Dell's thin, high-res XPS 13 laptop does Linux

Dell's thin, high-res XPS 13 laptop does Linux

Ubuntu just went 1080p on Dell's sleekest laptop.

The 2.99-pound XPS 13 Developer Edition -- started as a project to create an open source developer laptop -- is now available on Dell's site for $1,549.

Those specifications, with the critical exception of the Ubuntu Linux, are identical to the 1080p XPS 13 for Windows 8.

Here are the specs:

• Operating system: Ubuntu Linux 12.04 LTS
  
• Display: 13.3-inch 1,920x1,080 panel
  
• Processor: 3rd Generation Intel Core i7-3537U
  
• Memory: 8GB2 DDR3 SDRAM at 1600MHz
  
• Storage: 256GB solid-state drive
  
• Graphics: Intel HD 4000
  
• Price: $1,549
  

In addition to the U.S., Dell will also start to roll it out in select countries in Europe, including the UK, France, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, and Finland.

The XPS 13 is one of the better ultrabook designs to emerge from a top-tier PC vendor. It squeezes a 13.3-inch screen into a footprint more typical of 12-inch laptops, boasts Gorilla Glass, and is constructed from aluminum and carbon fiber, allowing Dell to keep the weight to just under three pounds.

The upgraded display is also brighter and has wider viewing angles than the original 1,366x768 XPS 13 model.

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Dell XPS 12 review: A unique take on the convertible laptop/tablet

Dell XPS 12 review: A unique take on the convertible laptop/tablet

If you're one of the few who remember the original Dell Inspiron Duo from 2010, pat yourself on the back. Like that Duo, the new XPS 12 has a screen that swivels at the middle of the lid's sides, so it can rotate 180 degrees along its horizontal axis and end up facing out from the back of the lid's frame. This allows you to display the screen in what some call a "stand" mode, or else fold the clamshell shut to form a slate-style tablet.

While inventive, the original Duo was hobbled by a low-power Intel Atom processor and never lived up to its potential. Dell walked away from the Duo, which seemed doomed to be another too-early hardware leap, much like Dell's long-lost proto-ultrabook Adamo laptops.

Imagine my surprise when Dell announced that the Duo was back, originally showing us the system behind closed doors this summer. The new version, now part of the high-end XPS line, has gotten a massive physical upgrade. Now it's ultrabook-thin, with a slim metal frame around its screen, and a button-free clickpad. The new version trades up to current-gen Intel Core i5 and Core i7 processors, along with solid-state-drive (SSD) storage, meaning that in terms of hardware it can stand toe-to-toe any mainstream ultrathin laptop.

Between our preview this summer and now, the biggest change has been in the name. Dell has decided to drop the "Duo" branding altogether (perhaps it still has negative connotations) and simply call this the XPS 12. That's certainly apt for a laptop with 12-inch display, but I do miss the descriptive nature of the Duo moniker -- now there's nothing in the name to indicate this laptop's special physical features.

The XPS 12 starts at $1,199 for a Core i5 CPU and 128GB SSD, and goes up to $1,699 for the hardware we tested, with a Core i7 CPU and a 256GB SSD.

This is one of the first laptops with Windows 8, the new touch- and tablet-friendly OS, and it's meant to be used as both a traditional laptop and a tablet. But when evaluating new hardware and new software at the same time, the question is: how much of the user experience in the XPS 12 comes from Dell, and how much from Microsoft? In an Apple laptop, it's fair to consider software and hardware together, as a single company is responsible for both. For Windows-based systems, it's sometimes hard to tell on which side of the fence the faults lie.

And, there are faults. Even though the XPS 12 is a slim, well-built, and frankly ambitious convertible, it works better as a laptop than as a tablet. In the closed, slate mode, it's obvious that the Windows 8 operating system still doesn't always know what to do with your apps and fingers. The not-Metro interface (my own shorthand name for the Windows 8 tile-based UI) works fine, but jumping into apps, even Windows 8-specific ones such as Internet Explorer 10, can yield unpredictable results.

For example, at this point, nearly everyone in the universe uses some form of Web-based e-mail, but Gmail navigation on the small screen in IE10 is tough. Shift the screen just a bit and the orientation changes, with just enough lag to be annoying. Tapping on a text field sometimes brings up the Windows 8 onscreen keyboard, sometimes not (and it takes several steps to call it up otherwise).

That onscreen keyboard is miles ahead of previous Windows ones, but the layout of some keys is counterintuitive, and I ran into just enough lag to make using the Shift and Caps Lock keys especially troublesome.

But, these are the same problems I've found on other Windows 8 systems, so is it fair to lay them at Dell's feet? On the excellent Acer Aspire S7, the touch screen was a secondary experience, mainly used for finger-swiping and scrolling. On the XPS 12, you're expected to use touch much more. And as a touch-screen laptop, the XPS 12 works well. Folded up as a slate, it's still not an entirely satisfying tablet experience.

Price as reviewed / Starting price	$1,699 / $1,199
Processor	1.9GHz Intel Core i7-3517U
Memory	4GB, 1,333MHz DDR3
Hard drive	256GB SSD
Chipset	Intel QS77
Graphics	Intel HD 4000
Operating system	Windows 8
Dimensions (WD)	8.5x12.5 inches
Height	0.6-0.8 inches
Screen size (diagonal)	12.5 inches
System weight / Weight with AC adapter	3.4 pounds / 4 pounds
Category	Ultraportable

Design and features
Aside from the swiveling lid, the XPS 12 shares an overall design with Dell's other recent high-end laptops, such as the XPS 14 and XPS 15. All are thin, with full or partial metal construction and dark accents. When closed, the XPS 12 looks like any small ultrabook, although at nearly 3.5 pounds, it feels dense and sturdy.

The interior is minimalist, with only the keyboard and touch pad. A power button, in the uncommon form of a slider switch, is located along the left edge, and most other functions, from the Wi-Fi antenna switch to volume control, are mapped to the row of Function keys. The wrist rest, keyboard, and keys are all matte black, with a powdery finish that resists fingerprints and nicely offsets the metal trim along the outer edge.

The XPS 12's island-style keyboard is similar to the ones found on most current laptops. In Dell's version, the keys have more-rounded corners than most, and the top row of Function keys is half-height. Typing was comfortable and accurate, and the keyboard is backlit.

