You can get cheaper ultrabooks but only if you're willing to drop to a markedly slower Core M processor, as in the Asus UX305CA.
HP has repositioned itself as a premium lifestyle brand. While you might say this first came about several years ago when the company partnered with Beats (now owned by Apple) and launched a range of silver Envy laptops, the HP has doubled down with the Spectre 13.The Spectre 13 is an ultra-thin, ultra-light laptop looking to rival Apple’s 12-inch MacBook and 13in MacBook Air. It succeeds on some fronts, but there are some big compromises.Weighing only 1.1kg, with a maximum thickness of just over 10mm, HP has succeeded in its aim of producing the thinnest Intel Core i-powered laptop around. I took the Spectre 13 on two flights and a train journey and it was the perfect companion.

It comes with a leather sleeve, too, meaning I didn’t have to worry about the dark grey aluminium lid picking up any scratches in my backpack.The actual design and colour choice of the Spectre 13 will divide opinion. I don’t dislike the grey aluminium finish with copper-coloured highlights, but in my opinion HP hasn't done itself any favours by not offering a less showy option of the laptop. Obviously, HP wants its laptop to stand out on store shelves, which it achieves, but I don’t think this translates well to the real world. Nevertheless, you can’t deny that HP has done a great job of creating something unique.The Spectre 13 feels reasonably well built: the keyboard tray feels solid and the corners of the laptop look capable of taking a few knocks without damaging the components inside.The "piston" hinge is another unique design choice that sets the Spectre apart, but ultimately, it's one of its flaws. Its use limits the movement of the lid, so it doesn’t tilt back quite far enough when you're working with the Spectre 13 on your lap in a cramped space. However, the screen’s viewing angles are wide enough to minimise the effects here.

The keyboard is backlit, which is useful for typing in the dark, but otherwise there isn't much here that warrants praise. It’s comfortable to type on, but the key-press action isn’t the most tactile I’ve felt and travel, too, could be better.The Spectre 13's touchpad is a real disappointment. It isn't a Microsoft-certified Precision Touchpad, so effectively doesn’t benefit from excellent, responsive drivers and seamless gestures.It does the basics reasonably well, but having used Precision Touchpads HP's feels half a decade behind. The worst part is the physical click, which, when activated, causes the cursor to jump slightly.There are three USB Type-C ports at the rear of the device, one for charging and the other two for high-speed data transfer via the USB 3.1 Gen 2 ports. Note that the charging port can also be used as a data transfer port.One USB Type-C to USB Type-A port is supplied in the box, so you’ll be able to connect your legacy peripherals. However, if you want to connect to a network via Ethernet, you’ll have to buy an Ethernet to USB Type-C connector for between £15-£30.

The Full HD IPS screen on the Spectre 13 is superb, but you’d expect nothing less for the money. Contrast and brightness are excellent – the Spectre 13 reaches a maximum brightness of 301cd/m2 – but the screen’s Gorilla Glass (non-touch) coating does mean reflections are a slight problem.The screen covers 95% of the sRGB colour gamut, and as a result most vibrant colours are served well. Contrast is rated at 1,531:1, meaning bright colours stand out while darker areas look inky. Backlight bleed, where visible, is minor. Overall, this is an excellent display.In contrast, the Spectre 13's built-in speakers are disappointing, failing to offer much depth or range. They’re fine for TV and the occasional movie, but you’ll get a better experience from the rear-mounted 3.5mm jack with either headphones or desktop speakers.I’ve never seen a Surface Pro competitor look quite so similar to Microsoft's finest. The Asus Transformer 3 Pro takes so many design cues from the Surface Pro 4 that I'd put money on the majority of people mistaking the device for something that has come straight out of Redmond.

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Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and all that, but is the Transformer 3 Pro actually a worthy competitor? From my initial impressions, I'd say "probably".The two are near-identical when it comes to technical specifications. First up, the screen: Asus has fitted a 2,860 x 1,920 pixel display to the Transformer 3 Pro, narrowly pipping the 2,736 x 1,824 pixels on the Surface Pro 4. It may not be obvious, but the Asus machine is actually 0.4-inches larger than the Surface Pro 4, with a 12.6in diagonal.It looks fantastic, not least because of Asus’ quoted 121% sRGB colour gamut volume. The tablet will get an optional Asus Pen stylus, too, which has 1,024 points of pressure sensitivity – a boon for designers. There wasn’t a stylus on display at the Asus booth, but judging by the pictures of the device, the pen doesn’t appear to benefit from the same magnetic attachment as on the Surface Pro 4.The Transformer 3 Pro is 8.35mm thick without its keyboard dock and weighs 795g, putting it on a par with Microsoft’s tablet. It will ship with a keyboard dock as standard, however, giving it a one-up on Microsoft. The whole assembly feels very solid; Asus hasn’t cut costs in the build quality department.

In my opinion, it is the keyboard cover that is the strongest suit in this device: it benefits from plenty of travel and a chunky feel, plus the touchpad is smooth and sensitive.The tablet portion has a kickstand that can tilt the tablet to a near-horizontal position, making it ideal for lap-based working. I didn’t get an opportunity to sit down with it on my lap, though, so it will be interesting to see how stable it is in the real world.Performance will come from a dual-core Intel Core i5-6200U or i7-6500U processor, depending on specification. Performance was smooth and responsive during my hands-on, and given the track record of these processors, I’ve no reason to think this will differ with regards to the final product. Supporting the processor will be up to 16GB of RAM and PCI Express-based SSDs with capacities of up to 1TB.Also included in the Transformer 3 Pro is a full set of ports here. There’s full-size USB 3.0, a USB 3.1-C/Thunderbolt 3.0 combination port, a microSD card reader and a full-size HDMI port, too.

