Thin and Light 11-14 notebooks gaming worth compendium

[komikon94]

Guys
Are there any worthy alternatives to the Sony S13 on my $1100-$1200 budget? I have tried posting a thread about it, but unfortunately there have been absolutely no responses since the past several days.
I usually play a lot of games, thus I need a worthy GPU. I'm going to be commuting to my college everyday (New York City for ya), so I need it to be light. I do quite a bit photography/filming editing, so I'd prefer a good screen as well.

[alonbe]

Guys
Are there any worthy alternatives to the Sony S13 on my $1100-$1200 budget?
I usually play a lot of games, thus I need a worthy GPU. I'm going to be commuting to my college everyday (New York City for ya), so I need it to be light. I do quite a bit photography/filming editing, so I'd prefer a good screen as well.

I'm in the same boat, I narrowed it down to the S13, HP's dv4t-5100 and Dell XPS 14. Then I took down the XPS because of it's weaker GPU and HDD (and the sole fact that you can't customize it pissed me off). Seemed like the worst deal out of the lot.
Basically HP is cheaper and has a better GPU, but I dislike the glossy display. Also the Sony is quite smaller in dimensions.

Now I'm waiting to see if there are any reviews on the dv4 heat issues, or any interesting coupons or sales on any of them (I'm not eligibile for student discounts sadly) come July 20th when I'm going to make the buy.

[Dreamskiller]

There is also the gigabyte u2442n incoming.

[techking13]

Is there any speculation on when the u2442n and u2442v will be available in the US?

I'd like to buy a laptop soon but I would be willing to wait if this is worth it.

[kYUU]

Is there any speculation on when the u2442n and u2442v will be available in the US?

Plenty of speculation, but little solid info. Best information floating around is that some gigabyte representatives said their US distributor should be getting them late this month.

If you're looking at a thin, light, 13" or 14" gaming-capable machine with a decent display in the $1000-$1200 range, the Sony Vaio S13P and Gigabyte U24442N are pretty much the best bets out there. There are some threads floating around about the U2442N, and you can look at the product page on Gigabyte and some hands-on videos on Youtube to decide for yourself if it's worth waiting for.

[MisterG694]

Is there any speculation on when the u2442n and u2442v will be available in the US?

I'd like to buy a laptop soon but I would be willing to wait if this is worth it.

Be sure to watch this thread, as it's likely where any new news will be broken about the Gigabyte u2442n. Here's my recent conversation with their support:

[gambitlebeau]

u2442n up for sale on a German site it seems:

http://www.alternate.de/html/product...442N/1018745/?

No mention of thunderbolt in specs (translate and click on 'more info'). Hmm.

[Sequencer1]

u2442n up for sale on a German site it seems:

http://www.alternate.de/html/product...442N/1018745/?

No mention of thunderbolt in specs (translate and click on 'more info'). Hmm.

U2242N looks amazing. mSATA port (is it SATA III?) & regular 9.5mm HDD/SSD port. Looks like one of the available mSATA SSD's will be the upcoming Crucial CT128M4SSD3, which is a SATA III mSATA SSD, so the port may be SATA III. 1600MHz RAM is nice too.

Looking at the photos at the Gigabyte website, I'm guessing that the lid has an aluminum overlay and the rest of the laptop is plastic. Kind of like the 2010-2011 Acer TimeLineX series.

Hopefully the GT 640M is at stock nVidia clocks, and not downclocked.
Does it have 2 fans? No ODD, so maybe?

More info here: (PDF files in the 'FAQ' tab below)
GIGABYTE - Notebook / Slate & Device - Notebook & Netbook - U series - U2442N

[inm8#2]

The Gigabyte U2442N looks like a very nice package. The battery seems to not be removable and a little small (4000 mAh). But if this is something going more for ultra portability (3.3 lbs) then that probably doesn't matter.

[dark_girl]

I mean I feel like you could take an initial stab at it and then hear comments from the peanut gallery as to your ratings. If you get enough comments saying they disagree with your rating you could change it. Making it simple enough, maybe 1-5 scale where (1 is a noticeable problem, 5 being amazing and 3 being average among the current marketplace)

I agree about wanting a keyboard rating but that it would be vague/subject to interpretation. What about describing keyboard as: 1) depth of travel, shallow to deep, and 2) speed of travel (or pressure required), sluggish to hypersensitive? Then users could look for what they like. Other ideas about describing keyboard totally welcome. I also like to know whether they're slick or textured.