Samsung ATIV Book 9 Plus (Available in Q4 this year)
The upcoming Samsung ATIV Book 9 Plus is the more powerful brother of the Korean technology giant’s original ATIV 9 Windows 8 Ultrabook, and its aluminium, uni-body design includes various enhancements over its previous model, including an Intel Haswell 4th generation processor, a Windows 8-optimized touchscreen to give you a choice of inputs and a display screen that can – finally – flip open 180 degrees for different viewing angles. It’s ultra thin and light and yet has 11 hours of battery life despite a large 13.3-inch QHD+ display screen, and so should fit the needs of those of us mobile “keyboard” warriors pretty well.
Its price is unknown at this point as it’s only available next quarter.
Samsung ATIV Book 9 Lite (from S$1,199)
But if you can’t wait there’s always the Samsung ATIV Book 9 Lite, the more petite – specifications-wise, at least – of the ATIV Book 9 series. Featuring a quad core processor and a 128 SSD, the 1.44kg light machine is robust enough to handle most computing tasks well making it idea for business travelers and those always on-the-go.
One amazing feature – which you have to pay for, but is incredible worth it if you also own a Samsung smartphone – is Samsung SideSync, an application which allows your mobile phone and PC to work as one. You can control your phone directly from your laptop, for example, typing out a SMS reply on your laptop keyboard, or even play an Android game right on your laptop screen. Such interactivity is certain to up your productivity a couple of notches. Samsung SideSync also works on the ATIV Book 9 Plus. Just too bad smartphones from other manufacturers don’t quite work with this application.
The ATIV Book 9 Lite is currently available in marble white from S$1,199. A touchscreen version is slated for a later release: the ATIV Book 9 Lite Touch in mineral ash black should be released within the month.
Bose QuietComfort 20 Headphones (S$499)
These amazing in-ear noise cancelling earphones will save your sanity, especially if you take public transport or fly budget airlines often. The QuietComfort 20 from Bose not only provide stunning audio reproductions – its TriPort® technology that uses ports to increase the effective acoustic space of the earbud to reproduce deep lows, lifelike vocals and instruments – and fantastic comfort with its soft replaceable silicon tips, its noise-cancelling technology literally shuts out the noise around you. You’ll be glad for them if you’re ever seated near a young child bawling his head off incessantly just two airplane seats from you.
Oh, and an interesting Aware mode allows you to toggle on and off certain sounds around you to be heard clearly, such as a horn beeping, friend talking, a passerby, or gate announcement at the train or airport, yet keep the music going.
But at S$499, such sanity comes at a price. You can buy it at new Atlas e-store.
