Slim and Strong

Samsung Series 5 ultrabook is a sleek,no-nonsense beauty. Its matte finish ensures there are no sticky fingerprints and its aluminium grey colour indicates that the machine means business.

One look at it,and its easy to see that Samsung has put a lot of thought into its design. The Series 5 is one of the few ultrabooks with a DVD drive it is well-integrated with the body and is difficult to spot at first glance. On the other hand,the ethernet (wired internet) port has a small door-like hatch. Pull it down and the wire can be connected. Little touches like these make users feel privileged. The two USB 3.0 ports are a luxury too,as most ultrabooks come with only one,or none.

With this product,Samsung has created a hybrid of sorts between a laptop and an ultrabook. It is too thin and light to be a laptop,but the screen size is too large for it to be a proper ultrabook.

Watching videos on its 14-inch display does not reflect the surroundings in bright light. So,your face will not be visible on the screen while watching a movie. The speakers are decent,though a pair of headphones could have been handy for the movies. Storing movies will not be a problem either,as this model comes with a 1 TB (terabyte) hard disk.

Performance-wise,the Series 5 is solid,with its 6GB RAM,a powerful processor and a good graphics card. But the graphics card is good enough only for playing older,low-end games,as it is not too powerful.

The keyboard is typist-friendly but the trackpad,despite its large size,is not the most comfortable. The battery life is about 4.5 hours,good but not the best.

At Rs 54,990,the overall package is good value for those who want a light and powerful machine.

Acer Aspire S3

Ultrabooks are often accused of copying the Macbook Airs design. Among all the lookalikes in the market,Acer Aspire S3 is almost an identical twin. But the design is hardly as awe-inspiring as the Macbook Air even if the weight is the same around 1.4 kg. The S3 is not only one of the thinnest ultrabooks in the market ( at 0.5 inch,it is thinner than 0.7-inch Macbook Air),but also the cheapest,at Rs 48,000.

The power button is visible without opening the lid,although pressing it does not power up the S3 unless the lid is open. The keypad is comfortable except for the tiny arrow keys that make navigation painful. The touchpad lacks multi-touch and a mouse is recommended for quick navigation.

The screen is good as long as the viewing angle is right,and the speakers are decent too. The S3 has a micro-SD slot,which is a bonus. However,its USB and HDMI charging ports are at the back. Logical,as the machine is thin,but awkward,when-ever a pendrive has to be inserted. The 128GB solid state drive (which is faster than a hard disk drive) is a good add-on for those who like their laptops to power on quickly.

The battery life is around five hours. Overall,the S3 is good bang for the buck. Aspire S5 is coming soon for those looking for more power.

HP Folio 13

HP has always had some of the best-looking laptops and the Folio 13 is no exception. In a market full of machines trying to look like Macbook Air,the Folio 13 is a breath of fresh air. It is pretty light at 1.5 kg,and its brushed aluminium finish feels premium.

The HP Folio 13 has a 13.3-inch screen with good brightness and colours. Running on Windows 7,it comes with a 4GB RAM,a 128GB hard disk,two USB ports,an ethernet port,an SD card slot,an HDMI port and like all other ultrabooks,no CD drive. Its keyboard is typical of HP laptops comfortable and easy on the fingers. The omission of a USB 3.0 port dents an otherwise feature-rich machine. The webcam is sufficiently bright in regular room light,but provides a grainy image. What makes the Folio 13 a winning choice is the external optical disk drive which comes with it. For whoever misses the CD option,this added device is a useful bonus.

Overall,the HP Folio 13 is a performance laptop,good in all fields except gaming. The icing on the cake is the six-hour battery life. Priced at Rs 69,900,the Folio 13 is a decent investment.

with inputs from Nimisha Jaiswal