Just how ultra are some of those Ultrabooks?

The Jon Peddie Research review team create an Ultra Factor formula and weigh the results.

By Jon Peddie, Robert Dow, and Harrison Gorvy

At the recent Intel Developers Forum we saw some delightful Ultrabooks. There are many now, possibly more than two dozen to choose from, with more on the way. However, there are some differences in them and a value proposition to comprehend.

The Asus Zenbook Prime takes first place in our inaugural Ultra Factor evaluation. (Source: Asus)

From our myopic pixel-oriented POV we looked at what you get in performance, screen, resolution, price, and weight… and created the Ultra factor:

Where:         UF = Ultra Factor

R = resolution – pixels

S = screen size – inches

P = processor I class (3,5,7)

$ = price – dollars

W = weight – pounds

K = coefficient – 0.001

We then surveyed 19 Ultrabooks and generated this table:

Ultrabooks Screen Pixel Lines CPU lbs Price UF
Asus Zenbook Prime 13.3 1920 1080 i7 3.1 $780 80
Acer Aspire S5 13.3 1366 768 i7 2.6 $825 46
Vizio C14-A2 14 1600 900 i7 3.4 $1,199 35
Asus Zenbook UX31E-DH52 13.3 1600 900 i5 2.9 $1,005 33
HP ENVY Spectre XT Ultrabook 13t-2000 13.3 1366 768  i7 3 $999 33
Dell Inspiron 14z 14 1366 768 i5 4.1 $600 30
Sony VAIO T Series Ultrabook 13.3 1366 768 i7 3.5 $969 28
Toshiba Portégé Z830 Series 13.3 1366 768  i7 2.5 $1,429 28
Dell XPS 14 14 1600 900 i7 4.7 $1,100 27
Lenovo IdeaPad U310 13.3 1366 768 i5 3.7 $700 27
Sony VAIO T Series Ultrabook 13.3 1366 768 i5 3.5 $739 27
Toshiba Satellite U845W-S410 14.4 1792 768 i5 3.7 $999 27
Average 13.7 1462 810.0 5.9 3.4 $1,062 27
Toshiba Portege Z930-BT9300 Ultrabook 13.3 1366 768 i5 2.5 $1,150 25
Dell XPS 13 13.3 1366 768 i7 3 $1,429 23
HP Envy Ultrabook 4-1030us 14 1366 768 i5 3.9 $830 23
Samsung Series 9 NP900 15 1600 900 i7 3.6 $1,800 23
Toshiba Satellite U845-S406 14 1366 768 i5 3.7 $850 23
Acer Aspire TimelineUltra M5 15.6 1366 768 i5 4.5 $829 22
Fujitsu Lifebook UH572 13.3 1366 768 i5 3.5 $999 20
Sony SVT13114GXX 13.3 1366 768 i5 3.4 $1,999 10

 

On the basis of this evaluation the Asus Zenbook is the clear winner. However, this makes no compensation for GPU. In a review to be posted to GraphicSpeak in a day or two, you will see the GPU in the Zenbook contributes nothing to the performance of the machine and is easily beaten by the A9 Trinity. But since the Trinity laptop on hand isn’t an Ultrabook, and we don’t have samples of all the others, we can’t run benchmarks on them—but for the machines we have, we will show results. [Editor’s Note: When the review is available, a link will replace this sentence.]

Our take

A 13-inch screen is a joke, slightly larger than a tablet. And 1366 x 768—jeeze—let’s go back to 1987 and enjoy XGA all over again. Is this really the best the industry can do? If a 13-inch screen with 786 lines (and may we point out the Apple iPad has 2048 x 1536 resolution) is all the PC industry can deliver then it deserves to get eaten alive by tablets because it not only has it failed the consumer, it has insulted the consumer.

Robert and Harrison work for Jon Peddie Research, of which Jon is President.