Ultrabooks are the latest generation of ultraportable laptops. They feature very sleek designs with mostly aluminum cases, ultra-low voltage processors, fast boot up times, and long battery lives. Some ultrabook examples are the Asus UX21/31 series, Lenovo IdeaPad U300s, and Acer Aspire S3.
Lenovo IdeaPad U300e and U300s look the same.
A budget version of the Lenovo Ideapad U300s ultrabook, the U300e, is now available for pre-orders. The IdeaPad U300e doesn’t look different than the U300s. We’ve found three differences between the two laptops: processor and storage choices and pricing.
Many sites and DigiTimes as their news source today reported that Hewlett-Packard unveiled the HP Envy 15 Spectre series 15-inch ultrabook in Taiwan. Unfortunately, we think that this is a mistake and that the released laptop is actually the refreshed HP Envy 15, which is already available for some time in the US.
Since DigiTimes didn’t provide detailed info on the 15″ Spectre, we searched for its specs and found nothing. But, we spotted other reports from an HP’s event held yesterday in Taiwan, mentioning only the HP Envy Spectre 14 and the standard Envy 15 and showing off their images.
HP Envy 14 Spectre Series
The HP Envy 14 Spectre series, HP’s first consumer-oriented ultrabook, is now available for purchase in the US.
Outside, the Spectre has scratch-resistant Gorilla glass covering not only the 14″ thin-bezel screen, but also palmrest, touchpad and LCD lid. Inside the laptop, there are the Intel Core i5-2467M or i7-2677M ultra-low voltage processors from the current “Sandy Bridge” CPU line, as well as a 128GB or 256GB solid state drive with no HDD option, a fixed amount of 4GB of RAM, and a 4-cell battery good for “up to 9.5 hours” of operation. The display resolution is 1366×768.
Lenovo ThinkPad T430u
Please take this with a grain of salt, because we are not confident in reliability of the source, but we have to share with you what we found on a Vietnamese website – a listing for the Lenovo ThinkPad T430u Ultrabook with an Intel Ivy Bridge processor.
AMD Trinity Ultra-Thin Laptop (by Hot Hardware)
After watching Hot Hardware’s video of the upcoming AMD “Trinity” A-series Fusion Accelerated Processing Units in action, we concluded that these chips will be used in AMD-based laptops which will compete with Intel Ultrabooks.
So, our previous report on AMD Deccan-based Ultrabook competitors is apparently incorrect, and the word on the street is that Deccan will be delayed or even canceled.
This is the Acer Aspire S5 Ultrabook.
Engadget has posted a more detailed video overview of the 13.3″ Acer Aspire S5 ultrabook. According to Engadget’s Dana Wollman, the S5 has a more uniform premium aluminum design than the current S3 and is also more thinner, measuring 15mm. What makes the design of the Aspire S5 unique is a hidden port panel on the back of the ultrabook, which drops down after you press a button and slightly elevates the base for a more comfortable typing. We’ve also learned from the video that the display resolution is 1366×768 pixels.
AMD has plans to get into the market of ultra-thin laptops, which is currently dominated by Intel’s ultrabooks. The company has showed off at the CES Show a Compal-made ultrabook-like notebook, measuring 0.71″ thin. The big news regarding AMD’s plan is pricing. According to the chip maker, the price for AMD-based ultrabook-like systems is targeted at $500.
This is the Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga.
The Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga, a Windows 8 prototype ultrabook laptop with a 360-degree flip-and-fold design, has been announced. The Yoga has a 13.3-inch touch-screen display with 1,600×900-pixel resolution, the Intel’s Ivy Bridge Core i-series CPUs, up to 8GB of RAM, a 256GB SSD, and 8 hours of battery life. It is 16.9mm thick and weighs 3.1 pounds.
This is the Intel Nikiski Ultrabook Prototype.
At the CES 2012, Intel is showcasing the Nikiski Ultrabook prototype with a very innovative design and functionality, allowing you to get access to web, emails, calendar and other info even when the laptop is closed.
This is the Acer Aspire S5 Ultrabook.
Acer has released the Acer Aspire S5 13.3-inch tiniest ultrabook and 14 and 15-inch Acer Timeline Ultra series classic notebooks.
This is the HP Envy 14 Spectre Ultrabook.
UPATE: The HP Envy Spectre has been officially unveiled. It’s a glass-cladded laptop.
This is the Lenovo ThinkPad T430u Ultrabook.
Lenovo ThinkPad T430u is a 0.8″ thin ultrabook with Intel Core processors, most likely Ivy Bridge. At 14″, it has a larger screen than other ultrabooks, but also adds features such as optional dedicated graphics. Expected availability is Q3 2012 and the base price tag will be $849+.
The Samsung Series 5 13.3″ ultrabook and 14″ thin-and-light laptop are now available for pre-order in the US, after they were offered to Europeans. The Series 5 models are priced at $899.99 and $949.99, respectively.
HP made a 30-second teaser video of the super-thin Envy 14 Spectre notebook. It looks like that the Envy Spectre is more than just a 14-inch version of the new Envy and it is possible that belongs to the ultrabook category.
The Samsung NP530, their first ultrabook model, was announced two weeks ago in Asia, and now it’s available for pre-order in Europe.
The Series 5 NP530 starts at 799 Euros (1,041 US dollars), offering the Intel Core i5 2467M 1.6GHz processor, 500GB/16GB HDD/SSD hybrid drive, 4GB of DDR3 memory, a 1366×768 display resolution, and a four-cell 44Whr battery, providing a rated run time of up to 6.5 hours.
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