14-inchUltrabook
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Toshiba outs Satellite U845W Ultrabook with 14.4-inch, 21:9 display (updated: $999 and up in the US)
It's a shame we have to write headlines -- we would have invited you to guess what screen size you're looking at on that Ultrabook up there. Alas, though, you can read, and that funky-looking laptop is indeed the Toshiba Satellite U845W (or U840W in Europe). Its display measures an unusual 14.4 inches diagonally, which translates to a severe 21:9 aspect ratio (and 1792 x 768 resolution, in this case). All told, it's the first panel of its kind to be used in a PC. But who's it for, exactly? Toshiba reps said the aspect ratio is meant to mimic a movie theater screen, despite the fact there's no Blu-ray drive onboard. They also imagine people using that real estate for multitasking and getting work done in cramped airplane quarters. It's also meant to get your attention. Everything about it seems designed to make a statement: the machined aluminum design, the soft-touch accents, the backlit keyboard, even the metal FCC plate and chrome-ringed feet. The machine's also decked out with Harman Kardon speakers, like other Toshiba laptops, along with amenities like sleep-and-charge and sleep-and-music ports. You'll also find an Ethernet jack, HDMI output and three USB 3.0 sockets. It's a bit ironic, then, that the weakest bit seems to be the display -- with a TN panel like that, we're not expecting jaw-dropping viewing angles. On the inside, it runs your choice of Ivy Bridge processor, though the storage varies wildly depending on how much money you're willing to pay: at the entry level you get an HDD starting at $999, but the top-tier configuration nets you 256GB solid-state drive. The weight is also likely to vary depending on which you choose: though these specs aren't final, Toshiba is saying a machine with a spinning hard drive should weigh "just under" four pounds, while an SSD-packing machine should come in at about 3.5. The company is also staying mum on battery life for now, though we're hearing a tentative range of eight to ten hours, at the high end. The U845W is expected to go on sale in the next couple of months, and until then we've got hands-on galleries below and a video after the break.%Gallery-156550%%Gallery-156551%
14-inch Samsung Series 5 Ultrabook review (NP530U4B-A01U)
Samsung unveils 13- and 14-inch Series 5 Ultrabooks, starting at $899 (hands-on) Samsung unveils redesigned Series 5 laptops with 13- and 15-inch displays, starting at $1,399 Toshiba shows off 14-inch Ultrabook, we go hands-onPop quiz: which of the following is being marketed as an Ultrabook? Behind door number one, we have a 2.5-pound wisp of a laptop with a 13-inch screen, Core i5 CPU and 128GB SSD. Next up there's contestant number two, a 3.94-pound notebook with a 14-inch display, 500GB hard drive, and DVD burner. If you guessed the latter, well, congrats on reading that headline correctly, though we'd understand if you said that first option sounds like the Ultrabook.Indeed, Samsung's Series 5 Ultrabooks are a tad plumper than most, and look especially oversized next to the Series 9, that other ultraportable we've been describing. But it's not just Samsung using loose parameters to decide what counts as an Ultrabook. If Intel's own forecast is correct, half of the 75-plus models that go on sale this year will have 14- or 15-inch screens, and we've already seen a sampling of contenders from HP, Acer and Toshiba. The idea, say PC makers, is to lure in a more old-fashioned kind of customer, shoppers who aren't quite ready to ditch their DVD drive, and who aren't keen on stepping down to a too-small screen. At the same time, these laptops are thinner and lighter than similarly sized laptops, last longer on a charge and hold the promise of faster performance -- three reasons manufacturers can get away with charging more than they would for a plain 'ol laptop.In a nutshell, that's the value proposition behind the 14-inch Series 5, which costs $949 and comes bearing a Core i5 processor, 500GB hybrid hard drive and, of course, a DVD burner. But do the benefits of a bigger Ultrabook outweigh the annoyances? And how does it compare to regular 14-inch laptops that aren't classified as ultraportables (and that don't command the Ultrabook tax)? Let's find out.
