If given a choice between toting a chunky typewriter or a sleek Ultrabook in our bags all day, of course we’d go for the thinnest and lightest option available. As of late, this title firmly belongs to the Inhon Blade 13 Carbon that was unveiled in Taiwan last week.
At 10.7mm thick and 1.9 pounds, the Blade 13 Carbon is 7mm thinner and over a pound lighter than the 13-inch MacBook Air. Most importantly, it beats the previous lightweight champ, the 12.8mm-thick NEC Lavie X, by a 2.1mm. Inhon engineers studied the NEC Lavie X intensely to inform the design of the Blade 13 Carbon, according to Engadget Chinese.
The secret to the Inhon’s laptop’s incredibly light footprint lies in its choice of materials. While the laptop cover and bottom plate are made of carbon fiber (as its name suggests), the palm rest is made of magnesium alloy. Inside its all metal chassis is a full laptop with either a third-generation Intel Ivy Bridge Core i5-3337U or i7-3537U processor, 4GB RAM, a 13.3-inch 1080p HD display, a 128GB or 256GB solid-state drive, three USB ports (two are USB 3.0s), a Mini DisplayPort, a full-sized SD Card reader, and even NFC so you can easily connect to peripherals like headphones wirelessly.
If you don’t mind a little extra heft in your laptop, you could opt for the Blade 13 Carbon’s slightly chubbier brother, the Blade 13. Its body is made of fiberglass, which is why it weighs a healthy 2.6 pounds and is about as thick as the Lavie X at 12.6mm. According to Engadget Chinese, the Blade 13 is only available with a 1600-by-900 pixel display, the Core i5-3337U chip, and a 128GB SSD, but otherwise shares the same guts as its sibling.
Judging by Engadget’s photos, it looks like both Inhon laptops will run Windows 8. The sleeker Blade 13 Carbon will be available in Taiwan this June for $1,350, while the Blade 13 will retail for around $1,000 and will hit stores in May. Sadly, the Taiwanese company doesn’t have plans to bring either devices stateside yet.
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