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INTRODUCTION
The world of computing is in the midst of a sea change. Some might call it a “strategic inflection point.” You can see it all around, especially in the massive growth of device types — smart phones, tablets, hybrid devices, e-readers, net books, Chrome books. It’s a time of great creative ferment. The variety of all of these different devices is changing how people think about computing. For many people, the choice of portable computing devices isn't iPad 2 vs. an Android tablet. The tougher choice may be between a tablet and a new class of laptop, an ultra-light and ultra-thin laptop logically dubbed "ultrabook.". The most prominent of this new generation of ultrabooks is the Apple macBook.Intel has created Intel Core processor roadmap to enable a new mainstream line of mobile computers. This new breed of devices will combine best in class performance, responsiveness and security in thin and light, elegant form factors. Eventually you’ll think of an Ultrabook as a tablet when you want it, a PC when you need it. This is an historic change that we believe will redefine the computing experience. They will impact the physical shape and capabilities of personal computing devices and require substantial changes to the way Intel and its partners design, produce and market devices and their components. Laptops based on Ivy Bridge will bring improved power efficiency, smart visual performance, increased responsiveness and enhanced security. Faster I/O such as USB 3.0 and Thunderbolt technologies are also part of Intel’s ongoing work to drive the PC platform forward. Intel micro architecture code name Haswell is the third phase toward accelerating the Ultrabook and reinventing the capabilities of the laptop in ultra thin and light, responsive and secure designs. Ultrabooks are forecast to boom over the next few years in the same way that netbooks took off in 2007 -- until the iPad debuted.
HISTORY
Announced in June 2011 at Computex, the Ultrabook device specification and roadmap changes made to the Intel®Core™ processors are enabling this new breed of devices. Ultrabook systems carry thin and light with the best in performance, responsiveness, security and battery life – filling the gap between desktop/laptop and tablet. We are reinventing the PC again. The new specification means significant changes to the hardware that goes inside these new portable devices An Ultrabook device is ultra-responsive and ultra-sleek.Laptops are getting thinner and lighter, faster and sleeker, and booting up quicker than they did before. This isn’t a revolution, but rather the continued evolution of a product that once had floppy drives and modem ports. Some companies’ devices have already hit the market, while others, including Dell, are expected to introduce models at very soon. PCs will probably retain a bit more diversity. People like things bigger and smaller, cheaper and pricier. Plus, the Ultrabook doesn’t meet all needs. Those with big storage needs will likely want a bigger hard drive, for example; since flash drives get prohibitively expensive over 256 gigabytes. Making portables smaller is hardly a new idea. Backers of Ultrabooks, inspired largely by Apple Inc.'s distinctive MacBook Air, hope to take stylish designs that typically command a premium to mainstream price points. Though Ultrabooks mostly start at roughly $899 to $1,400, hardware companies expect to soon reach more consumer-friendly prices of $699 or lower.If the processors get thinner and faster we want to see result. We want faster laptops and if this is not possible anymore we want thinner laptops. And we reached that point. The average consumer won't see a difference in a couple of computers with different processors; they all look the sameand work the same
DEFINITION
The Ultrabook is a multi-year evolution from Intel's perspective. It's going to begin as a pilot program with some Sandy Bridge systems this year, it'll ramp heavily next year with Ivy Bridge and be mainstream by the time Haswell arrives in 2013.An Ultrabook is a computer in a category of higher-end thin and lightweight ultraportable laptops, defined by a specification from Intel. An ultrabook is a mobile laptop that includes processing capability and features that would normaly only be found on larger laptops and desktops.Ultrabooks are the new “It” laptops. Running Win¬dows and carrying the latest Intel processors, laptops in this new class are feather-light and ultrathin. The name Ultrabook is an Intel . trademark. Thin design and light weight is a core element of Ultrabooks and potentially the only visible indication of a different type of notebook. Intel isn’t saying what features are compulsory but we’re able to have a good guess at the late 2011 minimum. Requirements for an Ultrabook are straightforward. Ultrabook has Sizing that enables ease of portability. 11.1″-13″ being the main target screen sizes. 1-1.5KG being the target weight. Intel say that Ultrabooks could be available with 15″ screens. It has SSD storage. In order to enable fast-boot and resume (see below) a fast SSD storage is needed. This reduces power and increases ruggedness too. A ‘hybrid’ hard drive with traditional spinning disk and a smaller flash memory module is also available on some Ultrabooks. Ultrabook offers Fast boot, long standby, and fast resume.
