Laptops of 2012: What to Expect

PCWorld.Com - Tablets and smartphones are in, but don’t count laptops out. Impressive new laptops planned for 2012 promise to be thinner, lighter, and faster, as well as to carry longer-lasting batteries.

All the pieces are in place for a surge in laptop sales next year, from new Intel chips to the planned launch of Windows 8 to sleeker designs.

You may be in the market for a new laptop this holiday season–or you might find that sticking with what you have and upgrading next year makes more sense, considering the hot models that are sure to be announced at the annual CES trade show in January, as well as the new technology on the horizon.

Here’s what to expect in the coming year.

Ubiquitous Ultrabooks

 

Thin and lightweight Ultrabooks are the watchword, thanks to Intel, which has trademarked the name for a new category of ultraportable laptops.

By some predictions, as many as 30 to 50 Ultrabook models will be announced at CES. For a laptop to qualify for the label, it must be less than 21mm (0.83 inch) thick, resume from hibernate to keyboard input in less than 7 seconds, get at least 5 hours of battery life, and support certain specific Intel security features in the BIOS.

We have already reviewed four Ultrabooks: the Acer Aspire S3, Asus Zenbook UX31E, Lenovo IdeaPad U300s, and Toshiba Portege Z835. A fifth, the HP Folio 13, will soon be released. You'll notice some major brands missing from that list, such as Dell, Samsung, and Sony; you can probably expect to see Ultrabooks from those manufacturers in the first few months of 2012.                   More

         

Review: HP Pavilion g4-1215dx - Budget Laptop

CNET Editors’ rating

3.5 stars Very good

The good: The HP Pavilion g4-1215dx has a great price, an attractive-for-the-price design, and better-than-average speakers, as well as enough graphics performance to play basic games.

The bad: A slower-performing AMD A4 processor is better than other bargain-basement processors, but less powerful than Intel’s Core i3; screen colors look washed out; battery life is merely average.

The bottom line: Budget shoppers take note: the extremely aggressively priced HP Pavilion g4-1215dx is a worthwhile laptop pick for those who want a basic, cheap computer. It’s hard to find a decent laptop for less–and we’ve seen lesser laptops that cost more.                   More