Laptop Buying Options In Bangkok

[MaxwellsDemon]

Hey guys, in the market for a new laptop... and I'm wondering what the best options are;

I've got above average requirements; pretty much looking for an Ivy Bridge i7, touchscreen with higher than 1366x768, at least 8 gb memory, decent size SSD, preferably 3+ USB, no bigger than 15" (prefer 11 or 13), 6+ hrs battery, DVD drive is welcome, if I can switch it out for a HDD enclosure, etc.

Manufacturer doesn't matter, I just want a powerful, portable Windows 8 touch platform.

Hoping to be under 30k THB, too (before upgrades is fine).

I've done a bit of browsing at Fortune Town and Power Mall outlets, etc, but usually find only 2-3 laptops that interest me.

Should I just walk around and keep on browsing, or should I shop online? Anyone with experience in shipping laptops into the country (i.e. import tax?) Visiting HK/Taiwan/China/etc might also be an option as I travel for work a lot... should I keep an eye out on holiday?

Also Haswell is coming up, should I wait for it? Will it be a) only marginally more expensive for better performance (esp. re: battery), or knock down Ivy Bridge prices? I've been hearing that it's only incrementally an upgrade. Except for graphics....integrated graphics is okay with me after seeing how well Intel's 4000 HD does, but I hear the upcoming Haswell will come with 5000 HDs that are significantly better.

Any opinions?

[kkerry]

I would have thought more like 40,000+ for high res. W8 touch, and a decent sized SSD to me would be at least 256GB which bumps up the price. Best range of laptops I think you will find is at IT City on the top floor of Pantip. They should have something that meets your requirements but not sure you will get all those specs for under 30k but you never know.

[JetsetBkk]

To think my 8 year old Acer cost me 70,000 baht...

[Digitalbanana]

Now your 8 yr old Acer is worth 500THB to anyone else. As for o/p if you want those specs at those prices, buy online. 7% import fee.

[kkerry]

Something like these?

TouchSmart-Ultrabook-15t-4000-Solid-State

HP-TouchSmart-Ultrabook-15t-4000-i7-3517U

VIZIO-CT15T-B1-15-6-Inch-Touchscreen-Laptop

Edited May 16, 2013 by kkerry

[MaxwellsDemon]

Those are nice, but overdrive for me. 15" is the upper limit, and this shows why - they tend to be pricier (and jam more stuff).

I do need power, as I work with a lot of multimedia and need it to be able to crunch through that stuff but I'm also happy sacrificing a bit if it means saving a lot of money.

Anyone have any clues about Haswell?

[kkerry]

Try looking for the Lenova Yoga ultrabook series, a number of options there. An i5 will get you closer to your price range but I understand why you need an i7, just not so many smaller laptops with an i7 plus all the other features you require. Some of the cheaper 15" ultrabooks I've seen have a small SSD boot drive and a regular hard drive for storage, harder to find in a smaller form factor. Samsung have a pretty good ultrabook range as well.

[BlackPuddingBertha]

I'm just curious as to why anyone would actually want a touch screen on a laptop? To me they seem totally unusable, unless perhaps the laptop has a screen which folds over into a tablet.

I'd also be interested to know exactly what sort of application that works well with a touchscreen also requires an i7 processor, 8Gb memory, SSD etc, as the most complex application I have seen that is actually usable via a touch interface is a browser, and you certainly dont need spec like that to run one of those. Or is this all about gaming?

I think that touch-screens on devices other than phones or tablets must rank as the most pointless invention ever. Even MS have finally twigged that no one wants them, and are about to release Windows Blue in an effort to make up for the cock-up the Metro tiled/touch interface was on Win8.

[BuddhistVirus]

Something like this?

http://www.sony.co.th/product/svt14127ch?site=hp_en_TH_i

[DaveBKK]

Wait for Haswell. It is NOT just a minor upgrade, but the most significant Intel upgrade in many years. The power saving and graphics improvements are huge...ESPECIALLY for laptops.

[MaxwellsDemon]

Try looking for the Lenova Yoga ultrabook series, a number of options there. An i5 will get you closer to your price range but I understand why you need an i7, just not so many smaller laptops with an i7 plus all the other features you require. Some of the cheaper 15" ultrabooks I've seen have a small SSD boot drive and a regular hard drive for storage, harder to find in a smaller form factor. Samsung have a pretty good ultrabook range as well.

The Lenovo Yoga 11s looks really nice, actually. The 360 degree screen though, while ingenious, I'm afraid might also be its weak point. I'll try and find one of the previous models to demo at Pantip or something soon so I can get a feel for build quality and such. If it's good enough, that just might be my tool (will fit all my reqs, just depending on price here!)