An ultrabook similar to ARM-tablet world where devices are rarely turned off. It means having very low power idle states and the ability to resume from standby and connect to Wifi in under 5 seconds. In the future, you’ll see devices even waking up to update email, Twitter and other clients. It has the Processing power to cover nearly every business usage scenario. Aside from the biggest video rendering operations, compression processes, large or batch image editing operations and most complex spreadsheet calculations the Ultrabook will be able to operate just as you would expect from a desktop. Multiple applications in the background with multiple flash-enabled browser tabs, fast decompression of compressed packages, 720p video editing and almost careless use of the operating system. In 2011 the Sandy Bridge architecture for Core i3, i5 and i7 processors in ‘ultra low voltage’ versions will be the main processing engine. it supports Latest operating systems. Windows 7, Windows 8 and will be the main target operating systems but we see OSX also fulfilling the user’s needs with devices like the MacBook Air. Security, graphics, video subsystems. Putting security, graphics and video decoding and encoding into silicon allows longer battery life and faster operation. We expect more and more silicon subsystems to differentiate from the mainstream. Wireless Display, Video streaming encryption, hardware anti-virus etc. It come,s with Intel Anti theft system which enhances laptop security with immediate shut-down. Its Price should be Price should be under
Intel described three key phases in the company’s strategy to accelerate this vision, which begins to unfold today with the company’s latest 2nd Generation Intel® Core™ processors. This family of products will enable thin, light and beautiful designs that are less than 20mm (0.8 inch) thick, and mainstream price points under US$1,000. Systems based on these chips will be available for the 2011 winter holiday shopping season and include the UX21, ASUS* Ultrabook™. ASUS introduced the new ultra-thin laptop based on the latest 2nd Generation Intel Core processor. An ultrabook should weigh less than 3 pounds, measure less than three-quarters of an inch thick at any point, and are usually wedge shaped. It has a uni-body construction usually aluminum or an aluminum alloy or, perhaps, fiberglass, with a screen less than 14 inches. There are no "optical drives" (so-called because they are read by a laser) are thick and take-up too much room.
In this age of cloud storage and downloadable software and media content, largely unnecessary.Ultrabooks has solid state memory Most laptop computers have a hard disk drive, which are copious and inexpensive, but take up a lot of physical space, are heavy and are power-inefficient because they are mechanical. Tablets and most ultrabooks use flash memory, known in the business as SSD (an acronym for "solid-state drive") that are simply a chipset with no moving parts. Most ultrabooks will pack at least a 64 GB SSD. Two other technologies may define these new ultrabooks: power-efficient yet powerful Intel Core processors and the dual-purpose Thunderbolt connectors. Thunderbolt jacks not only transfer data at twice the speed of USB 3.0 (and Intel think they can boost that to four-times faster in a couple of years), but also can be used to connect external displays. Faster transfer speeds – say, when using an external drive to move movies or photos back-and-forth – save time and battery life. Right now, only MacBooks have Thunderbolt jacks, but the Thunderbolt technology was developed by Intel, which expects it to be widely adopted in laptops and ultrabooks to come.
It's basically a thin and light notebook that uses solid state storage in some form, has some additional security features and is available at mainstream price points. This isn't a new platform, there's no Centrino-like certification process, but Intel has trademarked the name so you won't see things that aren't Ultrabooks being called Ultrabooks (unfortunately this also likely means that you won't see any AMD notebooks being labeled as such either).
All of today’s ultrabooks, including the Samsung Series 9 and the Apple MacBook Air, feature the Intel HD 3000 integrated graphics card. While this isn’t exactly poor or slow, it is integrated and doesn’t necessarily add up to ensure the perfect gaming machineAn integrated graphics card utilizes a portion of a computer’s system RAM and is integrated into the motherboard. In other words, when running graphically-intensive applications, a computer with integrated graphics will use some of the system’s RAM to try to play them correctly. .However, in some cases, like 3D games, for example, a computer with integrated graphics will be unable to play the application correctly and will either crash or will not offer a great image quality. A dedicated graphics card, on the other hand, has RAM dedicated to the card’s use and, depending on the amount of memory, should run pretty much any kind of app correctly and smoothly. While most of you might look at ultrabooks and see them as either tablet or netbook direct competitors, you should understand that these are actually very, very different from both slates and netbooks.That is why if a computing system with either a touchscreen or a convertible display, none of the released or due to be released ultrabooks are a solution for you. If you want something with a touchscreen, you could go for one of the very capable and strong 10-inch tablets from Asus ( Transformer or Slider), Apple (iPad 2) or Samsung (Galaxy Tab 10.1). However, these don’t all feature physical keyboards and are therefore not as functional as a regular laptop. There are also a couple of netbooks and mini-laptops with that kind of feature and at least three names come to mind right now. There is the 10-inch Samsung NB30, the 13-inch Toshiba U500 and the 15-inch Acer Aspire 5738PG. As for convertible displays, On the other hand, the convertible display wasn’t exactly the brightest idea in the industry, creating unnecessary problems in terms of build quality and sturdiness.
When you decide to design an 0.6-inch thick portable computer, it’s pretty clear from the beginning that you will have to make a couple of compromises and cut a few corners. One of these compromises has been the backlit keyboard, a feature that can only be found on the Toshiba Z835, Samsung Series 9 and MacBook Air.The lack of optical drives has been the number two compromise and none of the ultrabooks’ producers have managed to fit either a CD or a DVD drive on their gizmos’ super-slim body. On the other hand, I honestly don’t think that they have tried very hard to introduce such a feature on their devices, giving that practically no one uses CDs and DVDs nowadays, when all the content is stored internally on hard drives and solid state drives or found online. While pretty much all of today’s ultrabooks sport pretty great displays, capable of crisp and clear images, as well as bright colors and nice viewing angles, there is a feature that I personally would have liked to see on more devices when talking about the screens.
