Ultrabook

Inexpensive business Ultrabook. The 21 mm thin business device from Asus has a 15.6-inch display and combines an Ivy Bridge processor, Nvidia's GT 740M and an SSD cache storage solution with a premium aluminum case. You can buy all that for just 650 Euros ($~851), but what are the drawbacks?

Handy touch-ultrabook. Asus upgrades a simple 15.6-inch office ultrabook with a touchscreen and calls the whole thing Vivobook S500CA. The laptop proves to be quite energy-efficient owing to the ULV processor and is to achieve satisfactory battery runtimes. Whether the Vivobook is compelling can be read in our test report.

Iconia basic. Windows alongside decent computing power packed in a quality aluminum tablet featuring a colorful and bright IPS screen. A keyboard-case combination is also included. There is barely a contender that can beat the current price of just below 600 Euros (~$769). Bargain alert?

A gentle breeze. Not a beat too late in the circannual rhythm, Apple updates their MacBook Air series. New on the inside: Current Haswell ULV processors. Out of keeping with the trend Apple themselves initiated, the new Air doesn't have a higher resolution display this time; the panel remains the same. Are the updates enough for the device to deserve to be called "new"?

The perfect balance? Lenovo’s IdeaPad Yoga 11S is a combination of their Yoga 11 and Yoga 13, lifting elements from both to rebalance battery life, performance, and versatility. Was it worth the effort?

Unlimited mobility. A tablet for the meeting, a notebook for the workspace - Lenovo's ThinkPad Helix is supposed to combine the advantages of both devices. The clever ultrabook hybrid ignores conventional wisdom concerning convertibles, leaving a lasting impression due to its mobility and office strengths.

Calm before the storm. The wait for Intel's Haswell generation shrunk the volume of our devices for review - we had a grand total of 15 test devices this month. But we certainly didn't have a dearth of exciting convertibles (an 18-incher!), elegant subnotebooks (IPS panel & Radeon HD 8570M), and even a flat business classic with an HD+ panel.

All-round ultrabook. Hewlett Packard now has a slim, 15.6 inch ultrabook that even allows playing up-to-date 3D games in its product line. Storage is not an issue either owing to the large hard drive. That sounds as if HP has built the perfect laptop. Our test reveals whether the ultrabook is really compelling.

Business with sound. Slim-business is en vogue. The Taiwanese manufacturer uses its aluminum unibody know-how from the Zenbooks and creates an impressive chassis. The keyboard features a long drop and the maintenance options are A-one. Regrettably, Asus blunders in one vital point.

A reimagined T Series. It is the thinnest and lightest ThinkPad T Series model to date, but does it retain the rigidity and longevity of its predecessors? Lenovo is betting big on a new slimmer design and revamped touchpad to attract the attention of Ultrabook customers. Find out in this review if these hardware tweaks have paid off.

Pixel-dense. Dell's 14-inch business ultrabook is now available with the sought-after display resolution of 1600x900 pixels. Is the price-competitive Latitude 6430u HD+ a viable alternative to the outrageously expensive Lenovo X1 Carbon?

Better displays. More and more test devices attract attention with decent contrast, high brightness and the wide viewing angles of an IPS solution. However, the winners do more than show what a notebook display is expected to deliver.

Inexpensive touchscreen Ultrabook. Though its low budget price of $699 or less can be misleading of its quality, the VivoBook S500CA is actually built surprisingly well with impressive looks. Can this Asus hold up in what is becoming an increasingly common category of touchscreen-enabled Ultrabooks?

The more the better! Samsung packs the Series 7 flagship in an aluminum housing and equips it with a powerful Core i7, a dedicated AMD graphics card, a large SSD and a multi-touch Full HD IPS display. A bit over the top? We have thoroughly tested this good piece of hardware for you…

The ultimate superlatives. Innumerable devices found their way to Notebookcheck's tests again in March. We would like to supply an overview of premium devices with this article and facilitate any potential buying intentions.

Workhorse. The 730U3E ultrabook is a new member of Samsung's Series 7 Ultra family. A first-rate metal casing, swift hardware, a matte Full HD IPS screen and agreeable input devices are its initial key specs. We tested the model featuring 256 GB flash memory for 1349 Euros (~$1761, RRP).

Understatement. Samsung restyles its midrange dubbed Series 5 with plain, high-end looks and fresh components. Onboard we find a matte 14-inch screen, a dual-core processor from Intel and a dedicated graphics from AMD. This configuration is currently priced at about 800 Euros (~$1034).

Elite versus low-cost. 4K workstation, 1.3K gamer and 375 Euros (~$5195, $1688 and $487 respectively) typewriter. With Dreamcolor display, HP set a high standard. Samsung favor AMD and use a Radeon HD 8870M in their new Chronos. Lenovo aim to sell masses and cut the price with a cheap AMD APU. These were the best laptops in February.

Evolutionary. Acer takes a new approach to the familiar Ultrabook: a laptop with a touchscreen, optical drive and gaming-ready GPU. How will their "all-around device" fare in our tests?

Against the flow. Sony equips its first 15-inch ultrabook with a Full HD resolution and touchscreen right away. Less than 900 Euros (~$1171) also appears very low compared with The Spectre XT Touchsmart 15 and ZenBook UX51VZ. Where's the catch?

High-priced Ultrabook. HP integrates Thunderbolt technology, a FullHD touchscreen, and a fast solid state disk into a premium Ultrabook made from aluminum, magnesium, and glass. The latest in technology doesn't come cheap though: the Spectre XT TouchSmart retails for 1600 Euros (~$2150). Is the high price really justified?

Head-to-head. Being more expensive is not always better, and successors are sometimes worse. HP and Asus confirm this truism with the EliteBook Folio 9470m and the Touch-Zenbook UX31A. Who offers the best laptop for the lowest price? This question arose in the Office and Multimedia category.

Endurance machine. An Intel ULV processor fused with a solid state drive and a high-capacity battery adds up to a swift, enduring ultrabook on paper. Our review reveals whether this is true and shows the Xirios S402's strengths and weaknesses.

Ultra-Hybrid. Toshiba presents quite a few interesting Ultrabooks to the world. Our latest test model is a fusion of a tablet and Ultrabook. It employs a 12.5-inch touchscreen and a power-saving Intel Core i5-3317U processor with integrated Intel HD Graphics 4000 IGP. The Hybrid model looks great but what does it have to offer on the hardware side?

Ultra-Touchbook. Few laptops of 2012 impressed us as much as the premium Ultrabook from Asus. The model achieved a rare 90%. Everything was perfect - even the display maintained a high standard. Will the touch panel make this great model even better?

Inspiring. Ultrabooks have found their way into Dell's Inspiron family. The all-rounders of the past now benefit from lower weight and longer battery life, in addition to the good performance. We examine whether the ultrabook measures up to the broad multimedia class.

Cheap and light. First of all many ultrabooks are expensive. But Toshiba use a simple plastic case for the Satellite U940 and equip the 14-inch laptop with attractive components including a Core i5 and a dedicated SSD cache.