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Samsung teases Series 9 Ivy Bridge Ultrabook, leaves availability in the ether
Samsung's latest Series 9 Ultrabook is certainly a beautiful piece of engineering, but really, what's the fun in purchasing a new laptop with yesterday's internals? Fortunately, users won't need to make that compromise, as the company has now outed a refreshed version of the computer that's complete with Ivy Bridge internals. The move follows Samsung's recent reveal of the Series 7 Gamer laptop, but as you'd expect, components in the Series 9 are geared more toward efficiency than performance. At its heart, you'll find a dual-core 1.7GHz Core i5 3317U CPU (which has yet to be announced), Intel HD Graphics 4000 and the HM75 Express chipset. While its internal storage remains the same, with a 128GB SSD, its memory has received a pleasant bump up to 8GB. No word yet on pricing or availability, but for those who want to own the very latest, we invite you to stay tuned. [Thanks, Brooks]
Origin PC joins the 11-inch, rebadged gaming laptop party, outs the EON 11-S
Last week may have drawn to a close, but the march of Clevo news continues. On the heels of Maingear announcing an 11-inch gaming notebook, Origin PC is throwing its own ultraportable into the ring: the EON 11-S. Though this is a new model for the company (the smallest laptop it's ever sold, in fact), it's not quite fresh to us: this is the same exact Clevo-made notebook Maingear unveiled two days ago, only re-badged under Origin PC's brand and available in a wider range of colors. As far as performance goes, then, that means you can expect Ivy Bridge processors, a 2GB NVIDIA GT 650M GPU, Optimus graphics-switching technology and a battery rated for 6.5 hours of runtime. In Origin PC's case, the laptop starts at $999 (compared with $1,099 for Maingear), though you'll have to head over to Origin's site for a breakdown of what specs you'll be getting at that lower price. (Spoiler alert: adding an Ivy Bridge CPU instantly bumps the price to $1,294.)
Spotted: HP's special edition Pavilion dm1 by Alexandre Herchcovitch
Sometimes we tech writers are little more than laptop pornographers, aren't we? After smiling for Bond Blog's cameras earlier this month, this special edition HP Pavilion dm1 surfaced at a media event here in the states, and naturally we couldn't resist snapping a few in-the-wild shots of our own. Decked out by Brazilian designer Alexandre Herchcovitch, it features all the specs you'd expect from a dm1z (AMD Fusion APU, 11.6-inch display, etc.) except it's been gussied up to resemble that gold frock pictured below. What might interest you even more than the couture, though, is that this is the first time HP's let one of its guest laptop designers alter the texture on the interior as well. In this case, that means even the keycaps have a rough, almost snakeskin-like texture, just like the lid and underbelly. HP also took the opportunity to clarify that this will retail for $630 exclusively through QVC. That's not exactly cheap -- the unadorned dm1z starts at just $400 with the same specs -- though that's hardly the $1,800 price we were expecting. And, the laptop comes bundled with a matching mouse and faux leather sleeve -- for whatever that little bit of color coordination is worth.
Alexandre Herchcovitch dresses up HP Pavilion dm1 with golden doilies, higher sticker price
Ask the most fashionable folks you know, looking good isn't cheap -- no surprise then, that playing dress up has put a premium on the HP Pavilion dm1's price tag. Brazilian designer Alexandre Herchcovitch has dolled up the ultraportable laptop with a lacy gold topcoat, applying the signature flair to the machine's keyboard, palm rest and lid. The cost of style? About $1800, according to Notebook Italia, which buys you 4GB DDR3 SDRAM, a 500GB hard drive and 1.65GHz dual-core AMD E-450 brain. A pretty penny, considering the notebook's Core i3 model can be had for a mere $600. Sure, Herchcovitch takes the dm1 out of our holiday gift guide's "on the cheap" section, but where else are you going to get a designer doily kicks?
