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Dell XPS 14 review: a 14-inch Ultrabook with Ivy Bridge and graphics might
While we can't say that we universally liked Dell's first attempt at an Ultrabook, the XPS 13 we reviewed about three months ago, we can quite confidently say that it earned our respect. Here was a smartly styled, sophisticated machine free of stickers and bloatware from a company that, let's be honest, has delivered its share of each over the years. That machine was far from perfect, but it showed a purity of vision in design that you couldn't help but acknowledge. So where do you go from there? Why, you go bigger of course. Meet the new Dell XPS 14, successor in name only to a model that went out of production over a year ago. It is, as you might have guessed, an inch larger than the XPS 13 and so has more room for ports and pixels -- but there's more to it than that. In some ways this feels like a more polished machine than the 13 that came before, and it's certainly faster but it, too, is far from perfect. Join us for a joyous exploration of why.%Gallery-158982%
Dell gives a peek at a revamped XPS 15 in Romania
Dell showed the heart of its 2012 laptop design language in the XPS 13 just as the snow started melting, but it's been mostly silent or conservative ever since. The company must want to close out the spring the same way it entered: Dell and Romania's Asesoft Distribution have just previewed a larger XPS 15 at an event B1 attended at the Bucharest-based Romanian Aviation Museum. Based on the early look, Dell isn't going to stretch the Ultrabook definition across the whole XPS range. There will still be full-power, 2.5GHz dual Core i5 and quad 2.1GHz Core i7 chips from Intel's Ivy Bridge family, and NVIDIA is supplying some modestly ultraportable GeForce GT 630M and 640M video. Although there's no special tricks that we can see so far, the 15.6-inch system is reportedly due to show in at least Romania by the end of the spring, which leaves just weeks to wait if you prefer your mid-size performance laptops designed in Texas.
Samsung refreshes Series 9, 5 and 3 laptops, unveils two new Series 5 systems
We knew Series 9 laptops with Ivy Bridge weren't too far off when Samsung prematurely leaked the news on its own site. Well, if you've been patiently awaiting a refresh, your day has come: the company held a press event in New York City today where it showed off both the 13- and 15-inch models with Intel's third-generation Core processors in tow. Hardware-wise, there aren't many changes to what you saw on the earlier models, though Samsung added Bluetooth 4.0 support and shaved 0.1 inches off the silhouette. Along with the Series 9, Samsung's Series 5 laptops are getting new Ivy Bridge innards. The only changes besides the processor upgrade are Bluetooth 4.0 support and a USB 3.0 socket. And the low-end Series 3 isn't getting overlooked entirely either: the company is upgrading the line to dual-core Sandy Bridge CPUs (previous models ran Pentium units). But that's not all: on top of all those refreshes, the company has two new Series 5 machines. The Series 5 500 starts at $800 and offers a 14-inch 1366 x 768 display, 500GB of storage space and a third-gen Core i5 CPU. The 15.6-inch Series 5 costs $100 more and features a Core i7 Ivy Bridge processor along with a 750GB hard drive. Both models also include NVIDIA GeForce GT 630M graphics. Sammy says they will be up for order by mid-June. Dana Wollman contributed to this report.
Acer outs Ivy Bridge-packing TravelMate P243 notebook series in the UK
Needless to say, Ivy Bridge is here to stay -- at least until Intel takes us on a different road. That being said, Acer just announced a business-oriented machine of its own with Intel's latest chips onboard. Part of the outfit's TravelMate lineup, this 14-inch (1366 x 768) P243 rocks some pretty standard features, including a Core i5, Ivy Bridge processor, an HD webcam for all those Skype calls and a USB 3.0 port. As expected, depending on configuration, you'll also be able to choose up to 8GB of RAM, as well as NVIDIA GeForce GT 630M graphics if you don't mind shelling out the extra cash. Speaking of, Acer's pricing the TravelMate P243 starting at £339 (about $536) once it hits UK shelves -- though, there's no word on when that'll be. In the meantime, you can check out some additional eye candy after the break.
NVIDIA rebadges GeForce 500M chips in preparation for Ivy Bridge release in 2012
NVIDIA has released a new range of mobile graphics chips that bring the features of last year's 500M series down to a lower price point. Keen-eyed observers might notice the GT635M is remarkably similar to the GT555M, albeit with slightly faster memory bandwidth. The GT630M is a dead ringer for the GT540M/GT550M and the 48 CUDA core GT610M could be the GT520M if you squint at it in bad light. It's all rather detailed and low-key, but NVIDIA reminded us that it'll launch "something more exciting" around the time Ivy Bridge makes its debut in 2012 -- very possibly those 28nm Kepler chips we've been drooling over for a while? [Thanks, Omar]
