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Samsung showed off a completely new line of notebooks at CES, and we've gotten to go hands on with all of them. In addition to the refreshed Series 9 ultraportable that we saw earlier, Samsung was showing off the new Series 5 and Series 5 Ultra, the Series 7 Chronos, and the Series 7 Gamer.

The new Series 9 comes in 13" and 15" variants, compared to 11" and 13" variants for the original S9. With the S9 refresh, Samsung basically fixed every design related complaint leveled at the S9 and then slimmed the entire system down for good measure. The glossy plastic on the LCD bezel and interior of the notebook is gone, as are the hidden drop-down ports, and the gorgeous matte display panel gets a much needed bump in resolution to 1600×900. Samsung claims a 400nit brightness for both generations of the Series 9, and we measured the original at 394 nits max brightness and a 520:1 contrast ratio. The new one looks to be similarly great – if every notebook had a panel like this, we would never complain about notebook displays again. Samsung has moved the S9 over to an anodized aluminum unibody chassis (sound familiar?) allowing them to cut the weight of the 13" model to 2.5lbs (from 2.8) and reduce thickness to an anorexic half-inch. The slow selling 11"er has been dropped from the lineup, replaced by a larger 15" model. I use the term larger very loosely, as the 15"er weighs just 3.3 pounds and strikes a footprint smaller and thinner than most of the new 14" ultrabooks on display at the show. The Series 9 is slated to show up in Q2 for 99 and 1499 price points for the 13" and 15" models, respectively, and will be sold alongside the original Series 9 systems until Q3. 

Staying with the ultraportable theme, Samsung also launched the Series 5 Ultra, a mainstream ultrabook featuring 13" and 14" models. Samsung is speccing these with the standard ultrabook fare – low voltage Core i5 processors, 4GB of memory, a 500GB hard drive with 16GB express cache, optional SSDs, and 8 hours of battery life. The express cache drive is borrowed from the Series 7 Chronos, a feature that Anand will go more in depth on in a later post.  The 14" S5 Ultra is notable for having a built-in optical drive, a rarity in the ultrabook class. Both the 13" and 14" models have matte, 300 nit 768p displays, and it's really nice to see Samsung pushing for good quality displays throughout its notebook lineup. The S5 Ultras are both relatively heavy, at 3.5lbs for the 13" and 3.95lbs for the 14". They're not heavy by normal standards, but compared to many of the other ultrabooks on display, they're definitely not light. The S5 Ultra will start at 9 for the 13"er and 9 for the 14", while the SSD option will cost you 0 on the 13" model. Both models will be available on January 30th.

The mainstream Series 5 notebook looks to be a very solid mid-range option that is set to ship when Ivy Bridge launches later this year. There are two models, a 15.6" (900p) and a 17.3" (1080p), both with matte 300-nit displays. Starting price is expected to be in the 9 range for the 15.6" model, and the spec list includes Ivy Bridge i5/i7 CPUs, Nvidia's GT650M with Optimus, up to 2TB of storage in the 17", Blu-ray, and JBL speakers. For a mid-range media oriented system, it looks to be very full featured and well specced, and given the quality of the  display, the Series 5 is definitely a notebook to look out for in the second half of this year. 

Gallery: Samsung’s New Notebook Lineup

The Series 7 Chronos is a notebook that's been out since late last year in 14" and 15.6" forms, and Samsung snuck in a 17" variant at CES. The 17"er comes with a 1080p matte display with a 300nit brightness, along with IVB Core i7 quad-core CPUs, next-gen ATI graphics, JBL speakers, and the same express cache technology as the smaller S7 Chronos systems and the S5 Ultra. Pricing is expected to be in the 00 range, and availability is slated for the Q2-Q3 timeframe. 

The Series 7 Gamer is the largest and most ostentation system that Samsung was showing off, in a variety of bright and loud colors. It's available in your choice of bright yellow, orange, and red, as well as a (slightly) more understated black. Spec-wise, it's pushing an i7 quad, AMD's HD6970M with 2GB of vRAM, JBL speakers, and the same 1080p panel as the 17" S7 Chronos. The keyboard has blue backlighting, except for the WASD keys, which are highlighted in red. The system is gargantuan in size, rivaling things like the ASUS G74 and Toshiba's Qosmio X770. It's expected to show up in Q2 for 99, hitting the higher end of the gaming notebook market. 

Overall, Samsung seems to be making a huge push in the notebook market, and in a very short time, has become a serious player in the mobile PC space (or at least the American market, since Samsung has been pretty big in Europe and Asia for quite some time now.) We're pretty eager to get some extended time with their new notebooks and excited to see where Samsung goes from here.

STORAGE, SOFTWARE AND SEARCH firm Google has announced hardware backing for its Chrome Notebook OS.

At its I/O event today firm revealed that notebooks, which so far have been limited to a trial subset of users, would be released to anyone that wanted one on June 15.

On that date retailers in the US, the UK, Germany and others, will be offering a choice of two Chrome notebooks, one by Samsung and one by Acer.

