The complete list of Skylake portable laptops and ultrabooks

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116 Comments

1. John Adrian

   August 27, 2015 at 8:13 am

   Good day and nice review Andrei, by the way, I jus want to know if you will review this laptop:
   Asus K501lb -i5 5200u, nvidia 940m, 4gb ram, 1080p screen, thanks in advance.

   Reply
   • Jim

     November 11, 2015 at 8:26 pm

     Does any one know if there is anyone who makes a 17″ convertible laptop? I am getting old so I like the screen size but would like to use as a big tablet too.

     Reply
2. robert

   September 1, 2015 at 4:23 am

   Hi Douglas and Andrea, im very impressed with your interaction with users and was hoping you may be able to help me.

   I live in a forest and can only charge once a day at a mains power supply. Im chasing a laptop of any sort that can play mid to range games with the longest battery life whilst playing games.

   I was leaning towards the lenovo t540p (in australia) as it has enourmous battery life but not the best graphics card (gt730m). However no matter how much research i do or calls i make it seems nobody knows how long any a battery will run whilst playing games.

   Im not looking for anything over 15″ nor does it matter about screen resolution. I will be operating it with wifi off and anything else that consumes the battery.

   May i ask if you have any suggestions from any model that you know may work.

   very grateful
   robert australia

   Reply
   • Andrei Girbea

     September 1, 2015 at 11:43 am

     Hi, you haven’t mentioned what kind of games are you planning to run, but don’t expect more than 2-3 hours tops from any of the modern laptops. Gaming is a demanding activity.

     Reply
     • robert

       September 11, 2015 at 7:28 am

       Hi Andrea, thankyou for yr reply. I have found the Australian version

       lenovo y50
       I7-4710hq 6m cache up to 3.50ghz
       15.6 fhd
       gtx 960m 2gb gpu
       8gb memory
       256ssd
       4 cell batt

       for a$1500 about us$1100

       Apart from the terrible battery which i have found i can replace with a 12 cell from a independent supply what do you think on this? i believe i can play the latest games or thereabouts.

       tks robert

       Reply
3. Anxiously awaiting

   September 9, 2015 at 2:08 am

   Andrei,

   I was curious on your take of how long until we actually see Skylake laptops on the store shelf.

   I’ve noticed most retailers are stilled clogged up and trying to get rid of their laptop inventory pre-loaded with windows 8.1, and windows 10 has been out for over a month.

   I know what machine I want (spectre x360), just curious if this is weeks away, or more like a few months out (I’m guessing the latter).

   thanks

   Reply
   • Andrei Girbea

     September 9, 2015 at 1:35 pm

     I’d say weeks. I’d expect all the major updates to be available in stores in October.

     Reply
4. Nick

   September 9, 2015 at 7:01 pm

   Hi,

   Great content so far. I’m really interested in getting a Skylake laptop and I’ve been waiting a few months to buy. I like the XPS 13″ if I was going to buy now that’s probably what I’d get.

   I want to know if you think that any of these 13″ ultrabooks will get Intel HD 540 graphics in the future? Gaming isn’t the primary purpose of this laptop, but I’d like to be able to run simple games like League of Legends if possible.

   Thanks

   Reply
   • Andrei Girbea

     September 9, 2015 at 7:09 pm

     Well, yes, some of these might get the 28W Skylake processors, but given past experience, most of them won’t. The Macbooks will however bundle that hardware.

     Reply
     • Nick

       September 9, 2015 at 8:55 pm

       Great, I know we’ll have to wait and see with the announcements for definitive info.

       I think it’s a real shame that most of these wont get the premium hardware that Macbooks get. I like the Macbook for the combination of size and power, but I don’t want to buy one.

       Reply
     • Nick

       September 9, 2015 at 9:29 pm

       Hmm, I just checked your Skylake article again actually the HD 540 will be released on 15W processors as well. It is the HD 550 that is exclusive to the 28W processors.

       But it seems none will be available until Q1 2016.

       Reply
       • Andrei Girbea

         September 10, 2015 at 7:08 am

         Oh, yes, you’re right, I forgot about those.

         Reply
   • Michael

     June 24, 2016 at 7:38 pm

     The lenovo yoga 900 just refreshed with intel iris 540 on an i7 15w cpu, so your wish has been granted…don’t know of any others though.

     Reply
5. Katy

   September 14, 2015 at 2:00 am

   Hi,
   I thought the Skylake XPS 13 is getting a bit heavier (around 3 pounds) and thicker according other reports.

   Reply
   • Andrei Girbea

     September 15, 2015 at 7:09 am

     there are two versions of the XPS 13, one without a touchscreen and another with a touchscreen, which weighs 2.8 lbs and is a bit heavier

     Reply
6. Kala

   September 15, 2015 at 10:29 am

   Thanx a lot from the page, it is very usefull when looking for new laptop.
   Besides of the importancy of weight, I wish I could also find dimensions of different laptops, specially in “ultra portable” series where Width differs more than 30mm and Depth more than 20mm in 12″-13″ portables.

   Toshiba Radius 12 has 43Wh battery, and i7-model work with intel HD 520 and UHD4K resolution.
   Interesting point is that Radius is excatly same size with XPS 13, but Radius weight is 140g more, and has 9Wh smaller battery than XPS 13.
   Full specs in this link:
   mytoshiba.com.au/products/computers/satellite/radius12/pspvva-004013/specifications

   Reply
   • Andrei Girbea

     September 18, 2015 at 10:25 am

     The Radius is a convertible and 2-in-1s are pretty much always heavier than clamshell laptops. Also, the XPS 13 is very compact and light for a 13-incher, most other devices with similar sized screens are heavier and larger.