The buttonless clickpad is only used when the system is set up as a traditional clamshell laptop. It's a good size, considering this is a small laptop, and works well for general pointing and navigation. But, again, Windows 8 sometimes seems to not know what to do with touch-pad gestures. With some apps and Web pages, two-finger scrolling works well, other times it's too fast and jumpy, and still other times, it's very slow. Trying to execute Windows 8 moves such as displaying the Charms bar or calling up the Taskbar is a pain on a touch pad, and I usually found myself performing these tasks via the touch screen.

The biggest feature here, as previously described, is the rotating screen. Unlike other convertible laptops with rotating screens that swivel along the vertical axis via a central hinge, the XPS 12 rotates along the horizontal axis, flipping end over end. This is possible because the screen is placed inside a thin metal all-around frame, hinged in the center of the left and right sides.

The screen mechanism feels well-designed, and it stays in the traditional laptop position without slipping. Dell says the mechanism has been tested to 20,000 cycles, and it certainly feels sturdy enough.

When you want to flip the screen, a gentle push pops it out of the frame, and it rotates freely, locking in again at 180 degrees; this leaves the screen pointing out from the back of the lid, making it easy to show your screen to someone sitting opposite you (the motion sensor automatically flips the screen image over, so everything appears right-side-up). From there, you can push the lid all the way closed, so the keyboard and touch pad are inside the clamshell but the display is pointing up, making this a slate-style tablet.

When the XPS 12 is folded down as a tablet, you can access the onscreen keyboard built into Windows 8. As I mentioned above, it's thankfully better than the onscreen keyboards in previous Microsoft operating systems, with responsive, well-spaced keys. I found the Shift key would lag a little occasionally, leading to some typing mistakes, and you'll have to spend some time getting used to the layout, which is slightly different from that of the iPad's familiar onscreen keyboard. Besides the standard keyboard layout, there are also split-key and handwriting options.

The biggest difficulty I encountered was the onscreen keyboard not popping up when it should have, in Google Docs, for example. If you need to call up the onscreen keyboard manually, it's an unintuitive procedure, requiring too many steps (slide out the Charms bar from the right side of the screen; tap Settings, tap Keyboard, then pick the style of keyboard you need).

The 12.5-inch screen has a native resolution of 1,920x1,080 pixels, which is incredibly high for an ultraportable laptop. The Windows 8 not-Metro interface scales nicely to it, but Web pages and the traditional Windows desktop view can look very shrunken. Fortunately, the display's pinch-to-zoom feature works great, much as it does on an iPad or Android tablet. That said, I found some Web sites didn't render correctly after pinching to zoom, and in Google Docs, for example, the onscreen cursor and the zoomed view didn't quite match up.

Audio was predictably thin, but fine for basic online video watching. Interestingly, the original Dell Duo had a sold-separately docking stand with bigger speakers built in.

	Dell XPS 12	Average for category [ultraportable]
Video	DisplayPort	HDMI or DisplayPort
Audio	Stereo speakers, headphone jack	Stereo speakers, headphone/microphone jacks
Data	2 USB 3.0, SD card reader	2 USB 3.0, SD card reader
Networking	802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth	Ethernet (via dongle), 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, optional mobile broadband
Optical drive	None	None

Expandability, performance, and battery life
With such a small body, the port selection on the Dell XPS 12 is likewise slim. The most notable deviation from the norm is the video output -- you get a DisplayPort output, rather than the more common HDMI.

Dell offers four base configurations of the XPS 12 (the unit I reviewed is the most expensive one). The entry-level model starts at $1,199 for a Core i5 CPU and 128GB SSD, and by adding either a Core i7 CPU, a larger 256GB SSD, or both, you can take it all the way up to $1,699. Several of the more design-heavy Windows 8 laptops we've seen have targeted that premium price range, but a $1,600 laptop is still a very tough sell, no matter how clever its engineering.

With an Intel Core i7 low-voltage CPU and 8GB of RAM, the XPS 12 was predictably fast in our benchmark tests. Honestly, if you're interested in this system, the lower-end Core i5 configurations will be more than fine for everyday Web surfing, productivity, and media playback tasks.

Battery life was, unfortunately, not the strongest in this laptop. That's a shame, as this is a slim system clearly intended for travel or use as an untethered tablet. In our video playback battery drain test, the XPS 12 ran for 4 hours and 43 minutes, which is on the low side for an ultraportable laptop -- especially one with a power-efficient SSD hard drive. Anecdotally, while using this laptop I found myself reaching for the A/C adapter more often than I'd expected.

Conclusion
The Dell XPS 12 is unique among the Windows 8 laptops we've previewed and reviewed, offering a different take on the convertible laptop/tablet concept. At the same time, it's not exactly an original idea, being based on one of Dell's previous high-concept designs, the Inspiron Duo.

The flip-screen construction is surprisingly practical for sharing your screen with others, and using a touch screen with a keyboard and touch pad works well in Windows 8. But it's hard to justify spending $1,699 when the XPS 12 doesn't entirely satisfy as a slate-style tablet, even if Microsoft shoulders most of the responsibility for that. If you're in love with the XPS 12's design, I'd suggest sticking to the less expensive configurations.

Find out more about how we test laptops.

System configurations:

Dell XPS 12
Windows 8 (64-bit); 1.9GHz Intel Core i7-3517U; 8GB DDR3 SDRAM 1,333MHz; 32MB (Shared) Intel HD 4000; 256GB Lite-On IT SSD

Sony Vaio Duo 11
Windows 8 (64-bit); 1.7GHz Intel Core i5-3317U; 6GB DDR3 SDRAM 1,600MHz; 32MB (Dedicated) Intel HD 4000; 128GB Toshiba SSD

Toshiba Satellite U925t
Windows 8 (64-bit); 1.7GHz Intel Core i5-3317U; 4GB DDR3 SDRAM 1,600MHz; 32MB (Dedicated) Intel HD 4000; 128GB Samsung SSD

Asus Zenbook Prime UX32VD
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) w/ SP1; 1.9GHz Intel Core i7-3517U; 4GB DDR3 SDRAM 1,333MHz; 1GB Nvidia GeForce GT 620M / 64MB (Dedicated) Intel HD 4000; 500GB Hitachi 5,400rpm

Vizio Thin and Light CT14-A2
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) w/ SP1; 1.9GHz Intel Core i7-3517U; 4GB DDR3 SDRAM 1,333MHz; 64MB (Dedicated) Intel HD 4000; 256GB Toshiba SSD

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Acer iconia w500 review acer iconia w500 acer iconia w700 acer iconia w700 drivers acer iconia w700 windows 10 acer iconia w700 keyboard acer iconia w700 specs acer iconia w700 ram upgrade acer iconia w700 case acer iconia acer iconia one 7 acer iconia tablet acer iconia tab 10 acer iconia one 8 acer iconia one 7 tablet acer iconia tab w500 acer iconia a500 acer iconia 6120

Acer Iconia W700 review: Laptop power in a tablet package

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Acer Iconia W700 review: Laptop power in a tablet package

Few systems have had as polarizing an effect in the CNET offices as the Acer Iconia W700. Some felt this full Windows 8 touch-screen tablet and keyboard combo looked ridiculous, or was unwieldy for everyday use. Others liked that it has an Intel Core i5 processor and a full 1,920x1,080-pixel display for a not-inexpensive, but still reasonable, $999.

