Modern designer laptop

Question

Design

Help me find a laptop. I can't decide at all.
My requirements are:
1. In the first place is a good screen. Ideally bright IPS. With high resolution.
I work mainly in Photoshop, and also write layout changes for designers (in a service like Business Lynch), look at ready-made sites, and draw prototypes in Axure. Sometimes I open something vector in Korel or Chandelier.
I have 15.6, 1366x768. The screen size is quite, but the resolution is small and not very convenient to work with. Plus it's glossy. The eyes are visibly tired. Although I'm used to it, matte screens still look much better.

2. In second place is memory. With my 4 GB DDR2 in Win7 64, Photoshop CS6 with several large files with a lot of layers slows down seriously and even hung the system a couple of times. Though it is possible it from a disk.
In any case, the memory in my opinion should be at least 8 GB DDR3

3. In third place is a fast drive. The capacity is not very important. I use clouds, I don’t particularly download movies, and if I download, I dump it on an external one to watch on TV and delete it after watching. I don't store music - I listen online. I have a 250 GB 5400 disk. It's enough for me. I even keep two partitions with two operating systems. One for work and one for testing. Either I will install Linux, then Win8, it would be interesting to install Hackintosh. But the speed is not enough. Swaps slowly. Sometimes it falls into a stupor when there are a lot of tabs in the browser and photoshop with several large files.
I don't know much about disks, and I'm not sure that the 7200 will be noticeably faster, but still the 7200 is the minimum for me.
I don't know how SSD screws work. Is there a big increase in speed? Which SSD cache is better?

Naturally, a clean SSD is awesome, fast, but still a little expensive. And I've heard that they are much less durable than hard drives. (or was it growing pains and now everything is ok?). Relatively normal-priced laptops with 128Gb SSD, but in my opinion this is not enough. I only have cloud caches: 10 Gig Yandex.Disk, 11 Gig Dropbox, 25 Gig Skydrive, 50 Gig Box. Of course, they are far from completely clogged (15-20 Gig usually in total), but they can fill up. Well, systems and programs are now voracious. Places eat a lot.
Here I have no certainty yet. Advise, enlighten.

4. Appearance and design. The laptop should be pleasant and convenient. It is desirable not to have glossy surfaces at all, they interfere, get dirty and scratched. It would be nice to have aluminum surfaces, but preferably completely made of aluminum. The screen hinges should be durable, the cooling should be good and not clogged with dust every six months, the cooler should not squeal over time, the buttons should not break, etc.

5. The keyboard is comfortable for typing. I took it with a numeric keypad, but now I regret it, I hardly use it. Enter small sometimes, but mostly ins end home del - I have them in numbers. I tried island-style keyboards - very convenient. Not like mine. Moisture protection would be nice too. I love working in the bathroom. (my weakness, alas).

6. Sound. I rarely listen to music now, but I like good sound. It's amazing how good sound some manage to put in some laptops and how disgusting and quiet others.

7. Ports. There must be many. 1-2 USB is not enough. You need at least 3. Well, other interfaces will be a bonus.

8. Processor. It doesn't matter at all in my opinion. It is unlikely that I will notice the difference in the work of Windows and Photoshop on i3 i5 and i7
If this is not so, please tell me.

9. Video card. As far as I know, she takes part in calculations in Photoshop, is needed when watching videos and for toys. Where else it is needed, I do not know. I hardly play games. Firstly, modern ones do not work for me. Secondly, I somehow lost interest once. I play on iPad most of the time. Although a discrete graphics card would be a plus. Will something come out that you really want to play? (for example 5 GTA ):-) From games I prefer racing, turn-based strategies and rpg-shooters from the third person.

10. Completely forgot about the battery. My laptop initially held about 2.5 hours. For 3 years, she sat down and now holds about 1.5 hours. Mostly I work at home, connected to the outlet (I do not remove the battery). But the ability to work autonomously for 3-4 hours is sometimes useful.

