Already known for ultraportables, LG took a more direct shot at the ultrabook category Monday with a new addition to the Xnote line. The Z330 carries a 13-inch screen and a tapered, silver and black design reminiscent of a cross between the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro. LG claims the system is lighter, at under 2.7 pounds, and slightly thinner, at 0.6 inches.
LG has announced its P220 ultraportable notebook, an 11.6-inch notebook featuring a slim bezel that houses a 12.5-inch widescreen display. The IPS display is capable of a 178 degree viewing arc. The P220 is an upgrade to the P210, with a second generation Intel Core i5 processor. The ultraportable is just .82 inches thick, and weighs 2.9 pounds.
LG on Tuesday morning trotted out a pair of new mid-size notebooks that potentially defy categories. The Blade P430 and P530 both use the same Shuriken display technology behind the Xnote P210 and have extra-thin screens, at under 0.19mm thick, as well as very narrow bezels. The P430's 14-inch display still fits into the frame of a 13.3-inch notebook where the 15.6-inch P530 steers away from the near desktop replacement size of most systems with its screen.
LCD display makers claimed Monday that Acer was planning to claim an edge in the ultraportable space by using the same display technology behind the LG Xnote P210. An unnamed notebook from the company would use LG Display's new ultra-compact Shuriken LCD to get a 14-inch screen into a 13.3-inch frame. The design identified to Digitimes would cut the bezel thickness by a third, to 0.31 inches, and make the entire panel just 0.16 inches thick.
LG on Tuesday claimed a design breakthrough for notebooks with an addition to the Xnote line that could hint at future plans for ultraportables like the MacBook Air. The P210 has a 12.5-inch display but, through a new extra-thin bezel technology, is no bigger than a typical 11.6-inch notebook. Simultaneously, it has much more performance than alternatives with an ultra-low voltage 1.33GHz Core i5 that can Turbo Boost to 1.86GHz.
LG is directly playing off of Apple's MacBook Air ads in a new PC commercial, according to a tipster. In its home country, an ad for the new X300 netbook (viewable below) copies the Air's use of a manila envelope but, after taking a notebook out, calls the Apple system "unthinkable" and switches to the LG system, which is thinner at under 0.7 inches and lighter at 2.1 pounds. It goes so far as to play an upbeat song near the end much like Yael Naim's "New Soul," which shot up in popularity after Apple's use.
Korea's LG has recently announced its latest series of high-end notebooks, the 15.4-inch Xnote P510, which features a rubberized keyboard and haptic touch feedback from the power button along with a lit-up touchpad. There are three versions of the portable PC available, with the P510-UP98K featuring a 2.98GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor along with 4GB of RAM and both a 500GB hard drive and 64GB solid-state drive. For graphics processing, there is a GeForce GT 130M GPU from NVIDIA with a dedicated 512MB of RAM. The LCD screen is LED back-lit and offers 1440x900 resolution in all three models.
LG used its home country's KES 2008 show to introduce a set of new XNOTE notebooks, including the S210. The system is small and light at 12 inches and 2.2 pounds respectively but packs faster components than usually reserved for its kind, including a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo and a full 4GB of memory. Unspecified NVIDIA graphics are also built into the system, which carries HDMI out to play video to HDTVs.