Samsung Series 9 review (15-inch, mid-2012)
More Info Samsung Series 9 (NP900X3A) laptop review Samsung unveils redesigned Series 9 laptops with 13- and 15-inch displays, starting at $1,399 Spotted: the elusive 15-inch Samsung Series 9 Before there were Ultrabooks, there was the Samsung Series 9. When it arrived on the scene last year, measuring .64 inches thick, weighing 2.8 pounds and packing a blazing SSD, it seemed to offer Windows users the closest thing to a no-compromise experience -- provided, of course, they were willing to pony up the requisite $1,649. As it turns out, the Series 9 was great -- memorable, even -- but not without flaws. It lacked an SD slot, the trackpad was jumpy and the display resolution topped out at a humdrum 1366 x 768. A year later, Samsung is back with a second-generation laptop that promises to correct all of these shortcomings, and ushers in an even thinner, even lighter design. Make that two laptops: Sammy's selling a 15-inch Ultrabook, too. And truly, there's nothing quite like it: nothing quite this thin, with this large a screen. (Consider for a moment that it measures just .08 inches thicker than the new 13-inch Series 9, which is already thinner than most other Ultrabooks on the market.) As always, though, luxury doesn't come cheap. The 15-inch Series 9 will cost $1,500 when it ships at the end of this month (the 13-inch version is available for an also-pricey $1,400, though we haven't gotten to take that model for a spin yet.) Ultimately, then, are the Series 9's elegant aluminum design and 1600 x 900 matte display enough to justify the premium you'll pay over other Ultrabooks? And does the 15-inch version offer long enough battery life to match its larger size? 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.
Student-friendly Lenovo ThinkPad X130e available now for $429
The last time we heard about the inexpensive and student-friendly ThinkPad X130e, it was being snatched up by the eager school districts. That move ultimately pushed back the rig's planned ship date, but fortunately Lenovo seems to have caught up with the demand for its rugged miniature. In case you need a mind refresh, the X130e is sporting an 11.6-inch HD LED display, 250GB for all your storage needs, four gigs of RAM and your choice of an AMD Fusion or i3 processor at its Core (see what we did there?), just to mention a few goodies. Those of you who've been counting the days to get your hands on the $429 entry-level ThinkPad can finally do so at the source link below. [Thanks, Andrew]
Acer Aspire S5 hands-on, revisited (now with video)
The last time we reported on the Aspire S5, Acer's sophomore Ultrabook, your favorite reviews editor was throwing elbows to get a first look. The company's press conference here at CES was packed to the gills with journalists and industry analysts, dozens of whom were jostling for some hands-on time after the event wrapped. It didn't help that there were two S5s on display, and that the demo area was tricked out with green mood lighting.So when we had a chance to play with the S5 again, this time in a quiet, sunny room, we knew a second look was in order. For the most part, our early impressions haven't changed. Its all-metal chassis still feels solid, and we continue to be wary of that shallow keyboard. That 15mm-thick chassis is as impressive as ever -- maybe even more so, now that we know half of this year's Ultrabooks are likely to be larger. But man, is this thing even more beautiful in the light. We already concluded it had a more uniformly premium design than the older Aspire S3, but in a brightly lit room it's easier to appreciate the slightly brushed texture on the lid and palm rest, the seamless, spartan design and how well that black paint job complements the thin chassis. Below, find a few extra hands-on shots added in with the old, and continue on past the break for a video tour, complete with a demo of that motorized drop-down port cover -- something we didn't get to show you the first time around.Billy Steele contributed to this report.
Samsung is refreshing the Series 5 Chromebook, releasing the Chromebox in Q2
We'll likely never know how many Chromebooks Samsung has sold, but we're guessing it's not a terribly impressive figure. No matter. Sammy is refreshing its first-gen Series 5 with a new model, along with that Chromebox Google first teased last spring. Starting with the Chromebook, it trades its slick cover for something muted, with more discreet logo placement, though that matte, 12.1-inch, 300-nit display has made a reappearance. On the inside, meanwhile, it steps up from Atom to Celeron, though it still has 2GB of RAM and 16GB of flash storage. Look for it sometime in the second quarter with some familiar pricing: $399 for the WiFi-only version, and $449 for the 3G model with pay-as-you-go data from Verizon. As for the Chromebox, Samsung is still staying mum on specs, though the company did tell us it comes with a wireless keyboard-and-mouse combo. It also has a handful of ports, including five USB 2.0 sockets, DVI, DisplayPort and a headphone jack. All that'll run you around $400 when it lands sometime in the second quarter. To be honest, it's difficult to imagine consumers choosing this over a Mac mini or HTPC, though Samsung makes a shrewd point when it says this might find a home in K-12 computer labs, where the cost per student would be low and the systems would consume little space. Then again, the same could be said of laptops like this, no? Update: The Chromebox, too, has a dual-core Celeron CPU, 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage -- just like the Chromebook. Edgar Alvarez contributed to this report.
