Samsung NP530U4B-A01US Pro Reviews

If you're in the market for a mid-sized laptop with a DVD burner for occasional backups, we can see why you'd look twice at the Series 5: it's thinner and lighter than most 14-inchers. It also has a pleasant keyboard-and-trackpad combo -- something we can't say about all Ultrabooks. The problem is, without discrete graphics or an SSD, its performance trails both beefier laptops and smaller Ultrabooks. If you can live without the optical drive, most of the 13-inch Ultras we've tested are faster and yield longer battery life. And though traditional 14-inch laptops are heavier, their performance tends to be more robust, and their runtime is only marginally worse than the Series 5's (there are even exceptional machines like the $550 Dell Inspiron 14z, which endures almost two hours longer).

A 14-inch screen and built-in DVD burner make the Samsung Series 5 Ultra (NP530U4B-A01US) stand out from the ultrabook crowd.

Samsung’s affordable Series 5 is the most sensible Ultrabook to date, but it’s seriously lacking in excitement