I own and operate an Internet Service provider. As such I am very demanding of my portable computer.
I often have to debug equipment in field conditions, including operating at the end of a bucket truck boom in the rain, snow or sleet.
In the past our little company has used ASUS 1201-N Netbooks for our field operations. They work well enough to keep the network running, but are cheap enough that if you drop one off a bucket, run it over with a van, leave it at a POP or otherwise destroy it, it won't break the bank.
I bought one of these HP 13t-2100 Ultrabooks to replace my latest 1201-N (R.I.P.). The key difference between this book and other ultrabooks is that this one has a RJ-45 port, which is essential in my line of work.
I have been very happy with my decision. The frame is sturdy and doesn't have any wobble to it. It is substantially faster than the netbook I was using. It is running Windows 8, but don't hold that against it.
The WiFi drivers are top notch. It connects to new networks easily and recovers from sleep mode almost instantly. When it recovers it connects up at once and immediately draws an IP address.
The one I bought doesn't have external media for OS re-installation (really guys, just throw in 32GB USB keychain, I'll even pay extra for it!), instead it uses around 20% of the hard disk to store a "recovery" partition with the OS on it. Since the disk only has 128GB of storage on it, this is kind of a bummer.
Pluses:
Low Cost
Great Battery Life
Solid Feeling
Attractive
Backlit Keyboard
Screen Brightness & Resolution
Hot Keys
Fast Sleep/Wake
Minuses:
Squirrley touchpad (hard to keep mouse on queue)
Recovery partition takes 20% of hard disk
All in all I'd recommend this computer to anyone who needs a lightweight companion that works well, but isn't so expensive that you worry about breaking or losing it.If you are looking to purchase this laptop, beware that HP does not support downgrading to Windows 7. Found this out the hard way. I'm not impressed.
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