Notebooks through the ages (2016 edition!)

Another four years since my 2012 post on notebooks, and the 2008 before that. Right about time to do another update, since there’s been a whole bunch of machines since that point. Here’s what the table looks like now:

Manufacturer Model From To Screen CPU Type OS
1. Toshiba Satellite Pro 1997 2000 12″ Pentium Full-featured Win 95
2. Dell Inspiron 3000 1999 2000 14″ Pentium Full-featured Win 98 SE
3. IBM Thinkpad 240X 2001 2001 10.4″ Pentium III Ultraportable Win 98 SE
4. Toshiba Protege 3000 2001 2002 11.1″ Pentium III Ultraportable Win 98 SE
5. HP Omnibook 500 2002 2004 12.1″ Pentium III Ultraportable Win XP
6. Sager 5650 2003 2005 15″ Pentium IV Full-featured / Gaming Win XP
7. Acer Travelmate 3001 2005 2007 12″ Pentium M Ultraportable Win XP
8. Dell XPS M1210 2007 2008 12″ Core 2 Duo Ultraportable / Gaming Vista
9. IBM Thinkpad T60 2007 2011 14″ Core 2 Duo Full-featured Win XP
10. NEC Versa E6310 2008 2010 14″ Core 2 Duo Full-featured / Gaming Vista
11. MSI Wind U100 2008 2013 10″ Atom Netbook Win XP
12. Apple MacBook Pro 13 2009 2012 13.3″ Core 2 Duo Full-featured iOS
13. Dell Studio XPS 16 2010 16″ i5 m460 Full-featured Win 7
14. Apple MacBook Pro 15 2011 2015 15″ Core 2 Duo Full-featured iOS
15. Samsung N305 2012 11.6″ AMD Dual Core Netbook Win 7
16. Apple MacBook Pro Retina 2012 2015 15″ Quadcore Full-featured iOS
17. Asus Zenbook UX31E 2013 13.3″ i5-2557M Ultrabook Win 7
18. Microsoft Surface Pro 3 2015 12″ i5-4300U Tablet hybrid Windows 8.1
19. Dell XPS 13 2015 13.3″ i7-5500U Full-featured Windows 8.1
20. HP Pavilion 15 p257TX 2015 15.6″ i7-5500U Full-featured Windows 8.1

Entries 17 to 20 are new since the 2012 post. Here’s the reckoning, notes, updates and whatnots for these and others:

  • #11 MSI Wind U100: Traded this in for a refurbished Asus Zenbook UX31E (#17) a couple years ago.
  • #13 Dell Studio XPS 13: Ling used it for a couple of years – the laptop still has an amazing screen and was very fast-performing especially after I did that home upgrade to an SSD. The keyboard however has gone kaput, as is also the power adapter. The notebook is currently now in cold storage. I’ll have to find some time to disassemble and salvage what I can from it later this year.
  • #14 Apple MacBook Pro 15: office notebook that was returned last year.
  • #15 Samsung N305: still going on great and currently used by parents at Lentor , and I recently bumped the OS from Windows 7 to 10.
  • #16 Apple MacBook Pro Retina: Ran great for the first year, had a motherboard failure immediately after the first year of warranty ended, begged for and got a repair waiver, and the laptop continued having issues last year. Finally stabilized it, and had it traded in.
  • #17 Asus  Zenbook UX31E: a fairly lightweight ultrabook with premium build. Bought it at bargain bin refurbished prices. The processor is a little slow though, as is also the SSD that doesn’t run nearly at typical SSD speeds.  I’ll probably sell it away soon.
  • #18 Microsoft Surface Pro 3: great screen and lovely little machine that I use in the bedroom every night, but the 4GB RAM is barely adequate to run Windows 10.
  • #19 Dell XPS 13: my current workhorse laptop. Beautiful screen though with some light bleeding at the screen edges, comfortable typing, though I don’t quite like the carbon fiber wrap.
  • #20 HP Pavilion 15: Ling’s home notebook that was picked up last year too.

I’ve been continuing to keep an eye on the Aftershock notebooks, and they sure look tempting – the more so given their very attractive price points. Perhaps one will be in my purchase radar soon!