**The Year of the Ultrabook: A Closer Look at CES 2012's Thinnest Laptops**
As we stepped into the world of CES 2012, one thing became crystal clear - the year was going to be all about Ultrabooks. These sleek and slim laptops were making waves in the industry, and it seemed like every major player wanted a piece of the action. From Samsung to HP, Dell, Lenovo, and many more, these companies were showcasing their latest and greatest offerings, each trying to outdo the others in terms of design, build quality, and features.
**Samsung's New Ultrabook**
One of the standout laptops at CES 2012 was Samsung's new Ultrabook. This laptop is a masterclass in engineering, with a shell made from aluminum that feels incredibly sturdy in the hand. The display is a beautiful 13-inch affair with a matte finish and a bright 400-nit display, making it perfect for watching movies or working on content creation projects. But what really sets this Ultrabook apart is its premium build quality and specs. With a price tag of $1,399, it's clear that Samsung has gone all out to create a laptop that's not just fast but also feels like a luxury item. The fact that it's one of the thinnest laptops on display, weighing in at a mere 3mm, is also noteworthy.
**HP's Envy Specter 14**
Meanwhile, HP was showcasing its own take on the Ultrabook formula with the Envy Specter 14. This laptop features a stunning glass top that's not just aesthetically pleasing but also helps to reduce fingerprints and smudges. But what really impressed us was the display - a 1600x900 resolution screen with HP's Radiance technology, which boasts excellent viewing angles and brightness. The Beats Audio integration adds another layer of sophistication to an already impressive package. And at a price point of $1,399, it's clear that HP is targeting the same high-end market as Samsung.
**Dell's XPS 13**
But what about the value end of the market? That's where Dell comes in with its XPS 13. This laptop may not have all the bells and whistles of its more expensive counterparts, but it still feels like a solid, well-built machine. The display is smaller than some of the other laptops on show, at just 13 inches, but what it lacks in size, it makes up for in brightness and resolution. And with a price point of $999, it's clear that Dell is targeting those who want a premium laptop experience without breaking the bank.
**Lenovo's Yoga**
Finally, we have Lenovo's Yoga, which may not be an Ultrabook per se but certainly fits into the same category. This laptop is all about flexibility and versatility - with its convertible design, you can flip it around to turn it into a tablet or stand it up on a desk like a tent. It's a bold move from Lenovo, but one that could pay off big time in terms of user satisfaction. And at a price point of $999, it's clear that the company is targeting those who want a laptop experience that's both fun and functional.
**The Future of Ultrabooks**
As we wrap up our coverage of CES 2012's Ultrabook offerings, one thing becomes clear - this is just the beginning. With Windows 8 on the horizon, we can expect to see even more convertibles and tablets in the near future. And with companies like Samsung and HP pushing the boundaries of what's possible in terms of design and build quality, it's exciting to think about what the future holds for these sleek and slim laptops.
"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enforeign hey guys this is Joanna for The Verge and I am here inside The Verge CES 2012 trailer but outside here in Vegas it has literally been raining Ultrabooks okay not literally though I did get hit in the head with one yesterday but there are a ton of Ultrabooks or thin and light laptops being announced at this show every computer manufacturer is jumping into the pool Intel's talking about the future so I wanted to give you guys a look at some of my favorite Ultra books here at the show and then give you a look at what's to come so let's start here with the Samsung this is the Samsung Series 9 and it's kind of apropos to start with it because last year at CES Samsung announced the series nine and this is a refresh to it but it sort of kicked off the entire category so what they've done here with the new one is they've coded it in aluminum it's sort of a unibody or a certain they're saying a shell of aluminum feels really nice in hand really sturdy it's also one of the thinnest to be announced not even at the show but just to be on Market so it's going Toe to Toe with the MacBook Air in terms of thickness feels really nice obviously and underneath you sort of get more premium specs than any of the other Ultrabooks so this display is a 13 inch display with a beautiful Norton pop-up but it's really bright it's a 400 nit display with a 1600 by 900 resolution it's also a matte display so I sort of love this display if you cannot tell and just overall underneath the lid you get here a nice keyboard a nice touch pad a nice experience I think it's going to take some time to see how the touchpad works but the thing is with the Samsung is that this is more expensive than any of the other Ultra books that are launching this is a 13.99 then there are going to be other skus that go up to 15.99 so you get more premium specs here and you also get more of a premium build but you've got to decide if you want to pay more moving on to the hp's Envy Specter 14 and this is again another sort of high-end Ultrabook it's going to go for 13.99 as well but what HP has done here is pretty crazy they're basically using glass all over the system this is a gorilla glass lid and then when you open it up you've got a glass touch pad and palm rest and a gorilla glass display so it picks up a ton of fingerprints this lid is sort of a fingerprint magnet If You're a murderer you do not want to leave your fingerprints on there um also a really nice display here from HP this is a 1600 by 900 resolution display again really high resolution in comparison to the other Ultrabooks but it's also got a Radiance display which is sort of like an IPS equivalent for laptops just great viewing angles really bright so overall really nice in terms of build HP is also put on its Beats Audio so you get this jog dial here on the left nice keyboard the touchpad's a little bit stiff so we'll see how that works out but again 13.99 for a bit more of a premium system it's also a little bit thicker because of the glass so I wanted to then talk about the Dell this is the new Dell XPS 13 and Dell is actually coming in at the lower end of the market they are not pulling in a demo here and blasting out the specs with a really thin design but this is pretty thin it is pretty light and it's going to start at 999 dollars and you know overall it just feels