Asus UL80Vt Laptop?

[bomber317]

Helping a friend pick a laptop.

Wants something for just surfing/e-mail/basic office apps/movies

Doesn't want a netbook but wants something light.

Came up with this http://www.memoryexpress.com/Product...=ASUS%20UL80Vt

Just wondering if anybody has any hands on experience with it?

I've read a review from Anandtech saying the build is alright, aluminum on the outside but glossy plastic on the inside. So fingerprint prone.

The Dell 14z has good reviews as well, but the one big drawback of it is that there is no built in Optical drive.

[mykalberta]

You know you can get an external DVD drive for ~$70ish right?

How often would you use an optical drive on something that you would need for "surfing/e-mail/basic office apps/movies"

My sister had the same complaint before I showed her the anydvd+handbrake combo for her DVD collection. Buy an external 500GB WD Pocket drive from Costco and you never need another optical drive again.

Also if you are worried about needing to ever reinstall windows, you can boot off a USB key for XP/Vista/7.

[bomber317]

No, I was thinking of more bringing movies on a flight and whatnot. I personally don't find a need for a built in optical drive.

I did highlight the Dell 14z for her, and asked her if having the optical drive separate would be a problem.

But thanks for the anyDVD suggestion, I'll see if that works for her.

[mykalberta]

Its the combo anydvd+handbrake.

That allows you to convert DVDs into mp4, mkv, avi etc.

Example, last night Shawshank Redemption took about 1:35 to convert it to a 2Gb mkv file. You can of course get lower quality (probably ideal for a netbook like computer). I am doing it so I can replace my dvd player on my tv and replace it with a streaming option so I used mkv