Find out the top 5 signs that your next PC should be an Ultrabook
Ultrabooks are the hottest thing to hit the PC world since the laptop first came cracking onto the scene back in .. well, it was quite some time ago.
But is one of these stunningly light PCs the device you’ve been waiting for? Here are the top 5 signs your next PC should be an Ultrabook.
1. You already have way too much stuff to carry
Your school bag is full as it is, what with all those 5 pound Calculus textbooks and note pads. Not only are Ultrabooks all less than 0.71″ thick (or less than 0.83″ for 15″ or larger models) they also tend to be extremely light.
At under 3.0lbs the average Ultrabook is going to save a lot of space and put your bag on a serious diet.
2. You hate waiting
There’s nothing worse than waiting for your PC to load or getting stuck waiting for files to transfer.
With instant-on technology and solid-state storage Ultrabooks will not only resume in less than 7-seconds (2-seconds in the case of the ASUS Zenbook) but they’ll also transfer data at a far snappier pace than you’d ever get with a conventional hard drive.
The ASUS Zenbook UX31 is just 0.67
3. You haven’t touched a DVD in years
Face it, DVDs are getting pretty long in the tooth. With games now available on Steam, when’s the last time that you installed a new program from DVD or CD or even burned a music disc? If the answer is more than 6 months then you probably agree that you don’t really need an optical drive on your computer.
Ultrabooks do away with this out-dated drive and shave half an inch and a good chunk of weight that you’d normally be carrying around.
4. You are usually on the go
Even now the average notebook only gets 3-4 hours of battery life. If you’re away from an outlet for most of the day then the minimum 5-hour battery life target for Ultrabooks will be a welcome change.
Some, like the ASUS Zenbook UX31 will go one better with battery life up to 7 hours.
5. You think plastic is for toys
Hard plastic may be durable, lightweight, and scratch resistant, but it probably won’t win any beauty contests. Thankfully not only are Ultrabooks stunningly slim, they’re also typically clad in undeniably stylish brushed aluminum from top to bottom.
Did you nod your head at 3 or more of these? There’s a good chance your next PC should be an Ultrabook. Let us know in the comments.
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Well, I guess if you’re too weak to lift a laptop, hate 1080p displays, love weak integrated graphics, don’t want more than two USB ports, prefer choppy low-megapixel webcams, then an ultrabook is for y- Oh, who are we kidding here? Maybe I’m just a relic, but I don’t see the appeal.
C’mon, Asus. You have affordable ROG laptops at similar price points that are far more bang-for-buck at the expense of battery life. My Asus G53 is already dated, but it still has more oomph than these scrawny things. Unless you pour some serious bucks into advertising, cranking out ads with indie music to appeal to skinny-jean coffee shop kids who don’t know the first thing about hardware then you’re not going to compete well with Apple in this field of tech as it’s more about pushing the brand than the actual product. People choose Apple because it’s got an Apple logo on it and it’s what the other kids have. Which is a shame, because Asus makes some really great stuff. The brand just doesn’t carry that flavor of gravitas. I think it’s more associated with gaming since they sell enthusiast motherboards, GPUs, sound cards and the like. Good luck, regardless.
This story is one big commercial, I can and do all those things with my IPAD!!!
Windows 7 v iOS… no comparison, enjoy all the limits of iOS with half the functionality of an ultrabook
I am missing just this and the prime, for my ASUS collection, gor i7 laptop, older netbook, routers, switches, pc with all Asus parts, and so on and so on… Need to get one or the other for more mobile power!
Strengh of a power user pc in this little raser blade thin solution.. wonderful. This ultrabook make my day everywhere i want to go.
wdf
It meets all the needs I would like and I have never had issues with ASUS!
I would rather get the Asus transformer prime 3g with the keyboard dock. That will get me 16 hours battery life AND I will also have a tablet if I remove the dock.
Love my UX31, but the keyboard is almost unusable. It misses at least 1/10th of the keypresses unless I type like an ape, hitting keys. Otherwise it’s great, but a laptop just isn’t a laptop without a usable keyboard.
…leaving this comment only because I CAN’T READ ANYTHING UNTIL IT’S GONE!!!
@blah blah my firefox/ubuntu 10.04 did the same i had to open it under chromium,
@others By the way erase that microscrap OS from this sandforce drive and put a xubuntu on it and it will be lightning fast. The wired lan card is lacking of native linux support. I had to use my d-link usb lan card until i’ll get a out of the box solution.
Asus shift everybody else with that one. The real desktop replacement.
I seriously think there should be a trial panel(ist) whom you would provide one of these much needed devices so other senior citizens would know the value of this technology. I do submit myself for such a panel(ist) and declare that I am retired, 65, with a set limited income. (thinking up other reasons why you should send one to me…asap..overnight express is good…)….it would be a blessing in my work with a couple non-profits that I am involved with…so there… a real service to the community too! I will be watching for the brown truck or the white one with the orange writing on it….tomorrow!!!..Oh Yes, I am American Indian so you even cover a minority population….WooHoo!!!!!
It’s a good idea – in fact, it’s exactly what we do in the student market. You can check the student reviews section on this site to find reviews that students have written about computers they got to trial for a couple weeks!
We don’t have the same thing for the senior population just yet but it could be in the cards?
Will ASUS be launching Ultrabooks with dedicated graphics?
I like everything about Ultrabooks except the Intel graphics. Not that they are bad for daily tasks, but i would like to play BF3 occasionally with decent settings.
There’s nothing in what defines an Ultrabook that prevents us from putting a dedicated graphics card in it. I don’t think there are any plans on record at the moment but I think that an NVIDIA Optimus setup could be possible.
The HD3000 graphics in it are faster than you think though – it may not be a gaming graphics card but Intel has come a long way.
are ultrabooks good with games? I just asked since they did bring up steam. (even if it was to explain the why it didnt have a disk drive)
Well that partly depends on how much you want to spend. Though even with a more expensive set up no ultrabooks are not good for gaming. The ultrabooks don’t come with a good video card and generally the system is set up to save power and have a long battery life.
I’m going to assume not. It seems like it’s essentially a Macbook Air style laptop. It’s super slim as it stands it’s more or less for those that need ultra portability. see here http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834230171&Tpk=ASUS%20Zenbook%20UX31E-DH52 it has Intel HD Graphics so it’s not going to allow you to play any intense games at an acceptable rate.