The humble laptop is having a major makeover, and here at CES 2012 you can't move for super slim and light Ultrabooks, from every manufacturer from Dell to Lenovo.
Samsung announced their Series 5 Ultrabook in Monday's press conference, but it seems they held all the good stuff back for flagship laptop, the Series 9.
The original Series 9 was born before Intel had poured a fraction of their $300m fund into convincing manufacturers that making fast and desirable portables would be good for business, and at CES 2012, Samsung has given it an update.
The original Series 9 was one of the world's thinnest laptops, but Samsung has managed to shave another 4mm from its size-zero body, and the updated 13" model measures just 12.9mm when closed.
The 15" version measures just 15mm, and one certainly gets the impression that Samsung wants to prove a point to the Ultrabook crowd.
Duralumin, the tough alloy used on the original model, has been axed - possibly because it was prone to scratches - and replaced by standard aluminium, which feels much more resilient, and should stand up to contact with other items in your bag.
Inside is a 1.7GHz Intel Core i7 processor, and up to 8GB of RAM, and an SSD hard drive, which really makes a difference in boot times. Samsung boasts that the Series 9 can resume from sleep in just 2 seconds, and when we got hands-on, this claim certainly doesn't seem wide of the mark.
In a surprise move, Samsung has opted for an 1600x1200 matte screen on the Series 9, and there's no option for a glossier, more vibrant Super-TFT option.
For a portable laptop, it makes sense to include a matte panel, to stop annoying reflections when working in direct sunlight, however, this updated model feels more about style than business. The detail is fantastic, the screen bright, but it does lack vibrancy in colour and contrast, which may put off media lovers.
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