like a nice system it just feels kind of solid all around and nice keyboard a backlit keyboard a nice big click pad we'll see how that works though it's been working really well when I was testing it before and you get a 13 inch display but it's got a lower resolution than the others in terms of specs on all of these they're pretty much the same you get a Core i5 processor basically standard on all of them four gigabytes of RAM and 128 gigabyte solid state drive and all of the Ultrabooks are required to have solid state drives or they're required to boot really fast and resume from sleep really fast to make that experience really nice basically the ultra books of today but wanted to give you a look at what's coming out later this year so this is the Lenovo Yoga and it looks basically like a regular laptop you've got a keyboard you've got a touchpad you've got a nice Palm rest here that's made out of leather ports on the side but it's running Windows 8 and you can also flip it around and turn it in to a tablet so this morphs into a Windows 8 tablet works really nicely actually for Windows 8 being such an early build at this point so turn it into a tablet I can also flip it around here and turn it into a tent of sorts can stand it up on a desk and something like that so really interesting form factor from Lenovo obviously this isn't coming out until the Windows 8 time frame which is probably not till the fall but again this is the sort of thing we're expecting to see more of because Windows 8 is touch friendly I'm going to see a lot of these convertibles later in the year so that overall is a good look at what I think the Ultrabook story here is at CES 2012. welcome to the year of the Ultrabookforeign hey guys this is Joanna for The Verge and I am here inside The Verge CES 2012 trailer but outside here in Vegas it has literally been raining Ultrabooks okay not literally though I did get hit in the head with one yesterday but there are a ton of Ultrabooks or thin and light laptops being announced at this show every computer manufacturer is jumping into the pool Intel's talking about the future so I wanted to give you guys a look at some of my favorite Ultra books here at the show and then give you a look at what's to come so let's start here with the Samsung this is the Samsung Series 9 and it's kind of apropos to start with it because last year at CES Samsung announced the series nine and this is a refresh to it but it sort of kicked off the entire category so what they've done here with the new one is they've coded it in aluminum it's sort of a unibody or a certain they're saying a shell of aluminum feels really nice in hand really sturdy it's also one of the thinnest to be announced not even at the show but just to be on Market so it's going Toe to Toe with the MacBook Air in terms of thickness feels really nice obviously and underneath you sort of get more premium specs than any of the other Ultrabooks so this display is a 13 inch display with a beautiful Norton pop-up but it's really bright it's a 400 nit display with a 1600 by 900 resolution it's also a matte display so I sort of love this display if you cannot tell and just overall underneath the lid you get here a nice keyboard a nice touch pad a nice experience I think it's going to take some time to see how the touchpad works but the thing is with the Samsung is that this is more expensive than any of the other Ultra books that are launching this is a 13.99 then there are going to be other skus that go up to 15.99 so you get more premium specs here and you also get more of a premium build but you've got to decide if you want to pay more moving on to the hp's Envy Specter 14 and this is again another sort of high-end Ultrabook it's going to go for 13.99 as well but what HP has done here is pretty crazy they're basically using glass all over the system this is a gorilla glass lid and then when you open it up you've got a glass touch pad and palm rest and a gorilla glass display so it picks up a ton of fingerprints this lid is sort of a fingerprint magnet If You're a murderer you do not want to leave your fingerprints on there um also a really nice display here from HP this is a 1600 by 900 resolution display again really high resolution in comparison to the other Ultrabooks but it's also got a Radiance display which is sort of like an IPS equivalent for laptops just great viewing angles really bright so overall really nice in terms of build HP is also put on its Beats Audio so you get this jog dial here on the left nice keyboard the touchpad's a little bit stiff so we'll see how that works out but again 13.99 for a bit more of a premium system it's also a little bit thicker because of the glass so I wanted to then talk about the Dell this is the new Dell XPS 13 and Dell is actually coming in at the lower end of the market they are not pulling in a demo here and blasting out the specs with a really thin design but this is pretty thin it is pretty light and it's going to start at 999 dollars and you know overall it just feels like a nice system it just feels kind of solid all around and nice keyboard a backlit keyboard a nice big click pad we'll see how that works though it's been working really well when I was testing it before and you get a 13 inch display but it's got a lower resolution than the others in terms of specs on all of these they're pretty much the same you get a Core i5 processor basically standard on all of them four gigabytes of RAM and 128 gigabyte solid state drive and all of the Ultrabooks are required to have solid state drives or they're required to boot really fast and resume from sleep really fast to make that experience really nice basically the ultra books of today but wanted to give you a look at what's coming out later this year so this is the Lenovo Yoga and it looks basically like a regular laptop you've got a keyboard you've got a touchpad you've got a nice Palm rest here that's made out of leather ports on the side but it's running Windows 8 and you can also flip it around and turn it in to a tablet so this morphs into a Windows 8 tablet works really nicely actually for Windows 8 being such an early build at this point so turn it into a tablet I can also flip it around here and turn it into a tent of sorts can stand it up on a desk and something like that so really interesting form factor from Lenovo obviously this isn't coming out until the Windows 8 time frame which is probably not till the fall but again this is the sort of thing we're expecting to see more of because Windows 8 is touch friendly I'm going to see a lot of these convertibles later in the year so that overall is a good look at what I think the Ultrabook story here is at CES 2012. welcome to the year of the Ultrabook\n"
