The Perfect Laptop – Ultrabook with 16GB and an i7

Ultrabook – A higher-end type of subnotebook, defined by Intel, designed to reduce size and bulk without compromising performance and battery life. Should maintain a 7 second resume from hibernation, have a minimum battery life of 5 hours, contain SSD boot drives, have 80 MB/s transfer rate to storage (HD), and have a height no larger than the following:

18 mm for 13.3″ displays
21 mm for 14.0″ displays
23 mm for convertible displays

The perfect laptop.

I think you will agree when the size of a laptop, is now very important to us. The days of 10 lbs sitting on your lap, creating constant streams of heat, are over. We should rename these machines to Portable Desktops and then rename Ultrabooks to Laptops, because they are actually practically going to sit in your lap, comfortably.

Do not be fooled though. There are several so-called “Ultrabooks” that do not meet the specification created by Intel.

After selling 4 laptops, I found myself with a little extra cash, which means I am looking to do one more transaction. Sell my current bulky 17 inch Dell Studio laptop and switch it up to a new and fast Ultrabook that has actual power! My ideal Ultrabook would be one that is 14 – 15 inches, has an i7, and is loaded with 16GB. Is that too much to ask for?

I did a lot of research and it looks like if I want to dip into the 16GB realm, I may find myself outside of the Ultrabook specification.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon
This meaty bit of a machine packs a punch and is very slimmed down from the classic “corporate” style that all the other ThinkPad’s have. Boy these things are ugly, but sometimes ugly is what you need. If you are looking for something with 32GB RAM, 500GB SSD, look across the ThinkPad line and they will surely have something to offer you. Real performance kickers. So far all I have been able to find are 8 GB variants, although these are very nice machines.

Samsung Series 7
A thenextweb.com Samsung CES Report has mentioned that the Samsung Series 7 will soon be expandable to 16GB for their 15 inch and even with their 13.3 inch Ultrabook style. When this comes out is the real question. It might be worth waiting for. Also reported to have battery life up to 11 hours. They have been on sale in Singapore since March 25th of this year.

Samsung Series 9
I passed by this Series 9 in a Staple’s and it is extremely nice. Size is all important and the Series 9 is entirely focused on providing the thinnest, lightest, and all SSD oriented ultrabooks. Go to a local store and check one out, you will see what the awe is all about.

ASUS Zenbook
And then there is the Zenbook. While many copy the look and appearance of the MacBook Pro, the Zenbook copies and replicates the MacBook Air, except it stuffs an i7 Quad core with 8GB of RAM. Also full HD, with two SSD’s, giving you 512GB of storage. It’s a little sucker, with a huge punch. It’s even got versions with a 15.6 inch screen.

Gigabyte U2442N
And then I find the Gigabyte. Wow, do I ever have serious questions of purchasing from these guys. But with 16GB of RAM and a 21mm height, they barely meet the specifications of an Ultrabook. Blehh, and after the video, no way!

Well, the search continues. I may just end up waiting for that Refreshed 16GB 13.3 inch Samsung Series 7 with an i7. The Perfect Laptop.