I’m referring to the non-glare, or matte, feature, a function that makes the display anti-reflective and therefore easier to see in difficult lighting conditions or in direct sunlight. The Samsung Series 9 features a matte screen and the top version of the Toshiba Portege Z830 is also set to sport such a display. Other than that, though, if you will buy an ultrabook todayIntel's roadmap is a 3-year transformation of the PC that will bring the Ultrabook™ category of PCs to the mainstream.
First: Ultrabooks™ are available with Sandy Bridge, our 2nd Gen Core Processor, starting now. First out of the gate is the Asus UX21 Ultrabook™. It's a formidable little machine, and it gives a taste of things to come. The mainstream market can expect a huge boost in system response time—an absolute must, if you must ask.
Second: In 2012, the next evolution of the PC occurs, bringing the Ultrabook™ to the mainstream. With Intel's new Ivy Bridge processor, better encryption and protection will be automatically built-in, ensuring a safe and secure PC experience. Thunderbolt™, an extremely fast data transfer system, should also be widely featured at this stage.
Finally: The final part of Intel’s PC transformation will be in 2013, when we introduce “Haswell,” a dynamic processor that will entirely reinvent the notebook, while giving the Ultrabook™ that final nudge into the mainstream market. Power consumption will decrease by 50%, thereby allowing manufacturers to experiment with thinner, sleeker designs and more compact Ultrabooks™, while simultaneously dropping the price, too.
FEATURES OF ULTRABOOK
Thin design and light weight is a core element of Ultrabooks and potentially the only visible indication of a different type of notebook. Higher-quality finishing and sealed batteries will also indicate Ultrabook specifications but there are a number of internal features that are also included. Thin stylish ultrabook has the following features
• Rapid Start enables Ultrabooks to resume from hibernate and connect to the internet in sub 7 second times. Rapid Start technology (or other technologies that provide a quick start solution) is a requirement for all Ultrabooks.
• Smart Connect will wake-up a laptop regularly on a user-configured schedule to check for updates. E.g. Twitter, email, calendar sync. Not much detail is available on these features at the moment. This technology will not be implemented in all Ultrabooks.
• Smart Response Technology – SSD-like performance from hard drives. (Hybrid hard drives with small embedded SSDs.) All Ultrabooks will either use all-SSD configurations or the Smart Response technology to enable quick application start-up times. The Smart Response Technology will not be exclusive to Ultrabooks.
Security
• Identify Protection Technology – Not exclusive to Ultrabooks, IPT will link the PC to an online account as a second-stage authorization mechanism. This works through a software and hardware solution with IPT-enabled websites. Two-stage authorization is also available when not using the IPT-enabled laptop through the use of extra security questions or through the sending of a code via SMS. IPT is a requirement for all Ultrabooks.
• Anti-Theft – Detects suspicious activity or lack of ‘check-in’ or accepts theft notification messages send over the Internet. Can lock a PC and disable data access and offers the ability for a user to easily re-enable the device if recovered. Hard drive is non-removable. System can be restored by owner. Finally a ‘Good Samaritan’ message can be enabled on the device to alert someone that the device is lost or stolen. This is not exclusive to Ultrabooks but is likely to be a requirement for all Ultrabooks in 2012.
Media
• Intel Insider technology provides a trusted, encrypted path for the delivery of high-value HD video content. Mainly for film sales and rental. Not exclusive to Ultrabooks but available on all 2nd-generation Core notebooks including all Ultrabooks.
• Quick Sync Video / Intel Media SDK. Not exclusive to Ultrabooks, the hardware-basevideo encodes and decodes assists video editing rendering and format conversion. Not exclusive to Ultrabooks but available on all 2nd Generation Core platforms (including all Ultrabooks.)
• Intel Wireless Display. Aka Wi-Di and Wireless Audio. Using Intel-specified wireless chipsets the Ultrabook is able to wirelessly transmit up to 1080p content to a 3rd-party receiver box connected to an A/V system. Not exclusive to Ultrabooks.
Battery Life
• Latest generation ‘Ultra Low Voltage’ Core-family processors
• Sealed batteries for higher capacity in a given size. This is a design
• Requirement for all Ultrabooks in order to achieve thin Ultrabooks.
• Low standby drain via highly integrated design. Again, a requirement of Ultrabooks to keep the component area small
Performance
• 2nd Generation Core processors known as ‘Sandy Bridge.’ Turbo. Core i5 and i7 processors offer thermal monitoring to allow the CPU to overclock until the system reaches a heat level that cuts the CPU speed back down again. Some Ultrabooks will come with Core i3 processors that do not have this feature.
