Ultrabook: Samsung NP530U4B

Slim and fast boot-up was the initial requirement for ultra-books with most of them foresaking HDD storage and moving entirely to SSDs for it. Samsung's latest Series 5 ultra-book makes a practical impression with elements that we still can't manage without, such as an optical drive and storage size. As far as looks go, it is not as slim as Zenbook or Macbook Air, but at 0.82 inches and 1.79 Kg, it is undoubtedly slim and light for a 14-inch ultra-book. Inside the slim form factor, it has plenty to offer, such as an optical drive, 1TB HDD storage, Intel Corei5 processor, 6 GB RAM, a comfortable touchpad and keyboard, even if it lacks backlighting.

It also boasts of two USB 3.0 ports, a 4-in-1 card reader, a VGA port and an excellent 14-inch display with Samsung's super-bright screen. Now, the lack of an SSD clocks its boot time more than other ultrabooks out there, but barring that it hasfully loaded. In the benchmark tests, it did well, particularly in 3D Mark with a score of 4992. It also showed a promising battery standby of upto 5 hours in the Battery Mark test. The PCMark score of 6908 is passable, because as compared to the Zenbook and the Ideapad U300, this Samsung Series 5 ultrabook is merely two-thirds of what the duo mustered.

Bottomline: It's a stunning notebook chiselled as an ultra-book with features that many ultra-books have said goodbye to, and at 54k, it is a steal of a deal..