laptop equivalents of the FHD IPS baytrail windows tablets?

More popular than ever, but some are still very noisy.

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Jay_S
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laptop equivalents of the FHD IPS baytrail windows tablets?

Post by Jay_S » Wed Mar 05, 2014 3:04 pm

Where is the laptop-equivalent of the FHD IPS-screen baytrail windows tablets?

For example, $500 buys you:

http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msu ... .289455100
Dell Venue 11 Pro Tablet: $500
  • 10.8-inch 1920 x 1080 touchscreen
    Intel Atom Z3770
    2GB memory
    64GB SSD
http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msu ... .295783200
HP Omni 10 5620 Touchscreen Tablet: $450
  • 10.1-inch 1920 x 1200 touchscreen
    Intel Atom Z3770
    2GB memory
    64GB eMMC
http://www.amazon.com/HP-O10-5600US-10- ... B00GSPW2QG
HP Omni 10-5600US: $375
  • 10.1-inch 1920 x 1200 touchscreen
    Intel Atom Z3770 Processor
    2 GB RAM
    32GB eMMC
Lenovo Miix 2 10.1 should be for sale in the US soon. Rumors estimate it retailing for around $500.
  • 10.1 inch 1920x1200 IPS display
    Intel Atom Z3740
    2GB RAM
    64GB
And of course, the Nexus 10 is $400 with a 2560x1600 display.

Why is 1080p/1200p IPS standard equipment in the ~ $500 windows tablet segment, but 1366x768p TN panels are still deployed in ~ $500 laptops? A quick glance at Newegg - the cheapest laptop with better than 1366x768p is $630 (Sony SVF14213CXB, 1600x900 pixels). Are consumers ok with "good-enough" 768p mediocrity? Maybe they've just never seen a better display before?

I don't want a tablet, nor a convertible, nor a 2-in-1. I want a real laptop with a 10-13" 1920x1080 or 1920x1200 IPS screen. With a baytrail (or similar) CPU it could be fanless, just like the above tablets. The HP Spectre 13 X2 is another 2-in-1 hybrid. I can overlook its hybrid-ness since it uses a fanless Core i5-4202Y (yes!). That machine was on sale a few weeks ago at $799. I talked myself out of it for some reason that escapes me now. I regret that today.

Presumably, no one makes such a low-powered machine with a great screen because it would cannibalize sales of higher-margin ultrabooks. But damn, I am sooo sick of display mediocrity. I am willing to pay Apple for their haswell-based 13" macbook air ... except TN panel?! Nooooooo!

boost
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Location: de_DE

Re: laptop equivalents of the FHD IPS baytrail windows table

Post by boost » Wed Mar 05, 2014 11:50 pm

Some thoughts:
The Bay Trail Dell Venue 11 has eMMC. There's one reason you don't find regular notebooks at that size and price.
The reviews for the 8" Miix where less than enthusiastic about build quality.
The best you can get fanless at this size is probably the HP Spectre 13".
Some notebooks can turn off their fans in idle or run them so low the noise level is dominated by the 2.5" hard drive.
If you want a quiet, but not fanless machine with these specs you should look into the Lenovo Yoga 2 (Pro).
Personally I can live with a fan, but not with a glare type screen.

Jay_S
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Re: laptop equivalents of the FHD IPS baytrail windows table

Post by Jay_S » Thu Mar 06, 2014 2:15 pm

eMMC and relative build quality aside, the main focus of my rant pertains to the displays.

I am looking to replace a 2009 Acer craptop that is slowly falling to pieces. Its fan turns on only when needed. But it's loud, even by non-SPCR standards. It has three speeds: off, panic loud, and super loud. I wish the fan spun slowly all the time - I bet panic-loud could be largely avoided. There are plenty of questionable design decisions with my laptop, but the fan behavior is by far the most annoying. The 2nd most annoying is a wlan led that blinks AT ALL TIMES (black electrical tape to the rescue). 3rd is the terrible 768p display.

The Yoga 2 is pretty costly. If I'm going to spend $1200, I'd likely buy Lenovo's t440s. Or a 13" retina macbook pro. There are rumors of a "retina" macbook air refresh this year. I don't really care about retina (or other ultra-high DPI displays); I just wish they'd abandon TN panels.

I actually ordered, and subsequently cancelled, this refurbished Asus Q501LA-BBI5T03 ($480). It has a lot going for it (1080p IPS display, i5-4200u, backlit keyboard, low price). I got scared by some of the comments in that model's notebookreview.com thread as well as the aforementioned slickdeals thread. Potential hardware failures + a 90-day refurb warranty, wlan lottery, maybe with/without a mSATA slot, strangely omitted recovery partition. As cheap as it was ($480 for haswell + 1080 IPS), it wasn't exactly what I am looking for.

boost
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Re: laptop equivalents of the FHD IPS baytrail windows table

Post by boost » Thu Mar 06, 2014 5:07 pm

Jay_S wrote:The Yoga 2 is pretty costly. If I'm going to spend $1200, I'd likely buy Lenovo's t440s. Or a 13" retina macbook pro. There are rumors of a "retina" macbook air refresh this year. I don't really care about retina (or other ultra-high DPI displays); I just wish they'd abandon TN panels.
Prices for this machine vary greatly, here I can get the full HD version for 800€, that's why I suggested it.
I heard Macbook Air retina would come in 2015, but it's only a rumor.

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