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.
Lenovo quietly outs the IdeaPad U300e, a $799 Ultrabook with a hybrid hard drive
We thought we'd seen everything Lenovo had to show here at CES. We thought wrong. In a tour of the company's showroom / trailer today, we spotted that gray laptop up there, hiding amid the X1 Hybrid, T430u Ultrabook and S200 netbook. That, friends, is the IdeaPad U300e, a cheaper, lesser-specced version of the U300s we reviewed last fall. Check our gallery below: it has the same aluminum chassis, comfortable keyboard and sprawling trackpad, though the ports appear to have played musical chairs. The only differences? For one, we're seeing the U300e (top, above the U300s) adds an Ethernet jack, something the U300s is missing. More importantly, though, the U300e costs $799, not $1,200, and instead of an SSD it sports a hybrid drive pairing a 500GB HDD with 32GB of flash storage -- essentially, the same setup you'll find in the $800 Acer Aspire S3. We're also told it'll run "next-generation" Intel processors, though Lenovo's stopping short of calling it Ivy Bridge, which Intel has yet to reveal. Not a bad deal, though we might still prefer the new U310, which has the all-important SD slot the U300s was missing, but still costs a hundred bucks less than this here U300e. Disagree with us? The U300e is expected to go on sale this month.
Lenovo's IdeaPad U310 and U410 Ultrabooks start at an inexpensive $699, weigh a little more than the competition
If there's one thing we don't like about the Lenovo IdeaPad U300s, it's that it's missing an SD slot, and starts at $1,200 -- a steep price when you can find many an Ultrabook for under $1,000. (Okay, that's two things.) And while the company isn't ready for a complete do-over just yet, it's clearly trying to fill some gaps in its lineup: the outfit just introduced the 13-inch IdeaPad U310 and the 14-inch U410, which will start at a relatively inexpensive $699. On paper, the IdeaPad U310 bears a strong resemblance to the U300s we reviewed two months ago, with 4GB of RAM, 1366 x 768 resolution, an eight-hour battery, Intel Wireless Display and a choice of Intel Core processors. But, it adds an extra USB 3.0 port, along with that all-important memory card slot. In exchange, you'll have to make some tougher choices regarding storage: you can opt for a 500GB hard drive or an SSD that tops out at 64GB of space. The 14-inch IdeaPad U410 offers more of the same, though instead of Intel's integrated graphics offering, it packs an NVIDIA GeForce 610M card with 1GB of video memory -- unsurprising, given that the new ThinkPad T430u Ultrabook also has discrete graphics at a similar price. All in all, not too shabby for $700, though the trade-off for the extra ports and lower price is some extra padding: the 13-inch version tips the scales at 3.7 pounds, versus 2.95 for the U300s. (The U410 weights 4.2.) Then again, when these go on sale in May, we suspect they'll be plenty light for students looking to get a jump on back-to-school shopping. For now, we've got hands-on shots below and some impressions after the break.