     Reply
7. Amit

   September 16, 2015 at 5:51 pm

   Hii,
   I live in india and we don’t really have much brands options out here. Asus, HP, Dell, and lenovo seems to be the only practical choice one can make. Currently I’m having a HP envy 15 TS J109 TX laptop powered by intel Core i7-4700MQ but was planning for upgrading to skylake. Can you please recommend me a laptop with 15.6 inch ips FHD display and is going to be powered by Core i7 6700HQ and is going to have Nvidia GTX 950M or above GPUs.
   Thanks

   Reply
   • Andrei Girbea

     September 18, 2015 at 10:27 am

     The new Acer V15 Nitro and the Asus N552 should offer what you want. Not sure about the HP and Dell options, but there should be at least some.

     Reply
8. Kimberly

   September 26, 2015 at 5:08 am

   Hi Andrei,

   I’m hoping you can give me some advice as to an ultrabook (preferably). I’ve been scouring your site the past couple of days, trying to get an idea of what I should go for. I am a graduate student studying data analytics. I am interested in a ultra portable laptop, hence an ultrabook, that can handle the “basics” (word, excel, powerpoint, internet, youtube, etc.) as well as Microsoft Access, SPSS, SAS, R, etc.

   I don’t need a touchscreen or a 2-in-1. I am most concerned about the weight, heat, battery life, and keyboard. I’m thinking I definitely want an i5 (Broadwell) processor and 13″-13.9″ screen (to help with portability & weight). I’m aiming for the price to be less than US$1000.

   If you have any recommendations, whether they’re on the market now or will be soon with the Skylake release, it’d be SO appreciated! Thanks!

   Reply
   • Andrei Girbea

     September 26, 2015 at 9:29 am

     Hi Kimberly. I think the Dell XPS 13 should be your best bet. Try to get the i5 processor with 8 GB of RAM, there might be quite a few discounts available in the next weeks, especially for the Broadwell models. You might also want to read my review of the XPS 13 and the followup, as this laptop is not without some flaws that you should be aware of.

     Another option would be the Lenovo ThinkPad X250, but that might be outside your budget.

     Also, as long as you’ll keep multitasking to a minimum, the Asus UX305FA could be an option, especially the model with the COre M 5Y71 processor. It’s fanless, which is great, but it lacks a backlit keyboard and it’s not very powerful.

     Reply
     • Kimberly

       September 27, 2015 at 12:08 am

       Thanks Andrei! I really appreciate it!

       Sorry I totally forgot to mention memory, but it seems you read my mind! I am really glad you mentioned the Lenovo ThinkPad X250. I hadn’t considered a slightly smaller screen size, so I hadn’t looked at it. But, I’m really interested in that one despite the price being a little higher than my “goal budget”. My preliminary research makes it sounds like a pretty darn good ultrabook – definitely could be worth the higher price if it lasts good long while!

       I had initially looked into the Dell XPS 13, but the numerous issues kind of put my off.

       Reply
9. Foo

   September 27, 2015 at 3:07 pm

   So which ones have a thunderbolt 3 port? It’s the one deal breaker for me and many people I know. Being able to hook up a graphics card externally is the one thing needed for laptops and those brands who are leaving thunderbolt 3 out are very misinformed. These charts would be much more helpful if you included if the laptop supports thunderbolt 3.

   Reply
   • Andrei Girbea

     September 28, 2015 at 5:21 pm

     Hmmm, I’ll have to think about it. The current layout barely fits the current numbers of columns, but if I can figure something out, I’ll add a Thunderbolt field as well. If not I’ll have a different article with laptops that offer an USB 3.1 gen1 and an USB 3.1 gen2 slot in the next few weeks.

     Reply
     • Foo

       October 5, 2015 at 9:52 pm

       If you did I’m sure it would gain a great deal of attention.

       Thanks for the update.

       Reply
     • Nathan Brown

       February 1, 2016 at 12:58 pm

       I have a list of Laptops with TB3, if you want to take a look, here’s a link,

       docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/12G1VTFWkTL5tb8nxUAtnDHwTLyya9I3Vw-OXXrIN4e4/edit?usp=sharing

       There are two Sheets, the second is more for people who live in the UK, like me.

       Reply
       • Daniel Reis

         February 24, 2016 at 11:35 pm

         thank – you Nathan. This, too, was what I was looking for, and your list fits the bill perfectly. if you hadn’t done , I would have!

         yes, skylake is important. But the USB C thunderbolt is a big deal. Imagine booting from an external drive. etc
         etc etc…..

         Reply
   • John Ball

     November 19, 2015 at 1:23 pm

     Agreed, dealbreaker without this. Also would be nice to know what date entries in the chart were added so us readers can find the new entries since we last read.

     Reply
   • Jonathan

     February 10, 2016 at 9:48 am

     Ya, I also agree.. Thunderbolt 3 is the major deal breaker for me so really only interested in laptops / ultrabooks that have a thunderbolt 3 port.

     Reply
10. Andy Chow

    September 30, 2015 at 11:20 pm

    Is there any of these that are currently in the market? I really wanted to get the Asus Zenbook UX305UA for my little brother, for school, now it’s already October (almost), and I can’t seem to find any Skylake hardware on the market.

    It seems it’s taking forever. I can’t even find places where I can pre-order.

    Reply
    • Andrei Girbea

      October 1, 2015 at 11:15 am

      Most of them are not shipping yet, but stores should have them in the next weeks.