I'm just curious as to why anyone would actually want a touch screen on a laptop? To me they seem totally unusable, unless perhaps the laptop has a screen which folds over into a tablet.

I'd also be interested to know exactly what sort of application that works well with a touchscreen also requires an i7 processor, 8Gb memory, SSD etc, as the most complex application I have seen that is actually usable via a touch interface is a browser, and you certainly dont need spec like that to run one of those. Or is this all about gaming?

I think that touch-screens on devices other than phones or tablets must rank as the most pointless invention ever. Even MS have finally twigged that no one wants them, and are about to release Windows Blue in an effort to make up for the cock-up the Metro tiled/touch interface was on Win8.

I was skeptical at first, but I've found many uses for them, especially in my line of work.

In terms of the power/speed I need, that's for Premiere/After Effects/High-res Photoshop work, as well as large Ableton projects. The touchscreen I admit is less necessary, but will open so many doors being able to use the screen as a native, single-machine Lemur setup for MaxMSP patches that I'm writing, instead of using an iPad over an Ad-hoc WIFI network as I do now. But there are many VST-related uses for a multitouch interface, and the more and more touch-screen ports from popular iPad synths that make it to a PC environment, the more interesting it will get.

[BlackPuddingBertha]

In terms of the power/speed I need, that's for Premiere/After Effects/High-res Photoshop work, as well as large Ableton projects. The touchscreen I admit is less necessary, but will open so many doors being able to use the screen as a native, single-machine Lemur setup for MaxMSP patches that I'm writing, instead of using an iPad over an Ad-hoc WIFI network as I do now. But there are many VST-related uses for a multitouch interface, and the more and more touch-screen ports from popular iPad synths that make it to a PC environment, the more interesting it will get.

I have no quarrel with wanting a powerful machine for Adobe CS products; I use them myself daily and I know the story.

But having a touch-screen on a work tool remains a mystery to me (unless it is POS terminals in shops). I really like my touch-screen Samsung tablet in bed or on the balcony for consulting websites, reading (but not writing) emails, reading books, controlling my TV and hifi, even Skype and VOIP phone calls etc but as soon as I have anything even remotely serious to do I'm straight onto my desktop machine with its mouse and keyboard, and the touch-screen device is back on the shelf. I cant see this changing any time soon as the touch-screen just isn't suitable for proper work and probably never will be. At least for those with fat fingers like me.

[MaxwellsDemon]

In terms of the power/speed I need, that's for Premiere/After Effects/High-res Photoshop work, as well as large Ableton projects. The touchscreen I admit is less necessary, but will open so many doors being able to use the screen as a native, single-machine Lemur setup for MaxMSP patches that I'm writing, instead of using an iPad over an Ad-hoc WIFI network as I do now. But there are many VST-related uses for a multitouch interface, and the more and more touch-screen ports from popular iPad synths that make it to a PC environment, the more interesting it will get.

I have no quarrel with wanting a powerful machine for Adobe CS products; I use them myself daily and I know the story.

But having a touch-screen on a work tool remains a mystery to me (unless it is POS terminals in shops). I really like my touch-screen Samsung tablet in bed or on the balcony for consulting websites, reading (but not writing) emails, reading books, controlling my TV and hifi, even Skype and VOIP phone calls etc but as soon as I have anything even remotely serious to do I'm straight onto my desktop machine with its mouse and keyboard, and the touch-screen device is back on the shelf. I cant see this changing any time soon as the touch-screen just isn't suitable for proper work and probably never will be. At least for those with fat fingers like me.

I guess for me it's more for live performances, having a real-time visual feedback on the same interface that I'm inputting in, as well as a more intuitive processing workflow when it comes to building VSTs.

[MaxwellsDemon]

Wait for Haswell. It is NOT just a minor upgrade, but the most significant Intel upgrade in many years. The power saving and graphics improvements are huge...ESPECIALLY for laptops.

Will Haswell be available/affordable soon? I'll be at Computex in Taiwan where it's heavily rumoured they will be "introducing" it, but whether that means an official announcement or actually putting in products or what, I dunno.

Do they sell laptops at computex, anyway? Could be worth lookinginto....

[Riggi]

I'm just curious as to why anyone would actually want a touch screen on a laptop? To me they seem totally unusable, unless perhaps the laptop has a screen which folds over into a tablet.

I have a Surface Pro and use the touch screen all the time. I use it in "laptop" mode with the type cover 90% of the time.

It's especially useful in Word and excel when you want to scroll, zoom or select a button on the ribbon. It's a lot easier and quicker to touch the screen with minimal hand travel from the keyboard than reach for the mouse.

Win8 in general really works well with a touch screen (swiping down to close programs, from the left to go to you last program etc.)

If anything I think touch screens are more suited to a laptop than a desktop because the screen is closer to you.