Alex-Davies
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ElizabethS
The MacBook Air, darling of the tech world and one of Apple’s bestselling computers, has long been considered the pinnacle of the thin-and-light mobile experience. This has probably been quite a thorn in the side for all other notebook vendors who have been pushing out not nearly as thin-and-light machines for quite some time without capturing the public’s imagination. What’s probably especially galling to all companies making Windows based machines is that there are also a lot of Windows users who bought an Air just so they could run Windows on it, rather than suffer with their admittedly inferior offerings.
However, the question they weren’t really asking themselves until recently was what made Apple’s ultra-slim computer so popular? The Air isn’t the fastest or most powerful notebook on the market, but it excels in four key areas – size, battery life, boot-time and most importantly, STYLE. What it doesn’t excel in, like most Apple products, is price.
Strangely, instead of a PC vendor like Dell or HP, it was CPU manufacturer Intel who realized earlier this year the need to reinvent PC laptops, inject a sense of style into them, infuse technology from mobile devices like tablets, and create a new category of ultra-portable PC’s with a mainstream price. They dubbed this new category of laptops ‘Ultrabooks’.
When Intel first presented Ultrabooks at the Computex 2011 computer conference in May 2011, the stated goal was for manufacturers to produce machines using Intel’s 2nd generation ‘Sandy-Bridge’ processors, have them be less than 20mm thick, weigh under 3 pounds, have over 5 hours of battery life, and be under $1000 in price. In addition other Intel technologies, such as Rapid Start, in conjunction with SSD hard-drives, allow rapid resume from hibernation to allow Ultrabooks to achieve the super-fast boot times that both tablet and MacBook Air users enjoy.
Since Intel doesn’t actually make complete notebooks, the Ultrabook standard is a set of guidelines for manufactures to follow, so they can call their ultra-portables by Intel’s trademarked name. However, the requirements for a machine to be called an Ultrabook are somewhat flexible -- the offerings available now from vendors such as Acer, Asus, Lenovo, and Toshiba are not all exactly the same, and while they do all adhere to the baseline dimensions and performance required, it was a little optimistic for Intel to expect them all to cost less than $1000!
A couple of negatives of Ultrabooks for many PC users used to them, is that just like the MacBook Air, the battery is not user-replaceable, and there is no optical drive. While the latter is not as important in today’s world of digital downloads, the former will be a bit of a concern when the battery needs replacing in a couple of years' time. Hopefully all the Ultrabook manufacturers will have a reasonable priced factory battery replacement program in place by then.
Now that you have a better understanding of what Ultrabooks are, it is time to look at what Future Shop has to offer in this category. Currently, they are selling models from Acer, Toshiba, and Samsung.
UPDATE: Future Shop has just added two new models, the Asus Zenbook and Lenovo U300. Check-out the info on these models added to the bottom of the article.
Acer Aspire S3
The Acer Aspire S3 was one of the first Ultrabooks officially announced, and is available in three flavours from Future Shop. I was able to spend a little time with it at an Acer media preview, and my impressions were quite favourable. The S3 manages to hit all the right Ultrabook bases, being admirably thin-and-light, a lot more stylish than your average Acer notebook, and very well-priced for its specs. The only drawback I would have to say, compared to some of the other Ultrabook offerings, is that there is perhaps a little too much plastic, with only the lid being made from brushed aluminum. It also looks a little too much like a MacBook Air for my tastes, but that might be a plus for others. Also, to keep the costs down, the base model doesn’t have a full SSD. Rather, it has a traditional 5400rpm, 320GB hard-drive, and a 20GB SSD to enable quick resumes. This means cold boots and applications will take a little longer to load than some of the other full SSD drive-packing Ultrabooks. Thankfully, if you like the looks of the Aspire S3, there are two higher-end models with a proper 240GB SSD (the biggest of the Ultrabook models that Future Shop carries).
The Acer Aspire S3-6629 has an Intel Core i5-2467M CPU, 320GB HD + 20GB SSD, 4GB of RAM, 13.3” 1366 x 768 screen, up to 7 hours of battery-life, Windows 7 Home Premium, and is $899.99. You can find out more about it here.
The Acer Aspire S3-6616 has the same specs as the model above, but has a 240GB SSD instead, and is $1199.99. You can find more info about this model here.
The Acer Aspire S3-6697 bumps up the specs even higher - with the addition of an Intel Core i7-2637M CPU, which will be quite a bit faster than the i5 in the other models (probably at the expense of battery-life), and is $1399.99. You can find more info about this model here.
You can also read more about the Aspire S3 notebooks on Acers’s site here.
The Aspire S3 models are due to be in-stock at Future Shop on November 25th, and you can pre-order one now.
Toshiba Satellite Z830
The Toshiba Z830, in my opinion, is one of the sharpest-looking of the first batch of Ultrabooks, and also comes in two models. I also got a chance to see one in-person at a preview event (video footage I took while there can be found below). Unlike the Acer, Toshiba has managed make most of the chassis out of metal - magnesium alloy to be specific - that makes it very rigid, yet still Ultrabook light. Also Toshiba has included a full SSD on both models offered, however it is a little small, being only 128GB. Other than that, the Z830 does follow the Ultrabook guidelines to a T. It is only 15.9mm (0.63”) thick when closed, and weights a scant 1.12Kg (less than 2.5 lbs.)! Toshiba also claims that it has up to 8.5 hours of battery-life, better than Acer, however this can simply be because Toshiba measures battery-life in a different way. Once I get a chance to test one out, I will be able to see real-world performance, and, sadly, I don’t think it will be as good as 8 hours with normal use.
