Gadgets & Electronics: NES 2012

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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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.