First we ensured we had with us laptops that best represented the segment. As a result, our labs welcomed the ultra-stylish Apple MacBook, Samsung's new X360, Lenovo's Thinkpad X300- the business warhorse, Dell's Latitude E4200 and five more laptops.For the testing process, we decided to include a number of parameters. However, the most important of these was the portability factor itself, which we figured was directly affected by the weight of the laptop and how efficient its battery was. Further, we proceeded to test them on their features and specifications, design and ease of use and overall performance.
Samsung X360
Dubbed as a MacBook Air rival, the Samsung X360 is quite simply the best ultraportable notebook in this closely fought competition. It sets itself apart from the rest of the pack in various aspects. Despite having a 13.3-inch LED screen (1280x800 resolution), it weighs only 1.3 kg. It has the best screen quality, with a bright display, showcasing crisp images and sharp text. The screen also has exceptional viewing angles. Practicality apart, it's hard to ignore the X360's slim stylish design.
It has a two-toned brushed metallic red and glossy black lid, and with exception to the base, the whole thing is washed over with black gloss. Quite attractive. With respect to the Dell Latitude E4200, the X360's slightly larger form-factor enables it to pack in a bigger screen with an uncompressed chiclet-styled keyboard. The keys are evenly spaced, responsive, and have no flex to write about. The keyboard's layout doesn't require a learning curve, and typing on it is quite effort less. Same can be said of the X360's touchpad and mouse buttons, that are responsive and effortless to use.
The X360 scores high in terms of usability and its good build quality, despite being lightweight In terms of features, the X360 is based on the Intel Centrino 2 platform, with a Core 2 Duo ULV (ultra-low volt age) sU9300 1.2Ghz processor. ULVs operate on lower voltages, conserving battery life with slight compromise on performance. Our benchmarks agree: although it doesn't win any performance crowns with a WorldBench 6 score of 68, the X360's 6-cell battery beats all others in the comparison by lasting 313 minutes - very impressive. It has 2GB of Ram, Intel X4500 graphics chipset, and a 128GB SSD (solid state drive). Solid state drives are much faster than normal hard drives in terms of speed and access time. It decreases system bootup and application loading time dramatically. For example, the Samsung X360 has random read speeds of up to 140mB/s in comparison to the sluggish 45mB/s of the MSI PR201.