The Toshiba Z830-009 has an Intel Core i5-2367M CPU, 128GB SSD, 4GB of RAM, 13.3” 1366 x 768 screen, up to 8.5 hours of battery-life, Windows 7 Home Premium, and is $899.99. You can find out more about it here.
The Toshiba Z830-00D has the same specs as the model above, but has a faster i5-2467M CPU instead, and is $999.99. You can find more info about this model here.
Video of the Z830, and a short interview with Ken Lam from Toshiba Canada:
You can also read more about the Z830 notebooks on Toshiba’s site here.
Both Z830 models are due to be in-stock at Future Shop on December 2nd, and you can pre-order one now.
Samsung Series 9
The last Ultrabook models currently carried by Future Shop are the Samsung Series 9 notebooks. However they are not ‘technically’ Ultrabooks, since they were released by Samsung before the Ultrabook category was created, but they still meet all the requirements to be Ultrabooks. Also, unlike Acer and Toshiba, Samsung also has an 11” model available if you are looking for something even smaller.
The Series 9 notebooks look quite different from the Acer and Toshiba in that they are a lot less Apple-like. They are made from brushed black Duralumin, and have a unique wrap-around flow design that makes them stand out from other Ultrabooks. However you do pay a bit of a premium over the other brands for this, the 13” Series 9 being the most expensive Ultrabook that Future Shop currently sells. I’d have to say, though, especially after spending some time with one, that it’s probably worth it for such a singularly beautiful machine.
The Samsung Series 9 900X3A has an Intel Core i5-2467M CPU, 128GB SSD, 4GB of RAM, 13.3” 1366 x 768 screen, up to 6.5 hours of battery life, Windows 7 Home Premium, and is $1499.99. You can find out more about it here.
The Samsung Series 9 900X1B has an Intel Core i3-2310M CPU, 128GB SSD, 4GB of RAM, 11.6” 1366 x 768 screen, up to 6 hours of battery-life, Windows 7 Home Premium, and is $1499.99. You can find out more about it here.
You can also read more about the Series 9 notebooks on Samsung’s site here.
The Series 9 Ultrabooks are in-stock at Future Shop now.
UPDATE:
Asus UX21 & UX31 Zenbook
The Zenbook Ultrabooks are available in both 11 inch and 13 inch models, and while I haven’t actually had a chance to go hands-on with them yet, from what I can see from the pictures, and have read, they are certainly the best looking Ultrabooks. Like the Samsung Series 9, they are made mostly from metal (unlike the Acer) and are incredibly thin.
They both have one USB 3.0 port, the next generation of USB for up 10x faster transfer rates when using an external hard-drive and Bang & Olufsen powered audio output. They are available with either an Intel Core i5 CPU, or a faster i7. The 13 inch model is also currently the only Ultrabook model available with a higher resolution screen – it has a 1600 x 900 display vs. the 1366 x 768 on all the other models. However this does come with a price – the Core i7 13 inch Zenbook being one of the most expensive Ultrabooks currently available from Future Shop.
The Asus Zenbook UX21E-DH52 has an Intel Core i5-2467M CPU, 128GB SSD, 4GB of RAM, 11” 1366 x 768 screen, up to 5 hours of battery life, Windows 7 Home Premium, and is $999.99. You can find out more about it here.
The Asus Zenbook UX21E-DH71 has the same specs as the model above, but bumps up the CPU to a Core i7-2677M, and is $1199.99. You can find out more about it here.
The Asus Zenbook UX31E-DH53 has an Intel Core i5-2557M CPU, 256GB SSD, 4GB of RAM, 13” 1600 x 900 screen, up to 7 hours of battery life, Windows 7 Home Premium, and is $1349.99. You can find out more about it here.
The Asus Zenbook UX31E-DH72 bumps up the CPU to a Core i7-2677M, and is $1449.99. You can find out more about it here.
You can also read more about the Zenbook Ultrabooks on Asus’ site here.
The Zenbooks are due in stock at Future Shop on November 21st, and you can pre-order one now.
Lenovo Ideapad U300s Ultrabook
This is another new model that I have not had a chance to see in person, but I did have a chance to look at its predecessor, the Ideapad U260, and was very impressed. While most of the other Ultrabooks are a riff on the design cues laid down by the MacBook Air, the Ideapads march to the beat of their own drum and are very unique looking (OK, well to be honest the silver one actually looks more like a darker MacBook Pro, but Lenovo does also have an orange U300s the looks a lot different)
It has a minimalist one-piece aluminum shell, a glass trackpad, and a ‘breathable’ keyboard that improves the Ultrabooks airflow, so it runs cooler in your lap. There are also a couple of unique Lenovo technologies built into the U300s, such as RapidCharge, that can charge the battery to 50% in 30 minutes, and the Lenovo Enhanced Experience that can cold boot to Windows in 10.5 seconds!
The Lenovo Ideapad U300s has an Intel Core i5-2467M CPU, 128GB SSD, 4GB of RAM, 13” 1366 x 768 screen, up to 8 hours of battery life, Windows 7 Home Premium, and is $1099.99. You can find out more about it here.
You can also read more about the U300s Ultrabook on Lenovo’s site here.
The U300s is due in stock at Future Shop on December 16th, and you can pre-order one now.