      Reply
11. Anxiously awaiting

    October 1, 2015 at 3:12 am

    I see that there are some Inspiron Skylake models now for sale.

    HP website has shown a description of the Spectre model that talks about Skylake chipset, but not yet for sale it seems…

    Reply
12. Aadith

    October 6, 2015 at 10:36 am

    Hi Andrei,
    Let me begin by saying that I love your website.
    I’m from India and it’s very difficult to get a good deal here on laptop. So I’m planning on getting it from my cousin abroad.I have currently settled on a hp pavilion 15 touch customized with skylake and I’m getting it for 640 dollars.I was wondering whether to wait till black Friday to get a better deal on this laptop itself or just buy it now as it seems a decent price. I basically need a laptop with a decent graphic card under 650 dollars and this has touch too so it’s a added bonus. Please tell me whether to buy this now itself or wait till black Friday as I’m doubtful if it will get any cheaper than this. Please if u have other suggestions, tell those too. I also am attracted toward ideapad 500s with skylake but I doubt whether it will come under this price bracket.
    Thanking you and waiting eagerly for your reaponce,
    Aadith

    Reply
    • Andrei Girbea

      October 6, 2015 at 1:05 pm

      I don’t think there will be lots of Skylake laptops on BlackFriday, but all the big OEMs tend to offer at least some discounts. So if you can wait, I’d say do it. You could also aim for a Broadwell configuration, I’d expect those to be greatly discounted.

      Reply
      • Aadith

        October 6, 2015 at 1:26 pm

        Wow. I never expected such a fast reply. Thanks a lot. Can u suggest some broadwell laptops with good graphic cards (and touch screen if possible)in the given price bracket which may be discounted heavily on black Friday.
        Thanks again
        Aadith

        Reply
        • Andrei Girbea

          October 6, 2015 at 1:29 pm

          Search through these: https://www.ultrabookreview.com/5165-broadwell-ultrabooks/#a2

          Reply
13. quick remark

    October 9, 2015 at 4:51 pm

    Just want to make a quick remark you have the Gigabyte P34W v5 on the 15 inch area when it should be in the 14 inch area.

    Reply
14. Paolo

    October 10, 2015 at 1:31 am

    Hi Andrei,

    Your site is awesome, the reviews are what most of us need. Keep up the good work.

    Could a list of laptops with user up-gradable memory and hard drives also help?

    I would certainly enjoy one.

    Thanks,
    Paolo

    Reply
    • Andrei Girbea

      October 10, 2015 at 8:19 am

      Hi Paolo, I’ll consider it for the near future. thanks for the suggestion

      Reply
15. Dennis

    October 11, 2015 at 3:33 am

    Missing critical information for SKYLAKE platform!

    Memory subsystem
    and especially
    Disk drive subsystem, i.e. PCIe 4.0

    I dont want a Skylake laptop until those are addressed

    Reply
    • John Ball

      November 19, 2015 at 1:19 pm

      PCIe 4.0 won’t be out until at least 2017.

      Reply
16. Miguel

    October 12, 2015 at 1:15 pm

    Hello, I recently discovered about this website and I’m amazed at the amount of useful information for laptop buyers. Definitely bookmarked, RSS’ed and shared with friends.

    Now I am looking for a ultraportable device and I know exactly what kind of activities I’ll be doing with it, but I’m still very undecided on which model to get, because from what I’ve seen around the web, I think no manufacturer has yet achieved the sweet spot between price and features on these convertible or detachable 2 in 1s. I hope you could give me some guidance Andrei.

    I am a researcher and I need a “digital notebook”, something lighter and smaller than my 15,6″ laptop to be carried with me everywhere, to have my data, my ebooks and PDFs and my notes always accessible and on which I can speak or write notes easily. Needlessly to say, OneNote on Windows 10 is my favourite piece of software.

    Here is what I expect from my ultraportable machine:
    -Read (a lot) – eBooks, PDF Articles, Web pages. Most of my time is spent reading. Screen size and quality indoor and sometimes outdoors will be essential.
    -Write (a lot) – My ideas flow better with natural writing, so I’d like a good pen to write and draw on the screen with no noticeable lag.
    -Battery Life of 8 hours or better. It has to be able to hold a work day on a single charge.
    -Staying connected – Decent camera and microphone for Skype audio and video calls.
    -Music (Spotify) and movie/video streaming – Decent enough speakers would be nice. I can buy a pair of good earbuds though.
    -Connection to VGA and HDMI wall projectors to make PowerPoint and Sway presentations.
    -Good wireless adapter. I don’t intend to use Ethernet cable unless there’s no other choice.
    -OS: I rely on Office 365 and I own a Lumia 640 smartphone, so Windows 10 is the logical choice.
    -Price: 700-800€, at most 1000€ with all potential accessories included.
    -Specs: Already with 6th generation Skylake CPU for improved integrated graphics and battery life. At least 64GB of SSD storage, expandable with SD card. At least 4GB of RAM, 8GB of RAM would be great if possible. Dedicated GPU not required.

    Now, keep in mind that the most frequent form of input I expect from this device is pen writing and touch, not typing.

    Surface Pro 4 comes close to what I believe is the best for me but when you add the accessories and the euros begin to pile up, you can’t help but think to yourself “damn, for this price I could have a beast gaming tower or at least a great 15,6” laptop with dedicated graphics”… In my country, the price for just the m3 tablet is 1029€ on Microsoft store! The cover is extra 150€. I was hoping some other manufacturer like ASUS or Dell had something a bit cheaper and as versatile as the Surface Pro 4 with the same quality standards.

