Back in June of 2012, Apple revealed their MacBook Pro with ‘retina’ display — a super high resolution panel. Since then we haven’t an answer in the Ultrabook or Ultrabook-alternative world by anything higher than 1920×1080 (likely due to Windows’ poor scaling support). It looks like Asus will be the first to make a comparable offering. A new variant of the UX51 popped up quietly on Amazon.de sporting a 15.6 inch 2880 x 1620 panel.
Fujitsu launched the E733 laptop today and I took a closer look at CeBIT today. The video below shows you round the high-end features like modular accessory slot, smart card reader, particle filter, fingerprint reader and and a huge battery.
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The MSI S30 is a forthcoming Ultrabook alternative (falling into the more general ‘ultrathin’ category). Though we’ve been eyeing up the 11.6-inch S20 Ultrabook convertible for some time, it looks like the S-series from MSI will consist of both Ultrabook and non-Ultrabook devices. The S30 is a 13.3-inch ultrathin that uses hardware similar to what you’ll find in an Ultrabook, but doesn’t quite fit Intel’s Ultrabook definition — the trade-off being that the S30 will likely be less expensive.
In a search for Core 2nd and 3rd Generation Laptop under 2.5KG with hybrid HDD or SSD (that pretty much summarizes the Ultrabook category these days) I was interested to see the Lenovo Thinkpad E130 show up as the cheapest Ivy Bridge option on the market. €541. I had to double check but sure enough, there’s a hybrid SSD inside which shows what effect the Ultrabook is having on the mainstream laptop market. Why isn’t it an Ultrabook? It’s 23mm thick, 5mm over the maximum thickness for an Ultrabook. There’s a good reason for that and it might just be what you’re looking for.
As I checked the list of top selling laptops at Amazon.com again this morning I noted that the ASUS Vivobook X202 touchscreen ultrathin, an Ultrabook-a-like for most consumers, was at position 10 for the second day running. Note, that we’re talking about the laptop category best-sellers list that includes two cheap Chromebooks, a couple of Apple laptops and a clutch of value laptops. Later this morning I picked up on a full review of the ASUS S200, the European version of the X202, and it gets a lot of praise. In our own ranking system, based on visitor view numbers, the X202 / S200 is #11 out of over 100 Ultrathins. This ultrathin is on target to be the big hit this season and that’s something Intel need to take a close look at. It sounds bad. It’s not.
Lenovo has made an interesting move to segment their Yoga 11 and Yoga 13 models. The Yoga 13 is an Ultrabook convertible proper while the Yoga 11 is going to be an ARM-based device that runs Windows RT. If the convertible Yoga 13 form-factor interests you, the Yoga 11 might be a desirable Ultrabook alternative for those looking for a more portable package with even longer battery life (and probably lower cost). Lenovo still hasn’t announced a release date or price for the Yoga 11 but full official specifications are now available. Photos on Lenovo’s website show what could be a micro SIM card slot for 3G/4G.
Just when you thought Asus had learned from its past experience with netbooks that launching a myriad of confusingly named devices was not helpful to consumers, they decide to do it all again with the Zenbook brand and the U500. Up until now, the Zenbook line has shared two specific things; first, all Zenbooks featured a similar wedge shaped design and metalic finish. Second, all Zenbook’s were Ultrabooks. Until now, that is. Asus has decided to throw the U500, a 15″ thin and light laptop, in with the rest of the Zenbook branded computers. While we would have preferred Asus didn’t dilute the shared features of the Zenbook brand, that’s not to say that the new U500 thin and light is not shaping up to be a solid Ultrabook alternative.
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While Monday’s big news was definitely Apple’s new MacBook Pro with retina display, a thin and powerful new Ultrabook alternative, Apple also refreshed the even lighter and thinner MacBook Air with Ivy Bridge and a few other goodies.
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