Samsung unveils powerful Series 7 Ultrabook ahead of CES

Samsung has added two high-performance devices to its Ultrabook range offering users the choice between portability and a large display.

The Series 7 Ultra combines a small form factor with high performance. The chassis houses a 13.3in full HD 1920 x 1080 touch screen display with 10-point multi-touch.

Under the hood, Samsung will offer the choice of an Intel Core i5 or i7 ULV processor, although clock speed has yet to be disclosed.

Interestingly the device will also pack discrete graphics in the form of an AMD HD8570M graphics card, which could attract multimedia users.

There will be up to 256GB of SSD storage on offer and it will support up to 16GB of RAM so it should give longevity in terms of performance.

Connectivity will come in the form of 1 x USB 3, 2 x USB 2 ports, HDMI and mini VGA connections, as well as an Ethernet port.

Samsung claims a reasonable eight hours of battery life for the 7 Ultra.

Meanwhile, for users needing a bigger display, Samsung will be offering up the 7 Chronos. This 15.6in display is larger, but will have the same 1920 x 1080 resolution and 10-point multi-touch capabilities as the 7 Ultra.

The Chronos will be powered by an Intel Core i7 3635QM processor clocked at 2.4GHz and this can be paired with up to 16GB of RAM. An AMD Radeon HD 8870 graphics card with 2GB of GDDR5 memory should be able to cater to the needs of power users requiring video editing or designing capabilities.

In terms of storage, the device will support up to 1TB of memory via a traditional HDD. Samsung has also squeezed in 2 x USB 3 and 2 x USB 2 ports as well as HDMI, VGA and Ethernet ports. Samsung claims this model will have up to 11 hours of battery life.

Both devices will be running the Windows 8 operating system hence the multi-touch displays. Samsung has yet to release pricing, but considering the high-performance parts on offer they are unlikely to be cheap.