This September I start university and so am after a laptop to use whilst there. Because I’ll be carrying it from my house to university and back often I have decided to go for a small 13.3" screen one.

So far the best I have found is the Dell XPS M1330 (http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/ [...] l=en&s=dhs).

It seems to be the best as a lot of the reviews on the dell site are 4-5 stars, it has the right sized screen, a 1.8 dual core CPU and 4Gb of RAM (I’m paying an extra £50 from the base model to get this as it has vista...a ram killer!). I’m not too fussed about graphics as I have a £1000+ gaming machine at home (my sig I think) to game on. The Dell is also perfect in that I can get a 9 cell battery for it (but not from Dell themselves, £150 for something I can get elsewhere for £70!) and have the 4 cell as a spare. All in all with the extra RAM and battery it will cost a little over £700. This reviewer also loves it (http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=3826)

Are there any alternatives that cost about the same, are as small and have an equally good battery life? I’ve found similarly priced and spec'ed ones but the battery life is always a bit of a grey area, unlike the Dells which have been tested all over the net!

Thanks

I think DELL XPS M1330 is a very good option @ that range, small,sleek and powerful are 3 words to describe it

However if u want to game, then LG P300 is a good option too, it has a 8600GS in it
http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=4296

That P300 looks awesome for the size! However the price made me cry a little (£1200 roughly).

Assuming you aren't going for the LED display. . .

HP dv2700t has similar specs (without a LED display option, and a 14.1 instead of 13.3), and doesn't last quite as long on battery (3 hours or so with the standard battery. Twice that with the extended), but is is about half the price.

In the upper tier of that price range sites the Lenovo IdeaPad U110-- VERY portable. . . similar battery life, more with the second battery.


A MacBook Pro is well upwards of that price range, albeit a 15 inch screen, and still quite portable (and you could game on it if you had to), battery life is dependant on which battery you get and what you do with it while its running (2.2 to 5 hours). . .

If you want something really protable, which won't leave you completely broke, the MSI WIND should be widly available very soon (Amazon is taking pre-orders for US, don't know about UK).

Other than that the defacto standard in my book, of portable, rugged, dont-care-about-gaming, are the ThinkPad X series (Especially x30 or later)

Nice one dwellman, ill check those out now, im avoiding macbooks as they are expensive (yet good, i know)!

Update: Oh, the HP and Lenovo U110 seem to be comparable to hens teeth...the HP is currently unavailable off their site and i cant find it anywhere else and the U110 isnt even on the lenovo site!

Also, whilst that MSI WIND is very cheap and small (EEE PC rival!), it is probably too small as a 12-13" screen will be ok for working on whilst im away from my desktop (22" all the way!)

Those ThinkPads look good though, but sadly cost too much!

So far the Dell is winning on value for money, size, battery life and availability.

Ok, ive found the most serious competator so far for the Dell, the HP TX2130, it has a slightly faster CPU, only 2GB of RAM but it has a Geforce graphics card not an intel gma. It also has a touchscreen which you can turn into a tablet PC (which looks quite handy), it seems to come with the bigger 6-cell battery included in the price of just under £700.

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/p [...] ionSection

PCWorld are the best place to buy from what ive found, pretty much the cheapest, i can reserve and collect from the store about 10 minutes from my house and in the specs they list it as having the 6-cell battery which on the 2000 series gave 5 hours (so i presume a little less for this one as its more powerful).

Sadly i couldnt find a review, but the tx2000 was apparently really good...so im hoping that it can only have improved!

It's also known as the dv2130tx, but I could find much on it either.

Oh, thanks for looking! I might get my bro to give me a lift to PCworld so i can check it out! It looks like its between the M1330 and the TX2130!

Yeah, the IdeaPad U110 is fairly recent http://www.google.com/products?q=L [...] &scoring=p

As is the HP (replaces the dv2500) http://www.google.com/products?q=H [...] &start=130

Well TX2130 is a good laptop but its Touchscreen and has a intregrated GPU which is good for general use and very light gaming

The Dell also has an integrated GPU with shared graphics memory, the dedicated GeForce costs a bit extra and as i have a Radeon HD3870X2 in my desktop with a quad core im not too bothered about gaming on the laptop!

The main differences between the laptops are that the Dell has a slightly bigger screen and is probably thinner, whilst the HP is thicker with a smaller screen but it is a touch screen so i can use it to draw on and as a tablet PC...

Battery lives seem fairly similar and as for power both have integrated GPUs, the HP has a slightly faster CPU but the Dell has more RAM!

The only thing that's definately going to swing it one way or the other is if one has something majorly wrong with it...i recon ill go to PC world and check em both out.

I think u mean HD 3870X2 in your desktop right ?

Well if u have that kind of rig then i would go with the Tablet PC model because using your Fingers and pen is more easier than only keyboard and mouse but if u dont need TouchScreen then go for XPS M1330

lol, yeah, thats it! I forgot as its been a while since i had to stop bragging about it as everyone knew....

I really do like that tablet, tho im still a little concerned about the battery life when compared to the Dell...but then a folding touch screen type laptop/tablet is way cooler (if a little harder to say!).

Well, i went to PC World today and checked out the two laptops. Both look very nice (and on a side note, the guy i spoke to was excellent!), whilst the M1330 is more 'executive' styled the TX is more funky (but has what they call an 'echo' pattern...looks a little flowery to me!).

It also seems like it could be really handy when in tablet mode and is, in m opinion, cooler and more of a head turner than the Dell (as Dell are...well...common).

At the minute, because i am a self confessed gadget nut, the feature-full HP is winning!

I got the HP this morning and am loving it! I'm writing this on the touch screen now! Its actually really easy, the recognition software is amazing!

Glad to hear it
Enjoy it

Hi Guys,
Hope your still checking this thread.

I'm also looking at the HP TX2130.

Now you've got one and used it would you recommend it?
It has all tthe processing power I need (if a little low on the graphics).
I would be using the PC primarily as a lifestyle laptop (Surfing, on-line poker, music, watching DVDs etc) but would also use it for work (design work - CAD and Video/ photo manipulation).

I spend a reasonable amount of time in Hospital due to a long term healh condition. Being light weight, cool running and quite are all nice features.

What battery life are you getting? Reviews range from sub 2hrs +5hrs

As long as I can watch a whole feature film on one charge that would be great. (say 160min).

I've also read the there is audio distortion from he in built speakers. Do you experience this and does it go away with headphones?

I was hoping to use bluetooth headset (stereo A2DP) do you know if this works?

Thanks for any help you can give

I don't own the notebook, but i can answer a few questions:

I'd say on any modern notebook that does not have a gaming-class dedicated video chipset, you're good for at least 2 hours on battery. I get 2 hours with a 17" screen and an 8800m GTX.

All laptops have distorted speakers, tough luck. Speakers aren't meant to be packed into tight spaces, they have to have air behind them - something laptops don't have room for. Sorry. Headphones should take it away, but you'll be disappointed in the sound unless you use GOOD headphones, not logitech or bose crap.

Any bluetooth headset will work with any bluetooth adapter.