• Gaming. Intel HD Graphics 3000 enables ‘casual and mainstream’ gaming capabilities on-chip. Not exclusive to Ultrabooks but available in all Ultrabooks
Pricing
• Prices for 1st-gen Ultrabooks (2011) start at $899 but pricing is open ended. Price drops of 25% can be expected with 2nd-generation devices in late 2012
ULTRABOOK MANUFACTURERS
The leading ultrabook manufacturers are as follows
APPLE WITH THE MACBOOK AIR
The MacBook Air is basically just a laptop, only a lot thinner. There are a couple of functionalities you miss, for instance the disk drive and some memory. A smooth, thin laptop which not only looks cool, but still has everything you need to have in front of you. Perfect for people who don't need the full power of a laptop, but do have something with the looks and light weight character of the Air.
ACERASPIRE S3
The Acer Aspire S3 is the Ultrabook from Acer, which should be the main competitor for the MacBook air. The laptop is with 0.51 inches even thinner than the laptop from Apple and the weight is 3.3 pounds. The machine runs on Windows 7 and is working pretty fast. The computer is easily awaked from sleep mode and the reviews on Amazon are really positive. The screen is as crisp as the Air's. The price is around a thousand dollar.Compared to the MacBook Air the battery life is a little low and there are some downfalls in the screen and the size of the different keys. In conclusion a good attack on Apple, but not the perfect computer yet. The Taiwanese company certainly has experience producing every variety of laptop, from the ultra-portable Timeline range of models such as the Acer Aspire Timeline X 3820TZ to the mighty Ethos multimedia machines including the Acer Aspire Ethos 5943G.the first generation competition with with the Toshiba Satellite Z830 and Lenovo Idea pad U300S emerging from the pits to take on the Asus Zenbook and this machine, the Acer Aspire S Series. are getting tighter
Design:-One of its dinkiest offerings yet, the 13.3-inch Acer Aspire S3-951 is an appealing prospect for regular travellers. While the computer doesn't have much merit in the way of design and makes some compromises, it's a solid performer with a good keyboard and trackpad, and great battery life—a combination that's been a rare find so far. The Acer Aspire S3 weighs a modest 1.38kgs, just a tad below the Macbook Air. While it is a little heavier than the other ultrabooks, the weight does give a good grip while working on it. The Aspire S3 looks good, and seems to handle well when folded--there's no weird weight distribution that might make it susceptible to drops when you're juggling it with other gear. The plastic shell isn't as rigid as the alloy shells on some Ultrabooks, but it's functional. The power button on the S3 is embedded in its hinge next to two tiny indicator lights. The S3 has a limited supply of inputs, with two USB 2.0 ports and an HDMI port. A headphone jack is on the left hand side, and an SD card slot is on the right.
Display:- The display has an average, 1366-by-768-pixel native resolution. The screen good and HD content streamed over the local area network smoothly. However, streaming Netflix HD content looked even softer than it usually does. In addition, the LCD panel's range of angles for high-quality viewing is rather restricted, with noticeable color and contrast shifts at minor displacements from dead center.
Instant On:-One area where Windows PCs have traditionally stumbled may have been resolved – standby mode. Instant-on worked well in our tests. In fact, this is the first Windows laptop we’ve encountered that could be consistently put to sleep by closing the lid, and which would wake again and be ready for business when opened.
Audio:-The Acer Aspire S3-951 includes a pair of very small speakers that vent through the bottom and the keyboard. Don’t be misled by the Professionally Tuned script on the bodywork – these speakers sound dreadfully tinny despite the efforts of Dolby and its ineffectual Home Theater v4 software.
Battery Life:- Battery life is more important than ever on Ultrabooks, as the integrated batteries are either not user replaceable or very difficult to replace at best. Here the Aspire S3 holds its head up proudly, managing over 7 hours easily away from a socket. Despite editing photos on the Photoshop, keeping 7-8 Google Chrome tabs in the background, Skype and Google Talk signed in, and 1-2 Microsoft Word documents open, it lasted about 6 hours before it asked me to plug it into a post. As a matter of fact, even with just 15% of battery remaining, it comfortably gave me 45 minutes of performance before it decided to hibernate on its own.
Verdict:-At Rs 50,984, the Acer Aspire S3 ultrabook is a little premium at the price. Considering the performance belted out by the machine, it can has only fraturs for about Rs40,000. Yes, it’s a performer for sure, but the cheap and plasticky build quality is a turn off. Plus, the top lid is so flimsy that it ends up quivering when kept directly under the fan.
AsusZenbook
With the Asus Zenbook this company is also entering the field of UltraBooks. . It has a more industrial look, which fits the corporate boards better than the 'hipster-look' of the Air.The track pad though seems to be a pain in the ass, as it is with the Acer Aspire S3. It does not entirely what you want it to do (for instance, pinching and zooming while you just want to hover around with your cursor). The Asus UX31 looks quite stunning with its all-metal finish. It’s thin, stylish and can be easily mistaken for a laptop sleeve. The matte silver around the keyboard adds to the look and the entire laptop is practically fingerprint-free. It is extremely thin and only the most important ports like USB 3.0, mini VGA, and SD card reader and HDMI have been included. We have mixed feelings about the notebook’s build, though. The power slot is extremely delicate and wobbly when the charger is connected. So much so, that a slight push or nudge might just break it. But in terms of design, the Zenbook clearly holds its own in this huge market full of similar looking laptops.
