Top 5 Windows 10 Ultrabooks to Buy in 2016

Laptops are a much more productive piece of equipment than a tablet, but unlike a tablet they can get quite heavy at times. That’s where Ultrabooks come in. An Ultrabook is merely a specification guideline by Intel that manufacturers can follow, but make no mistake though,: these guidelines are extremely strict and push the boundaries of what can be achieved with current manufacturing technologies. This is why Ultrabooks can get quite expensive, which is why you need to separate the good ones from the bad. This list will help you do so.

Dell XPS 13

Looking at the laptop, the first thing you will notice is the screen: how thin the bezel is and how big the screen is for the size of the laptop. Dell has managed to fit a 13” screen in what is usually an 11-inch laptop size. The laptop itself is only 0.6 inches thick and weighs only 1.2 kg while giving you an experience of a Core i7 CPU and an NVME SSD — three times faster than a normal SATA SSDs. That thin bezel 13” screen is Full HD as well, and the battery is big enough to last for 12 hours. All in all, if you have $799 lying around, it is quite a beauty.

Lenovo Yoga 900

Lenovo might not have much of a reputation after the recent privacy fiasco, but they still do make gorgeous hardware. The Lenovo Yoga 900 is the laptop equivalent of a convertible. One moment it is a laptop, the next moment you have a Windows 10 tablet. It features a 4K13.3-inchh screen and an Intel Core i7 powering a 512 GB SSD. This is quite possibly the best convertible Ultrabook you can buy at a price of $1,199. It will run eights hours on a full charge.

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Razer Blade 2016

Ultrabooks are already cutting edge technology, but the Razer Blade pushes these boundaries further and sets a new bar for other manufacturers. The Razer Blade is a gaming ultrabook that features a Core i7 6700HQ CPU with 16GB of DDR4 RAM and an Nvidia 970M GPU with 6GB of VRAM: top of the line specs while weighing a mere 2kg.

It also features an individually backlit full RGB keyboard. Every key has an LED lighting it up, and each LED can produce any colour for any individual key. While this might be the best ultrabook you could buy in terms of sheer performance, it also costs you $2000, so it might not be within the budget of a lot of people.

One thing about the Razer Blade unique to it is its Thunderbolt 3 port which you can use to attach another Razer product known as Razer Core, or a housing for an external graphics card. You can connect a full desktop-sized graphics card to the laptop via the Razer Core and further boost your performance — albeit at the cost of portability and price.

(READ ALSO: Windows 10 Business Laptops Unveiled: VAIO S And VAIO Z)

Asus ZenBook UX305

The Asus ZenBook UX305 does not have a catchy name, but it comes with an aluminium body and a 13.3-inch Full HD display that can be powered for nine hours on a full charge battery. The laptop runs on an Intel Core M and you get a 256GB SSD. It weighs only one kilogram and has a sleek aluminium finish that makes the laptop look more premium than it is.

Compared to other laptops on this list, this one is a bit underpowered. It doesn’t even have a backlit keyboard, and the speakers seem a bit underpowered considering they were made with the help of Bang & Olufsen. But it’s the price that differentiates this one the most from others on this list. It costs only $699. That price might seem a lot if you are looking for a good laptop, but it is very affordable if you are looking for a good ultrabook.

(READ ALSO: What to do if Your Laptop is Plugged In, But Not Charging)

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon 3rd Gen

Anyone who has used the ThinkPad keyboards of the old knows of the little red dot that controls the mouse cursor, otherwise TrackPoint. It’s something unique to the ThinkPad and something fans of it are willing to pay anything for. The Lenovo ThinkPad Carbon 3rd Gen might not have the best names but it stays true to it: its body is built with carbon fiber, it features a 4K 14-inch screen, and weighs 1.3kg while packing enough battery to last you 10 hours.

It also runs off of a Core i7 processor using 8GB of DDR3 RAM. Granted, the specs aren’t the most amazing, but it’s the price you have to pay for the little red nub for the mouse and the carbon fiber body. It’s priced at $1199.

These were five of the best Ultrabooks money can buy for you. While Ultrabooks aren’t the most affordable laptops out there, they deliver a better experience. A thin and light laptop that packs a punch is what an Ultrabook strives for, and Intel keeps the specification as tight as possible to keep the innovation going, so you know you are getting the best whenever you buy one.