Which laptop to buy for long flights?

[Gunners]

I currently own a four year old Sony laptop which is like an old teady bear (falling apart at the seams and been a reliable friend).

It is time to buy a new laptop.

I spend a lot of time at airports and on J and Y flights. On many occassions I am unable to "plug into" the flight. Battery life is therefore of greatest importance to me.

I am looking at the Mac however, this would mean acquiring a lot of new software. I am also considering the new ASUS laptop that is supposed to come with over 13 hours of battery life.

What laptops are you using?

What do you recommend to buy?

Gunners

[Kyo]

I've just switched to the new Sony Vaio Z from a HP Media Laptop/Tablet and I must say, the base model that they sell in Singapore suits me perfectly. On Stamina mode, battery life is not as powerful as a Macbook Pro, but it'll still do you 4-5 hours with a bright screen. On Speed mode, 3 hours and 10 minutes. The type of laptop you buy should suit your lifestyle - what do you use it for? I went for this laptop because it has the speed/graphics (especially the nVidia 330 GT 1gb discrete GPU) and most importantly, the portability (it's only a 13") to save weight (it's 1.39kg) despite my weekly jaunts. When at home, it has to power a 27" Dell over HDMI, and it does that with aplomb (even current 3D games are handled without breaking a sweat)... pity this comes only with a regular 500GB SATA drive.

I'm not keen on getting locked into the Mac ecosystem, but I was seriously thinking about the Macbook Pro. It's the only real competitor, but at the end of the day, Apple doesn't have a 13" competing with the Sony Z, even the refreshed ones. I only wish they sold the absolute top-spec model in SIN with a 512GB quad-raid SSD. Having said that, I'm thinking of tracking one down as that's even gruntier...

If you're a PC user, and travel alot and don't want to compromise on just about every factor, I don't think there's a real competitor (especially if you use graphics for anything more than websurfing, like Photoshop etc)..

For what it's worth, I've used this in J on SIN-MEL, MEL-WLG, WLG-BNE, BNE-SIN, SIN-PEK, PEK-SIN without dramas plugged into the onboard power plug. And a few jaunts in Y to SIN-BKK/KUL also.

Caveat: It's one spicy laptop, but it's also one pricey laptop at 2.8k for a base model and 4.8k for the 'top' model they sell here (which isn't the top-spec model available globally)

[jhm]

I am looking at the Mac however, this would mean acquiring a lot of new software.

It depends. You can run Windows on a Mac (either by itself on as a window on the Mac OS X desktop alongside your other Mac OS X applications).

I have a MacBook Pro coming up to 2 years old and I couldn't have been happier. Being carved out of a single block of metal means that it feels solid - there's no flex whatsoever in the case (compared to, e.g., my old Sony Vaio) - and I'm more confident of it withstanding better the knocks and bangs of travel. It's been on 100-150 flights I reckon and still looks/feels like new.

I don't know about battery life as I don't usually use my laptop inflight and the few times when I've needed to do so, I've been fortunate enough to be in J.

[mhadian]

I have a MacBook Pro coming up to 2 years old and I couldn't have been happier. Being carved out of a single block of metal means that it feels solid - there's no flex whatsoever in the case (compared to, e.g., my old Sony Vaio) - and I'm more confident of it withstanding better the knocks and bangs of travel. It's been on 100-150 flights I reckon and still looks/feels like new.

+1 for MacBook Pro

First I was afraid changing from Windows -> Mac, but after few years running Mac, now I wish i had switch to Mac way early. My MacBook Pro been like 2+ years now, and it's work like brand new one, not freaking slow down like Windows after 6months of usage, even you install loads of stuff.

You will spend more compare to windows based (comparing with same spec), but i said it well worth it.

And yes, you can run Windows with Mac together, i'm using Pararell to run some of windows program (mostly Access, since Microsoft not releasing Access for Mac).

[HUGE AL]

http://www.sqtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3785

http://www.sqtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1790

[Snaffled]

I'm now using a MacBook Pro and I use Parallels software to run all my Windows applications with no problems. I get 4-5 hours out of it.

No matter what laptop you buy, make sure that you switch off anything unnecessary when you fly, like the WiFi and Bluetooth connections. This saves me heaps of power usage.

[andySYD]

+1 MBP 13

[Kyo]

The new MBP 13 still uses an outdated Core2 Duo whilst the rest of the MBP family have moved on the the Core precessors... not what you really look for when you're paying top dollar for an Apple product (in my opinion)

[inix]

If you're a Wintel guy and looks arnt really a main concern (reliability + overall), go and get the Lenovo X201 Series + 9 Cell battery. It can easily last you 6 hours on the flights once you turn off wireless.

Why I always recommend the Lenovo X / T Series is because of the IBM factor. The other Lenovo models are nonsense but the former IBM Series are still oh so reliable and consistent. For the FFTs who can't afford notebooks to be down for too long, its one of the safer choice.

They do break down, but out of the 100s I handle yearly, I hardly have over 2% failure rate. Which is by far, a fantastic ratio by any means.. Having said that, they are really quite expensive....

[bumblebee]

Simply way is to see what processor you are using. Example P series processors are rated at 25 Watts while the I series are typically around 35Watts.
Depending on the battery's power rating, say a 60 Watt battery, simply do a little maths and you'll get about slightly more than 2 hours for the P series and less than 2hours for the I series processor.

[coffeeblack]

I'd say the Apple 13'. If you're using it for some light Word Processing, Excel Spreadsheeting, it's supposed to be able to go for 10 hours straight. Movies etc (without DVD) will take it down to 4-5 hrs, 6 if you're lucky, but I'm sure that still thrashes the crap out of Windows Computers. On my old 2 year old 13', I STILL get more battery life out of it than was quoted out of box. So in terms of battery life at least you can't go wrong with an Apple.

[Aulia Harun]

I have a Macbook Pro 13" and I think it makes the perfect traveling companion, especially if your a frequent flyer. It is very light and slim in design, not to mention its durability. The Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4Ghz gets most things done quickly

I personally would not go for the typical netbook especially the ones that utilize the Intel Atom processors. From my experience, it does not perform well when multitasking. Even when the internet connection is perfectly fine, I find it to be slow when surfing the net.

[wsssaero]

MBP13. Beats all the Windows stuff. I own one myself.