HP Envy 14 Spectre review
In a previous life, the HP Envy 14 was a laptop's laptop: a 5.69-pound slugger with an optical drive, discrete AMD graphics and a battery that couldn't last four hours in our battery rundown test. That notebook -- one of our favorites in the 2010-2011 year -- met its fate last fall when HP redesigned its high-end Envy line, but instead of going wherever it is gadgets go to die it was reincarnated as an Ultrabook. The new Envy 14, dubbed the Spectre, has shed almost two pounds, along with its discrete graphics and outmoded optical drive. It's also one of the first 14-inch Ultrabooks to hit the market, but even if it weren't so oddly sized we'd have no trouble remembering it: after all, how many laptops have a built-in NFC chip, or a glass palm rest?There's no doubt about it: the Spectre is a premium machine, and it's not just that HP needed something high-end to take the place of the last-gen Envy 14. This also happens to be the company's first consumer-grade Ultrabook, and it arrives at a time when there are many to choose from. Enter HP's marketing department: the outfit's touting this thing as a "premium Ultrabook" -- the kind of machine you'd choose if you wanted a 1600 x 900 IPS-quality display or an unorthodox design. For that kind of beauty, though, you're looking at $1,400 and up -- a princely cost of entry when you consider lots of similarly specced models go for $1,100 or less. But perhaps that splurge comes with more than just a head-turning design? There's only one way to find out: follow past the break for our in-depth review.
Samsung unveils 13- and 14-inch Series 5 Ultrabooks, starting at $899 (hands-on)
Depending on your point of view, Samsung was either late to the Ultrabook party, or perhaps just a bit early. Although the 2.8-pound Series 9 was a sight to behold when it first came out last year, it arrived shortly before Intel kicked off its Ultrabook campaign, and failed to match all of Chipzilla's early-stage requirements. This year, Sammy's back with a redesigned Series 9... along with two laptops it's actually calling Ultrabooks. The notebooks, both of which fall under the company's Series 5 line of products, and which recently surfaced online, include your requisite 13-incher, along with a larger 14-inch model with an optical drive.Both machines will have Core i5 processors, 4GB of RAM, eight-hour batteries and Intel integrated graphics, along with the same matte, 300-nit (1366 x 768) display that we loved so much in the Series 5 Chromebook. And though the 13-incher will have a 128GB SSD option, each comes standard with a standard 500GB 5,400RPM drive with 16GB of express cache for faster boot times and application-launching. You may recall this feature from the Series 7 Chronos laptop, except this time around, Sammy doubled the amount of flash memory paired with the HDD.Another thing the two systems have in common: they're each denser than the early Ultrabooks we saw, with the 14-inch model coming in at 3.95 pounds, and the 13-incher tipping the scales at 3.5 pounds (a full fifth of a pound heavier than the HP Folio!). At least that girth comes with an unsparing port selection: Ethernet, HDMI, USB 3.0, two USB 2.0 sockets and an SD slot. And that's just the 13-inch version: its big brother adds an optical drive, VGA output and a larger memory card reader. The pair will be available January 30th, starting at $899 for the 13-inch model and $949 for the 14-inch version. (The 13-inch configuration with the 128GB SSD will ring in at $1,099.) We expect to get our hands on final review units soon enough, but since we've already scored a few minutes of hands-on time, we've got photos and first impressions for you to peruse right this second.
Toshiba shows off 14-inch Ultrabook, we go hands-on
It might not be obvious this early on in CES week, so forgive us for dropping a spoiler: you're going to see lots -- and we mean lots -- of 14-inch Ultrabooks. Big-screened things, some of them making room for optical drives and discrete graphics -- the sorts of systems we'd sooner call thin-and-lights than Ultrabooks. (Potato, potahto, are we right?) It's clear that overgrown Ultras going to be a thing, regardless of whether you buy into the marketing hype, and as of today you can count Toshiba as a proud member of the welcome wagon. The company is showing off a 14-incher here at CES, and though it's not ready to confirm specs, pricing or even the model name, we did get to spend a few quality minutes poking around a pre-production unit. So far, we know it will cost "well under" $1,000, and go on sale in the June time frame, just as the back-to-school shopping season kicks off. If you want the short story, you can skip straight to those hands-on shots below and check out our first impressions after the break. %Gallery-142764%
Lenovo's ThinkPad T430u Ultrabook targets the business set with discrete graphics and 1TB in storage, arrives in Q3 for $849
While plenty of companies will spend CES showing off their first Ultrabooks, Lenovo is already going back for seconds. The outfit just announced the ThinkPad T430u, a more business-focused follow-up to the IdeaPad U300s we reviewed back in November. More than anything, though, what has us intrigued is that it packs optional NVIDIA graphics, making this the first so-called Ultrabook we've seen with a dedicated GPU. Add in a 14-inch (1366 x 768) display, up to 1TB of hard drive storage and a modest six hours of rated battery life, and it sounds more like a full-fledged laptop than an Ultrabook. Semantics aside, with a starting price of $849 this could be a tempting deal for businesses looking to outfit their employees with something portable, well-performing and inexpensive. Not to mention, it might just be a worthy competitor to the HP Folio, our favorite business-centric Ultrabook at the moment. Just make sure IT can wait patiently -- the T430u isn't slated to go on sale until Q3 of this year.
