Laptop Thoughts: News & Reviews on Laptops, Netbooks, Slates, and More.

"AMD maybe readying to enter the Ultrabook game in January 2012 with their own Ultrathin devices according to a report from The Australian."

Quite a bit of speculation, but it does appear that AMD wants to tap into the "ultrathin" market, and there are several manufacturers interested, but no concrete details, other than the fact that AMD will call their products something else, since Intel's marketing juggernaut has "Ultrabook" sewn-up. It'll be interesting to have alternatives in the Ultrabook space.

"Remember we brought you news last week of the Samsung Series 9 super-svelte 13.3in, duralumin-encased ZX310 laptop shipping in the States, well get ready to meet its even smaller brother, the 11.6in 900X1A. The 11.6in display on the 900X-1A comes with a resolution of 1366 x 768 and is encased in the same black duralumin as the ZX310. It will come with the Intel Core-i3 processor, 2GB of RAM, a whopping 128GB SSD (the same as its older brother), a backlit keyboard and Windows Home Premium pre-installed."

Finally a Windows ultralight that would seem to be able to go head-to-head with a MacBook Air, and offer better specs for about the same cost. With a 128GB SSD standard, an Intel Core-i3 standard, and a backlit keyboard, this beauty from Samsung is (in my opinion) what Apple should've shipped. No information is available on availability in North America. Could this be the laptop that will lure "switchers" (like me) back to Windows?

"Pulling the 14-inch Acer TimelineX 4820T from its box, one thing went through our mind: this could be the perfect thin and light laptop. The $717 system is about an inch thick, weighs only 4.7 pounds, and still has an onboard DVD drive. And unlike the past Acer Timelines and their sissy ULV processors, it has a standard voltage Core i3-350M CPU, 4GB of RAM and a 320GB hard drive."

With very impressive out-of-the-box specs, design and build compromises impact the overall rating of the TimeLineX 4820T. While the Core i3-350M processor is a screamer, making this system a possible choice for everyday use, the chiclet keyboard leaves something to be desired, exhibiting a great amount of flex and squeak when typing. Less than perfect keyboard = probably not an all-day machine. And, the LCD display, at a glossy 1366x768 resolution, has some problems with viewing angles outside of direct head-on. Battery life is excellent, with over five (5) hours of usage in Engadget's battery rundown video testing. So, the bottom line is that this is a very good laptop for $717 ($799 with ATI Radeon HD 5650 graphics), but as for approaching perfection in an ultrathin laptop, Acer is not quite there yet.