The truth is somewhere between these two poles. At first glance, the W700 looks a mess, but at the same time, it's hard not to like. For me, the aesthetics of the tablet and its unique side-sliding stand offer a hint of retro-futurism, and I likened it to a leftover "Space: 1999" prop. But, I mean that as a compliment -- too many laptops, tablets, and accessories follow the same overused design cues.

Using a touch-screen slate with an Intel Core i5 CPU makes a world of difference over models that attempt to get away with a low-power Intel Atom processor, and over the not fully baked Windows RT as well. For the most part, this is a combo creation/consumption machine, capable of doing nearly anything a traditional laptop or desktop can.

Sarah Tew/CNET

There are a few caveats, however. You'll want an external mouse or touch pad -- the W700 includes a wireless keyboard but no external pointing device, and man does not live by touch screen alone. Also, the 1080p resolution is overkill for an 11.6-inch display. In the Windows 8 UI view, everything scales fine, but going back to the desktop view is hard on the eyes.

The Acer Iconia W700 is one of only a handful of Core i5-or-better slates we've seen with Windows 8, and when docked, it feels like a mini all-in-one desktop, although the small screen size means it's a stretch to call this your main productivity machine. An add-on mouse or touch pad is practically required for serious use, especially as Windows 8 is, hype aside, still not a fully satisfying tablet-only experience.

Windows 8Ultraportable / Hybrid

Price as reviewed	$999
Processor	1.7GHz Intel Core i5-3317U
Memory	4GB, 1,600MHz DDR3
Hard drive	128GB
Chipset	Intel HM77
Graphics	Intel HD4000
Operating System
Dimensions (WD)	11.6 x 7.5 inches
Height	0.47 inches
Screen size (diagonal)	11.6 inches
System weight / Weight with AC adapter	2.1/2.7 pounds (screen/adapter only)
Category

Design, features, and display
People have an immediate reaction when seeing the Acer Iconia W700 for the first time. I will admit that I liked it -- it was different than the cookie-cutter Windows 8 hybrids I had seen so far, and the look was bold. But some of my colleagues have been less impressed, and they're not entirely wrong.

The W700's main unit is a thick, fairly heavy slab-style tablet. By itself, it's innocuous enough, if chunky for anyone that's used to an iPad. The docking stand might best be described as a bracket. It's L-shaped and covers most of the bottom and right-side edges of the system. The tablet slides into the bracket dock from the right side, connecting via USB 3.0 and AC power plugs on the left edge of the tablet.

The dock itself has three USB 3.0 ports and a power pass-through, but note that the tablet's single USB port is both used and covered by the dock. If you have anything plugged into the tablet, you'll have to remove it and plug it into the dock instead.

Sarah Tew/CNET

The tablet slides into the dock securely, but removing it is a two-handed -- and slightly awkward -- procedure. The dock's angle is not adjustable, which is a negative, as it's not at quite the right angle for close-up use -- and as this is a small 11.6-inch screen, I suspect you'll be up close more often than not.

There is, however, a second option for setting up the docking stand, which is to remove the kickstand portion, rotate the entire setup 90 degrees counterclockwise, and reinsert the kickstand into a second slot. This allows you to set the system up in portrait mode. Again, there's only one screen angle, and frankly, Windows 8, for all its tablet/touch skills, is really set up for landscape mode over portrait.

The included keyboard looks and feels a lot like Apple's wireless keyboard, from the white key faces against silver to the rounded top edge. It connects via Bluetooth, so it'll work with the tablet whether it's plugged into the docking stand or not. The keys are slightly deeper than Apple's similar wireless keyboard, but also a bit clackier. Nonetheless, it's overall a perfectly good keyboard experience.

Sarah Tew/CNET

One thing you don't get with the W700 is any kind of pointer interaction hardware. There's no bundled mouse, and no touch pad built into the tablet, dock, or keyboard. For full-on tablet use, that may be fine, but to set this up as a mini desktop computer, you'll probably want a wireless mouse. I went with a slightly different setup, plugging in an external touch pad from Logitech, which worked especially well with Windows 8 gestures.

The display is both a highlight and a bit of a head-scratcher. The 11.6-inch display has a native resolution of 1,920x1,080 pixels, which is impressive and makes this feel like a very high-end machine. At the same time, it's simply too high a resolution when in the traditional desktop mode. Text and images are tiny and finger-based navigation is more difficult than usual. The Windows 8 UI screen (the tile-based setup formerly known as Metro) scales according to its resolution automatically, so there's no issue there.

Sound was predictably thin, even more so than on most laptops. There are no external speakers built into the dock, but it does have channels cut into it that line up with the two speaker grilles, which are on the bottom edge of the tablet.

	Acer Iconia W700	Average for category [ultraportable]
Video	Mini-HDMI	HDMI or DisplayPort
Audio	Stereo speakers, headphone jack	Stereo speakers, headphone/microphone jacks
Data	1 USB 3.0 (on board), 3 USB 3.0 (on dock)	2 USB 3.0, SD card reader
Networking	802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth	Ethernet (via dongle), 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth
Optical drive	None	None

Connections, performance, and battery life
There's a bit of juggling that goes on with the W700's ports. A single USB 3.0 port on the tablet itself is useful, but that port gets eaten up by the docking stand when connected, which means you'll have to unplug any accessories and reconnect them to the dock. On the plus side, the dock has three USB 3.0 ports. A Mini-HDMI port on the tablet is accessible even when the system is docked, but there's no SD card slot, which may be a deal breaker for some.

Despite its slate-based design, the internal components of the W700 are virtually indistinguishable from your average Windows 8 ultrabook. There's a very common 1.7GHz Intel Core i5-3317U CPU, a 128GB SSD, and 4GB of RAM. That's not a great setup for $999, but the unique design may make up for that.

