Notebook Hunter

HP’s joined the Ultrabook party with the Folio 13-1008tu, a mid-range Ultrabook powered by an Intel low-voltage Core i5 chip. For $1,297 at Domayne, this newest of the Ultrabooks is very well priced. It’s the heaviest Ultrabook released so far at 1.5kg, but that’s still really light as far as we’re concerned. The aluminium screen backing and keyboard deck are reassuringly firm, while the plastic underside has a rubberised texture that is really pleasant to touch. It also has a good assortment of ports, including Gigabit Ethernet, HDMI and USB 3.0 among others. It’s rather austere looking overall, but the good performance specs, port variety and high build quality mean that for $1,297 the Folio 13 is good value for money. One neat addition is that you also get a $100 Domayne Gift Card, which on top of the already large discount makes this one of the better Ultrabook specials we’ve seen so far.

Processor
The Folio 13 has a 2nd Gen Intel Core i5-2467M (1.6GHz), a mid-range low-voltage processor that can run productivity applications and some intensive software. It can burst up to 2.3GHz using Turbo Boost 2.0 Technology if a particularly demanding program is running.

Graphics
It has an integrated graphics solution called Intel HD Graphics 3000. It’s on par with a low-end dedicated graphics card, and is sufficient for modern games at the lowest settings.

RAM
4GB of RAM is enough to run several programs at once smoothly. It’s more than enough to ensure fluid overall system performance with Windows 7 Home Premium.

Storage
It has a small 128GB drive - but the tradeoff, of course, is that it's a solid state drive (instead of a mechanical hard disk like most laptops) so you get rapid boot and application load times, which contribute to the system's excellent performance.

Screen
The Folio 13 has a 13.3in (1,366 x 768 resolution) gloss screen. The viewing angles and colour vibrancy are about average.

Portability
It has exceptional portability, because it weighs 1.5kg and is 18mm thick. It’s more than light enough to be taken anywhere.

See the ad below.