11. Size and weight. Whatever they say, carrying a laptop weighing about 3 kg or more is difficult. Try it yourself. Especially if it's all day. The size is optimal in my opinion 13-15 inches. 17's look cool and would probably be better for a designer's work, but they need a lot of space both at home and in cafes, for example, and they're heavy. Plus, you can’t throw it in a backpack, and you won’t ride a bike with this.

12. DVD-ROM is not needed. Bluray is the same. I don't remember the last time I used discs, except for a system restore on a laptop (it's on 3 DVDs). Yes, and they can be kept on an external hard drive and loaded directly from there, if that.

What issues are of concern to me?
Is it worth paying extra for IPS? I saw - the picture is just great. But there were good TN-matrices with extended viewing angles. Plus, there are few laptops with IPS, and there is no search for this parameter anywhere.

Is it convenient to work in Photoshop, etc. at 13.3'' with a resolution of 1600x900? What about 1920x1080? Is there a big difference? 1920 would have been preferable in the work in my opinion. In principle, at 15.6'' 1920x1080 look great. But there are a couple of interesting 13.3'' models (about them below).
I also remember the iPad with retina and soon they promise 13'' Macbook with retina. They are also convenient to use.

Is there a noticeable difference between 6GB and 8GB of RAM?

Is there a noticeable difference between 5400 and 7200 HDD? Between 7200 and hard with SSD? Between the latter and just an SSD? What is the best size right now?

Is it worth chasing the processor? Is there a noticeable difference between i3 and i5? i5 and i7?

Do you need a discrete graphics card? Usually they still put cuts on which you won’t play much. Although I may be wrong. Are modern integrated ones enough, like the Intel HD4000?

Which keyboard is more convenient, with or without a number pad?

I studied the market a little and I liked several models. In fact, there are few powerful laptops with a good matte screen, and even they have little memory, a slow screw, or a freak laptop. And the ips matrix is ​​\u200b\u200bgenerally one.
So the contenders:

ASUS N56VZ with FullHD matrix. goo.gl/ZO9hd
The screen is not ips, but it looks better than any TN, in my opinion no worse than in Macbook Air. Powerful processor and graphics card, excellent sound and aluminum finish. The only thing I did not like is that there is no model with a hard 7200, i7 processor and 8 GB of memory at the same time. Usually either 6GB of memory or an i5 processor. Although I don't know what is better here, a faster screw or a more powerful processor, and is there a noticeable difference between 6 and 8 GB. And in my opinion, a second hard drive or SSD cannot be installed in it either.
And the price is quite normal.
An interesting version of the ASUS N46VZ is smaller and cheaper, but as I understand it, it does not have a FullHD screen, but only 1366x768.

DELL Inspiron 7520 goo.gl/DE8ax
They advised on the official Dell twitter as an alternative to the 56th Asus. It seems to be an interesting option, but it is not clear what kind of screen is there and how it is in general, I would like to see it live. Well, it's cheaper than Asus.

ASUS Zenbook goo.gl/x9GPn
This is where I almost fell in love.
He is perfect for almost everyone. But the lineup is quite wide, eyes run wide. And I'm not sure how it will work at 13-inch in FullHD.
UX31E - old chipset, processor and video adapter. Not IPS, glossy, 4GB of non-expandable memory, adequate price only with 128SSD.

UX31A - hereinafter already Ivy Bridge and HD4000, but only 4GB of memory is not expandable. The price for the model with 256SSD is close to biting.

UX32A - It's cool that it's cheap, but the model did not come across with FullHD, 4GB of memory and Sandy Bridge i3 (isn't it rather weak?), And therefore the outdated HD3000

UX32VD - seems to be ideal. Great price, hybrid hard drive 500+24 SSD, i7 Ivy, HD4000+GF620M, the only negative is 4 GB (I'm not sure if it can be expanded).

