We've been fans of Samsung laptops ever since we laid hands (and personal cash) on the ultra-portable Q30 resold by Dell as the X1. As such, Sammy has our full attention after announcing proper plans to enter the US market with five different Samsung-branded laptop models. Slated for sale at US big box and the usual brick-and-mortarless on-line shops are the 10-inch NC10, the 13.3-inch Q310 and X360, 14-inch X460 and P460, 15.4-inch P560, and 16-inch R610 slab with 16:9 aspect -- a silicon feast spread across thin and light, all purpose, business, desktop replacement, and netbook tastes. We're talking premium rigs here folks, a bold move with very questionable timing given the sudden shortage of discretionary capital held by the average Dusty McSixpack. Hit the read link for full specs and prices.

Is Samsung's Air competitor, the X360, a little too delicate for your tastes? Perhaps you'd be in for its slightly heavier cousin, the newly announced X460. It weighs in at 4.1 pounds and offers a larger 14.1-inch (though still 1280 x 800) screen, yet still manages to come in at just 1.2-inches thick. An Intel Centrino 2 handles the number crunching paired with up to 4GB of RAM, while up to a 320GB HDD (alas, no SSD) and a Super Multi Drive DVD burner with LightScribe handle storage. An nVIDIA GeForce Go 9200M GS chipset will cover (lightweight) gaming duties, while connectivity is offered via 802.11a/b/g/n WiFi, gigabit ethernet, Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, a 7-in-1 card reader, and HDMI output to boot. A 6-cell battery will keep it juiced for up to 5 hours (7.5 if you opt for the 9-cell), and the ever-trendy anti-bacterial keyboard will keep you healthy. No price or availability yet, but just look at that lovely shade of rose.

Update: TrustedReviews already has a quick preview of the X460, looking a little less hot in black. [Thanks Howard]

We're not just staring down a boring press release of Samsung's new X360, we actually got to fiddle around with it for a few minutes and came away fairly impressed. It has a build somewhere in-between the plastic-ish Voodoo Envy 133 and the rock-solid ThinkPad X300, though probably closer to the latter, and the sheen of Silver Nano Technology on the technology saves us from bacteria but adds a slightly cheap flavor to the keyboard. The isolated keys aren't as deep as those found on Sony's latest models, nor not quite as crisp as an Apple keyboard, but should make for a comfortable typing experience. The port layout seems reasonable, the LED-backlit screen bright and not-too-terribly-glossy, and the brushed metal finish on the back is surely a nice touch. We didn't play much with the Korean OS, but Samsung claims the next-gen 128GB SSD offers a 25-50 percent boot time bump. Up against the MacBook Air the X360 is significantly thicker, but actually a tiny bit (3 ounces) lighter. We'll leave it to you to decide the victor while we swap USB devices willy nilly in an attempt to finish this post.

Newsflash, Samsung: your (previously rumored) new X360 laptop isn't actually lighter than air. Also newsflash: it's still pretty special. Samsung shouted a resounding "me too!" today with its new X360 13.3-inch ultraslim / ultralight / ultraportable laptop. Weighing in at 2.8 pounds and measuring as thin as 0.66-inches (1.2-inches on the fatter end), the laptop is based on a Centrino 2 ULV processor and is built to compete. 1GB of RAM is standard -- there's room for up to 4GB -- and you can pick a 64GB or 128GB SSD, or opt for a 5400RPM 120GB HDD if you're feeling boring. Graphics come from X4500 integrated graphics, and the screen runs at 1280 x 800. The best and worst news comes with the inputs and outputs; Samsung didn't integrate an optical drive, but did find room for a 7-in-1 card reader, three USB ports, PCI ExpressCard/34, HDMI, VGA, LAN and a docking port. There's naturally WiFi, Bluetooth 2.0+ EDR and a 1.3 megapixel camera. Battery life is specced at 6 to 10 hours, but we're guessing the upper end of that spectrum will add considerably to the weight. No word on price or availability, but as far as we know Samsung hasn't gone backsies on its "no computers for those dirty Americans" policy, so it looks like we're stuck with the other dozen or so similarly specced laptops out there.

Apparently Samsung has it's own X300-esque laptops in the works, and Turkish site ShiftDelete.net has gotten a few specs and some video. The slick looking (yet poorly named) X360 will sport some variety of Core 2 Duo CPU (in this case, the 1.2GHz U9300) and 2GB of RAM, and we can reasonably expect the X460 to bump those up a bit, though little else is known. Judging from the video, the design takes more than a few cues from the Sony VAIO Z / TZ, but throws in a little of that Samsung piano black finish for good measure. Check the video starting at about 4:12 after the break -- and extra bonus if you speak Turkish.

Read - Screenshot of specs
Read - X460 video

No, this isn't another rampant portable Xbox 360 rumor, but the somewhat indirect linkage is indeed notable. Reportedly, AMD is planning to bring "Xbox 360 quality graphics to handheld devices" by utilizing the company's next-generation mobile graphics technologies. Although no real specifics were handed out, AMD is purportedly "working with content developers now in preparation for the arrival of phones" powered by the forthcoming set, and should be made available to handset manufacturers through "discrete media processors as well as through IP licensing agreements with semiconductor suppliers." Already released is a developers toolkit that includes support for both the OpenVG 1.0 and OpenGL ES 2.0 graphics standards, and it will incorporate the same Unified Shader Architecture that's behind the scenes in your Xbox 360. Sadly, we've absolutely no idea which companies (if any) are already on board with this promising technology, but we just have to wonder if Dell won't reconsider its handheld gaming system considering the already amicable relationship with AMD.

[Via TGDaily, thanks smash_linux]