Samsung Series 5 UltraTouch review: Slim but sturdy, for less than you'd think

Windows 8 touch-screen laptops to date have largely fallen into two categories -- really high-end systems, from $1,200 to $1,600 or more, with slim, sexy designs; or else entry-level models that cram in a touch screen, but at the expense of design, with middling, plastic bodies.

7.8

Samsung Series 5 UltraTouch

The Good

With a slim, sturdy design and a powerful mainstream CPU, the touch-enabled <b>Samsung Series 5 UltraTouch</b> is a great sub-$900 13-inch Windows 8 machine.

The Bad

Good thing it has a touch screen, because the touch pad is a bit jumpy. Performance is slower than that of similar Core i5 laptops.

The Bottom Line

Samsung's midprice Series 5 UltraTouch looks and feels like a more expensive machine, but keeps it simple by skipping the complex hybrid mechanics of so many new Windows 8 systems.

Samsung's 13-inch Series 5 UltraTouch threads the needle excellently, with an upscale, metallic body, an Intel Core i5 CPU, and good battery life for $849 (note that we also saw it listed on the Home Depot Web site, which is apparently selling laptops now, for $50 less). A less expensive Core i3 version runs about $150 less, but the i5 is where you want to be for a system you can use as your main laptop for several years.

The Series 5 UltraTouch doesn't have any secret tricks up its sleeve, like a screen that detaches, rotates, or flips around, it's just a reasonably solid, reasonably priced ultrabook that looks like a more expensive product (perhaps from Samsung's own higher-end Series 7 and Series 9 lines). Only the twitchy touch pad, with separate buttons, rather than a single clickpad, keeps it from being an easy got-to-have-it recommendation.