What device would be an upgrade from SP?

[BillJ]

It is the nearing the end of the year, and I have a budget for an upgrade to my SP. I use my present device for presentations, research, photo editing and the usual web surfing and e-mails. I love the SP for its portability and responsiveness.

The only reason for me to replace my SP would be if there is a device that does everything the SP does, but is:
- maybe an inch or so wider/longer
- faster
- lighter
- better battery life

At present, I don't know of any competing devices that fulfill those criteria. Does anybody have any recommendations?

 

[Endorsay]

Good criteria I don't know. Some Ultrabooks may meet 2 of them but will probably lose on the weight.

 

[demandarin]

The new surface pro 2 once released..lol

Nothing out there currently meets all od those. We can bet the surface pro2 will be lighter since it'll be using Haswell processor. Less cooling needed since its more efficient and draws less power.

Definitely don't rush. Wait to see everything that's announced.

 

[oion]

When it comes to ultramobile computing, I always tell people that it's similar to the project management trifecta.

* Power (performance)
* Battery life (longevity)
* Weight (mobility)

PICK TWO.

Engineering limitations and the laws of physics at this point means you cannot have high battery life AND high power without weight gain, and so on. This has been the fundamental truth in ultramobile computing for as long as I can remember, back with my first Hitachi import in the 1990s. Unless you're importing direct out of Japan these days, where the vast majority of cutting edge mobile computing comes from, there's no rush for obvious upgrades... especially when the Surface Pro hasn't even been out for a year yet. But let me just say, thanks to Microsoft's goading with the Surface and despite their marketing failures, the industry is moving towards that horizon (at least more visibly in the U.S.--normally ultramobile computing seems to be much more important only in the Far East).

 

[machistmo]

It will need to be heavier than the SP. But Asus makes a nice line of Zenbooks that are ScREAMING FAST and weighabout 2.9 Lbs vs the Surface at 2. They are as much like a Mac-book as they can possibly be and the 3rd gen Intel model I bought my mom for Mothers Day gets just under 7 hours battery life so I would expect the haswell version to be closer to 10 hours.
Amazon.com: NEW ASUS Zenbook Prime 13.3" 1920x1080 FHD Touch-Screen Ultrabook i5-3317U 4GB 128GB SSD Windows 8 USB3.0 HDMI LAN Wifi: Computers & Accessories I got this unit at a local Best Buy for under 1K. This is a 3rd gen cpu not haswell.
Asus Zenbooks with Haswell: Zenbook Infinity and Zenbook Touch UX31A LA
The complete list of Haswell ultrabooks available in 2013