    What do you think Andrei?

    Reply
    • Andrei Girbea

      October 12, 2015 at 8:20 pm

      Hi Miguel. I wouldn’t go for the Surface Pro 4, it has a smaller battery than the SP3 and you don’t really need the 6th gen Skylake Core Us for your chores. The Surface Pro 3 can handle those tasks well, and even the Surface 3 is a good choice as long as you go for the version with 4 GB of RAM. In fact, I think the Surface 3 offers the best value for the money in your case. Should handle fine all your tasks, it’s cheaper than the others and offers longer battery life. The Lenovo Miix 700 might be a good alternative, but I can’t say for sure until the product is actually released and available.

      Reply
      • Miguel

        October 13, 2015 at 10:00 pm

        Hi Andrei, thank you so much for taking the time to reply.

        Indeed I’ve been considering the regular Surface 3 as well for my ultraportable needs. My current laptop (Dual-core i7-3537U and NVIDIA 740M) has just turned two years old and I replaced its HDD for an SSD a few months ago. I hope it provides enough performance for the next 2 years to serve as the desk PC, though its warranty period is now over.

        If so, I think that an ultraportable device like the Surface 3 might be enough for for my on-the-go chores, plus I’m trading some performance for longer battery life and reduced weight.

        There are still a few things I’d like to understand about the Surface 3, mainly related with writing and screen size.

        1-Is the writing experience with Surface pen on Surface 3 good enough, or am I missing too much from the Surface Pro 3/4 to justify the price difference? I really expect to make a lot of use of OneNote inking capabilities.

        2-Is the Surface 3 smaller screen and display quality too much of a downgrade? I will spend a lot of time reading, so I hope the screen quality is not too inferior compared with the Surface Pro, even though it is only 10 inches against 12 inches of the pricier models.

        3-When is the Surface 4 going to be announced? Is there any special reason for Microsoft to not renew both lines (Surface 4 and Surface Pro 4) at the same time (back to school/Christmas time)?

        Reply
        • Andrei Girbea

          October 14, 2015 at 1:19 pm

          1. Both the Surface 3 and the Pro 3 use N-Trig digitizers. Not sure about the Pro 4.
          2. The screen on the Surface 3 is actually brighter and more color-accurate than the one on the SP3. See this article, the Display section: http://www.notebookcheck.net/Microsoft-Surface-3-Tablet-Convertible-Review.141116.0.html
          3. I wouldn’t expect it earlier than Mid 2016. The current Surface 3 is built on the CherryTrail platform and the next gen WillowTrail does not have an exact launch date yet. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atom_%28system_on_chip%29

          Reply
17. gentux

    October 14, 2015 at 9:20 am

    Great table, love to see which of those have USB 3.1 and7or Type-C Port(s)

    Reply
18. john

    October 14, 2015 at 2:10 pm

    Your amazon link for the XPS 13 doesn’t seem to contain any models with the new 6th gen i7 chip?

    Reply
    • Andrei Girbea

      October 14, 2015 at 3:48 pm

      Yes, looks like they haven’t added them on Amazon yet. Should be up in the next 2 weeks though. I’ll add links to Dell’s store as well.

      Reply
19. Aadith

    October 14, 2015 at 7:14 pm

    Hi Andrei,
    I recently spoke to a guy in my college who has a hp envy x360 whose brother works in hp and he says he got him a developer version or something I couldn’t grasp. His laptop has no dedicated graphics card but has 12gb ram. So now what he does is he opens GTA 5 and runs in full HD (1920*1080)with a mind boggling 32fps. I was stunned. He said he allocated 8gb to get a gpu clock speed of 1800 equal to about two 920m dedicated graphics card. He then mumbeled something about gpu based computing some unlocking something something. I’m wondering whether this is possible and if yes then how?
    Thanking you in advance
    Aadith

    Reply
    • Andrei Girbea

      October 14, 2015 at 8:06 pm

      That sounds like complete bullshit to me.

      Reply
20. Eric

    October 15, 2015 at 1:47 pm

    Hi Andrei,

    This is an amazing compilation you have here – nice job. Would you by chance any additional information about the gigabyte skylake laptops and their release? I am anxiously waiting to buy one ASAP. Thanks!

    Best,
    Eric

    Reply
    • Andrei Girbea

      October 15, 2015 at 1:56 pm

      Not really, other than their laptops should be available in October, if not selling already.

      Reply
21. Abdul Jamal

    October 16, 2015 at 3:52 am

    very useful information
    I’m also planning for skylake laptop
    which should have minimum
    16Gb Ram
    256GB SSD
    and should also be beautiful :-)
    like HP have EliteBook etc,
    really impressed with macbook but that’s too much costly if we want a good specs….
    I’m web developer, daily use of my computer 10 – 12 hours
    so please suggest me a great option :-)

    Reply
22. Josh

    October 17, 2015 at 5:20 pm

    Thanks for the awesome Roundup. From what I can tell, the LG Gram is not going to carry the Skylake processors, but only the 5th Jgen

    Reply
    • Andrei Girbea

      October 18, 2015 at 9:17 am

      Hmm, you’re actually right, I’ll address that.

      Reply
    • naryjao

      May 10, 2016 at 8:12 pm

      Now LG Gram have skylake cpu. Check on the LG website.

      Reply
      • Andrei Girbea

        May 11, 2016 at 7:56 am

        Thanks, I’ve added both models to the list.

