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In pictures: meet 20 new laptops with Intel's new chip

Things just got a lot more exciting if you're buying a new laptop.

By William Maher on Jun 17 2013, 8:43AM

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Big news if you are buying a new laptop this year - there's a new generation of laptops that has just been unveiled this week. What you're about to see are photos we took of some of these new "hero" laptops at the Sydney unveiling this week - each with Intel's new 4th generation Core chip inside. Why are they so special? Click the next photo to find out...

The biggest reason is battery life, in our opinion. Intel is now claiming that on certain laptops with its new chip it will be possible to watch an HD movie for nine hours, without needing to recharge the laptop. So for example, you might get through an entire flight from Hong Kong to Sydney. We even spotted one laptop maker that claims its laptop will last for 12 hours (not playing HD movies mind you). We'll show you which laptop this is later in this gallery. What else should you know about these new laptops?

This new "hybrid" laptop trend isn't going away - just take a look at the photo above. A lot of the laptops you'll see in this gallery have touchscreens. Some have a screen you detach completely and carry it around under your arm like an iPad. Some have a screen that doesn't detach, but swivels around to hide the keyboard, so you can use it like a tablet. We've looked at a few of these hybrid laptop/tablets - they're handy, but there are compromises, despite what the advertising will tell you. Most of all, if you want the lightest laptop possible, you're often better to go for a "regular" laptop., We even spotted one that's lighter than the ridiculously light MacBook Air. We'll show you which laptop later in this gallery. Let's look at the laptops…

One interesting feature to keep an eye out for are IPS screens. One advantage is that the image on the screen looks better when you aren't sitting exactly dead-centre in front of the laptop. We're also told that IPS reduces the "ghosting" effect when you press the screen with your finger - handy, because a lot of these new laptops have touchscreens. LG is one of a couple of laptop makers that's moving to IPS screens. This is the LG 15U530, a 15-inch screen laptop.

Keyboards might be something you don't pay much attention to when shopping for a laptop - but a bad keyboard can ruin a laptop. Generally, the keyboards we looked at in this new crop of 2013 laptops are better than ever. This is keyboard on the LG 15U530. Not bad, though we prefer a single touchpad that doesn't have a separate button to click. The MacBook touchpad is still the best to use, in our opinion.

This tiny LG "Tab-book" has a clever trick - press a button on its side and the screen quickly springs open into place. We haven't tested it ourselves, but the demo we saw looked very clever. On some other cheaply designed mini laptops, you have to awkwardly twist or pull open the screen.

Another nice touch - the screen angles upwards at 40 degrees which might make it a bit easier to see if you are tall. Watch out for awkward screen angles on some mini laptops like this.

Here's another important decision to make - how small a keyboard can you cope with? Personally, we find we need a keyboard on a 13-inch laptop to do any serious work. This keyboard is from the LG Tab-book from the previous photo, which is a lot smaller. Still, we must say LG has done a good job - the keyboard was actually not too cramped. We wouldn't want to type out a long document, but it should be enough for emails and the like.

This is more like it. 13-inch screen laptops like this are our personal favourite. Much lighter than their bigger brothers, but with a big enough keyboard and screens for some serious work. There are two interesting things about this 13-inch LG 13Z930. First, LG is claiming an amazing 12 hours of battery life. We'll need to check how they're coming up with that measurement, but it's great to hear nonetheless. Click the next photo for our second observation...

Why do laptop makers insist on mucking about with funky keyboard designs? We haven't a chance to properly test this one, but on first impressions, the keys are a tad too small. We'll reserve our verdict till we've tested one.

On the upside, the white hard shell on this LG was very nice. It's a super light laptop (1.15Kg) but the shell doesn't feel cheap and flimsy. If you want a Windows laptop that doesn't look like all the others, this is one model to keep on your shortlist.

What if you want a big laptop? This is a 17-inch model from Toshiba. As well as better graphics and a big screen, one of the biggest differences is lots more storage space. This Toshiba Satellite P70 has in excess of 1TB of storage on board. That's loads of space for your files, when you consider than most think and light laptops are switching to much smaller 128GB or 256GB SSD.

Expect to see more and more touchscreens, and not just in the cute little laptops. Even this 15-inch Toshiba P50 has a touchscreen.

Good news if you prefer a bigger laptop - even these are getting thinner. The Acer V7-582PG you see here is a 15.6-inch laptop, and is advertised as being 6% thinner than the previous model. We saw various laptop makers saying their new models are thinner.

One of the pet peeves we have with many Windows laptops is that they're often hopeless at "waking up" quickly when you open the lid. Often they take too long, or worse still, get confused and don't wake up at all. The good news is that several laptop makers are claiming that their new models will wake-up faster with Intel's new 4th generation Core chip.

This Acer S3 has a fancy trick - you can actually adjust the brightness of the backlight behind the keyboard to your liking. The backlighting also adjusts automatically.

Yes, in the new era of laptops you can reach out and touch, "wobble-free" is actually a selling point. It's not a bad thing to have - pressing the screen and having the screen wobble back and forth could be frustrating. Get used to it - an Acer spokesperson estimated that about 70% of their laptop range will have touchscreens.