In our benchmark tests, the Iconia W700 performed similarly to other Core i5-3317U Windows 8 laptops and convertibles, or a little behind. It's well-suited for everyday use, from HD video streaming to social media, to working on office tasks. You're much more likely to run into hurdles dealing with the slightly wonky nature of Windows 8 on a tablet than you are with any sort of processor limitations.

The internal graphics are limited to Intel's basic HD 4000 GPU, which is to expected in something so small and portable. Gaming is always touch-and-go on HD 4000 systems -- some newer games work well, others do not. To test the W700's abilities as a portable game machine, I connected a Microsoft game pad via USB and launched Skyrim. Knocking down the resolution to 1,600x900 pixels and turning detail levels down to low, the game was playable, if a bit choppy.

Checking the Windows 8 app store, only a handful of non-shovelware games were available, none of which looked to be particularly taxing. I flipped through a few that felt very iPad-like, including Jetpack Joyride and Dredd vs. Zombies (a top-down shooter), and found that the W700 can easily handle tablet-style games.

One of the biggest surprises about the W700 is its battery life. On our video playback battery drain test, the system ran for a very impressive 7 hours and 19 minutes. That's especially impressive, considering the high-res screen, and the relatively small amount of internal space that needs to hold the display, components, and battery.

Acer includes a one-year parts-and-labor limited warranty. While navigating Acer's online service and support sections has been a hit-or-miss experience over the years, the product page for this configuration benefits from a clean layout that points directly to support links. The support phone number, not as clearly labeled, is 866-695-2237.

Conclusion
There have been no shortage of opinions about the Acer Iconia W700 around the CNET office. Some disliked its retro-looking docking stand, and are dubious about the efficacy of a standalone Windows 8 slate. I took a warmer view, appreciating the unconventional design of the tablet-stand-keyboard setup, and crediting the W700 with excellent battery life and decent performance. The hardware passes the test; whether Windows 8 does likewise as a tablet-based operating system is another question altogether.

Find out more about how we test laptops.

System configurations

Acer Iconia W700
Windows 8 (64-bit); 1.7GHz Intel Core i5 3317U; 4GB DDR3 SDRAM 1,600MHz; 128MB (Dedicated) Intel HD 4000; 128GB Toshiba SSD

Dell XPS 12
Windows 8 (64-bit); 1.9GHz Intel Core i7-3517U; 8GB DDR3 SDRAM 1,333MHz; 32MB (Shared) Intel HD 4000; 256GB LITEONIT SSD

Sony Vaio Duo 11
Windows 8 (64-bit); 1.7GHz Intel Core i5-3317U; 6GB DDR3 SDRAM 1,600MHz; 32MB (Dedicated) Intel HD 4000; 128GB Toshiba SSD

Toshiba Satellite U925t
Windows 8 (64-bit); 1.7GHz Intel Core i5-3317U; 4GB DDR3 SDRAM 1,600MHz; 32MB (Dedicated) Intel HD 4000; 128GB Samsung SSD

Lenovo ThinkPad Twist
Windows 8 (64-bit); 1.7GHz Intel Core i5-3317U; 4GB DDR3 SDRAM 1,600MHz; 32MB (Dedicated) Intel HD 4000; 500GB Hitachi 7,200rpm

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Acer Predator Helios 500 review: A jam-packed gaming laptop with a giant screen

Acer Predator Helios 500 review: A jam-packed gaming laptop with a giant screen

Anyone looking for a slim, upscale-looking gaming laptop that can do double duty as a portable work machine has been having a pretty good year. The 14-inch Razer Blade, the Asus Zephyrus and other high-design laptops have used new GPU and CPU technology to put more gaming power than ever into slim, light metal bodies with a minimum of over-the-top "gamer" aesthetics.

And then there's the Acer Predator Helios 500. It's pretty much the exact opposite of all of those things. This is a huge 17-inch gaming laptop, with a chromed, horned logo, all sorts of multicolored internal lighting and the kind of desktop footprint rarely seen these days. It's 8.3 pounds (3.8 kg), without the massive power brick, and nearly 2 inches thick at the rear.

Sarah Tew/CNET

Why all the extra mass? Because it takes a much different approach to laptop gaming than those slimmer models. The Helios 500 skips the small, less-powerful Max-Q versions of Nvidia graphics cards found in many new gaming laptops, instead including a full-size GeForce GTX 1070 GPU. It's also the first gaming laptop (but the third laptop overall) we've tested with Intel's new Core i9 processor, which is pitched as a step up from the traditional high-end Core i7. This configuration is $2,499 in the US, while slightly different configurations can be found in the UK for £2,499 or AU$2,848 in Australia. 

Gamers will also appreciate the 144Hz screen and Nvidia G-Sync compatibility, both of which will help you get smoother on-screen gaming. Other than that, however, the nontouch 1,920x1,080-pixel display is a snooze, with dull colors and a thick throwback bezel. 

Acer Predator Helios 500

Price as reviewed	$2,499
Display size/resolution	17.3-inch, 1,920x1,080 pixels
CPU	2.9GHz intel Core i9-8950HK
Memory	16GB DDR4 SDRAM
Graphics	8GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070
Storage	512GB SSD + 2TB HDD
Networking	802.11ac wireless, Bluetooth 4.1
Operating system	Microsoft Windows 10 Home (64-bit)

Big-bodied

At least the massive body makes room for almost any port or connection a gamer could possibly need. There are three USB-A ports, two USB-C ports, an Ethernet jack and full-size HDMI and DisplayPort video outputs. Massive rear vents, and smaller side vents, help keep the Core i9 and GTX 1070 cool, and unlike many other gaming laptops, I didn't find the Helios getting too hot while gaming.

Sarah Tew/CNET

The big keyboard and number pad are chunky enough for keyboard-based gaming, and both the arrow keys and all-important WASD keys are outlined in blue to make them easier to see. The backlit keyboard is zone-based, not per-key, so it's not as flexible as some other ones we've seen. The default color for the lighting is blue, which is a welcome change of pace from every other gaming brand's obsession with fire/laser/lava red.

It's been a running joke among some of my colleagues to champion the idea of backlit touchpads in laptops, which make the pad easier to find in the dark. Here the pad has a backlit outline, which puts it in a select club. (I also love the totally backlit pads on some Alienware laptops.)

Sarah Tew/CNET

100 fps or more

If you're going to invest in a big tank of a laptop like this, it had better be able to kill at gaming. Fortunately, the combination of Core i9 processor and full-power GTX 1070 GPU does just that. There is some built-in software overclocking, via Acer's proprietary software, but even without that it's a mighty performer. Only a couple of laptops with the even higher-end Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 GPU beat it out, and those are even more expensive options.

