Asus Zenbook UX31

 Want a laptop that's a wafer-thin square of aluminium with more power and storage than a MacBook Air, but for £400 less? That's the promise of the Zenbook, one of the first notebooks to meet lntel's full Ultra book spec.

From a distance, it could easily be mistaken for an Air, but the Zenbook is shinier, more industrial and not as smartly dressed, with a mismatched lid and body. That said, the build quality is spectacular. It's cold to the touch, at least at first - beryllium alloy heatpipes under the skin turn the case into a giant heatsink for the CPU. This means it warms up around most of its surface area when in use, without developing a hot spot when you use it on your lap for a while.

The Zen book uses Intel's HD graphics for 30 rendering, which means it's tuned for high-speed video editing at HD resolutions and can run new games, albeit at very low graphics settings. It's just a shame that the high-resolution screen is pale and lacking in contrast. Asus' flattery of the MacBook Air continues in the pricing- there's also an 11in model for E850 – but this Core i7 model offers exceptional performance and value.

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Posted in america , Asus , Asus Zenbook UX31 , computer , europe , laptop , NES 2012 , notebook , ultrabook , usa , Zenbook UX31

Samsung Series 9

 The uniquely sculpted body of Samsung's Series 9 isn't just elegant, it's the thinnest.
The difference between this and the Vaio is fractions of a millimetre, though, so it had better have something else to distinguish itself. The good news is that it does.

The screen, for starters, is so bright it can be used in direct sunlight, and there's a good six hours of charge in the battery, which puts it a close  second to the Sony in terms of how long you can use it for.
The 900X3A was launched a little while ago, though, and newer rivals such as the Asus Zenbook have since emerged with better and faster processors for the same price. If all you do is surf the web and read spreadsheets, you may never notice the difference. But compare its performance in anything more processor- intensive, such as video encoding or gaming, and it will become apparent. Not that the Samsung isn't up to these tasks - it's just that the others will outperform it.

While this is a nice- looking machine, it feels flimsy next to the Zenbook and Air. There's a bit of give in the plastic keyboard, which serves as a reminder that it is possible to go further than is healthy with those weight -loss programs.

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Posted in america , computer , europe , laptop , NES 2012 , Samsung , Samsung Series 9 , Series 9 , ultrabook , usa

Acer Aspire S3

With a bladelike body, bright screen and a Core i7 processor, the Aspire S3 has almost everything you'd want in an Ultrabook. But its big selling point is its price. On the face of it, you get pretty much what you get with the Sony, plus just over a thousand pounds. For the Ultrabook to become the computer of the next decade, there will need to be more laptops like this.

That doesn’t quite tell the whole story, though, because the S3 isn't without drawbacks. Its body is plasticky, and while it may not look cheap, neither does it have the super-sleek design kudos of the Zenbook or Air. Similarly, the screen is decent enough but lacks the pixel density and exceptional colour performance of its peers. 

Compared to almost any other Windows notebook, the S3 would be an out and out winner. But the standard of competition for Ultrabooks is outrageously high already, and things are only going to get better. However, Acer may have one more card to play: right now, the extra £90 for an equivalent Zenbook is well worth paying, but the S3 has fallen in price by £100 in less than two months since launch. If it continues to drop like that it will become a far more convincing proposition.

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Posted in Acer , acer aspire s3 , america , aspire , computer , europe , intel core , laptop , s3 , Sony , ultrabook , usa , windows , zenbook

Sony Vaio Z

Thin and light often means slow and shoddy when it comes to 3D processing, but the Valo Z confounds that expectation.

It doesn't meet the full set of specs lntel requires to use the Ultrabook branding, but it has something none of its rivals do: a plug- in graphics card that gives it the power of a desktop PC when docked. The dock uses a proprietary connector that combines both the Thunderbolt technology used in Apple's MacBooks and a USB3.0- compatible port. Hook it up and it takes the role of charger, Blu-ray player and graphics card. The AMD HD6550M inside the dock won't run Battlefield 3 in super HO, but it's exponentially better than the lntel HD3000 graphics that feature in the laptop itself (and every other machine tested here), making the Vaio a viable desktop replacer.

The rest of the Vaio is less exciting, however. The carbon fibre body may make it lighter than the metal Zenbook, but it feels flimsy and unstable with it. That might not matter if it weren't so expensive, but you can buy a MacBook Air and a proper gaming desktop PC for less. Which means that, impressive as it is, the Vaio remains off - limits to people with only one house.

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Posted in 3D , amd , america , computer , europe , laptop , macbook , pc , Sony , Sony Vaio Z , ultrabook , usa , Vaio , Z

Gadgets expected in 2012

2011 it’s near the end and most gadget fans can hardly wait toknow they can expect in stores in 2012. This is the top 12 of the top gadgets wecan wait for in the new year, according to Business Insider.

1. Ultrabook – 2012 will be the year when we willsee the launch of what is said to be the top competitor for the MacBook Air. Apparentlymore than 50 new Ultrabooks will be launched from multiple vendors and theywill be equipped either with Intel either with AMD processors. 
2.  HTC Edge and other quad-core smartphones -  NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core processor it’s on itsway, ready to be used by smartphones producers and the first to use it is HTC.
3.  Ice Cream Sandwich tablets – The Honeycomb OStablet had so many bugs that they were practically useless. Fortunately, theIce Cream Sandwich is now available and will run on all Android tablets andphones. One of the first that will use this OS is the Asus Eee Pad TransformerPrime. 
4. Nokia Lumia 800 - will be the new WindowsPhone pilot. The launch will take place in USA at the beginning of 2012. Alsoit is said that a LTE dispositive will run on Verizon and AT&T.
5. iPhone – will dress new clothes this year.Lots of people have been disappointed when they saw a launch of an iPhone 4Sinstead of the iPhone 5, now Apple says that the new look will be thinner, with a bigger screen and LTE/4G. The newlook can be seen in the summer or autumn of the new year.
6.  The Nexus by Google smartphone it’s now a tradition. The question is who isgoing to produce the new phone now that Google owns Motorola? Will it still beSamsung?
7. BlackBerry with QNX – The new phone will belaunched at the middle of the year. 
8. MacBooks update – A massive update theMacBooks will suffer, this may include a 15” MacBook Air.
9.  The new Samsung Galaxy Tab – According to BGRSamsung will reveal the 11.6 inch tablet in February. 
10. The iPad 3 – Will be launch in February orMarch. 
11. The Kindle Fire – A new 10 or 9 or 9 inch version. 
12. The Apple TV – Probably the most waitedproduct from Apple this year will hit the market in the end of 2012 or the beginningof 2013.

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