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Hybrid official: instant-on OS based on Android doubles battery life, arrives in Q2 for $1,599
Well, look at what we have here. Though it didn't arrive as early as rumored, the ThinkPad X1 Hybrid running Android is, in fact, a real, whirring product. Lenovo just unveiled the laptop, which has a fanless "Instant Media Mode" promising to double the original X1's (rather skimpy) battery life to as much as ten hours. And while we've seen notebooks with instant-on operating systems, Lenovo's done something unique by installing a dual-core Qualcomm CPU on the motherboard and building a custom OS based on the Android kernel. In fact, its launcher should look awfully familiar to the customization we've seen on the IdeaPad K1 and other Lenovo tablets. Here, too, you can check email, surf the web, organize photos, listen to music, play videos, change the wallpaper and add widgets to the three home screens, though access to Android Market is a no-go. We got to spend a few minutes with the X1 Hybrid a few weeks ago, and if first impressions are to be believed, the battery-saving prowess works as advertised: immediately after switching modes, the estimated remaining runtime jumped from an hour and 16 minutes to four hours and 19 minutes. The OS also booted in about two seconds, as Lenovo says it should. We were also relieved to learn that there's no back-door way of accessing the OS: if the laptop goes to sleep while you're in Instant Media Mode, you'll have to return to Windows to log in again. In every other respect, this is the X1 we reviewed last spring: it has a durable, 3.7-pound chassis, integrated Intel graphics and a glossy, 13-inch (1366 x 768) Gorilla Glass display with brightness rated at 350 nits. It'll be offered with Core i3, i5 and i7 processors, a 3G radio and a slice battery that adds up to five more hours of juice. It'll be available sometime in the second quarter for $1,599 and up -- about a $300 premium over the original. And no, current X1 owners can't download Instant Media Mode as an update -- as you can imagine, that whole "SoC on a motherboard" requirement makes that impossible. Hey, no one ever said being an early adopter was easy.
HP Folio 13 review
By the time HP unveiled its first Ultrabook, the Folio 13, other heavyweights like Acer, ASUS, Lenovo and Toshiba had already gotten a head start of up to several months. But being fashionably late to market may have worked in Hewlett-Packard's favor: the Folio 13 ($900 and up) is temptingly priced for what it is. Even the base model comes stocked with a 128GB SSD, backlit keyboard, HDMI port and Ethernet jack -- specs that undercut the ASUS Zenbook UX31 and 13-inch MacBook Air, and render the $900 Acer Aspire S3 nearly irrelevant. Not to mention, it brings business-friendly features like TPM that other Ultrabook makers have omitted from their 1.0 products. But surely HP cut some corners to get here, no? Is this really as sweet a deal as it seems? Funnily enough, the answer is "yes," on both counts.
Lenovo ThinkPad X130e delayed until February, early-adopting school districts to blame
We'll be honest: when Lenovo said it would ship the new student-friendly ThinkPad X130e starting on December 20th, we didn't actually program an alert in our calendars, reminding us to place our orders on the very first day it became available. But it looks like at least a few you did just that, and were quite taken with this durable 11.6-inch laptop. As it turns out, though, you'll have to wait a little longer to get yours -- Lenovo's product page is now saying it won't be available for individual purchase until February. Apparently, it's because the X130e's rubber bumper, recessed ports, reinforced hinge and Core i3 / Fusion innards were just too irresistible to educators: a Lenovo rep told us all the early units have been scooped up by hungry school districts, meaning individual students and other fans of inexpensive, ruggedized laptops will have to wait for a later batch.[Thanks, Markus]
Lenovo IdeaPad U300s ready for online pre-order, price puts on some winter weight
Lenovo's been keeping itself busy in the battle of the Ultrabooks, and now its 13-inch IdeaPad U300s is up for pre-order. Unfortunately, since our review, the price tag looks to have been burdened by an extra $200 so that it's now just under $1,300 -- and that includes a special online discount. With the likes of the MacBook Air and ASUS' Zenbook UX31 jostling for your skinny laptop affections at lower entry-level prices, that extra chunk of change could make the U300s' shortcomings -- like the lack of an SD slot -- even more of an issue. If you're willing to overlook those and hold on until the December 19 shipping date, you can stake your claim to an IdeaPad at the pre-order link below. [Thanks Jay] Update: We're seeing Lenovo has made changes to the product page, with only the top-end U300s appearing on the site at the moment. Having covered Lenovo for years, we know the company has a habit of removing models that have sold out, and re-listing them when more are available, so we wouldn't be surprised if that lower-end model surfaces again in the near future.