Because it's only driving a 1,920x1,080 screen, the Helios easily ran newer games like Far Cry 5, Strange Brigade and Shadow of the Tomb Raider at high or ultra detail levels and super high frame rates, from 90-115 frames per second in some cases. Playing with either a mouse or gamepad was really smooth, and the G-Sync display prevented screen tearing.

Sarah Tew/CNET

Stuck in the middle

A gaming laptop like this, with its unapologetic throwback vibe, may find itself in a bit of an awkward position these days. Many gamers are gravitating towards the newer, thinner generation of laptops, even at the cost of some power and flexibility. While the most hardcore of gamers may stick with a desktop, or else go all-in on a laptop with the GTX 1080 GPU.

And, don't forget that the next generation of Nvidia GPUs are hitting desktops any day now, and are reportedly coming to laptops by early next year. That makes investing thousands in a gaming laptop right now a different calculation.

Despite all that, the Helios 500 will appeal to a shopper looking for a specific mix of price, performance and features. The price is reasonable, especially considering the Core i9 processor; a big 17-inch screen like this is getting hard to come by in a gaming laptop; and the generous set of connections will give your slim-laptop-owning friends a severe case of port envy. 

Geekbench 4 (multicore)

Origin PC Eon 17-X (2018) 25576 Asus ROG Strix Scar II 21588 Acer Predator Helios 500 19794 Razer Blade (2018) 18015 Alienware 17 R4 (2017) 14503

Note: Longer bars indicate better performance

Cinebench R15 CPU (multicore)

Origin PC Eon17X 1439 Asus ROG Strix Scar II 1237 Acer Predator Helios 500 1119 Razer Blade (2018) 926 Alienware 17 R4 (2017) 877

Note: Longer bars indicate better performance

Video playback battery drain test (streaming)

Razer Blade (2018) 473 Alienware 17 R4 (2017) 191 Asus ROG Strix Scar II 187 Origin PC Eon17X 147 Acer Predator Helios 500 127

Note: Longer bars indicate better performance (in minutes)

3DMark Fire Strike Ultra

Origin PC Eon17X 5330 Alienware 17 R4 (2017) 5024 Acer Predator Helios 500 4102 Asus ROG Strix Scar II 3938 Razer Blade (2018) 3431

Note: Longer bars indicate better performance

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided gaming test

Origin PC Eon17X 103.6 Alienware 17 R4 (2017) 95.9 Acer Predator Helios 500 80.1 Asus ROG Strix Scar II 76.7 Razer Blade (2018) 72.2

Note: Longer bars indicate better performance (FPS)

System configurations

Acer Predator Helios 500	Microsoft Windows 10 Home (64-bit); 2.9HGz Intel Core i9-8950HK; 16GB DDR4 SDRAM; 8GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070; 512GB SSD + 2TB HDD
Origin PC Eon17X	Microsoft Windows 10 Home (64-bit); (OC) 4.7GHz Intel Core i7-8700K; 16GB DDR4 SDRAM 2800MHz; 8GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080; (2) 250GB SSD RAID 0
Asus ROG Strix Scar II	Microsoft Windows 10 Pro (64-bit); 2.2GHz Intel Core i7-8750H; 32GB DDR4 SDRAM 2,660MHz; 8GB Nvidia GeFroce GTX 1070; 512GB SSD
Razer Blade (2018)	Microsoft Windows 10 Home (64-bit); 2.2GHz Intel Core i7-8750H; 16GB DDR4 SDRAM 2,660MHz; 8GB Nvidia GeFroce GTX 1070 with Max-Q Design; 512GB SSD
Alienware 17 R4 (2017)	Microsoft Windows 10 Home (64-bit); 2.8GHz Intel Core i7-7720HK; 16GB DDR4 SDRAM 2,400MHz; 8GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080; 512GB SSD + 1TB HDD
Dell Inspiron 15 7577 Gaming (late 2017)	Microsoft Windows 10 Home (64-bit); 2.5GHz Intel Core i5-7300HQ; 8GB DDR4 SDRAM 2,400MHz; 6GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 with Max-Q Design; 256GB SSD

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Apple macbook 12 inch 2016 macbook air 2015 12 inch apple 12 inch macbook apple macbook 12 inch 2016 macbook pro 2015 12 inch apple macbook 12 inch 2017 apple macbook 12 inch battery replacement apple macbook 12 inch accessories apple macbook 12 inch retina display apple macbook 12 gold apple macbook student discount apple macbook pro m1

Apple MacBook (12-inch, 2015) review: A minimalist MacBook that proves less can be more

Apple MacBook (12-inch, 2015) review: A minimalist MacBook that proves less can be more

Editors' note (June 27, 2017):  The12-inch MacBook, reviewed in full below, was updated in 2016 and then again in June 2017, at Apple's   Worldwide Developers Conference . The new  $1,299 12-inch MacBook and $999 13-inch MacBook Air now have faster, more powerful Intel  processors. The current crop of MacBook Pros --  the $1,299 13-inch, $1,799 13-inch with Touch Bar, and $2,399 15-inch with Touch Bar  -- have those new chips, too, along with upgraded graphics hardware. 

Otherwise, aside from a RAM bump here and a slight price drop there, the 2017 batch is very similar to the one from 2016, with the same enclosures, ports, trackpads and screens. But be forewarned: Buying a new MacBook Pro may require you to invest in a  variety of adapters  for your legacy devices. Also note that the  13-inch MacBook Pro from 2015  has been discontinued, though the $1,999  15-inch model  from that year remains available for those who want all the ports and fewer dongles.

The complaints started even before Apple's first new MacBook demo ended. During the March 2015 press event, observers fretted about the new, slimmer, lighter 12-inch MacBook. "It's underpowered," they said. "The battery life will be short. The new keyboard is too shallow. The no-click touchpad is a gimmick."

The outcry, which ranged from deriding the new, singular USB-C port to the overall price was reminiscent of the world's reaction to the original iPad in 2010. And like that groundbreaking tablet, the new 12-inch MacBook won't do everything and isn't for everyone. But its strictly enforced minimalism will make this laptop the model that industrial designers will strive to copy for the next several years.

Sarah Tew/CNET

The 12-inch MacBook is a system that ditches the Air and Pro monikers and returns to a simpler designation not seen since the classic black and white polycarbonate MacBooks of the mid-2000s (the ones you still occasionally see in coffee shops despite being their being discontinued in 2011).

