I am getting a new laptop for work and have been asked to pick one from PCworldbusinessthingy place.
I need a lighter machine for carrying round each day.
Is there really much difference in speed between processors, or is it hyped BNG time? (i3 vs i4 vs A6…)
Will I miss a DVD drive? (Memory stick FTW etc)
How much is not having a VGA connector a problem – I presume most projectors etc now run off a USB port?
And is windows 8 really that bad?

I like Windows 8, the lightweight laptops often called ultrabooks don’t have DVD drives so you can either have light or drive. i3 and above is worth getting for thge hyperthreading compared to Pentium. ii5 you get turbo boost and some of the i7’s are quad core

It must have some sort of video out surely, dvi perhaps?

I think win8 is good, but if you don’t like it you can get start8 for £5 to get the old start menu back a la win7.

I haven’t used DVD drive for ages , we have a USB DVD drive in the office we share if we need to access discs.

I’d always look for more ram over CPU grunt tbh, unless you do a lot of video/photoshop etc

If you can afford, SSD drive is v good

id be onto one of these like a big cat
http://shop.lenovo.com/gbweb/gb/en/learn/products/laptops/thinkpad/t-series/t430u/

or even on eof these, X1 Carbons

Budget is not that big….£500 and I need a monitor and keyboard/mouse for working in the office.
Choice it seems:
http://www.pcworldbusiness.co.uk/buy-rent/asus-u32vj-ro014h-core-i5-3210m-25-ghz-windows-8-64-bit-4-gb-ram-500-gb-hdd-133-wide-1366-x-768-hd-nvidia-geforce-gt-635m-black-aluminium/P149304P?from=category&heat=txt
Or
http://www.pcworldbusiness.co.uk/buy-rent/acer-aspire-s3-391-53314g52add-ultrabook-core-i5-3317u-17-ghz-windows-8-64-bit-4-gb-ram-500-gb-hybrid-drive-20-gb-flash-green-instant-on-133-cinecrystal-wide-1366-x-768-hd-intel-hd-graphics-4000/P149340P?from=category&heat=txt

🙁 spoilsport.

SSD is the most important, then RAM, then CPU.
I have just upgraded to SSD and boot time is under 30 sec’s

Speak to the new boss….

I presume most projectors etc now run off a USB port?

That is quite a big assumption. Most projectors sold today MIGHT support USB and probably do support DVI or HDMI. Even if it does support USB you are assuming you have the necessary drivers etc – fine if it is ‘your own’ projector but if you turn up and have a few minutes to get set up and running its not an assumption I would want to make. However I go to a lot of places that are still using 5+ yr old projectors where the only thing is is set up for is a VGA cable (other options may exist but the cables etc are not provided.

However, you can get adaptors to give you VGA out from USB, you need to remember to carry them and it will take another small chunk from your total budget.

get them to plan for the future, a laptop with SSD has virtually no moving parts so is more durable and will out last a normal hard drive. Also less time wasted waiting for the computer so you can get on with your work. I’m my opinion its a no brainer. I’m upgrading my whole company to laptops with SSD’s.

The Asus above has a VGA port: win for presentations (and in schools, so old projectors no doubt).
But the Acer has hybrid/part SSD drive…

Acer and get hmdi>VGA converter.

If your travelling round using mostly other peoples projectors then VGA is a must.
Any of those two laptops would be ideal.
It’s not for CAD though is it ?

Nope, everyday office and some picture edits.
Gone for the Acer S3 with a HDMI to VGA adapter.