Going ultrabook
Kendal Gapinski chooses the best super-compact netbooks on the market
Asus Zenbook UX21E £849
Cheaper than many of the other ultrabooks out there, the Asus Zenbrook measures 17mm at the back at its thickest point, but tapers down to 3mm in the front. This ultrabook is particularly well-designed because it is made out of one piece of aluminum. It also packs a punch with a 1.6GHz Intel Core i5 processor with 6 GB of RAM.
Acer Aspire S3 £699
Another company looking to catch on to the ultrabook trend is Acer. The Aspire is 16mm at its thickest point, with a width of 321mm and depth of 217mm. The case is made of aluminum, however, it lacks the unibody design of many of its competitors.
HP Folio 13 $899.99 (£570)
Despite its small size, the keyboard on the HP Folio ultrabook is larger and more comfortable than many competitors. It also contains a memory card slot as well as an Ethernet cable, meaning its great for those who prefer a traditional laptop. The body is made out of aluminum and soft-touch plastic.
Dell XPS 13 £650
A bit bulkier than the others, the Dell XPS 13 measures 18mm thick at the back and tapers down to 6mm in the front. It weighs just under 1.4kg. The keyboard and trackpad are similar to a typical laptop, and are also backlit. Additionally, the Dell XPS is less delicate than many other ultrabooks thanks to its Gorilla Glass cover for additional protection.
Lenovo Thinkpad X1 $1,199 (£760)
This ultrabook is ultra light weighing at 1.8kg. It also comes equipped with a fun, high
tech fingerprint scanner, which logs the user into their Windows operating system. Its
power comes from the laptop’s Intel Sandy Bridge processor.
Samsung 9 Series Notebook 900X3A £1,300
Rivaling the MacBook Air, the Samsung Series Notebook 900X3A is light and mobile with a slim line body made of metal and glossy plastic. It also has power with an Intel Core i5 2530UM processor. It comes with a higher resolution screen and an SD card slot, rivaling many of its competitors. This ultrabook boasts a long battery life, and at its thickest point is merely 16.3mm.
MacBook Air £1,399
The one that set many of the standards in the ultrabook market, the extremely portable MacBook Air is 3mm at its thinnest edge. Despite its small size, it has a powerful performance thanks to its 1.8GHz Intel Core i7 processor and 4GB RAM. On the outside, the unibody design is sturdy, yet sleek.