Here is the keyboard on the Acer Aspire S3. Note the single touchpad. It's nice and big and there's no separate touchpad button - just the way we like it.

Here's the Acer Aspire S7. It's another 13.3-inch screen laptop, also with the auto-backlight keyboard. Like the S3, we think it's a standout: lightweight and has a classy look.

It's still possible to buy a laptop in a really garish colour, though the new models we saw this week were all rather muted. Silvers, blacks and greys are common, with a couple of standout white models. This is Acer's V5-473G. It's a 14-inch laptop.

This is a laptop you won't want to lug very far - it's a 17.3-inch "entertainment powerhouse". Like Toshiba and various other brands, Acer still makes huge laptops like this for people who think bigger-is-better. This is the Aspire V3-772G. It can take up to a whopping 32GB RAM.

You'll see more and more of these odd-looking laptops on the market. The screen is on a special hinge so you can angle it in all sorts of directions - the idea is that people can stand next to it, or around it, and still be able to touch the screen. This model is the Acer Aspire R7-572G.

You've got a choice to make if you want a thin and light laptop - a detachable screen, or a screen that doesn't detach? This Sony Vaio Duo 13 has a screen which doesn't detach. But unlike a "normal" laptop, you can close the screen and still use it like a tablet. The downside of choosing a "hybrid" laptop like this, is that it weighs 1.3Kg - relatively light, but still a lot more than an iPad. The upside, flip it open and you've got a proper laptop.

The keyboard on the Vaio Duo Pro 13. Sony claims battery life on this little portable has increased to 11 hours.

In our opinion this is the standout laptop of all the laptops in this gallery - Sony claims it's the world's lightest 13-inch Ultrabook in the world. Impressively, it's actually lighter than a 13-inch Apple MacBook Air. One reason is the use of carbon fibre. The laptop is the Sony Vaio Pro 13.

And this is the 11-inch version - it weighs less than 1 Kg. That's not the only reason this laptop is special. Click the next photo to see another...

What you're looking at is an "extended battery" for the Sony Vaio Pro. Various laptop makers offer these for certain models. This one is impressive: Sony claims that using this battery you can get up to 17 hours of battery life on the Vaio Pro 13 (up to 15 hours on the 11-inch model). There's also another clever feature we liked...

Here's the power adapter for the Vaio Pro. That port is actually a USB port built into the AC power brick. The idea is that it gives you a spare USB port for charging your phone if you're already using the USB ports on the laptop for a mouse or something else.

The power brick has another trick - you can clip on an accessory which turns it into a wirleess router. Plug the Internet connection into the network port, and you'll be able to get your phone or tablet online wirelessly.

The MacBook made all other laptop screens look second-rate when it got its Retina screen - but this year's Windows laptop screens are improved. One trend is to put some of the technology from TVs into laptops. This photo shows a demonstration by Sony, showing the difference in colour between its laptops and a MacBook. Sony's sales pitch is that its laptops are better at showing colour.

The winner of the most ridiculously big laptop is this one from ASUS. It is monstrous - big enough to hold a 1TB hard drive.

This mini business PC from ASI has a trick - built-in Bluetooth wireless. The idea is that you might have the PC at one end of a boardroom, beaming a presentation to screen at other side of the room.

One of the decisions to make will be whether to go with a touchscreen laptop or not. We've read that HP will be bringing out non-touch versions of some of its Envy laptops. It will be worth looking to see whether these have more power or other advantages under the hood. This is HP's Envy Touchsmart 15.

Also keep in mind that laptop makers like HP, Toshiba and Dell have special models designed for business use. This is HP's Probook, which is for "home and business" according to the HP web site.

We've been quite impressed with Dell's XPS Ultrabook range of laptops - the XPS 13 Ultrabook in particular, though you can now also get an XPS 14 Ultrabook. THey are all "regular" laptops. The XPS 12 Ultrabook has one major difference. Click the next photo to see what it is...

The screen on the Dell XPS 12 Ultrabook does this. Flip it around, close the lid, and you can use it as a tablet. Like we said earlier, it's heavier than an iPad will be though.

One thing Dell is known for is giving you bang for buck. This is another Dell which should be on your radar if you're looking for a relatively large all-rounder - the Dell Inspiron 15R. One downside, it's not going to be very light. Like many of the others here, it also now comes with a touchscreen option.

If you're looking at laptops for an entire office, then another Dell for your list is the Latitude. Dell tells us the new Latitude can connect to the same docking station Dell has offered for the past five years. That's at least one gadget that you won't have to upgrade yet. In case you're interested, we're told that companies with "volume" Windows licenses should be able to arrange a "downgrade" to Windows 7, if they don't like the idea of using Windows 8.

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In pictures: meet 20 new laptops with Intel's new chip

Things just got a lot more exciting if you're buying a new laptop.

Related articles

TSMC says US tariffs have some impact but AI demand robust

Dell raises annual profit forecast on strong AI server demand

Nvidia to launch cheaper Blackwell AI chip for China after US export curbs, sources say

Most popular tech stories

Westpac pilots AI to analyse inbound call content

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Coles merges digital and customer leadership

Orica to set new workforce systems live in Australia in July

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Telstra to move away from 'best effort' connectivity, let users tweak attributes

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Photos: The 2024 IoT Awards winners

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