need help picking a laptop for uni

[elitist_user]

Hello I will be going off to college in a month or so (bio premed major with possible business minor)and have been struggling to decide on a laptop...

I have narrowed it down to the 2012 zen book prime with an i5 ib processor 4gb of ram and 128gb ssd which is 799 on new egg with a fhd screen and 5-7 hr battery
Or
The new macbook air 2013 with a i5 hw processor 8 GB ram and a 128 GB SD but no fhd screen but 13 hrs battery for around 1200 all in

I don't really care about the battery life a whole lot but the screen quality is a big deal for me. However coming from no laptop to a laptop I probably wouldn't notice the difference in screen quality if they are both decent. Also after trying to research the differences I have found that the air lags behind in processing but is better in graphics. I have heard about problems with the track pad on the Asus are they a huge deal? Also I am currently using vista on a family IBM think pad so either os will be a large learning process ( win8 and osx).

I guess my main question is is the macbook air with has well $300 (after ms office purchase) better than the zen book prime... Are the possible problems with the zen book $300 dollars worth of game changer

I apologize if I didn't format it correctly I tried to model it off other threads also both notebooks would be 13 inches.

Thank you for any help anyone may offer.

 

[lightsong]

Well first off the switch from PC to MAC is a way bigger deal than the switch from Vista to win8. Honestly vista to win8 is like an 8min youtube video, its basically the same OS.

Resolution is really not all that important on a computer with a 13.3 inch screen. Macbook Air is considered one of the best if the the best at that size/weight category.

Here is where I would be careful.. you are going to college for bio premed, if there is any software you are going to be required to use chances are it will be windows based. I'm going to be a junior in computer science and the school requires certain windows only programs, so that makes an Apple way less attractive.

It looks like you are wanting a computer that is on the smaller side, lightweight, with medium-high parts inside, and medium range budget.
Here are my recommendations:

Higher Price/Quality:

Samsung ATIV Book 9 (13.3" LED Full HD)
NP900X3F-K01US
https/www.samsung.com/us/computer/pcs/NP900X3F-K01US

Acer Aspire s7
S7-391-6468
http/us.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/model/NX.M3EAA.008

Sony VAIO pro 13 Ultrabook

Lower Price:

HP Envy TouchSmart 14 (out soon i beleive, and i expect will be a bit cheaper in price, HUGE resolution screen)



Anyways... all those listed have update to date specs including Haswell CPU. There a ton of other options for 3rd gen including the one you listed. ASUS coming out with ZenBook Infinity later on this year which looks AMAZING. Too small for me (13.3"), expect the price to be pretty high though.

ASUS ZENBOOK UX31A (probably what you were looking at) is a great choice if you dont need super high end specs

 

[elitist_user]

Well first off the switch from PC to MAC is a way bigger deal than the switch from Vista to win8. Honestly vista to win8 is like an 8min youtube video, its basically the same OS.

Resolution is really not all that important on a computer with a 13.3 inch screen. Macbook Air is considered one of the best if the the best at that size/weight category.

Here is where I would be careful.. you are going to college for bio premed, if there is any software you are going to be required to use chances are it will be windows based. I'm going to be a junior in computer science and the school requires certain windows only programs, so that makes an Apple way less attractive.

It looks like you are wanting a computer that is on the smaller side, lightweight, with medium-high parts inside, and medium range budget.
Here are my recommendations:

Higher Price/Quality:

Samsung ATIV Book 9 (13.3" LED Full HD)
NP900X3F-K01US
https/www.samsung.com/us/computer/pcs/NP900X3F-K01US

Acer Aspire s7
S7-391-6468
http/us.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/model/NX.M3EAA.008

Sony VAIO pro 13 Ultrabook

Lower Price:

HP Envy TouchSmart 14 (out soon i beleive, and i expect will be a bit cheaper in price, HUGE resolution screen)



Anyways... all those listed have update to date specs including Haswell CPU. There a ton of other options for 3rd gen including the one you listed. ASUS coming out with ZenBook Infinity later on this year which looks AMAZING. Too small for me (13.3"), expect the price to be pretty high though.

ASUS ZENBOOK UX31A (probably what you were looking at) is a great choice if you dont need super high end specs

Thanks so much for replying. I'd forgotten about the possibility of windows only software...

I will look at those that you mentioned but I think at this point the ux31a is probably my best bet unless any of the other windows based ultra books come out before august first because I don't dare to order a week before school starts if I have a lemon...