Remember NEC's LaVie Z Ultrabook we first heard about at Computex? It's a super light (875g / 1.93 lbs) and thin (15mm / 0.59-inch) magnesium alloy system running Windows 7 that's only available in Japan and we just spotted it here at IDF 2012 in San Francisco. Spec-wise you're looking at a 1.9GHz third-generation (Ivy Bridge) Core i7 CPU, 4GB RAM, 128GB SSD with integrated Intel HD 4000 GPU driving a 13.3-inch 1600x900-pixel display. It features an SD card slot on the left side, audio, USB 2.0, USB 3.0, HDMI and power connectors on the right edge and the obligatory webcam.
We spent a few minutes using the LaVie Z and were quite impressed with how lightweight and well made it is. It feels like a premium Ultrabook yet still looks unique -- unlike the plethora of me-too designs the PC industry's been dumping on the market lately (yes, we're looking at you, HP). The screen is nice and bright with decent viewing angles. NEC's done a good job with the button-less trackpad which is properly responsive. Sadly the keyboard is a bit of a mixed bag -- the short travel and small surface area of the individual keys will be an issue for some. Want to know more? Check out the gallery below and hit the break for our hands-on video.
Continue reading Spotted at IDF: NEC's lightweight LaVie Z Ultrabook (hands-on video)
Filed under: Laptops
Spotted at IDF: NEC's lightweight LaVie Z Ultrabook (hands-on video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 11 Sep 2012 18:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | |
Email this |
Comments
If you've had a window seat next to the wing of an airplane, you've probably watched as flaps on the wing engage and disengage as a plane takes off and lands. That's because in each phase of flight -- take off, landing, cruising and maneuvering -- th...
With last year's Aero 15X, Gigabyte managed an impressive feat: putting powerful gaming performance and long battery life into a 4.4-pound body. This year, the Taiwanese company is trying to top itself with the Aero 15 Y9, its new flagship laptop...
Earlier this week, HP said it would be the first to release a laptop with a 240 Hz display, but according to Dell, that's not quite the case. The company has announced that its Alienware m15 lightweight gaming laptop will also have a 240 Hz display a...
Origin recently launched a pretty lightweight Max-Q gaming laptop, but with its latest model, it's pushing the form factor even more. The new 15.6-inch EOS-15S is just an inch thick and tips the scale at a mere 3.4 pounds, but it packs up to an Intel...
MSI's laptops aren't just all play, no work. Though best known for its gaming laptops, MSI also revealed a more sedate, but still well-equipped model, the 14-inch Prestige PS42. It packs decent an Intel Core i7-8550U quad-core CPU, near bezel-less 10...
Back at CES a few months ago, I wrote that we were entering a golden age in lightweight gaming laptops. It started last year with NVIDIA's small, power-efficient Max-Q graphics, followed by Intel and AMD's surprising team-up on Core H with Radeon RX...
Scientists at UCLA have found a new way to inject silicon carbide nanoparticles into a molten alloy of magnesium and zinc, resulting a metal nanocomposite that demonstrates "record levels" of stiffness-to-weight and specific strength, and "superior s...