Hardware details are light, for now, but Google has released enough information to keep us ticking over.

The Samsung Chromebook, Google’s name, has a 12.1in screen, an eight second bootup time and eight hour battery. In the US a WiFi version will cost 9, and a version with 3G more.

Acer’s entry is slightly smaller and has an 11.6in screen, the same boot up time, but battery life of just 6.5 hours. Although it has a full size keyboard, its slightly lower spec leads to a 9 price tag.

Google is still in discussions with carriers outside of the US, there Chrome users must turn to Verizon, but expects to announce local deals soon.

One thing those carriers may not like is the fact that the Chromebooks have Jailbreak as standard, users however, may disagree.

Oh, and guess what. Everyone in attendance gets a free Chomebook. µ

Gateway announced this past Moday that they're releasing to the market a trio of value-oriented desktop (well, really nettop) replacement notebooks built around AMD's Fusion platform. Brazos has been a big hit with OEMs as nearly every major manufacturer is producing machines based around it, particularly the extremely popular E-350 APU.

The new NV series from Gateway features across the board 15.6" LED-backlit 1366×768 displays, wireless-n connectivity, HDMI, 1.3-megapixel webcams, and six-cell, 44Wh batteries. They also feature the now-traditional Acer/Gateway island-style keyboard that remains the bane of my existence, much to Jarred's continued amusement. As a whole the line may not seem too exciting, but remember these notebooks are gunning for users on the strictest of budgets and top out at an MSRP of 0.

Gateway's flagship model is the catchily-named NV51B05u. This is the 0 one, and it ships with the AMD E-350 APU, 3GB of DDR3, and a 500GB 5400-RPM hard drive. Presently, the NV51B05u is the only model on Gateway's website, but it can be found here. Gateway quotes over four hours of running time on the battery, and our experience with the E-350 suggests that figure is probably accurate for moderate loads.

On the other hand, Gateway is a little more cagey with detailed specs about the other models that are rounding out the line. At 0 is the NV51B02u, which also features the E-350. Odds are good this model has a smaller hard drive and/or less RAM. And at the extremely entry-level 0 price point is the NV51B08u which swaps out the E-350 for the C-50. The AMD C-50 retains both cores, but runs at a much slower 1GHz and clocks the graphics core at just 280MHz, though it also features a TDP of just 9W, half that of the already frugal E-350.

Unfortunately these prices seem a little on the high side for what you get. Compare the NV51 series to Gateway's own NV50: starting at 0, you get bumped up to a 2.1GHz Phenom II triple-core and 4GB of DDR3. Of course you'll sacrifice mobility and battery life for the privilege, so for users who are going to want to take their 15.6" notebook onn the go, the newer NV51 with the E-350 may seem like the better call. Ultimately, though, an important takeaway is that this extreme budget market segment may not be for you, but users who don't need much from a machine are going to get more mileage out of these notebooks. This is a market that used to be served by AMD's dire V-series processor, so the E-350 is going to be a major upgrade. 

And just to sweeten the pot, we'll have Toshiba's 15.6" Brazos model, the C655D, in house soon.

The back-to-school season is coming and refreshed product lines are already starting to appear on store shelves. Intel's dual-core Arrandale processors continue to dominate in terms of raw performance, but AMD K10.5-based notebooks are now available from every major vendor. Intel has also refreshed its mobile line and added some low-voltage kit. It's an interesting market full of options, and sifting the wheat from the chaff requires some research. We've decided to do just that and put together a mobile guide with options for everything from multimedia enthusiasts to mobile gaming powerhouses. We're splitting the guide into two installments, with this first part specifically focusing on the larger laptops and desktop replacement (DTR) options. If you're in the market for a new notebook, this article is for you.

Spencer Dalziel THE INQUIRER

For students

US PC VENDOR Dell has announced its launch of several models in its Inspiron R notebook line in the US.

The machines are designed for multi-media simplicity at value price points for cash-tight students. Dell said they are built with curved edges and come in four colours with chrome accents. The display sizes range from 14-inch for ease of mobility up to a 17-inch desktop replacement.

The Inspiron R has a Dell Dock, which is a timesaving feature to give instant access to apps and files. Optional is an Intel wireless display, which projects the laptop display to an HDTV without cables. Students can also get Microsoft Office 2010 bundled in.

Dell says its Inspiron R models have smudge-resistant palm rests to withstand student life and high quality keyboards. They are available with an Intel Core i3 or Core i5 CPU and optional ATI graphics so students can game for hours instead of do their schoolwork.

“The Inspiron R takes the rock solid Inspiron line and amps up the cool factor with a sexy and practical machine for entertainment, and social networking along with all the usual home, school and work functions,” said Glen Robson, VP of product marketing at Dell.

“Photos, videos and personal files can also be securely stored and shared with Datasafeonline for peace of mind right out of the box. This is a laptop that moms will love and youths will ask for,” he burbled.

Dell’s Inspiron R models will be on sale in the US from 25 June and begin at 9. Dell hasn’t yet said whether they’ll be coming to the UK. µ