The Acer S3 isn’t the best looking Ultrabook. I think most agree on that but this Champagne-coloured version is a step in the right direction, especially with the high-contrast keyboard which fixes one of the minor complaints I had about the original S3. In this video I give you a quick overview of the changes. I’m assuming the S3-391 is available immediately.
The LGNote X330 is a smart-looking Ultrabook that I’d really like to get in for a review as soon as possible. In a short testing period today at CeBIT I was able to test the keyboard and screen, take a look at the build quality and ports. Unfortunately there’s a micro-sd card slot instead of a full SD card slot which limits its usability.
Overall though it seems to have some really good quality features. The keyboard feels really nice and the screen pops nicely.
Check out more in the video below.
Thin and beautiful but big and usable. The Series 9 15” is an exciting laptop to see, an exciting laptop to hold and and exciting laptop to use. The finishing on the Series 9 2012 is slightly less ‘out there’ compared to the 2011 Series 9, still a fantastic ultralight but loses nothing in terms of style. 1.4KG, 1600×900 screen, full SD card slot, Centrino 6230 Wi-Fi module and it looks like some great power consumption figures. We don’t have official figures but we think the battery capacity is a very usable 68Wh. [6200mah is given on specs and a (3×3) 6-Cell battery makes 68Wh] It would match Samsung’s claims of 10hr battery life. We measured some respectable minimum drain figures too…
The 11.6” version of the V5 (AKA as the Aspire One in low-end version) will launch at an entry-level price of €499. There was talk of discreet graphics, Core CPU and optical drives but this only applies to larger models with 14 and 15” screens. There will be a V5 11.6” with Core CPUs though and later this year you can expect an update to Ivy Bridge.
It’s an interesting low-cost ultrathin option although we’re seeing a rather small battery and learning that there won’t be an SSD version. The Acer Aspire One will be targeted at the netbook market although with no Atom versions planned, it’s an indicator of price and not performance.
See this article for press release and further specifications.
Check out the video, below the images.
With such a short amount of time it’s really impossible to say anything definitive about the new Samsung Series 5 Ultrabooks but I’ve had a chance to have some uninterrupted time with the two devices at the Samsung Media Lounge here at CES and the devices do seem well-rounded. I’m especially impressed with the keyboard, ports and Wi-Di . If you’re thinking about the Acer S3, I would advise to wait for the NP530.
More images and two overview videos below.
The Toshiba Satellite Z830 (Z830-10J, Core i5) is here and the waiting is finally over. This is one of the most popular of the Ultrabooks out there right now due to its feature set, weight and, in the USA, an interesting price on the Core i3 version. I’ve unboxed it on video for you below but wanted to also give you a heads-up on the Live Review that will be run tomorrow, Friday the 16th at 2100 CET (Berlin, Your local time is listed here.) You can drop into the live review, watch the video, chat with people in the chat room and also ask me questions on the Z830 and Ultrabooks in general.
Some Toshiba Z830 first impressions and an unboxing video below.
Our close blogging friends over at Netbooknews.de (We’ll be working closely at CES in Jan) have what must be the first hands-on report for the LG Xnote Z330 Ultrabook. It’s slim, attractive and comes in Core i5 and Core i7 versions, with a 128GB SSD. It will arrive on European shelves in Jan or Feb (Marketing talk for Feb!) for a reasonable, if not ground-breaking, price of 999 Euros. (Post-tax price.)
Taking a bit longer than I originally expected after the ASUS UX31 availability last week are the first 2 reviews of the ASUS UX31 ‘Zenbook’ Ultrabook. Both reviews originate from Chinese sources.
[UX31 Specifications, Gallery and more information here]
Overall, the initial response seems to be very good. Much better than the first review of the Acer S3 that we saw last week although I am personally disappointed at the use of convertor adaptors to provide VGA and Ethernet. They add weight, take more power than built-in components and are likely to get lost or forgotten. With the case and adaptors added-in, the UX31 weighs a very non-ultrabook 1.8KG.
In both reviews we even get a teardown of the device showing the huge battery area compared to the motherboard. The battery is 50Wh which is a lot more than the 34Wh you get in the Acer S3. As expected, the battery life figures are higher. Battery life ranges from 129 minutes (full-power test) to nearly 7 hours.
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