Welcome to a laptop battery specialist of the Apple Laptop Battery
It's possible you'll buy the Folio not because you need a business-grade system, but because you just want a solid Ultrabook.Still, if you're willing to take a chance on a non-touch machine like the Folio, then we don't mind steering you toward one of our old favorites, the Samsung Series 9. Sammy's now selling it with Windows 8 pre-installed, so it's hardly out of date. At the time of our testing, we were impressed by pretty much everything: the lightweight, impossibly thin design, the fast performance, the bright 1,600 x 900 screen and the long battery life (granted, we tested it with Win 7). Our only caveat would be that it doesn't have a touchscreen for interacting with Windows 8 but again, if you're seriously considering the Folio that's probably not a dealbreaker anyway.
If you need the kinds of IT-friendly features offered on the Folio, though, something like the Series 9 probably isn't going to cut it. For those of you who won't consider anything other than a business machine, there's but a few options. We'd say the Folio's closest competitor might be none other than the $1,249 ThinkPad X1 Carbon (or the X1 Carbon Touch, if you do want a touchscreen after all). This, too, is a 14-inch business Ultrabook, with a 1,600 x 900 display, Ivy Bridge chipset and business features like TPM, BIOS encryption, a fingerprint reader and vPro processors for remote management. We're still waiting for a chance to test the touchscreen version, but we already know the X1 Carbon is one of the finer Ultrabooks we've tested, that high price and so-so battery like Apple PowerBook G4 15 inch Battery, Apple A1012 Battery, Apple M8511 Battery, Apple M8244 Battery, Apple A1079 Battery, Apple A1078 Battery, Apple A1148 Battery, Apple M6091 Battery life be damned.
While you're at it, you may as well consider the Dell XPS 13 ($1,000 and up) and XPS 14 ($1,100-plus), which are sold on both Dell's consumer and small business sites. Similar to the Folio and X1 Carbon, these offer business-oriented features like TPM, asset tagging, corporate images and custom BIOS. Particularly with the 14-inch model, we were impressed by the battery life and mighty graphics performance, though both offer a sophisticated design, comfortable keyboard and much-improved trackpad.
The way we feel about the EliteBook Folio 9470 reminds us of how we felt about the HP Folio 13, which we reviewed nearly a year ago. Both are buttoned-up sorts of systems: serious-looking, and with enough security features to satisfy the IT guys. And yet, conservative as they seem, they ended up being among the best Ultrabooks in their day -- so good, in fact, that we'd recommend them even to regular consumers. Compared to other Ultrabooks on the market right now, the 9470 offers longer battery life, a wider port selection, a smoother trackpad, a more comfortable keyboard and slightly faster performance. It's pricier than similarly specced models but then again, it comes with a three-year warranty, which is nice to fall back on.
Still, it's not perfect: it's thicker and heavier than competing models, it has a lower-res display and there's no touchscreen for interacting with Windows 8 (if that's what you're into). Folks who want those things should check out Lenovo's ThinkPad X1 Carbon Touch, though we can't promise the battery life will be as good, as we haven't had a chance to test it yet. That said, if you're fine with 1,366 x 768 and don't see much appeal in being able to touch the display, the EliteBook Folio is a solid performer.
No comments:
Post a Comment