ultrabooks

Computex: Roundup of hottest Windows 8 devices, day 2

Device makers continue to concoct novel designs to take advantage of Windows 8 Metro interface.

On Tuesday at Computex in Taipei, Samsung showed a Series 5 ultrabook running Windows 8 with a 13.3-inch touch display. … Read more

Dell's redesigned Inspiron laptops are near-ultrabook thin

Dell is rolling Intel's new Ivy Bridge chips out painfully slowly. First to Alienware laptops, then Latitude, and now the mainstream Inspiron line (with XPS still missing for now).

On the bright side, the new Inspiron designs look great, and having had a chance to play around with a few of these systems, they're nearly ultrabook thin in some cases, but very reasonably priced.

The new 13-, 14-, 15-, and 17-inch Inspiron laptops come in three flavors, the regular R, the thinner Z, and the more upscale SE (or special edition).

Not all screen sizes will be available in each category, so you'll end up with a mix of about a half-dozen base models -- which is better than Dell used to be, but a far cry from, say, the two MacBook Air base models (considering the Air is now Apple's "mainstream" laptop). Of those, only the Inspiron 14z is officially labeled as an ultrabook.

The new designs are thin and modern, with two-tone lids -- most in either either gunmetal gray brushed metal or brightly colored plastic contrasted against a lighter border. The Special Edition models are in "stealth black," with 1080p screens and discrete graphics, AMD in the 15-inch, Nvidia in the 17-inch. Blu-ray and SSD are options in those higher-end SE systems. … Read more

Toshiba serves up ultra-wide-screen, budget Satellite U845W and U845 ultrabooks

Toshiba used to have just one ultrabook line: the Portege Z835. Toshiba's added to its ultrabooks arsenal with a new pair of Satellite models: one's an affordable mainstream $749 model, the other's a wide-screen 14-incher that feels like it escaped the concept lab. And as for that Portege, it's been upgraded to Ivy Bridge processors and renamed the Portege Z935. We took a look at all of Toshiba's latest ultrabooks up close; here are our impressions and details on the ultrabook trio.

All three of Toshiba's new ultrabooks sail under $1,000: the Satellite … Read more

Toshiba shows off Windows 8 prototypes at Computex

We recently got chance to check out some concept laptops and tablets from Toshiba, all built around Windows 8. Today, Toshiba is unveiling those systems at Computex, as a sneak peek at the company's road map for Microsoft's upcoming operating system.

Toshiba describes the system as:

A Windows 8 ultrabook convertible designed in partnership with Intel A touch-screen Windows RT clamshell PC A Windows RT tablet with keyboard dock

Below, check out a few shots we snapped of the systems in question. The versions we saw were nonworking mockups, and there's no guarantee these exact models will … Read more

Intel invests in ultrabook touch displays

In case you haven't noticed, Computex is all about Windows 8 and touch. And Intel is doing its part to get the ultrabook industry geared up for touch displays.

On Tuesday, the chipmaker is announcing agreements with Cando, HannsTouch, TPK, and Wintek to guarantee the supply of touch displays, as a flood of touch-enabled ultrabooks hit the market over the next 12 months.

Computex, being held in Taipei this week, offers the first taste of touch products to come. Asus, Acer, and others are showing Intel-based Windows 8 touchscreen ultrabooks and hybrids. The Asus Taichi, for example, has dual … Read more

Lenovo launches new Ivy Bridge U310 and U410 ultrabooks

Lenovo has unveiled two new laptops in its latest attempt to shake up the ultrabook market.

The IdeaPad U310 and U410 ultrabooks come equipped with the latest Intel Ivy Bridge chips, offering a choice of the Intel Core i3, i5, or i7 processor.

The U310 (PDF) comes with a high-definition 13.3-inch 1,366x768 pixel screen. Weighing in at 3.75 pounds, it offers up to seven hours of battery life. Buyers can choose between a conventional hard drive with as much as 500 gigabytes of space or a solid-state drive with up to 32GB. An optical USB drive is … Read more

Acer Aspire 7 ultrabook graced by Gorilla Glass lid

TAIPEI, Taiwan--Among the Windows 8-based devices that Acer announced at its Computex press conference are two white-clad Aspire 7 ultrabooks.

Both are extremely slim and light, with the smaller, 11.6-inch version measuring just 12mm thick. The 13.3-inch model has a glossy Gorilla Glass lid that reminds us of the HP Envy 14 Spectre.

Only the lid on the 13.3-inch model gets the Gorilla Glass treatment. The 11.6-inch version, however, is all aluminum, with a matte finish. Both models have touch-screen support, as you would expect from devices designed to run Windows 8.

More importantly, the displays on both ultrabooks are full-HD and from our limited time with it, the viewing angles are quite good despite all the gloss. Acer is the second PC vendor we know that's putting 1,920x1,080-pixel screens on its ultrabooks. … Read more

Sony's new Vaio laptops revealed

The latest refresh of Sony's iconic Vaio laptop line is dominated by the company's first entry in the growing ultrabook category.

But, looking at the new Vaio T, you might think, "Doesn't Sony already have an ultrathin laptop?" And that's true -- the high-end Vaio Z has been around for a couple of years in its present form, and certainly is as thin and portable as any ultrabook. It was even one of the first laptops to go SSD-only.

But the Vaio Z is technically not an ultrabook (and its previous $2,000-plus price made it basically an executive laptop). Much of the Z's DNA has filtered down to a brand-new line, the Vaio T, which looks and feels very similar, but starts at under $800.

Sony has updated several other laptop lines as well, most notably with Intel's new third-generation Core i-series (Ivy Bridge) CPUs, and a very nice software package of Sony's Vegas, Acid, and Sound Forge software for video and audio editing.… Read more

Fujitsu, Dell 'Ivy Bridge' ultrabooks point to hybrid HDDs

With Fujitsu today announcing new ultrabooks based on Intel's latest Ivy Bridge processor in Japan and Dell's XPS 14 Ivy Bridge ultrabook imminent in the U.S., it is becoming apparent that spinning hard drives are back in vogue for these slim laptops.

The 0.6-inch thick, 3-pound Fujitsu UH75/H ultrabook comes with a Core i5-3317U (1.7GHz) chip, a 14-inch display with resolutions up to 1920x1080, and a 500GB hard disk drive with a solid-state drive cache for the base model.

That last storage specification matches a similarly-configured Dell XPS 14 ultrabook model that is expected … Read more