£580 for an i5 ultrabook? That seems a bit more like it, even if it's not all shiny. Wonder what the build quality is like? It would be nice if they offered an option for a decent res screen though.
Novatech pushes affordable Ultrabook
UK system builder Novatech has hopped on the Ultrabook bandwagon with a new range of 14in skinny notebooks dubbed the nFinity series. Novatech nFinity range The line-up starts with a second-gen Intel Core i3 chip, 2GB of Ram and a 64GB SSD drive. That'll set you back a mere £430. For more va-va-voom, there's the Core i5 and …
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Wednesday 28th March 2012 10:11 GMT Anonymous Coward
by WTF?
would I need another "breakthrough" consumer product? For a grand, or even "mere" 400 quid? To boot W7 in 15 sec. v. 30 sec, riight.... and to work for 5 - 7 hours instead of 3. Right, I get it now... Work more, earn more in order to be able to spend more on another "revolutionary" technology in 3 years' time, to boot in 9 seconds and to work for 12 hours. Right... In the meantime, don't forget to upgrade the rest of your not-so-revolutionary-any-longer fleet of indispensables, your mobile(s), your tablet(s) and those of your kids'. And your remotes, you must never forget to upgrade the remotes. Did I miss the super-hd-5D, wall-mountable, 200% immersion guaranteed 95 inch telly, and your mega-ultra-broadband connection to look up all those linux distros via the not-fully authorised search engine, and your red-ray ultra-HD, 4673 tv channel package (basic package, free with your lifelong mortgage, see full T&Ts).
bad day, he?
nah, quite good, actually. Kids in (school strike), tadpoles (this time of the year), plumber (FOC), the sun shining (cancer, FOC)... what else could one want? Ah, yes, an unltra-fucking-book that boots in 15 seconds, right.
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Wednesday 28th March 2012 16:35 GMT qwarty
Re: Gah.... another pants screen
Yeah, why is it these brand new Ultrabooks have 5 year old graphics resolution specs? OEMs need to tell the panel manufacturers to up resolutions asap. Pathetic how Apple are allowed to keep on charging high margins while other OEMs are not competing in the MacBook Air 13.3" 1440×900 and better pixel densities.
Plently of us vocal on the issue, as with the 16:10 aspect ratio, including many of us with professional experience in the PC systems industry. So no excuse really for Novatech and the rest.
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Wednesday 28th March 2012 14:07 GMT Jon H
Build Quality
As much as I like Novatech for peripherals and things, and even their desktops are usually pretty good (like using Asus motherboards in them), there have been questions in the past about the reliability of their laptops. Novatech are relatively close to me and I've worked for companies who've bought several Novatech laptops but had a high failure rate, perhaps they're much inproved these days but it puts a doubt in my mind.
Still, I wouldn't buy one of these like others said because of the low res screen LAN port. (note, the Reg article says it only has "g" wifi but the Novatech website says "n")
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Wednesday 28th March 2012 15:42 GMT Azzy
I don't see how lack of an ethernet port is reason to not buy a computer. Ethernet dongles are cheaper than dirt, for one thing. For another this is the standard for ultraportables (I'd prefer the dongle over the bound-to-break retractable deal on... I think it was one of the samsung ones reviewed here?). Also, the fact is - most home users nowadays don't use wired networks - it's all wireless, because the wife doesn't want cables strung through the hallways and running cables is too much work or money (depending on whether you hire someone for it).
While I welcome the price reduction, the specs on the cheap model are pretty crap. You can't really do much beyond "netbook grade" tasks with it. Pity about the screen res - is the zenbook still the only Ultrabook with a higher screen res? Also, I think build quality is going to be lousy with these - Novatech's full sized laptops have sub-par build quality, and nothing gets more durable when you try to make it small and light. But - you get what you pay for.
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Wednesday 28th March 2012 16:12 GMT Ensign
Lan and USB
Yes there is a LAN port its just hidden on the hinge behind a rubber plug, the later versions will get USB 3.0 once the Chassis changes. A 14" screen doesn't need a huge resolution because you want to be able to read it and not squint at the dam thing.
As to there laptops I have bought a few recently and I must say the build quality is very good and I have had no problems with any of them, my only complaint is I cannot go to there website and down load drivers.
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Thursday 29th March 2012 07:31 GMT nichomach
Re: Lan and USB
Sorry, but the Novatech specifications do not mention a LAN port, so while the bung is there, the port probably isn't. The chassis will have been bought in from a manufacturer elsewhere, who may make the chassis capable of hosting a LAN port, but that doesn't mean there is one. We get a lot of laptops that still have a bung/cover for a 56k modem; it's just that the modem isn't there.
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