ultrabooks

Dell finally gets into the ultrabook game at CES 2012 with the XPS 13

LAS VEGAS--For all the attention ultrabook laptops have gotten over the past several months, a few big players have been conspicuously absent from the party.

Dell stood on the sidelines during the holiday 2011 ultrabook rush, but is now jumping in with the new XPS 13.

Using Dell's high-end XPS brand, the XPS 13 is an impressive entry in the ultrabook race, at least from our brief hands-on time with it. The system goes from 6mm-18mm thick and weighs under 3 pounds (but just a hair under, at 2.99 pounds, according to Dell). It has a backlit keyboard, and an Intel Core i7 CPU, but only integrated Intel HD3000 graphics. Storage options are 128GB or 256GB SSD drives.

At first glance, the XPS 13 isn't as flashy as some of Dell's other consumer laptops, but not without reason. Dell's pitch is that the XPS 13 is part of the Consumerization Ecosystem, which means that the lines between a company's consumer and professional laptop lines are blurring, a point we largely agree with. The XPS 13 is meant to be the kind of consumer laptop that business users ask their IT departments for, and Dell is eager to accommodate, with a nearly identical IT version offering TPM and other IT-friendly technology.

After playing briefly with a sample system, we liked the overall design. Its footprint is smaller than most 13-inch laptops', leading Dell to claim it's a 13-inch laptop in a 12-inch body (that's a bit of a trend these days: X-inch laptop in a Y-inch body, but being as laptop sizes aren't set in stone, it's also a hard claim to disprove). The look reminds us more of Dell's corporate Latitude line than anything else from the outside, but inside it has edge-to-edge Gorilla Glass over the screen and a large clickpad. … Read more

Is Intel's ultrabook in danger of being oversold?

LAS VEGAS--At Intel's CES 2012 press conference, the emphasis wasn't on specific chips and their benchmark scores, as it has been in previous years. Instead, Intel was a cheerleader for a very specific type of new consumer product--the ultrabook.

By now, everyone should be at least somewhat familiar with the pitch. Ultrabook is an Intel marketing term (much like Centrino was), encompassing a growing category of Windows laptops that are thin and reasonably powerful, with good battery life and at least some solid-state drive (SSD) storage.

I was justifiably skeptical of the whole idea at first--it seemed to be a blatant play for Apple's growing MacBook Air audience, and the earliest ultrabook examples were nearly the same price as an Air, but without offering any notable advantages (besides running Windows, of course).… Read more

MacBook Air sales rise as ultrabook market heats up

Apple may have sold as many as 1.2 million MacBook Airs last quarter as its competition tries to pounce on the burgeoning ultrabook market.

The estimated 1.2 million in unit sales was a small leap from the 1 million sold in the third quarter. But Apple was the only vendor that didn't see a drop in overall notebook sales between the two quarters, according to a report from DigiTimes.

Hit by the sluggish economy and a shortage of hard drives, fourth-quarter notebook shipments around the world dropped by 8.7 percent to 48.59 million in the … Read more

Carbon-fiber fetishists, Inhon's got an ultrabook for you

LAS VEGAS--There's not much that we know about new Taiwanese laptop maker Inhon, but what we do know should get those who crave a lightweight carbon-fiber ultrabook reaching for their wallets.

The company debuted its first laptops, the InBook 11.6 and InBook 13.3, at the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show today. Both are carbon-fiber deals that look like MacBook Airs stuck too long in the dryer. The keyboard layout is nearly identical to the Air's, the back of the lid has an empty black circle where the Apple logo is, and even the feet on the underside … Read more

The 404 at CES 2012: Where this is it (podcast)

LAS VEGAS--The showroom floor at CES 2012 is still in progress and we're kicking it off with the start of a four-day block of live shows from the CNET stage here at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Emily Dreyfuss from CNET's Rumor Has It podcast is our guest today, giving us all the news from the front lines of the press conferences.

We'll find out why a kangaroo hopped onstage during the Dish Network keynote speech, how Lenovo and Vizio managed to swap product lines, and why I couldn't resist snapping a photo of Brian (Brianne?) Tong in a pair of women's shoes.… Read more

HP and the great glass ultrabook: Envy 14 Spectre, hands-on

It takes a lot to stand out in the crowded world of ultrabooks, but HP is betting that a liberal dose of Gorilla Glass will do the trick.

The newly announced HP Spectre is the most glass-covered laptop we've ever seen. Is that a good thing? We've seen glass-heavy smartphones like the iPhone 4, but not so much in laptops...until now. At CES 2012, we got a good close-up look at HP's bold Envy redesign.

The Spectre is HP's first consumer-oriented ultrabook (the HP Folio 13 released last year was technically HP's first ultrabook, … Read more

Samsung raises design bar with Series 9 laptop (just don't call it an 'ultrabook')

One of last year's most head-turning laptops, the Samsung Series 9, is back, with an even slimmer, sleeker look.

Just one year ago, at CES 2011, the term "ultrabook" was never uttered. Instead, we saw a handful of very thin Windows laptops looking to duplicate the aesthetic and commercial appeal of Apple's MacBook Air, but without the help of a new category name (or R&D fund) from Intel. Of those, the most eye-catching was the Samsung Series 9, a 13-inch thin laptop that had a lightweight duralumin case. At the time, we said it … Read more

Hands-on with the Samsung Series 5 Ultra: Like a Series 9, but affordable

For those who have been craving a more affordable Samsung ultrabook, here's your savior: the Series 5 Ultra.

Last year, the Samsung Series 9 nearly stole the show as one of the must-have laptops at CES, but the thin 13-incher--an ultrabook before the name ultrabook was coined--cost more than a MacBook Air.

This year, the Series 9 survives, in an even sleeker yet still expensive iteration. The Series 5 Ultra, which comes in both 13 and 14-inch varieties, starts at $899. That's the price we've come to expect from a Windows ultrabook, and surprisingly enough, the Series 5 Ultra looks like it hasn't made too many concessions to get there.… Read more

Why you won't want to buy the laptops of CES 2012

LAS VEGAS--The message of CES 2012 for laptops thus far: wait.

I'd love to tell you that one of the laptops of this year's Consumer Electronics Show is absolutely wonderful, a must-buy. However, I can't. I have a strong feeling that whatever we see at this show is only a half-step forward. Worse, there's a very good chance that it'll all be out of date by midyear.

The reasons are utterly simple, and made even clearer by this morning's Intel keynote presentation.… Read more

Intel shows off multitouch ultrabooks at CES

Intel today said that as many as 60 thin and sleek ultrabooks will be available this year based on its latest mobile processors.

During a press conference at CES today, the chip giant today at CES talked up the performance and convenience of ultrabooks. Inspired by the MacBook Air, ultrabooks are thin and light laptops with a full keyboard that promise a quick boot-up and longer battery life.

Last year, tablets dominated CES hardware demos but this year many ultrabooks are on display. Intel estimates there are 15 models are already available and its processor roadmap will bring the third … Read more