Starting at $1,299, it includes a high-resolution Retina screen (much sharper than that on the Air), 8GB of RAM and 256GB of solid state storage. Unlike other laptops with removable drives or RAM, everything here is (permanently) packed into a tiny custom motherboard that leaves maximum room for a large battery. A second version, priced at $1,599, adds a 512GB hard drive and a tiny processor speed bump. In the UK and Australia, the prices start at £1,049 and AU$1,799 for the base model and hit £1,299 and AU$2,199 for the upgrade. More expensive build-to-order models are available, too. (The MacBook can be ordered online at 12:00 a.m. PT tonight, the same time as the Apple Watch, and should be available in store -- presumably in limited quantities -- on Friday, April 10.)

By way of comparison, the 13-inch MacBook Air starts at $999, but a similar 8GB/256GB configuration will cost the same $1,299. The 13-inch MacBook Pro starts at the same $1,299 as this new MacBook, but with only half the storage. Upgrading that Pro model to the same 8GB/256GB will cost $1,499. And on the Windows side, a Samsung Ativ Book 9 with the same 8GB RAM/256GB flash drive and the same processor -- will cost you $1,399 (all prices in US dollars). So, in the context of its main rivals, the MacBook is actually priced rather competitively.

Sarah Tew/CNET

Looking only at a spec sheet, it's easy to see why this new MacBook might be a tough sell. The MacBook uses Intel's new Core M processor, designed for slim, light laptops, hybrids and tablets with premium prices. It's efficient enough that full laptops can even run fanless, allowing for quiet, cool operation. But, the Core M has disappointed in the handful of Windows systems in which we've already tested it, turning in sluggish performance and mediocre battery life, the latter an unforgivable flaw for computers designed to be as light and portable as possible.

To spare you the suspense, I can say that the new MacBook performs much better than any other Core M system we've tested to date, hitting 11 hours in our video playback test. That's not nearly as much as you'd get from a MacBook Air or MacBook Pro -- and it puts this system at a disadvantage compared to the longest-lasting laptops -- but battery life is definitely not the deal-breaker it could have been.

Heavy online use will drain the battery even more quickly, and I found myself frequently glancing up at the upper right corner of the screen to see the battery life percentage tick down as I worked. I've found it can last for a full work day of moderate usage, but unlike a current-gen MacBook Pro or Air, it'll be hard to go a few days without plugging it in at all.

Sarah Tew/CNET

Beyond that, the limitations of having a single USB-C port for all your connection needs (with the exception of a standard audio jack that also made the cut) is even more of a challenge, unless you're prepared to arm yourself with a pocketful of dongles and adaptors.

Other changes are easier to adapt to. We've previously gone into some detail about the new click-free pad, which Apple calls the Force Touch trackpad, which is also available in the updated MacBook Pro. It's a clever bit of space-saving engineering that replaces the old trackpad, with a hinged design for physically clicking down, with a flat glass surface augmented by a force feedback engine. The keyboard is an even more radical change, swapping out the long-standing Mac standard of deep island-style keys for a set of much shallower keys, but with larger actual key faces.

Using the new MacBook means accepting its limitations, some of which are deliberately self-imposed. That's especially noticeable when you look at another new laptop, the Samsung Ativ Book 9. It weighs the same as the MacBook, has a similar 12-inch high-res screen, and an Intel Core M processor, but manages to fit in two full-size USB ports and a micro-HDMI output (although it also has a proprietary power connection and lacks USB-C, which is set to become the new standard).

The new MacBook and the similar Samsung Book 9.

Sarah Tew/CNET

If your need for longer battery life, more powerful performance, or more ports doesn't automatically preclude you, then the in-person experience of using the new MacBook will far outshine the on-paper shortcomings. For writing, Web surfing, video viewing and social media, it's a pleasure to use, and makes the still-slim 13-inch MacBook Air feel a bit like a lumbering dinosaur, to say nothing of other ultrabook-style laptops. It's a perfect coffee shop companion.

Some of the critical reactions to this laptop remind me of another new Apple design introduction I covered seven years ago, the original MacBook Air. That system was also criticized for dropping ports and connections, such as an Ethernet and VGA, that people were convinced they still needed. And, much like the new MacBook, it included just a single USB port.

Back in 2008, I was correct that the Air's new, stripped-down design had real legs, and would set the standard for years to come. But also true was that future refinements down the road would turn the MacBook Air from a speciality product into a mainstream one. When the next 12-inch MacBook update arrives, I suspect it will at the very least add a second USB-C port, and that's when it will become much easier to recommend to a broader audience.

Apple MacBook (12-inch, 2015)

Price as reviewed	$1,299, £1,049, AU$1,799
Display size/resolution	12-inch 2,304x1,440 screen
PC CPU	1.1GHz Intel Core M 5Y31
PC Memory	8GB DDR3 SDRAM 1,600MHz
Graphics	1,536MB Intel HD Graphics 5300
Storage	256 SSD
Optical drive	None
Networking	802.11ac wireless, Bluetooth 4.0
Operating system	Apple OSX 10.10.2 Yosemite

Design and features

This is the thinnest Mac that Apple has ever made: at its thickest point it's just 13.1mm (about half an inch), 24 percent thinner than the existing 11-inch MacBook Air. It's also the lightest MacBook, at 2.04 pounds (0.9 kg). Samsung's new Book 9 weighs 2.08 pounds, essentially the same, although it has a slightly larger footprint.

The overall shape and industrial design is familiar, based on the past seven-plus years of MacBook design, but with a few new twists, such as new colors. Besides the traditional silver, the new MacBook also comes in space grey or gold. Our test unit was gold, and like the iPhone color scheme it copies, the coloration is subtle, and gives off the impression that your laptop has a bronzed finish.

Sarah Tew/CNET

The keyboard, another big change, uses a new butterfly mechanism for keys that's thinner and more stable. The nearly edge-to-edge keyboard has larger key faces, yes, but the keys are also shallower, barely popping up above the keyboard tray and depressing into the chassis only slightly. It takes some getting used to, especially if you're accustomed to the deep, clicky physical feedback of the current MacBooks or the similar island-style keyboards of most other modern laptops.

The first time I tried the keyboard, I couldn't get through even a few sample sentences without several typos, because of the shallow keys and their lower level of tactile feedback. But when I tried again a couple of hours later, it was already much easier.