The 13.3-inch UX31 has quite a high resolution of 1600x900 and is powered by an Intel Core i7 processor running at a frequency of 1.8GHz. There’s 4GB of RAM, a 256GB solid-state drive (SSD) and Intel’s integrated HD 3000 graphics card. Apart from this, there’s Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi b/g/n, a webcam with Bang and Olufsen speakers. Boot up times are exceptionally quick, at an average of 16 seconds, so you’ll start off with your work within no time. The brightness levels of the laptop are brilliant; in fact, they’re almost blinding even if you’re in a lowly lit environment. The B&O speakers flex their muscles when you play music or movies. They’re quite loud and good for personal usage.
However, the notebook’s biggest flaws are the trackpad and keyboard. Buttons on the keyboard have poor feedback and the manoeuvring on the trackpad isn’t exactly quick.
As far as heating is concerned, the UX31 does a brilliant job keeping things cool.
Great battery life. The Zenbook comes with a powerful, non-removable battery. Under heavy usage with the brightness maxed out, you can still crank out three hours and 40 minutes of non-stop usage, which is definitely an impressive feat. Under normal use, you will easily be able to double that to around six and a half hours.
Verdict:- The Zenbook UX31 is priced at Rs 89,999. For those on-the-go, a powerful battery coupled with portability is always a brilliant feature to have in your laptop, and the Zenbook offers just that. Just beware the glitchy keyboard and trackpad. In comparison to the similarly spec’ed Lenovo U300s, this one looks and performs better. But, simply for the want of a better keyboard and trackpad
TOSHIBAPORTEGE Z835
Even though it has probably been the most awaited ultrabook this fall, the Toshiba Portege Z835 (or 830) hasn’t managed to draw very much attention so far, with the biggest problem being that it still can’t be bought in all its configurations from most of the usual online stores.
Design and build:-Even though the Z835 is pretty much as light, thin and slim as any other ultrabooktoday,Toshiba’s laptop is not exactly what you would call stylishor very elegant. The graphite grey body looks a bit old-fashioned and there’s almost no curve or rounded edge anywhere to be found on this laptop’s chassis. Furthermore, thelaptop doesn’t look exactly strong and robust, which is mostly due to the plasticky exterior. On the other hand, as I already mentioned, the Z835 weighs only 2.45 pounds and measures 0.63 inches in depth, being the lightest ultrabook to date and the second thinnest, slightly outshined in this area by only the Lenovo U300s.
Keyboard and touchpad:- The chiclet keyboard is very similar to the one featured on the Portege R830 some time ago and, while it isn’t extraordinary, it gets its job done pretty nicely. The keys are a bit shallow and don’t offer much travel, but all in all, once you get the hang of it, the keyboard will seemat least satisfying. The Z835 is also the only ultrabook right now, aside from the MacBook Air andSamsung Series 9, to feature backlighting on the keyboard, which is very cool and useful. However, the backlighting is itself far from perfect, as we have noticed when talking about backlit keyboards on ultrabooks in general. As for the touchpad, this is made out of plastic, so it’s not as strong and solid as the ones featured by the MacBook Air or Lenovo
Screen, hardware and performance:- The Z835 sports an already standard 13.3-inch LED-backlit high-definition widescreen display with 1366 x 768 pixelsresolution, but unfortunately this is poorer than other similar screens, like the one featured by the Lenovo U300s, for example. Colors are anything but crisp, viewing angles are mediocre at best and the image looks washed out from time to time. On the other hand, the top version of the Z835, the Z830-S8302 sports a matte display, which will come in very handy for those of you who want to watch movies on the go and not worry about lighting conditions. In terms of performance, Toshiba’s ultrabook comes in four different versions right now, with slightly tweaked tech specs. The base models, the Z835-ST8305 and the Z835-P330, are powered by a 1.4 GHz Intel Core i3 processor and feature 4 GB of RAM, as well as an integrated Intel HD 3000 graphics card and a 128 GB SSD. This should provide pretty good booting speeds and an overall decent browsing and multimedia experience, but as far as gaming goes, you shouldn’t expect much. Also, to be honest all the way, the SSD is not as fast as, say, the ones featured by the Asus UX31 or Lenovo U300s.The best possible performance level, you can get the top Z830-S8302, powered by a snappy Intel Core i7-2677M processor and featuring no less than 6 GB of RAM, as well as the same old Intel HD 3000 graphics card and 128 GB SSD.There has to be also said that for an ultrabook that comes in so many different configurations, it would have been nice to have a model featuring a larger solid-state drive, as it is the case of the Asus UX31 or MacBook Air, for example.
Battery life, connectivity and ports:-Even though Toshiba has made a couple of sacrifices and compromises here and there, when it comes to the battery life, things couldn’t have been much better. The base model of the Z835, powered by an Intel Core i3 processor, can go right now for around six hours on a single charge, based on medium use. That’s more than what the U300s or Asus UX31 bring to the table and it’s pretty darn close to the Air’s autonomy, which is around six hours as well.On the other hand, you have to keep in mind that the Lenovo U300s and Asus UX31 come with much snappier processors and that the top versions of the Toshiba Z835 should probably go for just over five hours between charges.In terms of connectivity and ports, Toshiba have been managed to fit on this slim ultrabook all the basics and a couple of unexpected surprises as well. It has two USB 2.0 ports, a USB 3.0 connector, WiFi, Bluetooth 3.0, HDMI, a memory card reader and Ethernet, which is more than you will find on any other ultrabook these days.
