in my search for a laptop, i think i've narrowed my choices down to the 700m and the X1. i need it mainly for taking notes in class, usual office tasks (email, outlook, websurfing), watching the occassional DVD on a plane ride or something, and some light image and video editing. i don't plan to do any real gaming, heavy video encoding, or program compiling on it, because i will be using it in conjunction with a desktop at home.
my main concerns are the following:
keyboard: i hear that the 700m's keyboard is extremely undersized and hard to type quickly with, especially the ., and / keys. i will be taking notes in just about all my classes on my laptop and don't want to be having typos on every other word in my notes or something...
screen: does the glossy screen on the 700m make it a lot better? I will mostly be using the laptop in big lecture halls will fairly dim lighting, but will sometimes use it outdoors in the sun as well (sitting outside between classes doing some catch-up work). i have found that my old laptop, turned at the lowest brightness setting, is rather dim and hard to see in lecture halls (usually have to go up to between 1/4 and 1/2 brightness level), and when turned to the highest brightness setting while outdoors in the sun, i still can't really see anything. will a glossy screen help in my situations?
battery life: basically, the longer the better. i can never get a seat in lecture halls close enough to wall plugs, so long battery life is good. i don't mind swapping out batteries in between classes as long as it's not excessive (like having to swap out between every 1-hour lecture or something). does one have better battery life than the other?
optical drive: on my old laptop, i found myself rarely using the optical drive. i know the X1 doesn't have a built in drive, but is that a major problem, other than the obvious fact of not being able to watch DVDs?
heat: i've read so many opposite opinions on this that i'm not really sure what to believe anymore. i will rarely be using it on my lap (usually will be on a desk or my cooling pad), but i don't want it burning a hole in anything. in terms of specific types of computer usage causing more heat, i'm mostly just concerned with the heat buildup when using basic tasks (having outlook, onenote, a few firefox windows open, and wireless turned on)
comments, suggestions, and anything else that might help me finalize this search for a laptop would be greatly appreciated. thanks in advance!
my main concerns are the following:
keyboard: i hear that the 700m's keyboard is extremely undersized and hard to type quickly with, especially the ., and / keys. i will be taking notes in just about all my classes on my laptop and don't want to be having typos on every other word in my notes or something...
screen: does the glossy screen on the 700m make it a lot better? I will mostly be using the laptop in big lecture halls will fairly dim lighting, but will sometimes use it outdoors in the sun as well (sitting outside between classes doing some catch-up work). i have found that my old laptop, turned at the lowest brightness setting, is rather dim and hard to see in lecture halls (usually have to go up to between 1/4 and 1/2 brightness level), and when turned to the highest brightness setting while outdoors in the sun, i still can't really see anything. will a glossy screen help in my situations?
battery life: basically, the longer the better. i can never get a seat in lecture halls close enough to wall plugs, so long battery life is good. i don't mind swapping out batteries in between classes as long as it's not excessive (like having to swap out between every 1-hour lecture or something). does one have better battery life than the other?
optical drive: on my old laptop, i found myself rarely using the optical drive. i know the X1 doesn't have a built in drive, but is that a major problem, other than the obvious fact of not being able to watch DVDs?
heat: i've read so many opposite opinions on this that i'm not really sure what to believe anymore. i will rarely be using it on my lap (usually will be on a desk or my cooling pad), but i don't want it burning a hole in anything. in terms of specific types of computer usage causing more heat, i'm mostly just concerned with the heat buildup when using basic tasks (having outlook, onenote, a few firefox windows open, and wireless turned on)
comments, suggestions, and anything else that might help me finalize this search for a laptop would be greatly appreciated. thanks in advance!