Sarah Tew/CNET

After using the new MacBook keyboard for the better part of a week, the shallowness of the keys, and a lack of a deeply satisfying click still bothers me. But, as someone who types very longform, the larger key faces and rock-solid stability make up for that, tipping the needle into the positive category. The keys are almost completely wobble-free, as opposed to the wiggle you can get under your fingers on a current MacBook keyboard.

The new trackpad, called the Force Touch, is even more of a change. Nearly the same size as the Air's, but squeezed into a smaller space, it dominates the lower half of the laptop and goes right up to the bottom edge. While previous trackpads had a hinge along the top in a kind of diving board design, the new pad works very differently. We took a deeper hands-on look at Force Touch when we tested it in the only other Apple product to support the new TrackPad right now, the 13-inch MacBook Pro.

Four sensors under the pad allow you to "click" anywhere on the surface, and the Force Click effect, which combines the sensors with haptic (or taptic) feedback, allows you to have two levels of perceived clicking within an app or task. That deep click feels to the finger and brain like the trackpad has a stepped physical mechanism, but in fact, the movement you feel is a small horizontal shift, which, even when fully explained, still feels like you're depressing the trackpad two levels.

Apple describes it like this: "With the Force Touch trackpad, force sensors detect your click anywhere on the surface and move the trackpad laterally toward you, although the feel is the same familiar downward motion you're accustomed to in a trackpad."

With that second, deeper click, you can access several types of contextual information, for example, highlighting a word and getting a Wikipedia pop-up, or seeing a map when deep-clicking on an address. Jumping into the preview view of a document or file works with the deep click, too, just as it does now by pressing the space bar in OS X. The most advanced use is probably fast-forwarding through a video clip in QuickTime, faster or slower, depending on how hard you press down on the trackpad.

I ended up using this trackpad just as I do almost every other one, Apple or otherwise, by tapping rather than clicking. It still bewilders me that Apple turns off tap-to-click by default, forcing you to hunt around the preferences menu to find it. Here's a tip: besides the tapping feature under the trackpad preferences menu, you may want to go to the accessibility menu and look under Preferences > Accessibility > Mouse & Trackpad > Trackpad options to turn on tap-to-drag.

Sarah Tew/CNET

The new MacBook has a 12-inch Retina display with a 2,304x1,440-pixel resolution. It, too, has a new design -- it's the thinnest ever built into a MacBook, at 0.88mm -- with a larger aperture for light and individual pixels in red, green and blue. The slightly unusual resolution is a combination of Apple's drive for a very high pixel-per-inch density, as well as an aspect ratio that sticks with 16:10, as opposed to nearly every other laptop available now, all of which use the same 16:9 aspect ratio as HDTV. (The 11-inch MacBook Air remains the only 16:9 MacBook.)

The screen looks clear and bright, and works from wide viewing angles. There's a glossy overlay, but I've seen much worse offenders when it comes to screen glare and light reflection. The screen bezel, that dead space between the actual display and the outer edge of the lid, is thinner here than on a MacBook Air, and the screen glass goes nearly edge to edge, giving the MacBook a seamless look much like the current Pro models. Thin bezels are definitely an important style note these days, although Dell does it much better with its current XPS 13 laptop, with an eye-catching barely there bezel.

The speaker grille above the keyboard is predictably thin-sounding -- this is a very small laptop after all, with little room for speaker cones to move air -- but it'll suffice for casual video viewing. With Beats Audio as part of the Apple family we may see a greater emphasis on audio in Macs in the future, just as Beats and HP had a successful partnership for several years.

Joe Kaminski/CNET

One spec that many feel was shortchanged in this new laptop is the built-in webcam. It's a simple 640x480 camera, and not as high-res as the 720p camera found in the Air or Pro laptops. The image above is taken from an iPhone 6, and shows my image, being transmitted from the 12-inch MacBook, via FaceTime. Note the softness of the image, which is an issue with viewing the 480p transmission on a much higher resolution screen.

Ports and connections

Video	USB 3.1 Type C
Audio	3.5mm audio jack
Data	USB 3.1 Type C
Networking	802.11ac wireless, Bluetooth 4.0
Optical	None

Connections, performance and battery

While testing the new MacBook, I found myself frequently plugging and unplugging accessories. Starting with the power cable connected to the single USB-C port, I pulled the power out to plug in a short USB-C to USB-A cable (sold by Apple for $19, £15 or AU$29), and connected the USB dongle for a wireless mouse. When I wanted to use a USB data key, I had to disconnect the mouse, and use the same adaptor cable to connect my key.

Shortly, you will be able to connect video the same way, using a USB-C to HDMI, DisplayPort or VGA adaptor. Apple has two connections blocks that include either HDMI or VGA for $79, £65 or AU$119, but neither was available at the time of this review.

Sarah Tew/CNET

The official pitch is that MacBook users will use wireless connections for just about everything. Bluetooth for a mouse, Wi-Fi for Internet access, AirDrop for file transfer, and so on. Most of these assumptions are correct, but there's something to be said for being able to use a full-size USB or HDMI port to connect to any USB key or HDTV with minimal hassle.

One potentially very useful benefit of USB-C is that, because it's used to power the laptop battery, it can also draw power from the portable backup battery packs that so many people have lying around in drawers and laptop bags. Take a USB-C to male USB cable (we tried a $10 one sent by Monoprice), and you can get some extra battery power on the go without having to bring the whole power brick or have access to a power outlet. It won't fully charge the laptop, but it could offer enough juice to get you out of a jam.

Sadly, MagSafe, truly one of the great developments in the history of laptops, is gone, and the new USB-C power plug has no magnetic connection at all. It simply slots in. The connector is fairly shallow, so it may very well just pop out if you yank the cable by accidentally stepping on it, but it certainly doesn't feel as accident-proof as the MagSafe version does.

The new 12-inch MacBook also breaks from the rest of Apple's computer line in that it does not use a processor from Intel's Core i series. Mostly Macs use Core i5 chips from either the current fifth generation of those chips, or the previous fourth generation (although the professional-level Mac Pro desktop uses an Intel Xeon processor).

Instead, this laptop uses the Core M, a new entry in Intel's laptop family. The pitch for Core M is that it enables laptops to be very thin and light, but still powerful and long-lasting. That's an appealing pitch, and Core M chips are so far only found in premium-priced systems (the least expensive being the $700 Asus T300 Chi).

