar 2013 at 22:50

The Yoga 13 looks interesting, as does the Carbon X1 but the screen is a mediocre TN panel, they have released a touch version which I'm not really bothered about but is supposed to be of slightly better quality.

ja3h · 7 Mar 2013 at 01:28

New Dell XPS 13? Gorilla glass screen, magnesium and carbon fibre!

1080p res and good cpus available. I want one!

Ksanti · 7 Mar 2013 at 07:49

Chromebook Pixel is something a little different and could fit the bill. I know you asked about Windows but for your usage it's also probably worth a look unless your studies require certain desktop programs. Meant to have awesome build quality, absolute stunner of a screen and since it's such a lightweight OS it runs pretty damn quickly (as it loads itself onto RAM rather than reading from a hard drive or similar)

KraniX · 9 Mar 2013 at 15:01

XPS is a good call, nice to see Dell putting out something of quality for a change.

I like the look of the Pixel, stunning looking machine but so limited, I am a power user (at least on my desktop) and although I don't need too much from a laptop I just feel the Pixel would be too inflexible for me. Although Google Drive has improved I don't think I could get by without full Word and Excel in practice.