2014’s TOP small LAPTOPS

#1 Clamshell Ultra

Acer Aspire s7 191 or 392-9890 $400

Pros: Best screen; lightest/thinnest 11″ 2.3 lb; 180 open; back light keyboard

Cons:  Battery life 6-8hr but other Aspire models reach 9hrs; price

http://www.computershopper.com/laptops/reviews/acer-aspire-s7-391-9886

Acer V5 has only a 4hr battery, 155 lux dim screen

Acer VivioBook has a 15″ screen

s3 has i5, 13″ screen, 4hr battery

 

 

#2 Clamshell Ultra

HP Spectre 13 $450

260 lux Bright screen; 8hr battery, expanded side wing touch pad;

http://www.laptopmag.com/review/laptops/hp-spectre-13t.aspx

 

ASUS s200E $300

http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/reviews/laptop/3464350/asus-vivobook-s200e-review/

Pros: Polished aluminum casing

Cons: 5hr battery, dim screen not good for outdoors, 100mb wifi card super slow

 

#3 Samsung Series 9 $500

http://ultrabook-review.toptenreviews.com/series-9-review.html

Pros: Quality design,

Cons: HDMI/VGA dongle port needed, only 2 USBs

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Lenovo Helix, Acer Aspire s7; DELL XPS; ASUS Transformer; HP Elite Book Revolve; ASUS Taichi Dual Screen; Lenovo YOGA 11s & pro2; Lenovo Twist; MicroSoft Surface

After being hit by a semi and having my ASUS t100mt Hybrid Swivel touch screen laptop thrown from the truck and getting ran over, I was left scrambling to discover the best replacement model of 2014.

I put this guide together to organize all of research on the latest models. In order to narrow down the field I set some basic requirements that the ASUS t100mt was close to matching.

First, lets examine the t100mt in comparison.

The Pros: multi function touch pad; touch screen w/ stylus; durable swivel with square chassis in tablet mode; hackable unlock version of Win7; great audio out; multiple ports (duel audio out, SD, VGA, HDMI, USB3); hot swap RAM/battery

The Cons: Drive is not hot swap (must dissemble chassis); the VGA video out board works 80% of the time (dual monitor FAILS often); the Battery is only available from Asia sources and costs $70+ and it starts dropping from 7 hours to 3 hours once you reach around the 1500 hours mark of use; the weight strains your wrist when holding with one hand in tablet mode due to the swapable battery; 1.7ghz single core CPU

Hardware Spec charts:

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2401515,00.asp

*Windows RT systems not included because the RT OS requires additional apps and very limited 3rd party non Microsoft programs will work on them. http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/windows-rt-faq

TOP PICK of 2014

*IDEAL specs include Bright screen for sunlight use; haswell 4th gen Core i5 CPU; 14 hr swapable sheet battery (SONY) Dell XPS/Acer Aspire 9hr, swivel with removable touch tablet; back lit keyboard with small touch pad; 120gb+ SSD; 4g Ram;  VGA/hdmi out; <2.6lb;  Bluetooth/NFC/Widi;

WINNERS:

Battery = DELL XPS removeable 5-7hr / SONY VAIO Pro 11s dual batteries 14hr+ / HP Envy 7/7 dual /

Display = Lenovo Yoga 320 Lux Flip 11″ / DELL XPS 259 Lux Swivel 12″

Weight = Sony Vaio 1.9lb / Acer Aspire s7 2.3lb / Dell 3.2lb

Keyboard = Dell XPS / Aspire s7 both Backlit

Hardware Durability = NOT DELL XPS (faulty screen cable/power down bios)

*pricing based on eBay

#1 Convertible Samsung 700t $300

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2416024,00.asp?tab=Specs

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#1 Hybrid Lenovo YOGA 11s $400

Pros: 180 flip screen; 320 LUX bright for sunlight use; $400 avg price for 128gb; easy upgrade, good support

