[quote name='Ravyne' timestamp='1356518060' post='5014374']
Honestly, cheap 15.6" laptops are like a bad joke perpetrated on us by the computer industry[/quote]100% agreed. I've only bought a laptop so far (i3-330M based) and I cannot stress how much it sucks! I also had an atom 270, with worn-out SSD. It was flat out painful but at least it was something portable. Actually, I was positively impressed by the form factor, too bad it didn't cut it in the market.

I don't know how anyone here can support the idea of getting Intel graphics. Oh well, I finally got the chance to see HD4000 around here... it was about time!

[quote name='Krohm' timestamp='1356604334' post='5014665']

100% agreed. I've only bought a laptop so far (i3-330M based) and I cannot stress how much it sucks! I also had an atom 270, with worn-out SSD. It was flat out painful but at least it was something portable. Actually, I was positively impressed by the form factor, too bad it didn't cut it in the market.

I don't know how anyone here can support the idea of getting Intel graphics. Oh well, I finally got the chance to see HD4000 around here... it was about time!

[/quote]

You should see my mother - she keeps buying those underpowered Atom notebooks, I swear they literally have trouble playing back a webradio. But they're cheap, right?

As for Intel graphics, I agree completely. I still remember the days when I would need to heavily tweak even the least demanding game just to get a playable framerate on lowest settings. I came *that* close to getting one of those Clevo gaming laptops as a definitive remedy to my Intel GMA torment (ultimately opted for a desktop, though). But I will certainly never buy a DELL/Acer/etc laptop again for development or personal use. It just sucks.

How about a Microsoft Surface Pro?

It's hard to fault it for the price - all the better things that people have posted about would cost more AFAIK.

If you were willing to spend more, the single best thing to improve how fast a computer feels (IMO) is an SSD. But that would make a significant increase in cost on a low computer.

You should see my mother - she keeps buying those underpowered Atom notebooks, I swear they literally have trouble playing back a webradio. But they're cheap, right?[/quote]They have their uses, specifically longer battery life, and not everyone cares about having high end CPU power, instead preferring portability (same as with ARM devices). Though if it can't even play webradio, that's a problem with that particular model. My Atom Samsung N220 has no trouble playing full screen video.

Personally I have a Clevo as my main machine, and the Samsung ultra-portable for when I'm travelling (even if I got a more powerful ultra-portable, it wouldn't be good enough for things like gaming - they all still have crappy Intel integrated graphics - so there's little point). Looking at the upcoming Windows hybrids, it's a similar situation: ARM is out for me because I want x86 full Windows (and ARM wouldn't be as powerful as Intel Core either anyway), and whilst I'd gladly spend more money on an Intel Core model, the battery life on the Atom Clover Trail models seems to be better.

Though, if your mother had some Atom based laptop that wasn't an ultra-portable (I see there are even desktop models), then yes that does seem more strange.

Servant of the Lord: I use something like www.cpubenchmark.net to get an idea of how CPUs compare.