[Black Wolf]

Anyone tried it? I'm thoroughly sick of no longer having a laptop of any kind (even my netbook packed it in) and I like the idea of an ultrabook because they're reasonably specced and super light (which is important for me as I'll be taking it up to work and therefore flying a lot with it).

However, I'm not interested in picking up anything that wont run FSO with at least the basics (non advanced MVPs, no AA) since whatever I buy I'll want to FRED with while I'm at work. Equally, I'm not interested in getting a super specced desktop replacement because of the aforementioned weight issues, and the fact that I like my desktop, and the fact that I want to be able to use it on my lap in bed.

So, an ultrabook seems like a good compromise choice if they're capable of FSO. So, err, any experience/suggestions?

[Fury]

Your best bet would be something that runs on Haswell. Unfortunately there are many different models and ultrabooks are likely to use the low-tier ones for their lower power consumption (and lower performance).

HD Graphics (GT1, 6 execution units)
HD Graphics 4200, 4400, 4600, P4600, P4700 (GT2, 20 execution units)
HD Graphics 5000 (GT3, 40 execution units, twice the power-performance of HD4xxx for compute-limited workloads, 15W TDP SKUs)
Iris Graphics 5100 (Same as HD Graphics 5000, 28W TDP SKUs)
Iris Pro Graphics 5200 (GT3e, Same as previous, but with addition of large embedded DRAM cache to improve performance of bandwidth-limited workloads)

Second best bet would be to wait until last quarter of the year and see what AMD's Kaveri APU will bring. I bet it has far better performance as far as GPU is concerned, especially if it runs on DDR4 RAM instead of DDR3. The question is whether Kaveri APUs have low enough power consumption to find themselves in something equivalent to ultrabooks. Ultrabook is an Intel thing, so you won't find AMD hardware in them.

You said ultrabook is a compromise, but you do realize that ultrabooks are like the thinnest and lowest powered laptops around? If you really want a compromise, you'd look for something "heavier" than ultrabook. A real workhorse laptop that can actually have some computing power. Such a thing would have either NVIDIA or AMD mobile GPU and far more likely to run FSO now and in the future.

If possible, I'd wait until mobile AMD Kaveri APUs with DDR4 support come available. They should be real nice workhorse laptops with some adequate computing power.

Edit: Before you ask about DDR4, it's because one of the biggest limitations integrated graphics face is memory bandwidth. Discrete GPU's have on-PCB GDDR5 or GDDR3 on the low-end cards, while integrated are limited to DDR3. DDR4 will bring bandwidth much closer to GDDR3/5. DDR4 does have many other improvements as well other than raw bandwidth, and AMD's own hUMA architecture brings even more efficiency to the table. Couple AMD's Kaveri with DDR4 and you have lots of potential. The question is, can AMD deliver.

[Kolgena]

IIRC this year has the first generation of laptops where high res screens, good performance, and good battery life/form factor have come together outside of an Apple package. Examples I can think of are the ASUS Zenbook UX51 and the Samsung 15" chronos 7/ativ book 8 (with the ATI 8870m). Unfortunately, both of those cost upwards of $1500, and are still on the large/heavy side as far as ultrabooks go. However, seeing how FSO is pushing towards the direction of things like deferred lighting and shadows, I'd say that a good discreet GPU is still the way to go.

[Black Wolf]

Looking at this. Has a discrete card in the NVidia 620m, 6GGB DDR3 and a Core i7. To my untrained eye, that should give me at least decent FSO performance, but I was hoping for a second opinion before I commit to anything.

[The E]

Yeah, that should be pretty playable.

[Black Wolf]

Bought it. Filled all my criteria (small, light, discrete graphics, should run FSO). Will let people know how I go with it when it arrives. Thanks gents, and MatthTheGeek on IRC.

This should mean I'll be able to FRED at work - may well mean TI moves quite a bit quicker

[Fury]

Should be okay but I have no idea what the heck is i7 doing on that thing. i3 or i5 at most would have been more than enough.

[Colonol Dekker]

What's the verdict?

[FreeSpaceFreak]

Should be okay but I have no idea what the heck is i7 doing on that thing. i3 or i5 at most would have been more than enough.

Between the i7 and the 6GB RAM, this one is well on the way to "mobile workstation" rather than "lol look at how thin I am". And yes, there's still a market for mobile workstations too - think video editing on the go, hefty simulations, that sorta stuff. I'm impressed that they managed to fit it all into this small package though.

[Klaustrophobia]

careful you don't burn your nuts.

and oh god the price. 

[Fury]

careful you don't burn your nuts.

Can't be any worse than Fujitsu-Siemens Amilo laptop I used to have, which used desktop Pentium 4 CPU and Mobile Radeon GPU. That thing got so hot while playing games that graphics on screen got all garbled up and I was sweating like mad with just my hands on keyboard.

My work Lenovo laptop hardly gets warm though and it has Core i7, Mobile NVIDIA GPU, SSD and HDD.

and oh god the price. 

About right for a good laptop really. Those $500 laptops are really poor choices for any real work, unless all you need are browser, Word and Excel.

[Black Wolf]

What's the verdict?

Wont receive it til next week, I'll let you know.

careful you don't burn your nuts.

and oh god the price. 

I actually ended up paying a little more to go through a more reputable site, and then shipping - came to 1530 odd AUD. But, you know, there's an Australia tax on that (electronics cost more here for no reason), and you pay for quality, I guess - it ticked all my boxes and came in at just about exactly what I'd planned to spend, so the cost isn't such a big issue. I think it'll be a good buy when all is said an done, and that's all that matters.

[KyadCK]

Should be okay but I have no idea what the heck is i7 doing on that thing. i3 or i5 at most would have been more than enough.

Intel likes to **** with people.

Unless it's a QM, it isn't a "real" i7.

[Black Wolf]

For the record, the laptop turned up and runs FSO beautifully at 1920x1080 with FXAA enabled (although I'm not sure if it's having any effect or not). Only problem is, no numpad, so FRED is... sub-optimal, at best. But still, I actually can FRED at work now! Big improvement.

[Colonol Dekker]

I had that problem with a few progs on netbook. Blender etc, but you can get usb numpads