Thin, light and powerful. 2013 was definitely the year of the Ultrabook in the computer world. Since the introduction of the first Ultrabook there have been many improvements as far as speed, power consumption, weight and overall performance, the introduction of Windows 8 and the Chromebook have also made mayor improvements in the way we look and experience ultrabooks. We have put together this list featuring 5 of the best Ultrabooks from 2013 and that are definitely worth taking a look at if you are interested in purchasing a Ultrabook this holiday season.
1. Apple Mac Book Air
We weren’t even sure what the best part of the Mac Book Air was, is it the haswell Intel CPU with low power consumption? Mac OSX? the multitouch trackpad? Design? 12 hour battery life? Or graphics card? All we know is that the Mac Book Air is definitely our number 1. On our Top 5 lists Apple usually isn’t number 1 because of its high price, but in general, ultrabooks are much more expensive then normal laptops making the price of the Mac Book Air ($1.099 for the 13inch model) one of the cheaper ultrabooks.
The Mac Book Air features a 13 inch or 11 inch screen with a 1440 x 990 resolution, 12 hour battery life, up to 256GB of Flash storage (SSD), Dual Core i5 Intel Haswell processor, weighs 2.9 pounds and is 0.68 inches thick when closed. The Mac Book Air also runs on Apple’s latest Operation system Mac OSX Mavericks.
2. Acer Aspire S7-392
The Acer Aspire is a true powerhouse of an ultrabook. If you are someone that travels frequently but only during certain times of the year then the Acer Aspire is the way to go. Featuring 8GB of RAM, intel i7 processor, a 256 GB SSD and 1920 x 1080 touch screen display and all this for the price of $1.399 is mind blowing. The Acer Aspire is about 0.51 inches and the only down side of it is the low 7 hour battery life.
3. Samsung ATIV Book 9 Plus
Now that we have recovered from the price shock of the Asus Zenbook UX301 we can talk about our number 3 on the list, the ATIV Book 9 Plus by Samsung. Featuring a stunning 3.200 by 1.800 resolution it has the highest resolution of the Top 5, it features a i5 Intel processor and SSD storage. The biggest downside of the ATIV Book 9 is the storage capacity, being the max 128GB, which in todays modern world just isn’t enough. The ATIV Book 9 plus features a beautiful metal-black design and is available in the color “Mineral Ash Black” and for the price, is the best way to go if you are on a budget but still want the best of the best, specially as far as display quality and resolution. The Samsung ATIV book 9 starts at $1.399
4. ASUS Zenbook UX301
Asus has been one of the top selling ultrabook manufacturers since it made its first ultrabook. The Zenbook UX301 is without a doubt one of the best ultrabooks available from Asus. It has a fancy looking-glossy design, features a 2560 x 1440 resolution display an Intel i7 processor and runs on Windows 8. If you are not an Apple fan the Asus Zenbook UX301 is definitely the way to go. As far as thickness it is just 0.61 inches. This all is very awesome, but at what price? Well, we want to warn you, it isn’t the cheapest ultrabook. The i7 model comes around $1.999 and the i5 model starts at $1.799
5. Google Chromebook Pixel
Our list won’t be complete without a Chromebook. We have chosen the The Chromebook Pixel as our number 5 of the list. It stands out for several reasons, first of all it runs on Chrome OS which is completely focused on the cloud and making use of Google’s services like Google Drive, Gmail, Google Hangouts, Google Chrome etc. and it is the first chromebook not focused on creating a cheap device as far as hardware goes, infact the thing that makes it stand out most is the hardware.
The Chromebook isn’t just your average ultrabook it features a square solid design,a 2,560 × 1,700 touchscreen display, Intel i5 processor and surprisingly a 32GB SSD, for those that aren’t very familiar with Chromebook this might come as a shock, but let me explain why:
Chromebook is completely focused on the cloud, the 32GB SSD just has the minimum software to keep the OS running, all of your data is stored in the cloud and can be accessed from anywhere. Google offers free 1TB of storage in Google Drive if you purchase a chromebook, making the total storage available 1TB and 32GB. This all for $1.600
