Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Ultrabook, Tablet and My Brand Loyalty

While the adoption of ultrabook (oops sleekbook for AMD) is on the rise, the uptake of tablet is getting prevalent. When my last desktop was out of service (long story cut short) and the replacement being a mobile workstation, I have to think about my next on the go machine that can move along and last all day with me.

Due to recent availability of ASUS Transformer Pad Infinity TF700T (worth mentioning that it kept me to google every few hours during early launch to check pre-order) I was on the edge to commit such purchase. Then I got to think how it really will go together with my existing ecosystem mainly depends on Windows (except Android phone), will it increase or decrease my productivity at the same time. To some extent, I am not convinced they can coexist without any compatibilities issues (and I'm not going to root to get Jelly Bean). My daily routine largely involves VMs and Wireshark which I certainly can't do on tablet, yet. I'm not considering just RDP/TeamViewer/Ignition back to my Windows.

Here comes ultrabooks. Nowadays plethora of such ultraportables from all big names like HP, Dell, Samsung and latest contender ASUS (pardon me for not mentioning MBA or MBP) are crowding the consumer market more than ever. Envy Spectre XT, XPS 14 and Inspiron 14, New Series 9 and ZENBOOK Prime will come up naturally to whoever thinks of getting a decent (if not best) ultrabook at this moment and that didn't exclude me.

As a long time customer of Dell, close to a decade, I had a good share of experience with Inspiron E1505, Studio 1558 and Precision M4600. Having said that my first thought of ultrabook was, no doubt, XPS 14, mainly because of 900p display over mainstream 1366x768 panel of Spectre XT and Inspiron 14. As elegant as it looks, Series 9 offers same 900p on slimmer and lighter package and it comes with SSD. My initial verdict came as Series 9, if I am to neglect its exorbitant price tag.

Then my savior comes, ZENBOOK UX31A. It packs same power as Series 9 and has more attractive price. Better yet, it even offers 1080p on 13.3-inch display.

So, the final verdict is unsurprisingly ASUS unless XPS 14 suddenly adds SSD and 1080p options to its arsenal. Sorry Dell. I have to pass this time. Better luck next time.

Update:
Based on usability and practicability issues, the decision has reversed in favor to XPS 14. What have changed my verdict? They are as follow:

  1. Ethernet port - UX31A sacrifices one USB port, just to enable wired connection, that will leave only ONE USB for other peripherals. XPS has an ingenious RJ-45 port that can adjust upon inserting the cable.
  2. Display connection - I don't know about you, but to me the need to bring display adapters for either mini-VGA or micro-HDMI is annoying. Having full-size HDMI on XPS is a good offer.
  3. Last but not least, the availability in market is overwhelming factor as ASUS isn't in the horizon for known future (until late September or early October) while Dell can be ordered online directly.
In the end, Dell won me over for one more time. Cheers!