        Reply
23. john

    October 19, 2015 at 4:31 pm

    Could you comment on the two HP SPECTRE X360 displays available:

    13.3″ diagonal QHD Radiance Infinity LED-backlit touch screen (2560 x 1440)

    or

    13.3″ diagonal FHD Radiance Infinity LED-backlit touch screen (1920 x 1080)

    The processor for both is i7-6500u. Right now only the 1920 x 1080 is available in my country and I’m wondering whether to get it. I don’t know if the resolution will be a huge difference and whether the matrix, etc. is the same? So I really don’t know whether to get it – everything else seems the same. The product code in my country is HP SPECTRE X360 13-4100NN/P3L15EA.

    Thanks!

    Reply
    • Andrei Girbea

      October 19, 2015 at 10:06 pm

      Both screens are good. The 1440p panel is of course sharper, but I don’t know if its necesarily worth waiting for. You would have to research the panels used by HP on the two configurations and see if there are any differences in terms of brightness, contrast or color reproduction. We reviewed the 1440p version here: https://www.ultrabookreview.com/8042-hp-spectre-x360-review/

      Reply
24. Robert R.

    October 23, 2015 at 2:48 pm

    Sadly – the Lenovo IdeaPad 300 17 appears to have HD+ display (1600 x 900 px) and not FHD (1920 x 1080 px) as stated in your list. Please find the urls below.

    I’ve been eyeing out for a while a light, passively cooled, noise-less 17″ FHD with SSD and full size keyboard – a large ultrabook, I guess. Matte screen would be a cherry topping, really.
    In essence I’d need it as a “typewriter” mainly to be used as a remote desktop terminal.

    As far as I can tell no one seems to be bringing such designs to the market yet.
    Any recommendations?

    Reply
    • Andrei Girbea

      October 23, 2015 at 8:43 pm

      Thanks for the correction, I’ve edited the list.

      Not sure what your budget is, but maybe the Acer Aspire V17 Nitro could be an option? It’s expensive and powerful though.

      That aside, Dell and HP have some 17 -inchers in stores, but I don’t know if they are portable enough for what you want. Would be worth a look.

      Reply
25. Collin

    October 23, 2015 at 5:33 pm

    Hello,

    I’ve been scouring this site for a month now trying to get a look at the new skylake updates to ultrabook. I’ll be using it for GIS, daily activities, and light gaming. I was going to go with the ASUS UX303UB, but the screen is of concern. I’ve had a Dell Latitude before and don’t want to go the XPS route. Aiming for a 13-14 inch, and $1300, what would you recommend? Would the spectre be a good direction? Or should I go for a more portable gamer?

    Reply
    • Andrei Girbea

      October 23, 2015 at 8:45 pm

      What do you mean by Light Gaming? Would you need dedicated graphics?

      If yes, the UX303UB is the only viable option. Perhaps you can find the model with a FHD display, which is available in Europe and other regions. Otherwise, there’s the MSI GS40 and the Gigabyte P34G, but outside your budget. You could aim for a Broadwell/Haswell configuration, you won’t loose much on performance.

      Reply
26. Alexander fabs

    October 24, 2015 at 2:36 am

    First and foremost, i would like to say thank you for not only making this list, but updating it!

    Anyways, i really like the new Dell xps line, but have been reading about the newer dells not being super reliable. Maybe people are only vocal when things go bad (especially when dealing with an expensive laptop) leading to this perception.

    Do you know anything od dell’s reliability? The only thing holding me back from ordering a new xps is the fewr that it will break in a year or two.

    Reply
    • Andrei Girbea

      October 24, 2015 at 8:51 am

      Aside from the battery decaying fast, my XPS 13 has been holding really well. As long as you get warranty (or even extended warranty), I think things should be alright.

      Reply
27. Dominik

    October 25, 2015 at 5:15 pm

    Hi Andrei,

    I just stumbled across your list and was wondering whether you could help me out. I’m a student in Engineering looking to buy a new laptop, preferably a ultraportable as I don’t want to carry a brick around uni. I need it for these task:MS office, surfing the web ( YouTube etc),java programming (Eclipse) and running cad software (PTC Creo/ Wildfire).
    I also want to get into some Photo Editing as I plan on taking lots of photos on an extended vacation and when I study abroad next year. Is there anything you could recommend? I’ve been looking at the xps 15
    SP4 and Macbook Pro 13″ but honestly I don’t know what to choose and if there is anything else that might be suited better for me.

    Reply
28. lior

    October 25, 2015 at 7:16 pm

    Great site! I am following this site for a couple of weeks now.
    I am trying to decide which laptop to buy, it would be great if you could help me on that.

    I am looking for a 14-15 inch laptop with discrete gpu(nvidia) and skylake processor. Minimum of 8 GB of RAM. My price range is $900-$1300.
    I will make it a dual boot with ubuntu.

    Reply
    • Andrei Girbea

      October 26, 2015 at 9:22 am

      The Acer Aspire V15-Nitro Black comes to mind into that budget. There’s also the Gigabyte P34W if you want a 14-incher with even faster graphics, but the Skylake model will probably sell for around $1500. Still, performance wise, the Skylake Core i706700HQ is not a major upgrade over the Haswell quad-cores and actually a bit slower than the Broadwell Core i7-5700HQ. So if you want performance, it doesn’t have to be your first option.

      Reply
      • Lior

        November 2, 2015 at 12:39 pm

        Thanks!
        What do you think would be better?
        Ideapad Y700-15 Touch – 80NW0010US
        or
        Aspire V Nitro – Model Name: VN7-592G-77LB

        Same Price.

