Matthew DeCarlo
The super-sleek Ultra One notebook is now available to order from Porsche Design, a subsidiary of the sports car maker Porsche AG. Starting at $1,350, the 15.6-inch system features a fanless design that is among the thinnest available.
Porsche Design makes licensed accessories spanning product categories including luggage, fashion, eyewear, watches, electronics, and more. In 2017 the company unveiled a premium two-in-one Windows laptop called the Book One, but the Ultra One is the first ultrabook the company has offered and should be on your radar if aesthetics are a big factor for you when buying a new computer.
The fanless machine measures only 13.8 millimeters thick, which is approaching as thin as it gets when it comes to 15.6-inch laptops. Porsche has two main variants of the Ultra One: a model powered by Intel’s Core i5-8200Y processor for $1,350, and a unit that is outfitted with a Core i7-8500Y but goes for a pricier $1,800. Those are low-power eighth-generation Intel chips with a five-watt TDP.
That difference in price also includes memory and storage. The $1,350 Ultra One comes with 8 GB of RAM and 512 GB of flash storage, while the $1,800 model doubles that to 16 GB of RAM and 512 GB of storage. Both have the same sexy magnesium exterior, a lightweight metal that helps the system meet its starting weight of only 1.5 kg (3.3 lbs), and that happens to be a material sometimes used on fast cars.
From the standpoint of day to day appearances, part of the minimalist design achieved on the Ultra One can be credited to the implementation of a special “hinge block” that houses all of the system’s ports on the back so all your cables are hidden behind the screen. This decision will inevitably see polarizing opinions from potential buyers.
While there’s certainly merit to desiring side-mounted ports for ease of access, having all your USB ports and so on behind the laptop makes sense for some use cases, such as when you primarily use the system at a desk and only occasionally travel with it—as might be the case with a larger 15.6-inch notebook like the Ultra One.
The 15.6-inch IPS display has 1080p native resolution, which is a bit low for this size and price, and supports 10-point multi-touch input. Porsche Design boasts about the Harman Kardon speakers situated on either side of Ultra One’s keyboard. Connectivity includes two USB Type-A and two USB Type-C ports, a microSD card reader, an HDMI port, an audio jack, a microphone, a Windows Hello fingerprint sensor, as well as support for 802.11ac Wi-Fi 5 and Bluetooth 4.2.
Both the i5 and i7 Ultra One can be ordered with your choice of US QWERTY, UK QWERTY, or DE QWERTZ keyboard layouts.
Source: Porsche Designs via Laptop Mag
