Haswell worth waiting for an ultrabook?

F4lconF16

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Mar 5, 2013
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After a fair amount of research, I've decided on the Samsung Series 7 Ultra with the 1080p display for my college laptop. I love the design and the feel of it, and it's fairly upgradeable with great batterylife and a price point $100 lower than the Asus Zenbook, its nearest competitor. However, as battery life is quite important to me, would it be worth waiting for Haswell to be released? My main concern is the premium price it is sure to be released at, and how that would factor into notebook pricing. The other thing I'm worried about is whether any decent notebooks will be released along with Haswell's launch, as if I have to wait another two months after Haswelll for new notebooks then I'd rather just buy now. Thanks for any input!
 
Solution
Haswell was already announced at Computex this year, and is slated for official release June 3rd, if I recall correctly. For an ultrabook, I would say Haswell is worth the wait. If the release time was further away and this was regarding a gaming system, then I'd definitely say it's not worth it. Prices should not fluctuate much, either. OEMs and ODMs want the old phased out, so many IB systems are nearly sold out - if not, already sold out and discontinued (but still supported).

Quick read: http://www.itpro.co.uk/desktop-hardware/19655/intel-haswell-release-date-and-specs

PsyKhiqZero

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Jun 1, 2008
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I think haswell would only be worth it for Indie gaming. It's IGPU is suppose to be at least 20% better, which should make a difference in some games. IF your laptop has a dedicated GPU of any kind though then it's not worth it IMO.
 

F4lconF16

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Mar 5, 2013
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Yeah I won't be doing any type of gaming, just light work. So you think battery performance increases will be minimal?
 
Intel is going to be officially announcing Haswell soon (June 3rd or 4th) so you might as well sit tight to find out exactly when Haswell laptops and ultrabooks are going to be released. I think Intel started shipping Haswell chips in February/March so I would be surprised if they are not released by early July.

Unfortunately, new ThinkPads based on Haswell are rumored to be released in November. :(
 

F4lconF16

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Mar 5, 2013
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Hmmm...sounds like a good idea. November is far too long to wait, I need to have it by early September, so it would have to have been released and ordered by late August. What do you think the prices will be relative to current notebooks? Will IB notebooks drop when Haswell is released?
 
Haswell was already announced at Computex this year, and is slated for official release June 3rd, if I recall correctly. For an ultrabook, I would say Haswell is worth the wait. If the release time was further away and this was regarding a gaming system, then I'd definitely say it's not worth it. Prices should not fluctuate much, either. OEMs and ODMs want the old phased out, so many IB systems are nearly sold out - if not, already sold out and discontinued (but still supported).

Quick read: http://www.itpro.co.uk/desktop-hardware/19655/intel-haswell-release-date-and-specs
 
Solution

F4lconF16

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Mar 5, 2013
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That was very helpful. Thanks!