I probably would have settled on the latest Zenbook if I was sure of the expandable memory and the convenience of working at 1920x1080 on a 13-inch laptop. He's just wonderful. I saw him live.
And yet, should we be seduced by a not very fast discrete video card, but a hybrid hard drive in the UX32VD, or give preference to SSD and UX31A? What is best suited for my tasks?

ASUS U500. 15 inch like Zenbook. Not for sale yet, but looks promising. Probably the price will be more than biting (heard about 70 thousand rubles).

MacBooks
Macbook Air 13'' - I was advised repeatedly. He's slick of course. But the screen is not ips, although it is very decent. And the resolution is very small for my tasks. In addition, I have never worked in MacOS. And for me, a macbook for the sake of makosi is a dubious plus. And it's still pricey. Even with 128Gb SSD.

Macbook Pro. 15 is expensive. With a retina in general space. 13 is also expensive. The screen is already 1600x900. But they seem to promise a retina, which means it’s quite possible to work with higher resolutions on 13-shke. I wonder how prices will change after the announcement?

That's all I liked. SONY is also good in terms of quality and design, but it is very expensive and it is not always clear why such an overpayment. Although I did not delve into the lineup much. The rest of the vendors are somehow rotten with good screens and interesting models (although it may have seemed so to me).

Which option do you think is preferable?
What are the alternatives?

PS I do not live in Moscow, so not every laptop can be touched live before buying from us, and most have to be ordered from Moscow (both in order to save money and simply because many models simply do not carry). In this regard, advise a good reliable online store (or seller), with white goods and good prices, which could deliver at least in Moscow (I have friends there, they can intercept), with payment upon receipt.
We have Enter and an Ozon pickup point.
One of my acquaintances is a Nix dealer, he can bring it at the price of Nix's Moscow retail.

Answer 1

I would still save some money and look towards retina 13, with 8 gigs and 256 GB ssd. I myself am now working on firmware 15 (normal) + external 23 ". Everything suits except for hdd, I would boldly change it to ssd gigs from 256, but it bites :) So think for yourself, I would advise you to buy 13shku Z.Y.
Sam I think to change to such a laptop :)

Answer 2

I work on a laptop with layouts and tables, now I have a thinkpad x301 13.3" 1440*900 and ssd) a desktop monitor is still more convenient and better quality.my resolution is quite comfortable with this screen size, full-hd at 17d and 1600 * 900 at 14d too.full-hd at 13d, like in Sony, this may be too much.
2) RAM is really important,
3) a 128g ssd is enough for a lot of things, the rest can be stored on an external or in an optibay if the design allows (this is where you need a dvd slot).even on my old ssd, shock resistance and random access are better hdd, with slower linear write / read)
4) if you have free RAM and a new processor, a video card is needed only for games and eating batteries) and for 3d rendering, if there is not a game card, which are in almost all laptops)
5) a digital block is not needed, i3-i7 there is little difference, especially in ultrabooks)
if you do not confuse the average sound and a fairly normal screen in terms of viewing angles, the thinkpad 420 and 420s are quite suitable for the requirements. and I still advise you to come and see the laptops live, for example, not the most poppy 420s, they brought me from the warehouse to look at one five-letter store on Rizhskaya without long conversations)

Answer 3

I wonder how comfortable it is to work in FullHD at 13.3 ''?
I calculated how many pixels will be in a millimeter approximately. 6.5 - FHD 13.3, 5.6 - 15.6 FHD, 3.9 - 15.6 1366x768, 8.5 - 15'' Macbook Retina.

Answer 4

My designer sister bought herself this minipcsale.ru/stati-i-obzory/19-okhladzhenie-noutbuka-tikhij-noutbuk. Lightweight, aluminum, quiet and a very good display. The price is humane for a non-brand - $ 700. If not this one, then I advise you to look towards macbooks 13-15. But they are already at a different price =).
Or something average from Sony, they also have a good display, in models more expensive than 40,000 rubles