Ultrabooks are saving the high-end notebook market

For people who want super-thin computers and who don’t feel like paying more than $2,000 for a Retina MacBook Pro, ultrabooks are a blessing. And according to the NPD Group, ultrabooks are helping to keep the U.S. notebook market afloat as they “are off to a fast start capturing nearly 11 percent of all $700+ Windows notebooks sales at U.S. retail through the first five months of 2012.” What’s more, ultrabooks’ share of Windows notebooks costing at least $700 has steadily climbed month by month this year, going from just over 6% in January to more than 15% in May. NPD says strong ultrabook sales are welcome news for the Windows notebook industry, which has seen overall sales of laptops costing $700 or more fall 3% through the first five months of 2012. Full press release after the jump.

Source- BGR

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Hp launched its Ultrabook HP Envy Spectre XT with 5 different models

Hp launched its  Ultrabook  HP Envy Spectre XT with 5 different models .It comes with Intel’s latest Ivy Bridge processors and features a 13 inch display with a resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels.
The follow up to the company's original Ultrabook contender – the HP Envy 14 Spectre – the HP Envy Spectre XT shaves off over 5mm in thickness from the older version, coming in at an Acer Aspire S5-esque 14.5mm.

And the slimmer waistline makes all the difference, the XT is a gorgeous looking machine that quite rightly stole much of the attention at the HP event we attended in Shanghai.

Described by its makers as an "ultramobile premium Ultrabook", the Spectre XT weighs 1.4kg. It certainly isn't the lightest Ultrabook that we've handled, but it's far from being heavy.

This being HP, Beats Audio is on board – complete with quad speakers. Unfortunately, due to the booming noises inside the Shaghai Expo Centre, we couldn't fully gauge the quality but it sounded loud enough.

The 13.3-inch HD screen held up pretty well under the hall lights, and surprisingly wasn't covered by smears and fingerprints, despite the array of global tech hacks giving it a quick fondle.

Boot up time from sleep was more or less instantaneous, due to the latest generation Intel Core processor on board combined with Intel's Rapid Start Technology.

Other notable hardware inclusions are its 256GB mSATA SSD, an HP TrueVision HD Webcam, and Gigabit Ethernet, Wi-Fi, USB 3.0 and HDMI. You can expect a battery life of around 8 hours.

Here you can see the HDMI, USB and Ethernet ports...

...while the other side features the headphone jack, a further USB and an SD card slot.

The trackpad is a good size and seemed perfectly usable to us, while the isolation keyboard is remarkably similar to that on a MacBook Air.

As you can see, there's a Beats Audio speaker at the top of the keyboard where the power button is also located.

The HP Envy Spectre XT will come pre-loaded with full versions of Adobe Photoshop Elements 10 and Adobe Premiere Elements 10 - it looks as if HP is taking a leaf out of Apple's book too by offering an "experience" rather than just a product. If you fork out for an XT you'll also get access to a concierge phone line for technical support dedicated exclusively to HP Spectre users.

But it's the design that really makes the HP Spectre XT stand out from the ever expanding Ultrabook clan. Its brushed-aluminium chassis looks superb and the svelte bezel helps to create an illusion of a notebook much smaller than its 13.3 inches.

Out in June, the HP Envy Spectre XT will be joined by a Pro version – one that offers Windows 7 

• Professional and TPM security. Prices are expected to from £899.
• Full HP Envy Spectre XT specifications
• Configuration for starting price of £899/$999.99; available on June 8
• Windows 7 Premium 64-bit
• 13.3-inch diagonal display with 1366 x 768 resolution
• Available with 3rd generation Intel Core processors
• Memory: 4GB 1600MHz DDR3
• Storage: 128GB (up to 256GB) Solid State Drive Flash Module
• Backlit Keyboard + HP Imagepad
• 802.11a/g/n 2x2 WLAN + BT + WiDi
• Ports include: Gigabit Ethernet, USB 3.0 and HDMI
• Dimensions: 327 x 221 x 14.5-mm
• Weight: 3.07 lbs.
• Up to 8 hours of battery life
• 2-Year Norton Internet Security
• Beats Audio. with quad speakers
• HP CoolSense technology
• HP TrueVision HD Webcam
• Full versions of Adobe Photoshop and Premiere Elements 10
• 1-Year Absolute Data Protect
• Concierge phone line dedicated exclusively to HP Envy Spectre users

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According to Sony's German Site:VAIO T13 Ultrabook could be coming with Ivy Bridge

Pre-ordering for the Sony Vaio T Series has started with two retailers in Germany offering the base 11.6” version and quoting availability in two weeks. Pricing is as we reported earlier this week. Over at the Sony Germany web site, however, there’s some new information to be had on spec options. As I was writing this article an Ivy Bridge model popped up right in front of me. I some specs changing as I refresh so someone’s obviously working on it right now but that Ivy Bridge model seems fairly clear to me.

Here are the options you’ll currently find on the Sony.de website:

11.6” Model SVT1111M1E
Color: Silver
CPU: Core i3-2367M 1.4Ghz
RAM: 4GB Options: 6GB, 8GB
Storage: 320GB (5400 RPM +32GB SSD) Options: 500GB (5400 RPM + SSD cache), 128GB SSD, 256GB SSD, 512GB SSD
Base price: 673.99 € (Sony.de)

13.3” Model SVT1311C5E
Color: Silver
CPU: Core i3-2367M 1.4Ghz Option: Core i7 – Not currently detailed on Sony site.
RAM: 4GB Options: 6GB, 8GB
Storage: 320GB (5400 RPM +32GB SSD) Options: 500GB (5400 RPM + SSD cache), 128GB SSD, 256GB SSD, 512GB SSD
Base price: 798.99 € (Sony.de)

Ivy Bridge Model: SVT1311W1E




This is an interesting development. An Ultrabook launching with low-cost Sandy Bridge CPUs and a high-end (we assume high cost) Ivy Bridge CPU at the same time. We see that they’ve listed ‘second generation’ Core processor there where Ivy Bridge is actually 3rd Generation but the detailed specs show a set of info that can only link with an Ivy Bridge CPU.

Sony Vaio Series T Model SVT1311W1E – 13.3”, 1366×768, Core i5-3317U (1.7-2.6Ghz,) 128GB SSD, HD4000 graphics.
As for pricing, we’ve found two retailers in the UK asking for 1000 GBP but specifications do not include information on the CPU. Given that this has just gone up there could be errors. A check over at the Sony UK site shows a second model, SVT1311X9E, also with the Core i5 3317U CPU. This story clearly developing so check back for updates and if you find out anything new, drop a note in the comments below.

Source: Sony(DE)

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