14 DAY TRIAL // During this year’s IFA even in Berlin, Germany, HP launched a plethora of new notebooks, tablets and generally touch-enabled devices. The new UltraBook we’re talking about today brings the same touchscreen novelty as most of the announcements at the event.
HP’s new Envy TouchSmart Ultrabook 4 is supposed to be a rather affordable mobile machine. Compared with the HP Spectre XT TouchSmart Ultrabook that we presented here, the UltraBook 4 is rather bulkier and heavier.
Actually, the UltraBook 4 has a 23-millimeter thickness and we’re not really sure what makes this one so thick, as it still doesn’t come with the expected optical disc drive (ODD) unit.
We still completely disagree with Intel’s concept that a 13” to 15” UltraBook can come with no ODD.
In our opinion, if it’s a netbook then forget the ODD, but if it’s a notebook, the optical unit is a must.
The 0.9” thickness takes the UltraBook 4 over the official Intel UltraBook specifications, but the unit gets away with the fact that it has a touchscreen and, when touch-enabled devices are in question, the official specifications are less tight.
The 14” screen sports a mediocre 1366 by 768 screen resolution and this is probably another testament to the fact that the HP Envy TouchSmart Ultrabook 4 is targeting the cheaper UltraBook segment.
The processors powering the new model will be Intel’s Ivy Bridge, but in the Core i3 and Core i5 implementations.
On the graphics side, the HP Envy TouchSmart Ultrabook 4 will come with some serious gaming power from AMD’s mobile Radeon line that will benefit from 2 GB of dedicated graphics memory.
The company is touting a long 8-hour battery life and a good subwoofer with Beats Audio.
Everything will be fine with the UltraBook 4 if the price is right. Otherwise, we don’t exactly know who would pay $1000 for an inch-thick notebook with a mediocre screen and lacking a normal ODD unit.