Cons: keyboard is exposed to damage and dirt; battery swap requires disassemble; 128gb drive max

http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/Idea-Windows-based-Tablets-and/Lenovo-Yoga-11s-SSD-and-RAM-Upgrade-Great-Results/td-p/1195545/page/5

 

#2 Convertible Lenovo Thinkpad Helix

http://www.theverge.com/2013/1/6/3844010/lenovo-thinkpad-helix-convertible

Pros: Dual battery, removeable tablet with laptop power

Cons: Avg price $600

#2 Hybrid DELL XPS 12  

Pros: Longest Battery of Hybrids (6-7+hr); 259 Lux Display; 3.2lb is avg; $350 avg price

Cons: the flip screen chassis is prone to damage and may become unstable after any minor bang; requires video out adapter; rear side headphone jack; touch pad drivers are unstable; rubber coated casing peels; faulty speaker and display pixels errors have been reported; Faulty Screen Cables are largely reported for causing boot up failures due to shorts and power saving bios settings also!

http://www.laptopmag.com/reviews/laptops/dell-xps-12-2013.aspx

#3 Convertible HP Envy x2 (2012)

Pros: <2lb; 5hr main keyboard battery & 7hr tablet battery

Cons: 2g Ram; 64gb SSD; IPS Screen not good in sunlight; the Atom Z2760 CPU is almost three times slower then Intel Core i5-3210m and playing streaming video is not good because it uses up 100% of CPU and drains the battery faster!

*View the latest HP Convertible 2014 models

http://www8.hp.com/us/en/ads/detachables/compare.html

#3 Hybrid SONY Vaio Pro 11s

Pros: Battery life extended to 15+ hrs with swappable sheet battery; 1.9lbs; HDMI out,

Cons: Noisy fans can be minimized in control panel; main battery not swappable; screen is just a basic clamshell; $800 avg price

http://www.computershopper.com/laptops/reviews/sony-vaio-pro-11/(page)/2#review-body

#4 Hybrid?

#5 Hybrid HP Elite Book Revolve

Pros: Durable 3.1lb chassis meets military use standards;  Swivel touch screen;

Cons: High avg Price of $600; NO Video Out for Dual Screen w/out display port adapter; Third- instead of fourth-generation Core i5 CPU; Screen does not detatch; sub par video; variable battery life

ASUS Taichi Dual Screen

Pros: 2.8lb

Cons: inside screen is not touch — only outside screen

Lenovo YOGA Pro2

Pros: has backlit keyboard

Cons: 13″

Lenovo Twist

Pros:

Cons: only in 12″; the screen swivel is not square with the chassis; the keyboard is only 50% of the surface so it is uncomfortable;

CONVERTIBLES (most tablet minded models do not house enough Ram, CPU power or HD space for business users)

MS Surface Pro2

Pros: light weight; smallest keyboard and durable;

Cons: limited drive space; limited features; requires a flat surface to keep the screen upright without a solid keyboard chassis

ASUS Transformer T300

Pros: good design; 128gb drive; 4gb RAM (not upgradeable)

Cons: No backlit keyboard; Keyboard and Tablet need to be charged separately; No WACOM digitizer support; tablet tilt is minimal 110deg; low LUX

ASUS

Ux31A Zenbook $375

13″ ; 128ssd; i5 1.7ghz ; 4gb RAM

ux21A $400
11.6″ ; 128gb SSD ; i5 1.7ghz ; 4gb RAM

X202e $250

11.6″ ; 500gb ; i3 1.8ghz ; 4gb RAM

Aluminum body

NEG- cheap hinges

 

x200CA $150
11″ ; 320gb ; 1.5ghz ; 4gb RAm

Plastic body

 

Q200 $250

11″, i3 1.8ghz

NO review found (international model)

low battery life expected

 

Lenova U430 Touch (14″) $450

The same guts as the Flex 14 but lighter (at 4.2 pounds) and thinner (0.8 inches) with a higher-res touch screen (1600×900). It also has 16 GB of solid-state cache, a backlit keyboard, and better build quality.

 

UPGRADE INFO

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ssd-recommendation-benchmark,3269.html