Software, speakers and others:- The Toshiba Z835 features a couple of stereo MaxxAudio LE speakers, which are decently loud and, while they can’t compare with the ones featured by the Asus UX31 in terms of overall sound quality, are pretty nice for an ultrabook this affordable.Toshiba’sultrabook runs Windows 7 Home Premium, but comes with so much useless pre-loaded content that it would take hours to even name all the programs and apps., some of them I might find useful or at least fun after a while, but things like Toshiba Bulletin Board, ReelTime or Toshiba BookPlace are uselessOther features in include a 1.3-megapixel webcam and a microphone built into the LCD bezel.
Verdict:- Being available for an extremely low price tag, the base model of the Toshiba Z835 should be one of the top choices for any technology enthusiast right now. Sure, it doesn’t come with state-of-the-art hardware, a very capable screen or great build quality, but it has a backlit keyboard, it’s light as a feather, has a very strong battery, all the ports you could need and a pretty large SSD.An ultrabook today and on a low budget, the Toshiba Z835 should be number one pick.
LENOVO THINKPAD T430U
The ultrabook market is flourishing day after day and, as expected, a bunch of new devices have been made official or are getting ready to be unveiled. The ThinkPad T430u is set to be Lenovo’s second ultrabook effort and, as far as we can tell right now, thisshould be at least as popular as the IdeaPad U300s. Sporting a 14-inch display with 1366 x 768 pixels resolution, the ThinkPad T430u will not be incredibly thin or unbelievably stylish, but it should be elegant nevertheless. Measuring 0.8 inchesthick and weighing in at less than four pounds, Lenovo’s future ultrabook comes with an all-black classic and classy color scheme and with some beautiful straightforward lines on the chassis, as well as a couple of nicely rounded edges. The chiclet keyboard and the trackpad with integrated buttons look pretty interesting, but what I personally like the most at the T430u is the number of ports and connectivity options. The ultrabook is set tofeature two USB ports, an Ethernet jack, a full-size HDMI socket, as well as an SD card reader that lacked on the IdeaPad U300s.
As far as hardware is concerned, Lenovo has not given up much at the moment, but if we are to listen to rumors, the laptop might feature an Ivy Bridge, third generation Intel Core processor. Sure, this means that the ultrabook will not be made available before late summer or early fall this year, but considering the possible power boost, The T430u should also come with optional Nvidia dedicated graphics, a choice between an SSD and a hard drive with up to 1 TB of storage and up to 16 GB of RAM. The rumored battery life is of around six hours, which won’t be that impressive, but it should be satisfying enough In terms of pricing, Lenovo’s future ultrabook should start at around 850 dollars and could go for up to 1,500 bucks or even more, for the top versions with dedicated graphics, solid-state drives and 16 GB of memory.
HP FOLIO 13
Even though it has barely started shipping, the HP Folio 13 is one of the most debated laptops right now, being already reviewed by some of today’s important technology websites.In the following lines we will try to take a look at these reviews in order to find out exactly what to expect from HP’s first-ever ultrabook. Before getting down to the actual reviews, let’s recapthe tech specs and features of the new Folio 13.HP’s laptop starts at 899 dollars on most of today’s online stores, which makes it one of the most affordable ultrabooks right now. However, this doesn’t necessarily mean you should expect low performance from the Folio 13. The notebook sports a pretty standard 13.3-inch screen with 1366 x 768 pixels resolution and is available in several different models, with customizable hardware specifications. The base version is powered by a 1.6 GHz Intel Core i5-2467M processor, but you can also go for a lower end model, with an Intel Core i3 chipset.The Folio 13 features 4 GB of RAM, but is also the first ultrabook with expandable memory of up to 8 GB. You get a snappy 128 GB SSD too, as well as a bunch of ports and connectivity options, including full-sized Gigabit Ethernet, USB 2.0, USB 3.0, HDMI and a full-sized SDHC card slot.
While you can’t help but appreciate the laptop’s improved functionality from all the other ultrabooks today, the Folio 13 is unfortunately thicker than we might have wished for and also bulkier. Its exact weight is 3.3 pounds (1.49 kg), while the product dimensions are 12.54 x 8.67 x 0.7 inches.The overall build quality is pretty decent and the brushed metal case, along with the soft-touch rubberized base, make the chassis elegant and fairly stylish. On the other hand, it’s clearly not as fashionable as, say, the Lenovo U300S or the Asus UX31, but it’s at least as sturdy as the two. HP’s first ultrabook also comes with a full-size backlit keyboard, which is a very, very nice touch these days, but with an extremely reliable battery as well, reportedly capable to go for well over six hours between charges.TheAltec Lansing internal speakers, coupled with a Dolby Advanced Audio system, are a bit disappointing, as is the webcam with integrated digital microphone, but all in all, the HP Folio 13 looks pretty balanced and well-equipped,
Verdict:-The battery life is unanimously praised by the reviewers, as is the keyboard and the selection of ports. These are three important strong points that the Folio 13 undoubtedly holds right now and three things that could make a huge difference for a technology enthusiast in search of an ultrabook these days.As far as weak points go, HP’s ultrabook sports a pretty poor screen and also seems to have a problem or two with the touchpad.