The Thunderbolt port can be used to connect to the external Asus ROG XG Station 2 graphics dock, which lets you hook up to a full-sized desktop graphics card for PC gaming on your tiny tablet. When demonstrated, it looked fairly flaky and buggy, but I’ll put this down to pre-production niggles.Battery life could be one point of contention: on the device I tried, 56% of the battery remained with an estimated rundown time of 2hrs 5mins. However, note that the device was running at maximum brightness. Nevertheless, the numbers suggest you'll have to do some serious conservation for the Transformer 3 Pro to make it through a day’s work.

Price for the Transformer 3 Pro will start at £900 for an i5 model with 4GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, and go up to £1,400 for an i7 with 8GB of RAM and 512GB storage. This undercuts the Surface Pro 4 by around £70 for a bottom-spec model.The Transformer Pro 3 will be available in the UK in August. I look forward to pitting it head-to-head with the Surface Pro 4.Asus’ ZenBook range has proven enduringly popular with reviewers and buyers alike, offering fantastic specifications and reasonable build quality at a market-leading price.With the ZenBook 3, announced alongside several other new devices at Computex today, Asus has produced a laptop that's thinner and lighter than any that have come before it. The ZenBook 3 is just 11.9mm thick and weighs 910g. That’s thinner and lighter than the ZenBook UX305.

All this counts for nothing if it doesn’t feel good, and following some hands-on time with the laptop at the show, I'm hopeful that Asus has actually created a fairly robust machine. The all-metal exterior of the ZenBook 3 feels strong and the traditional weak point of the lid feels less bendy than some of the ZenBooks that have come before it.The laptop looks fantastic, too. The blue finish with a gold trim may divide opinion, but personally, I'm a fan. Asus is also offering a Rose Gold and a grey option too.The ZenBook 3' dimension slender design and light weight means that you can easily throw this laptop into a bag without a second thought. Its 12.5in form factor actually feels more compact than it is, thanks to fairly slim bezels on the left and right of the machine.The screen, while a decent performer in terms of colours, did suffer some fairly nasty banding and backlight bleed at the bottom of the panel, although I’ll let Asus off here since this will have been a pre-production sample. I hope the issue is resolved for the final build.Overall build quality, and such a thin chassis, is all the more impressive given that the ZenBook 3 is powered by Intel Core i – not low-power Core M – processors. Intel Core i5-6200Us or Core i5-6500Us will be available at launch, supported by 16GB of RAM and super-fast PCI Express SSDs. This is one snappy machine.

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The keyboard offers 8.8mm of travel to each key, although the slightly odd shape of the keyboard and huge keys made typing feel a little strange. However, since I spent very little time with the machine at Asus’ event, it's something over which I'll give Asus the benefit of the doubt, until I'm able to review the laptop in depth.I wasn’t hugely impressed by the touchpad. It didn’t feel quite as sensitive as I'd have liked, although gestures appeared to work seamlessly during my brief time with it.On the top-right of the touchpad sits a small fingerprint reader; it's been quite some time since I've seen a consumer-grade laptop featuring a fingerprint reader. This will allow you to log in without typing in your password, using Windows Hello.Battery life is claimed to be up to 9 hours, which is probably just about achievable with minimum brightness and Battery Saver mode in play.One unfortunate characteristic this machine shares with the MacBook is its single port: the USB Type-C connector is used for charging the device and plugging in any additional peripherals. In order to get proper work done at your desk, you'll need a dock.

The price? For a bottom-spec version, the Asus ZenBook 3 costs just £550. Prices for the higher specification models starts at £800 – however, it isn't yet exactly clear what differentiates the two versions, so hold out until they go on sale in August.If build quality lives up to the opening impressions, and the battery life isn’t too horribly compromised by the thin chassis and high-performance processors, I wouldn't be surprised to see the ZenBook 3 up there with the best laptops of 2016.The Yoga 260 brings together two of Lenovo's signature laptop lines. It combines the ThinkPad's business features and design with the folding touchscreen of its Yoga devices. Whether you're after a reliable workhorse or a versatile touchscreen hybrid, the Yoga 260 should be the ideal device.Available in a few configurations that begin at £899 and rise to £1,299, the Yoga 260 is competitively priced for a ThinkPad product. But is it the ultimate business ultraportable device?

The ThinkPad design ethos has been set in stone for a couple of decades now. A utilitarian black finish; little in the way of compromise towards form at the expense of function; and a snazzy little angled ThinkPad logo in the corner.There's no MacBook Air-like metal frame, or the fancy slim-bezelled screen of the Dell XPS 13. Instead, the Yoga 260 has relatively chunky, tough black plastic throughout and it offers a sturdy screen with thick protective bezels.The only external metal components are the two all-important hinges that make this a Yoga machine. They allow the screen to be set at any angle, from fully closed right the way round to the screen facing outwards and the keyboard and trackpad in the same position on the other side, like a super-thick tablet.In this tablet-like form, it's possible to more easily scribble on the screen or pass the device around to show photos or presentations. Meanwhile, all the angles in between provide numerous setups that make it easier to use the device in different situations.

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