List Price: $1,299.00
Sale Price: $968.95
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This is a great ultrabook if you are willing to upgrade it w/ a SSD (Samsung 830) and some RAM (8GB Mushkin). After that it's the most powerful gaming laptop will you need (for now). I installed Windows 7 on the new SSD and Windows 8 on the built-in 24GB SDD to dual-boot. It's very light and it's one of the very fun ultrabooks that can be upgraded. The pros:
i7 ivy bridge processor
Upgradeable memory (2GB + 8GB)
Upgradeable hard drive (SSD). Use the old 500GB with an enclosure for some portable storage
Upgradeable wireless card (maybe later to the 802.11ac standard)
Discrete graphics card Nvidia 620M
3x USB 3.0 ports
Normal sized HDMI port
1920x1080p resolution
Built-in 24GB SSD
Decent sound
**** UPDATE 07/11/2013***
After having this for a while I must say it is quite a good powerhouse after the upgrades. It's still not as powerful as my desktop but for travel it works great. The only gripe about this is that the trackpad isn't as good as what I would like. I would definitely recommend a mouse if you are planning to use it for long periods of time as the trackpad is very sensitive. Sensitive to the point when I want to double click that it moves the mouse ever so slightly and on this high resolution that slight movement will cause you to miss your target at times. Hopefully they will replace a software upgrade to fix that.
Everything else works as expected. :)
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Got this laptop in March ($1,249.99) and I've been so pleased! I'm here to share the love for this excellent machine (: It's difficult to find a laptop that is this thin, AND has a dedicated graphics card, AND has 1980x1080 resolution IPS display. Clean install your OS upon arrival and upgrade to an SSD and you will have an epic powerhouse in your hands.GENERAL:
Dedicated graphics card (nvidia GeForce GT 620M 1gb) covers all my gaming and graphics needs.
This laptop is beautiful. It is slim and feels solid. I don't believe in covers/protectors and have an affinity for deserts so it's been dragged around on sandy surfaces, gardens and roofs so the cover has faint scratches, but it's held up very well for all my haphazard abuse. It comes with a very nice sleeve for slipping into tool-filled backpacks. I was actually terrified at how thin the chassis is when I removed it for upgrades, but when tightly clamped to the rest of the laptop the machine is very solid. Yay structural engineering \o/
The 13" IPS display is perfect. The matte texture and 1980x1080 resolution are a righteous combination. For those you haven't experienced matte IPS display, it's such an upgrade from normal gloss screens that at times it feels like you're reading a Kindle. I never thought I've become a display elitist until I got this computer.
UPGRADING RAM:
I'm happy with my 6gb of RAM. I recommend Google to see how much RAM you /really/ need; even gamers only usually need 6 or 8gb. Unless you're CADing in multiple VMs simultaneously I wouldn't worry about it. If you do fall into this category, then be aware that there's a 2gb DDR3 1600Mhz DIMM soldered to one slot in the motherboard, which means only one of the slots are available for upgrade, making the max 2gb + 8gb = 10gb RAM. I've heard you can unsolder the RAM but I was advised by a EE that this requires the use of a reflow gun and may be a tricky operation. But if you are truly running applications that eat a monstrous 16gb, then you might have the means for the deed. And note that the soldered RAM is 1600Mhz and find a matching one, for best performance.
UPGRADING HARD DRIVE:
I replaced the hard drive with a Samsung 840 Pro 256GB SSD and life is beautiful (: Restarting my laptop is about as convenient as waking it from hibernation. Samsung 840 Pro series is the best of SSD at time of writing, but if you're going for something cheaper be aware that the slot is 7mm tall, and check the SSD height before purchasing or you may have to do awkward modifications (refer to Youtube for guidance if applicable). You'll find that Samsung 840 Pro is usually on sale somewhere on the internet, and can find a 256GB for
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