While these could be considered little things by some of you, they could become important deal-breakers for others (at least the screen quality should be).We should also mention the design and build quality, seen as strong points in two of the reviews, but as weak points in the other two, as well as the sound and speakers, which again are considered advantages by some and disadvantages by others.Weighing in the affordable price tag with all these supposed strong and weak points, we get an overview of a piece of computer equipment that is good, but not great, faulty in some areas, but also innovative in others.
SAMSUNG SERIES 9
The Samsung Series 9 laptop is one of the most interesting products on the computer market right now, being hailed by many for its looks, ultra portability and pretty high performance level, but being also criticized by some for its less than affordable price tag The Series 9, while being released before the ultrabook craze, meets most of the criteria of this fresh and new computer market niche. It is very slim, highly portable and offers a high performance level. On the other hand, it is far from what you could call cheap and it doesn’t come with a very strong and durable battery.In the following lines we will review and analyze the Samsung Series 9 notebook, trying to figure out all its strong and weak points and trying to ultimately find out if this piece of computer equipment is good enough to justify its price
Exterior and design:-The Series 9 is made mostly from duraluminum, a stronger metal than aluminum, used in the past in aircraft build. As you can imagine, this gives the laptop a very strong posture, but amazingly Samsung’s notebook manages to also be elegant, classy and to feel nice and light in the user’s hands. The overall design may look pretty simplistic, almost minimalistic at a first look, but the little things make it sophisticated and almost sexy. The dark chassis gives the laptop a touch of mystery, while the chrome borders and the wave-shaped hinges blend in very nicely to offer one of the most striking laptops on the market today.
It has to be noticed also that for a laptop targeted to compete against the very original and good-looking Macbook Air, the Samsung Series 9 comes itself with an original design and build. In terms of dimensions and weight, the Series 9 is a winner, even though it couldn’t compare with the upcoming ultrabooks from Toshiba, Asus or Acer.Samsung’s 13.3-inch notebook measures 12.9 x 8.9 x 0.62-0.64 inches and weighs in at 2.9 pounds, which is two whole ounces lighter than Apple’s similar Macbook Air.
Keyboard and touchpad:- If you will be attracted by the Series 9’s exterior and design, you will probably be mesmerized by its keyboard and touchpad. The full-chiclet keyboard is very well-sized, easy and comfortable to use and the keys are well-spaced and feel very nice and smooth. It is also backlit, which is a very nice touch, and we enjoy the fact that you can control the brightness or turn the whole backlighting off if you like.The touchpad is at least as good as the keyboard, being smooth, responsive, but also very good-looking. Its matte surface is very functional and elegant and the overall feel is great. On the other hand, it is not perfect at recognizing gestures and is a bit smaller than the Macbook Air’s touchpad.
Screen:- The 13.3-inch display on the Series 9 comes with a decent enough resolution of 1366×768 pixels and provides good overall image quality. The screen is matte, which is a big plus, and Samsung’s SuperBrightPlus Technology provides very crisp colors and automatically adjusted brightness. The viewing angles are themselves pretty great, but you can’t help feel that Samsung could have come up with a higher resolution display. After all, the MacBook Air comes with a 1440×900 pix resolution panel, while the upcoming Asus UX31 promises a 1600×900 pixels resolution.
Hardware and performance:-The Samsung Series 9 is available on the computer market right now with a couple of different technical configurations. The high-end Series 9 model comes equipped with a 1.4 GHz low voltage Intel Core i5-2537M Sandy Bridge dual-core processor and 4 GB of RAM. This should provide a far higher performance level than the original MacBook Air, which comes with only 2 GB of RAM, but lower performance than the newest 13.3-inch Apple laptop, equipped with a 1.7 GHz dual core Intel i5 processor and 4 GB of memory. The Series 9 also features Intel’s integrated HD graphics card, which should be above the average ultraportable, but which is again below what the Macbook Air has to offer. In terms of internal memory, Samsung’s laptop features a very speedy 128 GB SSD, a great choice if we thing about the booting speed of the Series 9
Battery life, connectivity and others:-When Intel has started talking about ‘’ultrabooks’’ and what these devices should offer, one of the most important features desired was a strong battery. The Series 9, though, while being portable, light and fast performance wise, can’t keep up with the Macbook Air or the upcoming ultrabooks in terms of battery life. The Lithium-Polymer battery, while being dubbed by the producers to last up to seven hours between charges, lasted only five hours and 11 minutes in Laptopmag’s Battery Testand four hours and 20 minutes in Engagdet’stest.Even though these are not bad results for a strong and fast laptop, the autonomy is well below what the Macbook Air can offer. As for the upcoming ultrabooks, these all promise six or seven hours of real battery life. In terms of connectivity and ports, the Series 9 features USB 3.0, as well as 2.0, micro HDMI, microphone and headphone jacks, a micro SD memory card reader, Ethernet, Bluetooth 3.0 and wireless capabilities. Other features of the Samsung’s 13.3-inch laptop include a 1.3-megapixel HD webcam and built-in stereo speakers with HD audio.
