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Acer adds a new Ivy Bridge laptop, the Aspire V5

Adding to the growing list of laptops with Intel's new third-generation Core i-series CPUs, Acer has announced the Aspire V5. Not exactly ultrabook-thin, the 14- and 15-inch V5 models are being pitched as thin-and-light on a budget. Acer says they are "great for back-to-school and savvy consumers looking for performance, style, and value."

At 30 percent thinner than Acer's previous budget midsize line, the 14-inch V5 is 0.79 inch thick and weighs 4.6 pounds; the 15-inch model is 0.83 inch and 5 pounds. The design is nondescript, looking a lot like a classic … Read more

Samsung adds Ivy Bridge, two sub-$1,000 Series 5 laptops

Aimed squarely at the back-to-school set, Samsung's pair of new Series 5 laptops look like affordable, workaday systems.

Neither the 15.6-inch Series 5 nor the 14-inch Series 5 500 falls into Intel's ultrabook category due to their general thickness, but they also look like reasonably attractive and capable mainstream PCs.

For the $899 Series 5, you get a quad-core, 2.3GHz Core i7 3610QM chip, a 1,366x768-pixel screen, 8GB of system memory, a 750GB hard drive, and a Nvidia GeForce GT 630M graphics chip. Samsung says the overall weight is 5.5 pounds, with "6-plus" hours of claimed battery life.… Read more

Fujitsu comes to market with a pair of ultrabooks

We seem to be approaching critical mass for new ultrabooks this week. Acer, Lenovo, and Sony all announced new thin laptops yesterday. Now Fujitsu enters the fray with the LifeBook U772 and the LifeBook UH572.

The U772 is the star of Fujitsu's lineup. Starting at $1,149, the U772 has a 14-inch, 1,280x768-pixel screen with edge-to-edge glass, and comes with Intel's new third-generation Core i5 or Core i7 chip, depending on the configuration. For its measurements, Fujitsu says the U772 is .69 inch thick, weighs 3.15 pounds, and offers seven hours of battery life.… Read more

Toshiba serves up ultra-wide-screen, budget Satellite U845W and U845 ultrabooks

Toshiba used to have just one ultrabook line: the Portege Z835. Toshiba's added to its ultrabooks arsenal with a new pair of Satellite models: one's an affordable mainstream $749 model, the other's a wide-screen 14-incher that feels like it escaped the concept lab. And as for that Portege, it's been upgraded to Ivy Bridge processors and renamed the Portege Z935. We took a look at all of Toshiba's latest ultrabooks up close; here are our impressions and details on the ultrabook trio.

All three of Toshiba's new ultrabooks sail under $1,000: the Satellite … Read more

Intel invests in ultrabook touch displays

In case you haven't noticed, Computex is all about Windows 8 and touch. And Intel is doing its part to get the ultrabook industry geared up for touch displays.

On Tuesday, the chipmaker is announcing agreements with Cando, HannsTouch, TPK, and Wintek to guarantee the supply of touch displays, as a flood of touch-enabled ultrabooks hit the market over the next 12 months.

Computex, being held in Taipei this week, offers the first taste of touch products to come. Asus, Acer, and others are showing Intel-based Windows 8 touchscreen ultrabooks and hybrids. The Asus Taichi, for example, has dual … Read more

Lenovo launches new Ivy Bridge U310 and U410 ultrabooks

Lenovo has unveiled two new laptops in its latest attempt to shake up the ultrabook market.

The IdeaPad U310 and U410 ultrabooks come equipped with the latest Intel Ivy Bridge chips, offering a choice of the Intel Core i3, i5, or i7 processor.

The U310 (PDF) comes with a high-definition 13.3-inch 1,366x768 pixel screen. Weighing in at 3.75 pounds, it offers up to seven hours of battery life. Buyers can choose between a conventional hard drive with as much as 500 gigabytes of space or a solid-state drive with up to 32GB. An optical USB drive is … Read more

Dual-screen Taichi leads lineup of unique Asus Windows 8 PCs

TAIPEI, Taiwan--Windows 8, we've been told, is going to move Microsoft into the post-PC era. And a bevy of new PC designs that Asus debuted here at the Computex trade show is bringing that vision to reality.

The Taiwanese PC manufacturer has take the wraps off three new product lines -- a dual-screen ultrabook, a semiportable all-in-one desktop, and a convertible laptop with a removable keyboard -- that build on the lessons of the company's Transformer line of Android tablets.

Taichi: Tablet, ultrabook, or both? First up from Asus was the Taichi hybrid notebook/tablet, which was … Read more

Sony Vaio L Series all-in-one gets Ivy Bridge, media features galore

Sony has gone all-in on the concept of the home entertainment PC with its new Vaio L-Series all-in-one desktop. Yes, it has Intel's new third-generation (Ivy Bridge) Core CPUs, but that's almost besides the point. Alongside those new chips, you'll find Sony has pushed harder than ever to make this PC an all-encompassing digital media hub.… Read more

Sony's new Vaio laptops revealed

The latest refresh of Sony's iconic Vaio laptop line is dominated by the company's first entry in the growing ultrabook category.

But, looking at the new Vaio T, you might think, "Doesn't Sony already have an ultrathin laptop?" And that's true -- the high-end Vaio Z has been around for a couple of years in its present form, and certainly is as thin and portable as any ultrabook. It was even one of the first laptops to go SSD-only.

But the Vaio Z is technically not an ultrabook (and its previous $2,000-plus price made it basically an executive laptop). Much of the Z's DNA has filtered down to a brand-new line, the Vaio T, which looks and feels very similar, but starts at under $800.

Sony has updated several other laptop lines as well, most notably with Intel's new third-generation Core i-series (Ivy Bridge) CPUs, and a very nice software package of Sony's Vegas, Acid, and Sound Forge software for video and audio editing.… Read more