        Reply
        • Andrei Girbea

          November 2, 2015 at 2:02 pm

          Can’t say much about the Y700 for now. The Nitro is OK, you can find reviews of the previous model (VN7-591G), this one is slightly faster and more efficient. I’ll review it in the next few days. Better wait for some detailed reviews before deciding.

          Reply
          • Lior

            November 2, 2015 at 2:29 pm

            Great! Thanks! I will wait.
29. Mihai

    October 26, 2015 at 11:16 am

    In September 2011 I bought an Acer 5750G-2638G64MN-2nd i7-2630QM for 799,90 Euro during a promotion. Now I want to replace it with a laptop which has the same screen size (17 inch), same or better RAM/HDD and is just a little bit faster (both the processor and the graphics).
    I was unable to find anything around the same price range. I don’t believe that the offer from 4 years ago cannot be beaten.
    Do you know any laptop in the same price range (750 – 900 Euro) which would be faster than the 4 years old Acer ?

    Reply
    • Andrei Girbea

      October 27, 2015 at 8:08 am

      Well, most manufacturers no longer build mid-level 17-inchers anymore. There are a handful of good options if you’re willing to expand your budget, but under 1G won’t buy you much these days.

      Reply
30. Michael

    October 27, 2015 at 10:09 am

    Just curios as to which of these laptops have wacom digitizers? Looking for a laptop with the new i7 and digitizer that is still nice to carry around as a tablet with a budget of around $1500. This means the spectre is sorta out because of its awkward tablet mode. The laptop footprint for the SP4 and Lenovo Miix is something im not fond of either, so I was curios as to what other ultrabooks there had a digitizer?

    Reply
31. Aadith

    October 27, 2015 at 3:05 pm

    Hi Andrei,
    I Love your website,especially the lists that you provide.
    I’m planning on buying either the dell inspiron 13 7000 special edition (i5 6200u,8gb,500hdd) or the regular(same i5,ram but hybrid hdd with 8gb cache). The differences are: regular has hybrid hdd,passive stylus,speakers on the side and 50$ costlier than the special edition which has speakers on the bottom and regular hdd with no stylus but is 50$ dollar cheaper. I am seriously taking this price difference. Also,there is an issue of ghost touches on the laptop.the customer service reported that it has been resolved with the late broadwell and new skylake configurations.whereas the special edition has no case of ghost touches.I don’t know whether to trust the customer care staff.but I asked two customer care guys and they both agreed that it has been rectified stating the same facts and it may even be true.
    So,please advice me which one to buy.
    Thanks in advance,
    Aadith

    Reply
32. Nepal

    October 31, 2015 at 2:57 am

    According to my MSI and ASUS dealer in Nepal, skylake laptops for both brands will arrive in the 3rd week of November for MSI and 1st week of November for ASUS respectively.

    I’ve added the list of MSI laptop with skylake on tinypic. Do note this is the list for MSI laptops available in Nepal and could vary according to your region.

    Reply
33. john

    November 8, 2015 at 8:24 pm

    Would the Spectre or Yoga 900 be sufficient enough to handle 20 open browser tabs plus a few Word/Excel documents? If not – would any other 13-incher be sufficient?

    Reply
    • Andrei Girbea

      November 9, 2015 at 11:02 pm

      Hmmm, the I7 with at least 8 GB of RAM should be OK. A more powerful 13-incher is the Apple MacBook Pro. Most WIndows machines are built on the same platform as the Yoga 900

      Reply
      • john

        November 10, 2015 at 5:57 pm

        Would it be OK for another 2-3 years? Is the i7-6500u with 8/16 GB RAM something that can handle such heavy multitasking?

        Reply
        • Andrei Girbea

          November 10, 2015 at 5:59 pm

          It should be. I usually have around 10-15 tabs open on my Core i5-5200U laptop with only 4 GB of RAM and it handles them fine. The browser choice is important though. Chrome needs a lot of resources, that’s why I for one use Firefox instead.

          Reply
34. tai Son

    November 12, 2015 at 6:55 pm

    Why some highlighted in RED but no explanation of what it means?

    Reply
    • John Ball

      November 13, 2015 at 8:46 pm

      Red is a hyperlink to an article with more info.

      Reply
35. Steve

    November 14, 2015 at 8:17 pm

    Any idea when Asus will be releasing a 15″ skylake model? Say the UX501 Zenbook?

    Reply
36. Nobbly

    November 17, 2015 at 9:51 am

    That 13″ Ativ book spin selling well at $3599?

    Reply
37. Furiousbeans

    November 18, 2015 at 12:17 am

    Hi Andrei, I am looking for a laptop that can handle light gaming and durable since I travel by bicycle. Just looking for a i5 with an SSD no dedicated gpu under $800. Any suggestions such as wait till a certain time?

    Reply
    • Andrei Girbea

      November 19, 2015 at 5:46 pm

      There should be some options available already, although the budget is a bit tight. Go trough the options listed in this post

      Reply
38. QuadCore

    November 26, 2015 at 12:50 pm

    Great list, thanks! I really wish it would list which ones supported a quad-core processor though, because that is one of my must-haves. I can’t seem to find any 6th gen quad core convertibles :/

    If anyone has suggestions, I’d like to hear them.

    Must-have:
    Quad-core 6th gen processor
    Convertible (or detachable)
    13-15″ display

    Ideally:
    Discrete Graphics
    QHD display
    Wired Ethernet (RJ45)
    NVMe SSD

    Reply
    • Andrei Girbea

      November 26, 2015 at 4:10 pm

      Hmmm, Quad Core Skylake and Convertible? I don’t think there’s anything that would check both these boxes. The few 15-inch convertibles are built on Skylake U hardware, while the smaller models don’t get the quad-core platforms. So I’m afraid it’s only one or the other.

