LG's U560 Only Barely Qualifies as an Ultrabook

Intel may have a precise set of guidelines for what is an ultrabook and what isn't, but LG doesn't mind bending them a bit if it means it can provide a higher functionality to its customers.

The results of its latest experiments is the laptop mentioned in the title, the U560, which is, true enough, a bit thinner and a standard notebook, but not by much.

For those that want the specific dimensions, the ultrabook measures 0.82 inches in thickness (20.82 mm) and weighs 4.3 pounds (1.95 kilograms).

The reason it is so heavy is twofold: for one thing, the item has a discrete GPU (graphics processing unit), rather than relying exclusively on whatever integrated graphics chip lies in the CPU (central processing unit).

The support page suggests an NVIDIA chip is used, though it might be possible to choose otherwise.

The storage is also worth noting: LG made it so that two drives are used: a solid-state drive (SSD) for caching and an HDD (hard disk drive) for capacity.

LG didn't stop there. It actually went one step further and included a DVD drive on top of everything else.

Optical drives are something that ultrabooks normally do without, as they add too much thickness. Nevertheless, LG made the optical drive a part of the U560.

The rest of the spec sheet sticks to familiar things. The IPS LCD (liquid crystal display) measures 15.6 inches, the CPU is a Core i5 Intel unit (1.8 GHz), the connectivity capabilities cover all the basics (USB, video, audio, etc.).

Sadly, LG has only released the U560 15.6-inch Ultrabook in South Korea, its home market. If other regions of the world ever get it, it will be later down the line. Get the full story here (translated), but don't expect to see a price. Retailers still have to reveal it.