We have seen a plethora of new ultrabooks crop up here at the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. While 2011 brought many advancements in the thin computing profiles of ultra-slim notebooks with Core i5 and Core i7 processors, 2012 is seeing improvements on original designs by addressing common user criticisms and more focus on the final user experience.

 

Today, Samsung just announced a pair of slimmed-down, redesigned flagship Series 9 notebooks. Interestingly enough, Samsung is branding these devices as "high-end notebooks" rather than ultrabooks for reasons. It is important to consider that the first-generation Series 9 notebooks were introduced in February 2011, just months before Intel announced its Ultrabook campaign throughout summer 2011.

 

The first model is a second-generation revision of the original 13-inch model, while the second is an all-new 15-inch model with the same new redesign. These new Series 9 weighs in at just 2.5 pounds (1.13kg) and measures at just 0.5 inches (12.7mm) thin. According to Samsung, this product is the result of over 30,000 painstaking hours of development and design. It features a single-shell aluminum body, fingerprint resistance and a backlit keyboard.



What many might consider to be the flagship specification of these premium high-end notebooks are their beautiful 1600x900 LED-backlit displays. Both 13-inch and 15-inch models feature up to 600 nits of brightness, suberb viewing angles and stunning visual clarity. Both models also pack Intel second-gen Core i5 Sandy Bridge processors, 4GB of RAM, 128GB SSDs, six-hour batteries and LED-backlit keyboards.

 

Samsung will be pricing these notebooks at $1,399 and up for the 13-inch model, and $1499 and up for the 15-inch model. They will be available starting in February 2012.