The great thing about being rich and famous like Jeff is that you can afford to waste your money on hardware that will be irrelevant in 3-6 months.
NO LAPTOP is worth buying right now unless it incorporates a nice workable multitouch display.
If I’m going to drop over a grand into a new mobile workstation, i’m waiting until the second generation Windows 8 models come out.
Then Jeff will buy one and write a post called “REVENGE OF THE LAPTOP”. 
"The great thing about being rich and famous like Jeff is that you can afford to waste your money on hardware that will be irrelevant in 3-6 months.
"
If youre writing code for a living, paying $1,050 for a laptop is probably foolish cheap decision. Most of us consultants need more horsepower and bigger displays than these specs to work efficiently. I spend almost $2000 on a laptop every 20-24 months and i am far from famous and not too rich
“NO LAPTOP is worth buying right now unless it incorporates a nice workable multitouch display.”
^^ I dont get this. I can run my system much faster by memorizing keyboard shortcuts, never touching a mouse. You dont even need a multitouch computer to write and test multitouch apps, in a pinch you can use 2 mice. Very few laptops currently support touchscreen windows leave alone multitouch, and I dont want to get the first gen of that batch
Hey! seems just like my wife’s Macbook Air.
For me the lack of keyboard is a game breaker. I just can’t work without a keyboard, touch screens are still TERRIBLE in terms of responsiveness and general feel. Whenever I’m away from my PC, I’ll be sticking to my laptop and good old Nokia with normal keyboard.
My reason for buying a “Mac clone” instead of a Mac would be because I will not, ever, support that awful company (Apple). All they want is to be a monopoly. If they were to open up their platform and allow others to make hardware for their OS, that would be a start. But for now they are far too greedy and careless.
I’d really like one of these, especially at that price, but struggling to find anything like it in the UK - most laptops approaching that spec are more in the £1500 ($2400) range 
Hopefully everyone’s latest laptop is their “the best PC laptop I’ve ever owned” laptop! People upgrade to a better one.
I’ve been thinking about the UX32VD too. How does it physically compare with the UX31A? I can find plenty of UX31A, but never a UX32VD in store to try.
Hey, has anyone else had a problem with the screen on the UX31A? It actually bothered my girlfriend’s eyes and gave her headaches. Just wondering if anyone else had similar problems and figured a way around it.
She actually had the same problem with an LED TV until we got one with a higher refresh rate…
And did anyone make any tweaks to the touchpad to make that work better? She hated it so much we actually returned the laptop thinking the touchpad might be broken. We’re trying to decide what to replace it with now but the UX31A is still the best looking laptop out there…
Jeff, sorry to say that, but you need to buy a Lenovo X1 Carbon. I was huge fan of my ASUS Zenbook but it never could really step up to my MacBook Air in terms of details and manufacturing qualtiy.
I already thought I couln’t get this level of perfection on a PC, but then the X1 Carbon arrived.
YOU REALLY NEED TO BUY THIS ONE!
It is simply a masterpiece of hardware. The keyboard is way better than the one of the MacBook Air and the clickpad is as good as the Apple one. It has a 14’’ HD screen at the physical measurements of a MacBook Air. It gives you 8GB of Ram, Core i5 or i7, 256GB SSD and has integrated 3G connectivity…
If you like your Zenbook, you will love the X1 Carbon!
I can run my system much faster by memorizing keyboard shortcuts, never touching a mouse. You dont even need a multitouch computer to write and test multitouch apps, in a pinch you can use 2 mice. Very few laptops currently support touchscreen windows leave alone multitouch, and I dont want to get the first gen of that batch 
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You certainly can GET BY with a non-touch laptop right now. But my point is that most budget-minded laptop power users (who typically buy a new laptop every 3-4 years) would be FOOLISH to buy a new one now, given that we are basically about to enter the windows 8 multi-touch era. Everyone loves to poo-poo the utility of touch on PC’s right now, but just wait 1-2 years down the line when there are KILLER touch apps for windows 8 and the second gen laptops come out that really take touch productivity to the next level and here you are stuck with an windows 7 era laptop that you wish had a touch screen.