      Reply
      • QuadCore

        November 30, 2015 at 11:30 am

        Thanks a lot for the reply! I hadn’t been able to find any, but I had no way of knowing if I had missed one.

        Oh well, I was really hoping I wouldn’t have to order different devices. It baffles me that there are touchscreen clamshells out there that don’t convert (e.g. the XPS 15). The touchscreen has almost always been useless to me if it’s not in tablet mode.

        Reply
39. Jeffrey Perren

    November 28, 2015 at 2:57 pm

    Is there a similar list for AMD Carrizo-based laptops?

    Thanks.

    Reply
    • Andrei Girbea

      November 28, 2015 at 6:43 pm

      WEll, no, since there are very, very few Carrizo laptops out there and most of them are low end models.

      Reply
40. Michael Miller

    December 2, 2015 at 3:12 am

    Andrei,

    Really hoping the “clamshell” style in the 11-inch class isn’t a dying breed. As a computer technician, I’m steering clear of touchscreens since they are PRICEY to replace; Typically only the manufacturer can sell you a full top-half for replacement – real pain compared to the ~$70 pricetag of a new LCD.

    Can you place a recommendation as to a replacement to my current laptop? I own the HP DM1 (i3, sandy bridge). Love it to death. Nowadays the 11.6″ class is being crapped on with non-upgradable eMMC junk, and soldered down RAM.

    Suggestions for an 11.6″ laptop, with 8+ hour battery life, and upgradable hardware? I love the DM1, but would love to take advantage of newer processors with better battery life since I’m 4 generations behind now.

    Reply
    • Andrei Girbea

      December 2, 2015 at 7:46 am

      WEll, have a look here: http://www.tlbhd.com/best-11-6-inch-laptop-966/ , but the options for a premium 11-incher are really limited, especially those user upgradeable. My advice would be to look at some of the 12-inchers as well: http://www.tlbhd.com/best-12-inch-mini-laptops-2839/

      Not sure what your budget is, but if the performance requirements aren’t great, a Core M powered device would be nice. That platform is fanless.

      Reply
41. John

    December 8, 2015 at 7:57 am

    I am deciding between a Skylake Lenovo Yoga 900 and the HP Spectre x360, and are looking forward to your final review of the Lenovo Yoga 900 (I guess the review of the HP x360 still goes for the new with Skylake version). Do you know when it is done?
    On a more personal level, do you have a favorite between the 2 laptops?
    Thanks!

    Reply
    • Andrei Girbea

      December 10, 2015 at 6:43 am

      There are a few posts on the two in the site. I incline towards the HP, but I haven’t properly reviewed either

      Reply
      • John

        December 25, 2015 at 11:56 am

        Thanks! I ended up buying the HP, and are reasonably happy at this time.

        Reply
42. Richard

    December 21, 2015 at 7:04 am

    Hi,

    Would you reccomend Asus N552vw instead of the Acer nitro?

    Basically I need gtx960m, ssd and 15.6″
    And good quality :-)

    Reply
    • Andrei Girbea

      December 25, 2015 at 7:35 am

      I’ve reviewed the new Nitro, but I haven’t yet reviewed the N552, so I can’t tell for sure which one is the better pick

      Reply
43. Alan

    January 1, 2016 at 11:09 am

    Great website, awesome post. Appreciate the time and effort. My question is about the dell Xps 13 9350 – does it have a mini display port or not? Having real trouble with conflicting info about this. Maybe the sub 3.1 port doubles up? I don’t know… Any help would be hugely appreciated. I basically want the Xps 13 but would need to be able to plug it into my tv or other display devices. Don’t mind buying an adapt or if there is one that would work with the Xps 13 port configuration?

    Thank you in advance!

    (And happy new year all)

    Al

    Reply
    • Andrei Girbea

      January 2, 2016 at 11:15 pm

      Hi, it does not. The XPS 9343 (Broadwell model) has a miniDP port, which on the Skylake version (9350) was replaced with a USB TypeC connector. Does the same thing (and more), but requires a different adapter.

      Reply
44. Mark

    January 13, 2016 at 9:40 pm

    hi Andrei –

    good article but it seems sorely out of date now in 2016. As several have asked, where are the details (even just a yes/no column) on the new make-or-break Skylake feature; Thunderbolt 3.0/USB3.1 support? This still seems a rare duck on these new models. Also, I note that some of your listings are out of date; or incomplete for example where are the new Razer or Alienware models? And your MSI Ghost Pro review and specs link to the Broadwell version, which is clearly not the same performance or size as the new series.

    Reply
    • Andrei Girbea

      January 13, 2016 at 10:58 pm

      Hi Mark.

      1. We haven’t reviewed the Skylake MSI GS60, hence the link points to the older review.
      2. I’ve added the Razer Blade Stealth, but the Alienware laptops are too bulky yo get in here. This list is mostly meant to include ultraportables.
      3. The layout does not allow to include another column for Thunderbolt 3, but I’ll have a different post on this topic in the neat future.

      Other than that, the post is not at all outdated imo. Any other suggestions of laptops that should be in here and are not is welcomed though ;) Thanks.

      Reply
45. kiran

    February 10, 2016 at 8:51 pm

    it would have been very time saving, if you had also provided “sort buttons”!!!!!

    Reply
46. naryjao

    May 10, 2016 at 8:07 pm

    Just one question:
    where is the vaio s?

