home :: hardware :: newlaptop6

Final word on Ivybridge ultrabooks

So, after all this time, I took advantage of a trip to Canada to buy an ASUS UX32VD-DH71-CA ultrabook. I was starting to wonder if I should wait for Haswell laptops or a Microsoft Surface Pro device, but one can wait forever until something new comes out real soon now, and my original non-unibody Macbook Pro has become somewhat of a boat anchor, as Apple won't support it with newer releases of MacOS (which goes to show that one should trust one's instincts: I remember being concerned that Apple had decided to use non-64 bit Intel Core Duo processors in those early Macbook Pro systems, and sure enough they were discontinued after 8 months to be replaced by 64-bit capable Intel Core 2 Duo models).

So, I am typing this on my shiny new Asus Zenbook Prime ultrabook running under Windows 8, and so far the machine is very nice. It's also nicely upgradable, as you can change the harddisk for an SSD and you can add more RAM, so ideas for the future.

Any suggestions as to whether I should attempt to put Ubuntu onto my old Macbook Pro? I wouldn't mind having an Ubuntu laptop around, but Ubuntu on Apple hardware always seems like a bit of an iffy proposition.

Anyway, more on my experiences with the new Ultrabook in the coming weeks. Until then, happy transition into 2013 to you all!

/hardware | Posted at 09:38 | permanent link