Sarah Tew/CNET

But, in the first three computers we've tested with Core M chips, the results have not lived up to the hype. Lenovo's Yoga 3 Pro had sluggish performance and weak battery life. The Asus T300 Chi did a little better, but still ran for less than 6 hours in our battery test. The Samsung Ativ Book 9, a 12-inch laptop very similar to this one, did a bit better both on performance and battery life, coming close to 8 hours.

Getting the most out of Core M may require your hardware and software, including the operating system, to be properly tuned for it. And as Apple can control every aspect of its OS and exactly what hardware is paired with it, it's not surprising that the company is able to get some of the best results to date from the Core M. In our benchmark tests, no one will confuse this system with even the basic 13-inch MacBook Air, but it was faster in our multitasking test than the other Core M laptops we've reviewed. More importantly, in day to day use, it often felt just as responsive as a MacBook Air, with a few important caveats.

Sarah Tew/CNET

Basic Web surfing worked flawlessly, as did streaming even 4K video from YouTube or HD video from Netflix. Even basic gaming via Steam was doable, and I could play older or simpler games such as Portal 2 or Telltale's The Walking Dead series if I dialed the in-game resolution down to 1,440x900 and played with middle-ground graphics settings.

Using a browser other than Apple's Safari, which is very well optimized for the OS X/Core M combination, can lead to some slowdown, as can loading up multiple video streams at once. Pushing apps such as Photoshop with challenging filters and high-resolution files is likewise going to be slower than most Windows laptops with Core i5 CPUs.

But for many laptop users, especially those primarily interested in a laptop's size and weight, battery life is of the utmost importance. That is the one area where Apple's use of the Core M platform has caused the most angst-ridden speculation. Other Core M systems, all slim laptops or hybrids, have all turned in battery life scores that are on the low side, from about five and a half hours (for the Yoga 3 Pro and Asus T300 Chi) to seven and a half hours (for the Samsung Book 9) in our video playback battery drain test.

Meanwhile, Apple's own current MacBook Air runs for an amazing 18 hours (thanks to its recently upgraded Broadwell Core i5 CPU) and the 13-inch Pro ran for 15 hours in the same test. Two recent slim, premium laptops, the Dell XPS 13 and HP Spectre x360, both managed 12 hours.

Sarah Tew/CNET

The 12-inch MacBook doesn't last as long as those Core i5 laptops, but it does beat the other Core M systems by a large margin, running for 11 hours 3 minutes in our video playback battery drain test. Apple says it should give you at least 10 hours of video playback, so that's in line with the company's claims. Real-world scenarios, with more energy draining apps and frequent online use, will be shorter, and in a secondary test streaming online video non-stop over Wi-Fi, the system ran for 5 hours.

How did Apple manage to get better battery life from the notoriously fickle Core M? Part of it may be the optimization Apple can do as the creator of both the hardware and operating system. But a big part of it may be the large 39.7-watt-hour lithium-polymer battery crammed into the small MacBook's body. The actual motherboard and all the internal components have been shrunk down to be only fraction of the size of a typical laptop motherboard. Instead, the entire rest of the system interior is filled with a battery designed to fit into every nook and cranny of available space.

Conclusion

My initial impression of the original MacBook Air from 2008 feels timely and fitting here. Of that laptop, which was considered both groundbreaking and frustratingly limited, I said:

Sarah Tew/CNET

Likewise, this new MacBook will also be the right fit for a smaller segment of a public than the more universally useful 13-inch MacBook Air or Pro. But those who can work with the limitations -- primarily a lack of ports, shorter battery life, performance that's not suited for pro-level photo and video editing, and a shallow keyboard that takes some getting used to -- will love its sharp display, slim and light body, and responsive touchpad.

My primary caveat is this -- if history is any guide, you can count on a near-future generation of this laptop boosting its utility by doubling the number of USB-C ports to at least two. So like many new technology products, it may be worth waiting for the next version, even if having a 12-inch, two-pound gold MacBook right now will make you the coolest kid at the coffee shop.

Handbrake Multimedia Multitasking test

Apple MacBook Air (13-inch, 2015) 370 Dell XPS 13 (2015, non-touch) 428 Apple MacBook (12-inch, 2015) 465 Samsung Ativ Book 9 (2015) 563 Lenovo Yoga 3 Pro 682

Note: Shorter bars indicate better performance (in seconds)

Adobe Photoshop CS5 image-processing test

Dell XPS 13 (2015, non-touch) 263 Apple MacBook Air (13-inch, 2015) 268 Lenovo Yoga 3 Pro 294 Apple MacBook (12-inch, 2015) 307 Samsung Ativ Book 9 (2015) 311

Note: Shorter bars indicate better performance (in seconds)

Apple iTunes encoding test

Apple MacBook Air (13-inch, 2015) 107 Dell XPS 13 (2015, non-touch) 112 Apple MacBook (12-inch, 2015) 130 Samsung Ativ Book 9 (2015) 130 Lenovo Yoga 3 Pro 142

Note: Shorter bars indicate better performance (in seconds)

Video playback battery drain test

Apple MacBook Air (13-inch, 2015) 1080 Apple MacBook (12-inch, 2015) 747 Dell XPS 13 (2015, non-touch) 726 Samsung Ativ Book 9 (2015) 457 Lenovo Yoga 3 Pro 346

Note: Longer bars indicate better performance (in minutes)

System Configurations

Apple MacBook (12-inch, 2015)	OSX 10.10.2 Yosemite; 1.1GHz Intel Core M-5Y31; 8GB DDR3 SDRAM 1,600MHz; 1,536MB Intel HD Graphics 5300; 256GB SSD
Dell XPS 13 (2015, non-touch)	Windows 8.1 (64.bit); 2.2GHz Intel Core i5-5200U; 4GB DDR3 SDRAM 1,600MHz; 2,000MB (shared) Intel HD 5500 Graphics; 128GB SSD
Lenovo Yoga Pro 3	Windows 8.1 (64-bit); 1.1GHz Intel Core M-5Y60; 8GB DDR3 SDRAM 1,600MHz; 3,839MB (shared) Intel HD Graphics 5300; 256GB SSD
Apple MacBook Air (13-inch, 2015)	Yosimite OSX 10.10.2; 1.6GHz Intel Core i5-5250U; 4GB DDR3 SDRAM 1,600MHz; 1,536MB Intel HD Graphis 6000; 128GB SSD
Samsung Ativ Book 9 (2015)	Windows 8.1 (64.bit); 1.1GHz Intel Core M-5Y31; 4GB DDR3 SDRAM 1,600MHz; 2,005MB (shared) Intel HD 5300 Graphics; 128GB SSD

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