14 DAY TRIAL // Despite not being the biggest brand in the portable computer systems market, Samsung can still pride itself with some interesting notebook designs. According to recent rumors, the South Korea-based company also plans to release a new ultra-portable computer, of which it says it will be “lighter than air.” Believe it or not, the company's claims are rather accurate, that is, if you read the above phrase as “lighter than Air,” meaning, in direct reference to Apple's MacBook Air, which was released in January 2008.
The new Samsung X360 notebook has been designed to be 3 oz lighter than Apple's ultraportable notebook system. Featuring a 13.3-inch, LED-backlit display, it is powered by an Intel Centrino 2 ULV processor, and is equipped with 1GB of RAM memory, which can be extended to a maximum of 4GB. The notebook comes with a choice of 64GB or 128GB SSD, or a 5400RPM 120GB HDD.
As with the MacBook Air, the X360 doesn't feature any optical drive, but it does provide a higher number of connectivity options than Apple's ultraportable MacBook. The X360 is equipped with three USB 2.0 ports, HDMI, VGA, a 7-in-1 card reader, PCI ExpressCard, ethernet and a docking port.
Wireless connectivity includes a built-in WiFi and Bluetooth 2.0 EDR module, which come to complete the overall features of the notebook. There's also a 1.3-megapixel webcamera fitted on the top of the 13.3-inch display. Given the provided product photos, the notebook will also sport a built-in fingerprint scanner, for security purposes.
Other than that, there are but few details to go on here for the time being, but it seems that Samsung will release the notebook on a worldwide scale sometime in October, with prices expected to be in the $2,200 to $2,900 range. As a side note, although it is lighter than MacBook's Air, the X360 isn't as thin as Apple's ultraportable computer: at its thinnest point, it measures 0.66 inches, but 1.2 inches at its thickest point.
