Editorial: Best Ultrabooks at CES 2012

With the coming year we all expect to see sleeker and more portable laptops in the form of ultrabooks. The year 2012 has been predicted as the year of ultrabooks, and at CES we saw some great and beautiful ultrabooks coming our way. We saw some great ultrabooks announced, but in this editorial we’ll pick the best five ultrabooks unveiled at CES:

Samsung Series 9

Last year’s Samsung Series 9 was quite an impressive laptop on its own with its thin looks, but the new Series 9 ultrabook is even thinner with a 12.9 mm waistline and has a high-res display of 1600 x 900. The aluminum design gives it a distinct look among others. Series 9 ultrabooks are powered by 1.6 GHz Intel Core i5 processor, Intel HD 3000 graphics card, 128 GB SSD and has a 500 GB of hard disk, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, webcam, USB, built in SD card reader and HDMI port. Both the 13 inch and 15 inch model weigh just 1.13 kilograms (2.5 lbs.) and comes with 4 GB and 8 GB of RAM respectively. The Series 9 is a bit pricey, but it is a very high end product.

 

Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga

The Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga is quite an innovative ultrabook that features a touchscreen with a 360 degree flip screen which can be used as a tablet too. The IdeaPad YOGA sports a 13.3 inch touchscreen with a 1,600×900 pixel resolution, 8 GB of RAM, weighs just 1.4 kilogram (3.09 lbs.) and has a thickness 0.67 inches and has up to 256 GB of SSD storage. It is powered by Intel’s Oak Trail processors and runs Microsoft’s touch-friendly Windows 8 operating system. As it is running on Windows 8 OS we can expect this ultrabook to hit the market late but it does seem like a winner.

 

HP Envy 14 Spectre

This ultrabook by HP might not appeal to everyone, because it is not quite as thin as others, but it takes a different design lane altogether. The most eye-catching aspect of the Spectre is the edge-to-edge glass that covers not only the screen, but the lid and palmrest as well, and the 14-inch Radiance LED backlit display is quite a treat. It is powered by an Intel Core i5 processor with 4 GB of RAM and 128 GB of SSD. The device comes with Beats Audio, a physical volume knob, and full versions of Adobe Photoshop Elements, Adobe Premiere Elements, and 2 years of Norton Internet Security.

Acer Aspire S5

Ultrabooks are meant to be thin and portable, and Acer touts its Aspire S5 ultrabook as the world’s thinnest with its 0.59-inches and is the first Windows ultrabook to use the Thunderbolt Technology, which offers faster data transfer speeds than the current USB 3.0 or FireWire connections. The Acer Aspire S5 has USB 3.0 and HDMI ports behind an automatic “MagicFlip” cover panel, a solid-state drive (SSD) and Dolby Home Theater audio. Acer is also adding its Green Instant On technology, promising even faster boot and wake times than Intel’s RapidStart technology. The processor running the ultrabook is still unknown but reports suggest it runs on the upcoming Intel Ivy Bridge Processors.

 

Dell XPS 13

It is the first ultrabook by Dell, but it is one of the best looking ultrabooks shown off at the CES. It has a very slim design, and Dell has taken care of the portability well with its 0.71 inches of thickness and a 13.1-inch display. The device comes with Core i3, i5, or i7 processors, a 128 GB or 256 GB SSD hard disk, and 4 GB of RAM. The XPS13 has a backlit keyboard with a large glass multitouch touchpad, a mini DisplayPort, an Ethernet jack and a high-quality audio that comes out of the keyboard. It also sports USB 3.0 port, USB 2.0 port, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.

 

We think these five are the best ultrabooks among all these sleek devices shown off at the Consumer Electronics Show 2012. Do tell us your favorite ultrabook from the show! We would love to hear from you.