Toshiba Portege Z830 Series Ultrabooks now up for sale online
If we got you interested in the Tosh's Portege line earlier this week, you can now snag a Z830 of your own without leaving the house. Depending on your preference of internals, you'll be able to choose between four models ranging from $929 up to $1,429, or opt to build your own ultraportable starting at $1,099. Of course, you can grab a Z835 direct and avoid Best Buy's guerilla marketing we encountered during our time with the lightweight -- but you'll miss out on the exclusive $800 model. If you're looking to place an order for the holidays, hit that source link below and get ready to part with a good bit of that Black Friday fund.
Samsung adds another WiFi-only Series 5 Chromebook, on sale now for $349 (updated)
After Samsung released its Series 5 Chromebook, lots of you said you'd buy it -- if Sammy slashed the asking price in half. Well, we're not there yet, but the company did just unveil another WiFi-only version, this time with a more palatable MSRP of $349 and a slightly tweaked version of Chrome OS to match. (It has a black lid, too, in case that snow white number was too precious for you.) To recap, it has a bright, matte 12.1-inch (1280 x 800) display, a dual-core Intel Atom CPU, two USB 2.0 ports and a memory card slot. And design-wise, at least, it's a step up from most netbooks, with a comfortable keyboard and surprisingly solid 0.8-inch-thick chassis. In any case, if you were planning on picking one up for the Chrome OS lover in your life (or, you know, the low-tech person who only ever uses a web browser anyway), it's on sale now at the likes of Best Buy, Amazon, NewEgg and Tigerdirect. Update: Not to be outdone, Acer just sent out a press release announcing it's cut the price of its AC700 Chromebook. It'll now cost $299 for the WiFi-only version (down from $349) and $399 for the Verizon Wireless 3G model (it had been $449).
Toshiba Portege Z835 review
Toshiba should know a thing or two about skinny, featherweight laptops. Back in 2007, the company unveiled the Portege R500, a 2.4-pound laptop measuring what was then an anorexic 0.77 inches (19.6mm) thick. Much to everyone's disbelief, it managed to squeeze in an optical drive. Fast forward four years and it's entering the Ultrabook market with the Portege Z830 (that's the Z835 if you get it at Best Buy). And here comes the déjà vu: it's even lighter than the competition, at 2.47 pounds, but still houses a full suite of ports, including USB 3.0 and 2.0, HDMI and Gigabit Ethernet. It also promises more than eight hours of battery life, besting claims made by the likes of Apple, Acer and ASUS. Not to mention, with a price of $800 (Best Buy only), it undercuts competing models -- and at a time when every other Ultrabook seems to have some fatal flaw, whether it be a flaky touchpad or skimpy battery life. Clearly, there's lots of room here for something more carefully thought-out. So is Toshiba's Portege know-how just what the market needs? Let's see. %Gallery-139801%
HP Folio 13 Ultrabook official: starts at $900 with a 128GB SSD and backlit keyboard (hands-on)
And just like that, HP joined the Ultrabook party. After announcing the Folio in Australia yesterday, the company went and made it official here in the states too. And man, do we get the feeling the outfit's been watching the competition very closely: this guy starts at $900 and comes standard with a 128GB mSATA SSD and a backlit keyboard. Provided it comes close to matching its promise of nine hours of battery life, it could give the identically priced Toshiba Portege Z830 a run for its money. Not to mention, it undercuts the MacBook Air ($1,299 and up), along with the ASUS Zenbook UX31 and Lenovo IdeaPad U300s, both of which start at $1,100 with a 128GB SSD and no backlit keyboard. Good on ya, HP. What's that, you say? You want more specs? Rounding out the list, the Folio has a 13.3-inch (1366 x 768) display, optional TPM circuitry and comes standard with a Core i5-2467M processor, 4GB of RAM, a six-cell battery and HP's CoolSense technology. Additionally, it offers a fairly robust selection of ports, including HDMI, Ethernet, USB 2.0 and 3.0, a memory card reader and a combined headphone / mic socket. The trade-off, though, is a slightly thicker chassis than what other Ultrabooks are offering: 3.3 pounds and 18mm (0.7 inches) thick. It'll be available in the US starting December 7th, but we've already managed to snag a few minutes with it, which means we've got photos, video and impressions for you to peek now. So what are you waiting for? Meet us after the break for our hands-on preview. %Gallery-139515% %Gallery-137707%