Yes, it’s annoying to have to wait 12-18 more months for the second gen win8 laptops to come out, but if you’re gonna make a $2000+ investment, you might as well be smart about it. We can’t all have unlimited tech budgets like Mr. Atwood. 
I bought the 256GB SSD version of the Zenbook Prime. I have to say I’m loving this machine. The keyboard was easy to get used to. I have fewer wires because of Bluetooth and the USB 3.0 is ridiculous quick.
“You dont even need a multitouch computer to write and test multitouch apps, in a pinch you can use 2 mice.”
That is not a serviceable replacement, any more than controlling the mouse cursor via the arrow keys is a serviceable replacement for a mouse.
That’s not to say it isn’t useful. The precision of a mouse can be very helpful in debugging and testing issues compared to touch.
I also think that, even without being rich, it behooves a developer to have a low-end test machine in addition to their high-end development machine. That can be your multitouch device if you need one, and it can last longer than 24 months since it doesn’t really have to keep up with anything other than the minimum system requirements that you care to support.
Still, I sense a great disturbance in the market. As if a many SKUs were being suddenly launched in late October. Even if you don’t get a new one or a multitouch one, it’s got a good chance of knocking down prices of existing devices.
I have an older ASUS … (not yours) … I absolutely hate the sharing of the insert and delete key … a real pain in the a$$ when using apps like mindmanager or ms project.
"My laptop is increasingly a device I only take when I know I’ll need to do a lot of typing"
That’s the key point. The main reason to use a notebook is to type something. Or, if you play games, nothing beats a keyboard and a good mouse. By definition, a notebook is a screen and a keyboard. No wonder that if you don’t need to type, you don’t need a notebook.
Also I don’t quite agree with some of the points. Battery life could be better, that’s for sure. But as for the startup times, I don’t really see what to complain about if using SSDs. At least mine boots in about 10 seconds, isn’t it fast enough? The connectivity is not an issue too, I always carry an Android smartphone with me. With sleight of hand it becomes a Wi-Fi hotspot - the problem is solved. One handed operation in a bus or train? I wouldn’t be able to sit on StackExchange normally without a decent keyboard anyway.
Some people really don’t need a notebook, but the whole post sounds like notebooks are ancient, and no one needs them anymore. But seriously doubt that it’s true.
Kind of stupid to have to pay for Windows (which you are such a big fan of) just to hav to wipe as the first thing to do with your new computer. Then I guess you go out and buy another Windows since you probably can’t install a clean version. So bundling all this crap you have to pay for 2 Windows licenses just to be able to use the computer. Why throw money at corporations that hates you?
My personal experiance with PCs tell me that you really cannot expect anything good in the “bargin bin”
Most of them are simply chips wrapped in a plastic shell, with no consideration of design and user experiance.
However, if you look above the bargin bin, I find that some PCs are fantastic. I would easily recommend a Fujitsu Lifebook or a Thinkpad, or even a Panasonic Toughbook (if that is your thing)
I have to disagree. I bought an iPad 2 in the spring 11’ when it came out. In January or February of 2012 I bought a MacBook Air because I was sick of answering emails with a touch keyboard. Even typing 200 words on the iPad is a pain in the ass.
Besides that I can do real work on the MBA like write a script or remote into my work machine (Windows 7) which no tablet allows. And to the StackOverflow point; it’s too much typing to answer a question on a tablet. On top of that, what if I need to actually run some code to make sure it works?
I’m still wondering why even use desktop computers if one eg. has a game console for his entertainment. I know Mr. Atwood is an avid pc gamer - so this seems only explanation for owning a desktop.
If you want long battery life and are running heavy apps directly on the machine, you’re doing it wrong… Leave the heavy apps on the home (hopefully very large) box and use the ultraportable to remote in. This is how I do all my coding work remotely. With ubiquitous Internet, there’s no need to kill battery life by loading up the local CPU and drive. There’s also no need to have to maintain multiple install locations of applications. Keep it all on the main PC and use the portable as an interface. I’m getting a solid 9 hours of work time out of my Thinkpad X230 Tablet this way and I don’t miss having local apps at all…