Buying an Ultrabook isn’t going to be simple. Not only do the products all look similar but the internals are similar too. How do you make a choice between an Lenovo Core i5 Ultrabook that looks the same as a Toshiba Core i5 Ultrabook that costs the same? The devil, unfortunately for the consumer, is in the details so to make the process a little easier I’ve listed some hints and tips here that you might want to think about before buying. I’ll update it as often as I can and will add in important tips from anyone that comments below.

Last update: Oct 17th 2011

Processing Performance

There isn’t much difference between the 2011 ‘Sandy Bridge’ Core i5 and Core i7 mobile CPUs apart from raw clock-rate but beware of the Core i3 which does not have the ‘Turbo’ feature that overclocks the CPU when possible. This is useful for speeding up web browsing and other start-top activities. All Intel ‘Core’ CPU variants use the same GPU although max clock rates vary between some versions. Intel Quick Sync Video (hardware video decode and encode) is available on all platforms as is the Intel Anti-Theft technology and core Wi-Di support although that requires a Wi-Di capable Wi-Fi card – generally an Intel Centrino card.

Disk

Disk sizes are based on unformatted total capacity, not user storage space. A 64GB drive could potentially have a 10GB windows build and recovery partition leaving around 40GB of space. Assume the worst and consider the usable space to be 20GB less than the disk size shown in the specifications.

SSD performance could vary wildly – there are some terrible SSD controllers out there – so look for a 4KB read-write test. It’s an important measure of how the SSD handles fast writes of small sizes – typical of many usage scenarios. A figure over 10MB/s is OK. Fastest read speeds should be about 200MB/s. The best I’ve seen to date is 500MB/s using a SATA III controller.

Hybrid Hard Drives are not as fast in all scenarios as SSDs, are not as rugged, as quite or as efficient. We recommend looking for an SSD-only device.

Ports and Connectors

I’ve seen specifications that list ports that are not built-in. Rather, these are provided by adaptors. In the example of the ASUS UX31 this adds 100-200gm to the overall weight of the device. It’s a trick that you need to be aware of.

USB3.0 with sleep-n-charge can provide a higher power output than USB2.0 (generally 700ma unless the port is built to the USB charging standards)

Battery Life

The rule of thumb is to use 2/3rds of the manufacturers battery life figures. The figures given by manufacturers are near idle, low-screen brightness figures. The usefulness of quick-charging capability can not be underestimated. Make sure the power brick isn’t a huge, heavy unit.

Don’t compare battery sizes on mAh figures. look for Wh figures.

Screens

A matt screen will help reduce sharp reflections outdoors (in most cases – in some cases it can scatter light in an awkward way) and a glossy screen will look sharper indoors. Remember you can add a matt layer to a glossy screen but you can’t make a matt screen glossy.

With the introduction of thin-bezel screens it means you can get a larger screen in the same casing size. If you’re looking at

Casing

Metal casings look stunning when new but can scratch easily so check for a case (and the weight of it!)

Upgrades

Don’t expect to be able to upgrade memory, battery or disk on Ultrabooks. Due to the design and manufacturing used to reach these slim builds, everything is fixed, soldered or sealed. [We understand that it might be a requirement of Intel’s Anti-Theft specification that disks can not be removed from the units but this is not confirmed.]

Options

There are some key Ultrabook features that are listed in our features guide but I’ve added some general laptop features to the list below.

Look out for these options when assessing a device:

• Wireless Display – Intel’s 1080p ‘Wi-Di’ technology requires an adapter
• Smart Connect – Update while sleeping
• Sleep ‘n ‘Charge – Charge devices over USB when the Ultrabook is off
• Quick charge – Fast charge battery of Ultrabook
• IPS display – Wide angle viewing
• Silent Mode – Fan-off mode
• Enhanced Stereo Speakers
• ‘HS’ capability with the Bluetooth standard.
• Cases – Protect metal casings from scratches.
• Lockable trackpad – Large trackpads can get in the way when gaming or writing large amounts of text
• USB3.0
• 3G / 4G data
• Back-lit Keyboard
• Microphone array (for noise canceling while on video calls)
• Separate headphone out / Mic in (for some headsets that have two connectors)

Where we have the correct information it’s always added to our product pages along with links to reviews and images. Here’s the current list of Ultrabooks for further research.

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