Powerful Ultrabook

[TeslaK20]

Hi. Right now this is pure speculation and I currently have no plans to buy a laptop, but this could change anytime. I would like to know what are my options in the field of laptop that interests me. I would like to know whether there are any thin-and-light laptops with good (6+ Hours or So) battery life that has a dedicated GTX or Radeon GPU and a good, quad-core processor, all while staying under $1499. In terms of screen size, smaller is better. I will definitely not take anything above 15". Here are my priorities:
Battery Life>Portability>Screen Size>Build Quality>Performance
However, performance is still very important. I do not want integrated graphics (I might make an exception for iris in extreme situations), less than 8 GB of RAM, or dual-core processors.
Thanks

 

[THE_EGG]

hmm well I recently bought a Gigabyte P34G V2. I don't know if it is officially an ultrabook or not regarding Intel's specs but it is pretty darn thin and light (20.9mm and ~1.7kg), especially when you consider the specs. I don't know where you are in the world but the P34GV2 should be under the $1500usd mark for sure, same goes for the P35WV2.
Linky here; http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4927#kf
There is also the P35W V2 that has a GTX 870M here;
http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=5032#kf
As a note, the GTX860M in the P34G V2 is Maxwell based rather than Kepler ones you might see in other laptops.


Something I noticed with battery life with the P34GV2 is that if you enable stealth mode (that lowers the cpu speed to ensure the fans don't spin up much at all) it will lengthen battery life which is common sense I guess but no where on their website have I seen that. I've managed to get around the ~5 hour mark with wi-fi enabled and just about everything else on low or turned off.


There is also the Clevo/Schenker/Metabox/Eurocom custom built-to-order laptops as well. I think there is the 13.3" W230SS that has a GTX860M although I've read it runs pretty hot only having the one fan in the 13.3" form factor.

 

[TeslaK20]

UPDATE: Quadro Mobile graphics are also okay.

 

[TeslaK20]

hmm well I recently bought a Gigabyte P34G V2. I don't know if it is officially an ultrabook or not regarding Intel's specs but it is pretty darn thin and light (20.9mm and ~1.7kg), especially when you consider the specs. I don't know where you are in the world but the P34GV2 should be under the $1500usd mark for sure, same goes for the P35WV2.
Linky here; http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4927#kf
There is also the P35W V2 that has a GTX 870M here;
http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=5032#kf
As a note, the GTX860M in the P34G V2 is Maxwell based rather than Kepler ones you might see in other laptops.

When it comes to the P34G V2, there are two options. Getting it from iBuyPower gets me 16 Gigs of RAM (temporary promo), a 7200 RPM 1TB HDD, and no SSD Os drive, for $1400. From Xotic PC, I only get 8 Gigs of RAM and a 5400 RPM drive, but it has an mSATA SSD OS drive (for $1500). What are the differences between having a slower storage drive and an ultrafast OS drive and having one medium-fast drive to rule them all? What is better?

 

[PennySavre]

Personally I would have a medium-fast drive to rule them all. It will likely make games load quicker, due to bring able to access the content on the drive faster.

 

[THE_EGG]

I bought the 8gb ram one with a 256gb msata drive. Then I installed a 1tb 5400rpm SSHD myself when I got it home for more storage ( I already had this) and upgraded the ram to 16gb. I'd say it depends on the size of the SSD. If it's 'only' 120/128gb then go for the 7200rpm model otherwise I'd definitely go for the SSD model if it's the 256gb version. This way there is still room for most frequently played games on the 256gb ssd and then you can use the 1tb drive for other stuff and you can then upgrade to 16gb ram yourself pretty easily.

As a note, if you find an SSD only version like I did, you'll need to remove some strengthening blocks from where the 2.5" drive would go to be able to install a 2.5" drive.