Originally Posted by
kyunbit
I would be working on a ~100 page book chapter with about 20 figures and about 100 equations.
I am looking at a i5.
Yeah, that's going to be semi-painful on a slower processor.
There was a deal today on Samsung series 9 today at Microsoft Store for $700+free Xbox. Hopefully something similar will be repeated. I liked UX21 but as you mentioned it is out of budget. There is a Toshiba Portege Z835 for around 700. Reviews seem to be mixed.
Samsung Series 9 has had very good reviews, and $700 for an i5-based one sounds very god even without the free Xbox; I haven't had my hands on either that or the more recent Porteges, but my general experience with other recent Toshibas has been relatively poor.
Originally Posted by
pacer142
A beat-up old netbook would be better.
100 pages of Latex on an Atom is going to be a very, very slow build on a Netbook processor.
Used business subnotebook of adequate speed would definitely be less conspicuous than a shiny new Ultrabook, although it'll be thicker, possibly a little heavier, and have a 12.1" rather than 13.3" screen. Also, depending on the generation still slower than the ultrabook, if a lot faster than the netbook.
Used X201 is probably the sweet spot of price/performance. but a little porky given other options in consideration. The Acer 1830T that
JMN57 mentioned is another good option, but they're pretty much out of the pipeline now and not nearly as easy to find used/surplus as the Lenovos.