Verdict:- As all pioneering devices, the Samsung Series 9 has its advantages and disadvantages, its strong points, but also its flaws. On one hand, you have a pretty original, good-looking, classy and sturdy design, good performance level and great keyboard and touchpad.On the other hand, the display is not all it could have been, the weight and dimensions will be very easily beaten by the upcoming Toshiba Portege Z830 or Asus UX31, as it is the case of the not so impressive battery. Furthermore, even though the Series 9 is strong and snappy, it’s a little below the Macbook Air in terms of performance and will again be exceeded by the upcoming ultrabooks.
ADVANTAGES
Processing power rises to 10x the processing power found on a netbook (or high-end Android or iPad tablet) This isn’t high-end processing power but its a comfortable level for many people and with the addition of fast SSD storage the feel of the device is faster and smoother than higher power devices that don’t run on SSDs. The power of the SSD can not be understated so if you are comparing Ultrabook alternatives, factor in the cost of an SSD upgrade if needed.
• Video decoding and encoding hardware is included. Granted you’ll find this on any Intel Core platform in 2011 but encoding is not something found on netbooks and on nearly all tablets. It allows for extremely fast, low-power video conversion (for handheld devices for example) and speedier video editing for the average customer.
• Real-time video enhancement processing for enhanced on-screen or external screen viewing.
• Turbo-boost overclocking by using fine-grain thermal management.
• Low-power 800Mhz mode lowers the dynamic range of the Ultrabook to enhance battery life but retains ‘netbook plus’ performance. This mode is perfect for the traveler and writer.
• On-die 3D graphics solution offers gaming experience.
• Built-in security token hardware – exclusive to Ultrabooks.
• Fast SSD storage dramatically increases boot, resume and application start-up time while lowering power, increasing ruggedness and lowering noise levels.
• Intel Insider capability for trusted streaming of high-value video content. [Also blocking screen buffer captures we understand]
DISADVANTAGES
1. Ultrabook’s performance is also not perfect. :- ultrabooks which have been launched and can be purchased include Acer hummingbird S3-591 and ASUS ZENBOOK UX21/UX31, they are all equipped with Intel’s second generation of Sandy Bridge Core i5/i7 processors , but according to Intel’s plan on ultrabook’s three development stages, only the ultrabooks that adopt third-generation 22nm Ivy Bridge processors, even Haswell platform processors are the real ultrabooks, while the performance and power consumption will achieve the desired performance;
2. Ultrabook prices are too high.:- Acer hummingbird S3-591′s and ASUS ZENBOOK’s starting prices are $ 900 and $ 1000 which are not less than MacBook Air’s price. Currently, Ultrabook mainstream configuration is: Intel Core i5-2467M processor, 4GB DDR3 RAM, 128GB SSD solid state hard drive, Intel HD 3000 graphics card performance Core, Windows 7 operating system, and the ordinary notebook price with same configuration is much lower than that of ultrabook. So, the current available ultrabook prices are too high, there is still much room for price cut;
3. Ultrabook ports need to be extended.:- in the ultrabooks which have been released, In addition to Toshiba Portege Z830 which has used all standard interfaces, the other three ultrabooks all have the problem of port-lack or take mini interfaces, all three ultrabooks need convert expansion. ASUS ZENBOOK use interface converter program to solve the problem of user needs, while Acer hummingbirds seems to have no effective solution;
4. Ultrabook cooling needs to be verified.:- MacBook Air users had complained about its heat dissipation problem, after testing we find that the heat dissipation of macbook air has no much difference with an ordinary notebook, the outlet temperature is up to 51 ℃.
FUTURE EXPECTATIONS
• In 2012 we will see the current 2nd-generation architecture move to a smaller die. Ivy Bridge will be produced with a 22nm process and Tri-gate transistors. Technology
• MacAfee in hardware. According to the Intel slide on the right, there will be increased malware protection included in Icy Bridge. This could be the first step at integrating McAfee technologies into silicon.
• Thunderbolt, the dual 10Gbps communications interface, is likely to be integrated, along with USB 3.0 in the Ivy Bridge platforms.
• 3G and 4G cellular data options are likely
• Price drops. 20% price drop as take-up improves seems very likely. Entry level could reach $599 by 2013
• Haswell is the new architecture planned for 2013. Not much detail is known at this point.
• Lower Power. An estimated 12-15W TDP compared to the 17W TDP of 2011 Ultrabook platforms.
• Touch and new form factors
• Fanless operation may not be possible but fan-off modes should be achievable.
• Always-on could be introduced if Windows 8 has been tightly developed alongside the Haswell architecture
• Application store. Could Intel use their AppUp product to deliver content?
• Intel is investing $300M into new technologies via their Intel Capital fun