TMCnet News

Feel the Touch [Financial Express (India)]
[January 31, 2013]

Feel the Touch [Financial Express (India)]


(Financial Express (India) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Laptops have changed dramatically in the past few months and nowadays, touchscreen computers are the new normal. Touch technology seems to be replacing the need for the point-and-click mouse or physical keyboard. Microsoft's touch-oriented Windows 8 operating system has spurred a remarkable amount of innovation in laptop design, but still there are many users who would like to maintain the traditional common input methods such as keyboard and mouse in their touchscreen devices, right Especially those who have to do a lot of writing on their laptop Samsung has jumped wholeheartedly into the touch arena with newly-unveiled Windows 8 based smart devices in the Indian market. In its R64,990-a-piece Notebook Series 5 ULTRA Touch, the South Korean tech major has keep the above mentioned touch-cum-keyboard user requirement in mind. This is the company's first touch-enabled ultrabook and is designed for a more intuitive use along with powerful performance and plenty of storage. It is packed with a 13.3-inch HD SuperBright 10-finger multi-touchscreen and 3rd generation Intel Core processor.



A metallic titan notebook computer (NP540U3C-A01IN) was sent across to us for a review. Available in 13.3-inch, the Series 5 ULTRA Touch comes with up to 3rd generation Intel Core i7-3517U processor, 12 GB memory, 500 GB storage and 24 GB ExpressCache system, ensuring a good user experience that customers desire in any scenario. That's not all: 10-15% more efficient CPU processing, plus 2x faster media processing and 3D rendering, fast boot in less than 20 seconds, wake-up in two seconds and faster Web-browsing are just some of many examples the Series 5 ULTRA Touch can deliver.

Carrying a chunky notebook PC is always a big burden, especially for professionals constantly on the move. If you are a frequent traveler, mobility and ruggedness are important laptop features for you. The new Series 5 ULTRA Touch unites professional style and durability. Just 16.9-19.9 mm thin and 1.64 kg light, the Series 5 ULTRA Touch is amazingly portable given its touch capabilities and full notebook PC functionality. Its underside consists of fibre glass delivering the rigidity and lightweight customers ask for, protected from bumps and knocks.


The notebook computer's storage of up to 500 GB provides over two times more content capacity of other ultrabook models. Although it lacks a DVD drive, the Series 5 ULTRA Touch has pretty much everything most users need when it comes to connectivity options. The right side houses an SD card slot and two USB 2.0 ports. The left side includes a full-size HDMI port, a USB 3.0 port, a mini VGA port, the power connector, a dual microphone and headphone jack and Ethernet port.

Switched on, the computer provides users with both the touch-friendly modern user interface and the more traditional desktop interface. The former is divided into Windows 8 apps, Samsung apps and downloaded apps. Swipe in from the right side of the screen to launch the Windows 8 Charms menu, where you can access the Search and Share features, as well as the Start, Devices and Settings menus. Swipe in from the left to access your running apps or swipe up from the bottom while in the modern user interface to open the Apps menu.

In my test-run, typing on the Samsung computer was pleasant and the keys did not feel stiff at all. Its touchpad was equally responsive, making it easy to perform Windows 8 gestures. I surfed some graphics-intensive websites, played games, streamed music and watched movies-the computer provided good overall performance. Even the 1.3 megapixel Web camera produced fairly good results during chat sessions. Importantly, the new device delivers up to 6.7 hours of power on a single charge so customers can stay focused on their movie or work.

This Samsung device's 10-finger multi-touchscreen is a technological leap in interactivity, surpassing traditional two-finger multi-touch by providing full touch control using all ten fingers on a clamshell notebook PC. Its enhanced sensitivity enables users to enjoy the full capabilities of the latest entertainment applications. A user can pinch to zoom on content or rotate images, and scroll through pages with ease using 10 multi-touch functions.

Overall, if you like the idea of having a touchscreen on your laptop, you can take a good look at this Samsung notebook computer.

SPECS Display: 13.3 inch LED HD (300nit) TSP Operating system: Microsoft Windows 8 (64b) CPU: Intel Core i5 331 7U VRAM: Shared Memory: 8 GB(DDR3 1600 MHz/On BD 4G + 4G) HDD: 500 GB Slim (5.4k) E - Cache 24 GB Connectivity: Intel 802.11 abgn (2 x 2) + BT4.0 Estimated street price: Rs 64,990 Copyright 2013 The Indian Express Online Media Pvt. Ltd., distributed by Contify.com Credit: Sudhir Chowdhary (c) 2013 The Indian Express Online Media Pvt. Ltd., distributed by Contify.com

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]