Which convertible Laptop to buy?

[CNBrammer]

I loved the first convertible laptop tablet that I had, so much so that I probably will never buy any laptop that is not one. However, the last one I had was a complete mess. So, I am doing a lot more research this time and would appreciate any advice you have on them.

General Questions.

1. What is your budget? ~$2000

2. Would you consider purchasing used/refurbished?
Maybe, factory refurbished.

3. Do you prefer a Slate, Convertible or Ultra Mobile PC (UMPC)?
Convertible

4. What size Tablet PC would you prefer?
12 - 13.5" leaning a little more toward the 12" size.

5. Which country do you intent to purchase from?
US

6. Do you have any preferences to brand loyalty or dislikes?
Previous 2 convertibles were HP. The 1st was a tc4200, which was wonderful. The 2nd was a tx2-1020, which was a horrid mess.

7. How many hours battery life do you require?
At east 5 hrs, more would be better.

8. What will be the primary usage scenario of this tablet? (Email/Web Surfing/Drawing/Word Processing/Entertainment/Notetaking etc)
Notetaking, entertainment, maybe a little drawing, and general tasks.

9. Do you have an OS preference?
Windows

10. What software and tasks do you intend to run? (Microsoft Office or other Word Processing Suite/Photoshop/3D Studio Max/Autocad etc)
Libre Office, GIMP, Skype, WLM, mIRC, Steam(mostly for chatting), Firefox, Chrome, Thunderbird.

11. Do you intend on playing Games? If so please list.
Might play some EVE Online, but nothing much.


Screen Specifics

1. What resolution do you prefer?
WXGA (16:10 aspect ratio)

2. Do you require the screen to be readable in sunlight?
Not a requirement, but would be nice.

3. Do you prefer your display to be glossy or matte?
matte, if it's not grainy (tx2 was matte but very grainy)

4. Do you require Touch? (without pressure sensitivity) (Which one: resistive or capacitive)
Not an absolute requirement, but would be nice.

5. Do you require a Pen? (with pressure sensitivity) (Which one: Wacom or N-Trig)
yes, prefer Wacom.


Component Specifics

1. What size Hard Drive and Memory do you require?
160 GB of storage would be plenty, plan to use an external HDD for larger files. At least 4 GB of memory, would prefer at least 6GB.

2. Do you require an Optical (CD/DVD) Drive to be built in? No, I will use an external USB connect drive the few times I need it.

3. Do you require ability to add a second Battery or Hard Drive (Modular Bay technology)? Probably would, always seems like on past laptops that there was sometime where I wished I had had that ability.


Misc
1. Other non specific items ~ please add other items you require not covered above? I would like a docking station because I want to use the laptop for messaging while playing games or doing other graphics intensive tasks on my desktop PC, and want to easily and quickly connect laptop to a larger screen, and better keyboard.

2. Additional requests ~ anything other you wish to take into consideration?
Also, something few people seem to bring up, how are temperatures and fan noise on the models you would recommend? I had problems with my previous tx2-1020 getting very hot and being very loud, usually with the fan cycling between, what seemed to be, full speed and half speed and the heat also caused the GPU (which was only held in by glue) to become de-seated. I also would like a TV output (1st convertible had a component/S-video combination TV output, 2nd one should have but didn't) but that is not a strict requirement, as there are probably devices that can take VGA and change them to some TV connection.

I have been mostly looking at the Fujitsu T731, HP 2760p, and Lenovo X220 (I don't like the 16:9 screen).

Thanks in advance for any advice.

[Agent 9]

I'd say the HP 2760p, or the Fujitsu T731 or the T901 (13.3"); look at those closely and see what calls to you -personally I like the HP as it has a flush bezel (the glass around the screen is flat with the screen so with touch its easy to do 'edge swipes' which will become a Win 8 must), there is a track-stick (in the middle of the keyboard, I like them way more than touchpads), a keyboard light (not backlight, but a light near the webcam to light the keyboard), and its a solid as hell machine; second pick would be the 13.3" Fujitsu T901 because it lacks the things the 2760p has that I listed (especially the extremely solid build, the T901 is solid, but not that much so), but it has HDMI, USB 3.0, the modular bay, and especially the slightly larger screen; to me the T731 is a non-competitor

If however none of them especially scream to you then waiting a few months may be advisable as there will be the new Ivy Bridge Tablet PC's announced around July and available early fall probably, based on early reports form Intel the CPU and GPU of the Ivy Bridge will be significantly faster than the current Sandy Bridge (on the GPU side it seems an increase of ~60%)

[pepper_john]

thinkpad X220t tablet pc,

http://www.trustedreviews.com/lenovo..._Tablet_review

[CNBrammer]

I have decided to go with the Fujitsu 901 with the nvidia graphics, I am wanting a bit larger laptop screen than what I have used before. Now to pick out all the options. lol

[Agent 9]

If you are doing a configure to order then get the minimum ram and HDD as you can upgrade those yourself for waaay cheaper. ram will cost you about $40 to get 8GB DDR3, and about $80-90 for 16GB DDR3 (and it will work no problem in the T901), hard drives you can get up to a 2.5" 1TB drive for about $130 or you can get a SSD (only real advantages are faster load speeds, quiet operation, and it is shock proof so using it on a train or in a car is no problem; currently you can get a Crucial SSD for clsoe to $1/GB spo a 128GB drive will cost $130, and a 256GB drive will cost $260 -prices from Newegg- for SSD's only look at Intel, Crucial, or Samsung as the rest will end up being a waste of money)... for the processor the i5-2540M will be the only thing you will really need to go to and it will be way more than you'll need (the 'i7' is a waste of money as there will be no difference in use, its all marketing BS). for warranty its really up to you if you get an extension at all, personally I would only get the 2-year extension with On-Site upgrade for $109 (so I wouldn't have to send it out to a depot for a few days if something goes wrong)... and depending on what you plan to do with the unit I'd recommend you get the basic DVD drive regardless so you can at least toss in in a few dollar enclosure, then get either the modular bay HDD 'kit' or a modular bay battery, and maybe the 'Port Replicator' as it should make a decent dock , and a second or even third A/C adapter would be a good thing so you can have one in your bag and one or two in your house

[Liberty]

There are a few programs which benefit from I7, but the price difference has been big up until recently. I was looking at the I7 and they keep getting bought up, whereas the I5 2760 are for sale all over the place.

[CNBrammer]

Yeah, I came to the same conclusion on buying the RAM and SSD separately, Fujitsu's prices on those are outrageous. I will probably get Crucial's 256GB SSD and then I should be able to easily do a drive copy from the stock 250GB to the SSD. I already have a small USB DVD-R drive as well as a small USB HD, so I will be dropping the internal drive and getting the modular battery. Thanks for the tip on the processors will save some money and maybe a bit of heat by going with the i5. I will definitely get an on-site warranty plan, last one was a mail-in plan and was a huge pain, especially since the laptop broke during a trip.

Thanks for the help.

P.S.
Really wish the Fujitsu site had a modify or back button on it's laptop customization.

[CNBrammer]

Couple more questions; does the 901 support SATA III or just SATA II? I am guessing just SATA II, otherwise they would advertise it. lol

Also, I will be getting 2x 4GB dual channel RAM, but what brand/model RAM would you recommend?

[Zero]

Couple more questions; does the 901 support SATA III or just SATA II? I am guessing just SATA II, otherwise they would advertise it. lol

Also, I will be getting 2x 4GB dual channel RAM, but what brand/model RAM would you recommend?

The T901 supports Sata III.