The high-end Ultrabook market is tightly bound to Intel’s release schedule. No other company is offering similar performance and power consumption, so when Intel hits a delay like it did with its new Broadwell architecture, it means that things get boring for a while. We’re expecting the landscape to get more intriguing as we draw closer to CES in January, though, and HP has just announced a pair of Ultrabooks that have piqued our interest. The EliteBook Folio 1020 G1 series comes in two flavors, both of which are 0.62 inches thick: the first is the Standard Edition, a more run-of-the-mill system that starts with a 12.5-inch 1080p display and weighs 2.6 pounds. It’s slated for availability sometime in February. You’ll have to wait longer for the more interesting Special Edition, a laptop which shares the same design but uses “green carbon fiber” to reduce the weight to 2.2 pounds and bumps the entry-level screen resolution to 2560×1440. That system unfortunately won’t be available until April, and we don’t yet have pricing information for either model. The Standard Edition will have a 2560×1440 upgrade option, both laptops will come in touch and non-touch versions, and each will ship with your choice of Windows 8.1, Windows 7, Ubuntu, or FreeDOS 2.0. Windows 10 support is promised when that OS ships next year. Read 2 remaining paragraphs | Comments
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HP’s fanless 2.2-pound laptop includes Broadwell and a 2560×1440 screen
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