Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Dell launches Ultrabook for $999

dell.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 79 posts

Re: Dell launches Ultrabook for $999

#21

Post by PhrosTT »

delsarto wrote: post #15

30 March 2005: X1 announced ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dell_Latitude ) 1280 × 768 at 16.8 million colors 1.140 kg with 58 Whr Li-Ion 6 cell w: 286 mm h: 25.0 mm d: 196.8 mm XPS13 ultrabook 13.3" High Definition WLED, 300-nit (1366x768) 720p; Weight: Starting at 2.99lbs (1.36kg)6 47WHr battery; 6-Cell Li-Polymer (built-in)3 Width: 12.4" (316mm) Height: 0.24-0.71" (6-18mm) Depth: 8.1" (205mm) So in 7 years, we've a…

I'm waiting for the Asus UX31 to drop to about $700. Unless the new Pro/Airs with 2000 by 1500ish rez are closer to $1000 than $2000.

They have a 1600x900 screen resolution. This is the most important spec for me. Everytime I see 1366x768 I cringe to imagine what an Eclipse Debug perspective would look like on that. Hey look "3 lines of code and 2 variables are viewable at the same time!"

Re: Dell launches Ultrabook for $999

#23

Post by protomyth »

spot wrote: post #7
barista wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This problem has been solved many a ttimes before. It's not the first 13" laptop anybody has designed. So thogh I'd love to see a keyboard pic, I'd assume it's going to be inline with what's out there already. Love these new ultrabooks btw. Apple kickstarted it as always and all the platforms benefit.

apple was a latecomer to the thin and light category. FYI.

1992 was pretty early http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PowerBook_Duo

Re: Dell launches Ultrabook for $999

#24

Post by georgemcbay »

barista wrote: post #4
allwein wrote: post #2

The telling thing for me is that there is not a single image of the keyboard head-on. The keyboard is a make or break feature on a laptop of this size. I fear that not showing any images of the keyboard is indicative of a sub-par experience.

This problem has been solved many a ttimes before. It's not the first 13" laptop anybody has designed. So thogh I'd love to see a keyboard pic, I'd assume it's going to be inline with what's out there already. Love these new ultrabooks btw. Apple kickstarted it as always and all the platforms benefit.

"This problem has been solved many a ttimes before."

Just because this has been "solved" before doesn't mean Dell solved it correctly here.

I loathe Apple for a few different company policy reasons and haven't bought one of their products since the iPhone 3G, but I still can't help but cringe at the crappy keyboard/display/touchpads non-Apple PC laptop makers continue to churn out, even on higher-end laptops, despite this being a "solved" problem. There are a few exceptions to the rule, but even the PC manufacturers who manage to get things right once or twice tend to just go and screw things up in next year's refresh.

Re: Dell launches Ultrabook for $999

#25

Post by JoshTriplett »

eropple wrote: post #8

So I clicked through this article, expecting something that totally misses the point (like their Adamo a few years ago). It doesn't match my immediate expectations. Which is good! The machine looks solid. I don't know if I like it more than my Air, but it looks promising. I keep clicking through. In a machine like this, two things really matter: keyboard and display. As allwein says in another comment thread, they do…

Most manufacturers seem to do that these days, hiding display resolution somewhere obscure, while it represents one of the most important details that I need to know.

Personally, I'd like an Ultrabook with the 13" 1080p screen from the Sony Z series. (But not made by Sony, since I need something with decent quality, a decent warranty, and a decent company.)

Re: Dell launches Ultrabook for $999

#26

Post by delsarto »

PhrosTT wrote: post #21
delsarto wrote: post #15

30 March 2005: X1 announced ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dell_Latitude ) 1280 × 768 at 16.8 million colors 1.140 kg with 58 Whr Li-Ion 6 cell w: 286 mm h: 25.0 mm d: 196.8 mm XPS13 ultrabook 13.3" High Definition WLED, 300-nit (1366x768) 720p; Weight: Starting at 2.99lbs (1.36kg)6 47WHr battery; 6-Cell Li-Polymer (built-in)3 Width: 12.4" (316mm) Height: 0.24-0.71" (6-18mm) Depth: 8.1" (205mm) So in 7 years, we've a…

I'm waiting for the Asus UX31 to drop to about $700. Unless the new Pro/Airs with 2000 by 1500ish rez are closer to $1000 than $2000. They have a 1600x900 screen resolution. This is the most important spec for me. Everytime I see 1366x768 I cringe to imagine what an Eclipse Debug perspective would look like on that. Hey look "3 lines of code and 2 variables are viewable at the same time!"

Yeah, I was quite interested in them too. However, my worry is that initial Linux support with all the new parts would be a PITA. When I got the X1 7 years ago, I was a student and patching kernels and poking around various wiki-pages to get various things working was fun. Now I'm in the old and boring "just want it to work" camp :)

Re: Dell launches Ultrabook for $999

#27

Post by fady »

no matter how pretty they make their laptops, they still run crappy software, IMO. i would buy this, wipe it out and load ubuntu, vs using windows. i find the ubuntu experience on dell laptops to be pretty good.

i'm still rocking a e1405 with ubuntu 10.4

Re: Dell launches Ultrabook for $999

#28

Post by spot »

rsynnott wrote: post #18
spot wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

apple was a latecomer to the thin and light category. FYI.

It was one of the innovators in _affordable_ thin and light, though. While there were very light and thin laptops prior to the Air, they were usually either netbooks, or terribly expensive. Of course, so was the first-gen Air; the second one was really the interesting one.

nope, there were plenty of options like the Dell X1 (2.5lbs, 2005) and Sony VAIO Z (3.3lbs, 2000). these were mainstream and affordable and functional. the first air came in 2008.

Re: Dell launches Ultrabook for $999

#29

Post by eropple »

nathanwdavis wrote: post #22

What is really interesting is not the product itself, but the animation that progresses as you scroll down the page. Very neat! Basically instead of time controlling the sequence of frames, it is the scroll position.

I found it inconsistent, unintuitive, and jarring.

Bad web designer. No cookie.

Post reply on HN