Ultrabooks are the new “It” laptops. Running Windows and carrying the latest Intel processors, laptops in this new class are feather-light and ultrathin.

1. 28/12/2011 04:17
blog.batteryfast.co.uk
Ultrabooks Buying Guide: What You Need
to Know About Purchase an Ultrabook
Laptop
Ultrabooks Buying Guide: What You Need to
Know About Purchase an Ultrabook Laptop
CloudTags: Ultrabooks , Guide , Purchase , Laptop
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Ultrabooks are the new “It” laptops. Running Win-
dows and carrying the latest Intel processors, laptops
in this new class are feather-light and ultrathin.
http://blog.batteryfast.co.uk/ultrabooks-buying-guide-what-you-need-to-know-about-purchase-an-ultrabook-laptop/
With superthin Ultrabooks available now and ano-
ther wave expected in the next few months, here’s
how to decide which svelte laptop to buy–and when
to grab it. Lenovo IdeaPad U300s UltrabookPrices, however,
are all over the map, ranging from a low of $799 for
Intel announced the Ultrabooks label in May, and Toshiba’s Best Buy exclusive model to more than
the first Ultrabook models started trickling in over $1500 for Lenovo’s IdeaPad U300s. Compared with
the past two months. If you’re looking for a balance regular laptops that sell for under $500, the cur-
between portability and performance, one of these rent crop of Ultrabooks isn’t cheap. You’re definitely
laptops may be your best bet right now. Read on to paying for the premium design and portability of
find out what you need to know about buying an these laptops, as well as the expensive solid-state
Ultrabook. drives that most of them use.
2011 Ultrabooks For many people, however, a sleek, lightweight
laptop that can run for more than 6 hours on one
The first Ultrabooks out of the gate deliver on the charge and promises to match the performance of
elegant, superslim promise. The six laptop manu- larger laptops is worth such an investment. That is
facturers on board so far (Acer, Asus, HP, Lenovo, especially true if you’ve been seeking a Windows
LG, and Toshiba) offer Ultrabooks that each weigh alternative to Apple’s popular, superthin MacBook
3 pounds or less and measure just 0.6 inches to 0.8 Air, which starts at $1299 for the 13-inch model.
inches in thickness.
Buy Now or Later?
That said, the biggest consideration when you’re
shopping for an Ultrabook is when to buy, since
the category is still new. Tech products always cost
considerably more when they’re introduced, and
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2. 28/12/2011 04:17
blog.batteryfast.co.uk
Ultrabooks Buying Guide: What You Need to Know About Purchase an Ultrabook
Laptop
second-generation models often either make up for Best value/longest battery life: For $100 more than
deficiencies in the earlier versions or at least add the Portege (or less, in fact, with a promotion avai-
new features. lable at the time of this writing), consider the HP
Folio 13. Though this model appeals to businesses
If you need a laptop sooner rather than later, though with its TMP hard-drive encryption and its USB
(especially if you want to take a tax deduction this docking station, the Folio 13 offers a lot to like for
year for a laptop purchase that you’ll use for bu- all laptop users.
siness), here are the current top Ultrabook selec-
tions.
Budget choice: The Toshiba Portege Z835 costs just
$799 at Best Buy, making it the best option if you
need the absolute lowest price on a currently avai-
lable Ultrabook. It’s also the lightest 13-inch laptop,
weighing just 2.4 pounds. In his review of the Portege
Z835, however, PCWorld Senior Editor Jason Cross
http://blog.batteryfast.co.uk/ultrabooks-buying-guide-what-you-need-to-know-about-purchase-an-ultrabook-laptop/
found the performance of this Ultrabook’s Core i3
processor and other hardware to be disappointing.
HP Folio 13 UltrabookIt contains an Intel Core i5
processor, a backlit keyboard, and lots of ports
(somehow HP managed to fit three USB ports on
this 0.7-inch-thin laptop). HP also says the battery
life on this Ultrabook is more than 9 hours.
The Acer Aspire S3-951 is a good runner-up for the
value category, since it also starts at $899 and offers
Toshiba Portege Z835 UltrabookStill, the Portege more storage space with its hybrid 20GB SSD/320GB
Z830 series offers some nice features, such as an HDD setup (all the other currently available Ultra-
array of full-size ports (hard to find on superslim books carry only SSDs). But Acer battery life on the
laptops), a backlit keyboard, a fingerprint reader, Aspire S3 is a bit low at just under 5 hours, and if
and the TPM hardware security controller for hard- you want USB 3.0 ports or a backlit keyboard, you
drive encryption. need to look elsewhere.