    Reply
47. Ben Sanford

    July 28, 2016 at 2:43 pm

    I have noticed that almost all of the skylake ultrabooks still use DDR3 low voltage memory instead of DDR4, even though DDR4 prices now seem to be about the same as DDR3.

    Reply
48. Kathy

    July 29, 2016 at 5:25 pm

    Hi Andrei,
    Wonderful list, but could you tell me which device has the Wacom
    digitizer for a pen?

    I am looking for a windows 10 (64 bit) CPU I-7 Skylake (hopefully)
    16 GB expandable to 64 GB RAM (wishfully) at least 1920 x 1080 FHD,
    14″ to 17″ screen.
    GPA 970 GTX or GPA 780 GTX. Storage doesn’t matter as long as I can plug in an external USB drive.

    I want to draw on the screen using Toon Boom Harmony 14.
    I need a PC that I can sit on in the yard with and screams with power.
    My budget is up to $2500 even $3000 (if necessary).
    Thank you so much for your help and having all this info available.

    Reply
    • Andrei Girbea

      July 31, 2016 at 12:42 pm

      Hi, I don’t think there’s a laptop that can check all those boxes.

      The Lenovo Yoga X1 has a pretty good Wacom digitizer, not sure if it’s compatible with Toon Boom Harmony 14, you might want to check with them for details. It’s also not goign to get dedicated graphics, but it gets decently fast hardware, 16 gigs of RAM, a 14-inch screen, solid construction, etc.

      Get back to me if you really need those graphics, I can’t think of anything with that kind of power and digitizer out of the top of my head, but I’ll try to dig deeper if needed. You could also consider getting a laptop with the power and bigger screen that you need, plus a separated Wacom tab for your drawing, that’s probably your best bet if you can’t ditch the dedicated graphics

      Reply
49. Ali

    August 10, 2016 at 6:08 pm

    Great website.

    I’m looking for the thinnest/lightest laptop I can get that has an i7 processor, 16GB RAM, and Windows 10 Pro…preferably ~15″ screen so there is a 10-key on the keyboard. Price isn’t an issue.

    I’m really interested in the LG gram 15Z960 i7 15″ Laptop. Do you know if the RAM can be upgraded?

    Reply
    • Andrei Girbea

      August 11, 2016 at 8:20 am

      The Gram 15 gets really good reviews on Amazon. Unfortunately I haven’t tested it and couldn’t find any picture of the internals, but from what I’ve found there’s one DIMM on this laptop that can take an up to 16 GB module. So if you buy this with 8 GB of RAM< you'd have to replace it with a 16 GB DIMM and you'd be good.

      Reply
50. ManhHung

    August 22, 2016 at 2:33 am

    Recently I’ve known the series “Let’s Note” by Panasonic and was so amazed at their features. For example, for sub-13 inch type, they have 3 models that have amazing features as follows:
    – 10” or 12.1” or 12.5”
    – ALL common ports you need: 3x usb 3.0, hdmi, vga, lan, sd card reader!
    – extremely lightweight: 700-ish grams, 900-ish grams, 1.1-ish grams
    – the materials bear 100kg pressure
    – battery is amazing (up to 21 hrs for 12.1”), looks like Panasonic has their own secret as they’re also a battery manufacturer

    Downside is they’re extremely expensive (originally $2000-3500). I guess that’s why they only advertise these products in Japan their motherland. However, as they’re still sound great to me, I hope UltrabookReview could find more info to tell us about them.

    Reply
    • Andrei Girbea

      August 22, 2016 at 6:14 pm

      My experience with Panasonic laptops is basically null. I know they offer some nice devices and I now they are very expensive. I’ll look into their latest offers and add them to this list, but that aside, I fear there’s not much else I can share about them.

      Reply
51. alfa

    November 21, 2016 at 6:52 pm

    Great post Andrei,

    I was wondering if you could help me looking for a cheap small hybrid tablet for running office and some economics/statistical software like SPSS,STATA,SAS, and especially R, that's it (maybe a couple of browser tabs.
    For the big operations I have my powerful 17" home that can do everything.
    Do you think I need a skylake CPU? Because I was now thinking about the transformer 3 mini, I know its performances are limited but I really don't need to do much on it.

    Thank you in advance

    Reply
    • Andrei Girbea

      November 22, 2016 at 6:41 am

      I'm not really familiar with those programs and what they're demanding in terms of resources, but I wouldn't get something like the T3 Mini for more than just basic activities. You could however give the T102HA a try, with the Z8500 processor and 4 GB of RAM. If it won't do, then perhaps something like Dell Inspiron 11 or the HP Steam 11 with Pentium processors should do better. Worth a look.

      The Spectre X2 is also a nice option and it's available for cheap in the US, but I'm not sure if that's the case in Italy. Worth a look.

      Reply
52. anon

    November 25, 2016 at 10:13 am

    The new dell alienware 13 has a touch screen option, i7 and gtx 1060

    Reply
    • Andrei Girbea

      November 25, 2016 at 12:22 pm

      Right, thanks, I forgot to update this listing.

      Reply
53. Mihai

    June 8, 2017 at 2:37 pm

    I want o buy now an MSI GL62 6QF-16929.
    Specs are:
    15,6 inch (1920 x 1080)
    Intel Core i7-6700HQ
    8 GB DDR4 2133
    256 GB SSD + 1 TB HDD
    NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M (2 GB)
    Price is 950 euro.

    My question is:
    Considering speed/reliability/price can I find something else better or comparable at this price point or I am close enough to the sweet point so it is not worth to search further ?
    I need a laptop that should last 3 – years, be used for school and CSGO.

    Reply

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