Ahead of CES, Samsung has pre-announced the Ativ Book 9, via The Verge. Interestingly, this laptop features many of the technical specifications that have been rumored for the future 12-inch Retina MacBook Air. The announcement of the Ativ Book 9 validates that a fanless high-resolution ultrabook is indeed possible in the short term.
The Book 9 laptop features a 12.2 inch screen with a 2600×1600 resolution, implying a 250 PPI. At normal viewing distances, Apple could easily describe the display as ‘Retina’. For comparison, the ‘Retina’ 15 inch MacBook Pro has 216 pixels-per-inch. The Book 9 is powered by a next-generation Broadwell CPU, which has drastically lower power consumption and heat dissipation enabling the product to be fanless.
The Book 9 is slated for release in early 2015, which just happens to be the same timeframe that the 12-inch MacBook Air is rumored to be announced.
In case you’ve forgotten, the latest reports on the next-generation Retina Air say that it will be available in gold and space gray, like the iPhone. It will also reportedly feature a keyboard that goes edge-to-edge across the laptop and a reversible USB Type C connector. This is something that is not seen in the Samsung product but has been done in the past.
We would expect the rumor mill to ramp up soon with more leaks about Apple’s new laptop if it is indeed being released in early 2015, as expected.
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How is it possible that every time there is an Apple rumor of a new product Samsung produces it right away? It is almost every single time.
Because Samsung makes most of the parts and then throws them into a chassis of its own.
Well the 12 inch retina Air rumor is 12-18 months old at this point.
B! The Broadwell chips are not available for Apple to release them now nor Samsung since it’s listed as early 2015.
Pre-empting a 12″ MacBook Air is pretty simple even if you didn’t have insider information. Samsung has insider information of course…
Does this mean Windows 8 now actually has full retina screen support? Not that I would touch Windows with a 10 foot pole until Windows 10. And probably not even then. But Windows 8 was just craptastic.
The answer to my question seems to be, no, Windows doesn’t actually properly support retina the way the Mac does. You get a half-baked approximation but not even close.
Got this from this review, which is actually really funny. It starts out with the premise that Dell has released a laptop that is cheaper and lighter than the MacBook Pro, yet also has a bigger screen. Except it’s the same price. And the screen doesn’t really work thanks to Windows; and it’s slower; and its graphics card is way slower; and it has a much worse battery life. LOL!
http://www.forbes.com/sites/gordonkelly/2014/02/11/dell-precision-m3800-review-pc-users-finally-get-a-rival-to-the-15-inch-apple-macbook-pro-with-retina-display/2/
the good thing about this news is that it pretty much confirms the apple rumors.
12″ laptop that is a joke, one can’t get much work done, give me 17″ screen real estate.
It has over 4 million pixels, so it’s comparable to 30″ screens