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Ultrabooks Buying Guide: What You Need to Know About Purchase an Ultrabook
Laptop
Most compact Ultrabook: Only one manufacturer available for months, so selecting the right model
offers an 11-inch Ultrabook, and that’s Asus with is a matter of patience.
its Zenbook UX21E. This 2.4-pound laptop starts at
$999 for the model with an Intel Core i3 processor, If you can afford to wait, prices are expected to fall
but you can configure a system with a different In- by as much as 10 percent in early 2012, and Ultra-
tel processor or an SSD larger than 64GB–for an books could cost just $499 by 2013.
additional cost, of course.
More-Evolved Ultrabooks
Ultrabook with the largest screen and a DVD drive:
Samsung’s Series 5 Ultra 14-inch laptop is the only Next year’s expected deluge of Ultrabooks may of-
portable with the Ultrabook moniker that features fer more than just lower prices, too. Word on the
a 14-inch display. It also boasts several other firsts street suggests that Ultrabooks may gain 1080p full
for the class, namely an optical-disc drive, up to high-definition displays or even “retina-quality” dis-
1TB of hard-drive storage, and a Radeon HD 7550M plays and PayPass NFC technology for tap-and-pay
graphics card. This ultraportable might be pushing convenience on your laptop.
the limits of Intel’s original Ultrabooks specification,
http://blog.batteryfast.co.uk/ultrabooks-buying-guide-what-you-need-to-know-about-purchase-an-ultrabook-laptop/
however, with a weight of 4 pounds and a thickness Ultrabooks may even start to arrive with touchs-
of 0.8 of an inch. Expected to launch in Korea in late creens that swivel, bringing back the convertible
December, the Series 5 Ultra 14-incher may start design that allows you to use your device in tablet
around $1345. mode or as a traditional laptop with a keyboard.
The arrival of the touchscreen-friendly Windows
Ultrabook Laptops Compared: 8 next year could give such convertible Ultrabooks
Available and Announced Models a big boost.
Intel Ivy Bridge
processorAlso
among the major
updates expected
Ultrabook Announcements for laptops in
Expected in January 2012 is the debut
of Intel’s next-ge-
If you want more choices and lower prices, hold out neration proces-
until next year and wait for more competition. As sor, code-named
many as 50 Ultrabooks are predicted to launch at the Ivy Bridge. Cur-
CES trade show in January. Whereas the 2011 ver- rent Ultrabooks
sion of the consumer electronics show highlighted already have a
the year of the tablet, 2012 may be all about these fairly long batte-
superthin laptop options. ry life of around
6 hours, but Ivy
As you probably know, however, electronics Bridge will take
launched en masse at CES don’t always reach re- that a step fur-
tailers’ shelves. And the ones that do may not be ther, producing noticeably longer running times as
well as better graphics performance.
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blog.batteryfast.co.uk
Ultrabooks Buying Guide: What You Need to Know About Purchase an Ultrabook
Laptop
So far, Ultrabook adoption among computer ma- Related Articles:
kers has been limited to a few key players. As the
category grows and as light, thin, and affordable
laptops become the norm, however, you can expect
other laptop makers like Dell, Fujitsu, and MSI to
jump on board.
More Competition for Ultrabooks
http://blog.batteryfast.co.uk/ultrabooks-buying-guide-what-you-need-to-know-about-purchase-an-ultrabook-laptop/
Of course, by the time the next group of Ultrabooks
arrives, Apple may have already refreshed its Mac-
Book Air lineup with more performance-oriented
features and possibly even a 15-inch version. (Ru-
mors peg a 15-inch MacBook Air announcement as
coming in the first quarter of 2012.)
Ultrathin laptops sporting AMD processors–AMD’s
answer to Intel-based Ultrabooks–are also expected
to pop up in January.
Regardless, one thing is for sure: The ultralight and
superthin performance laptop category should see
lots of competition next year.
Both Acer and Asus in particular have shown a com-
mitment to making Ultrabooks, and Intel’s Ultrabook
subsidies indicate that the chip maker is intent on
making these laptops a success against the rising
tide of tablets.
If you don’t need an Ultrabook this year, it’s probably
best to wait, so that you can see what next-genera-
tion Ultrabooks offer–or, at the very least, so that
you can cash in on the inevitable price drops on the
original Ultrabooks.
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