“The Marxist cultural critic Walter Benjamin used the term “Aura” to refer to the feeling of awe created by unique or remarkable objects such as works of art or relics of the past.”
Samsung is going to market a new series of notebooks titled “The AURA Editionâ€.
Samsung hasn’t really been in the notebook PCs market for a long time (I think), yet within this short period of time, I have seen Samsung coming out with quite a number of very distinctively designed notebooks, which I believe is to create an identity of itself.
X Series
Back in 2005, Samsung dished out its Samsung X1 and calls it ‘the lightest and thinnest 14-inch notebook of the world’. A widescreen notebook that weights only 1.7 kg, with a space saving top loading ODD, coupled with a uniquely and ergonomically designed keyboard placement. (So is Samsung saying no palm-rest is better ergonomic?)
And if you desire a wider screen over a lighter weight, then you can settle for a 4.4kg, 19-inch X1 notebook. (I see a back stand at the bottom of the notebook. Cool. That will resolve the overheating problem and also provide a better reclining typing angle at the same time. Nice!)
The screen can be detached too! Now it really looks like a desktop PC.
[ Read more on Samsung X Series here ]
Q Series
In the Q Series, I see Samsung branding its notebooks more towards aesthetically and femininely appealing over function.
Still keeping Samsung’s thinnest and slimming notebook identity, but with an additional stunning and eye-catching red cover. This laptop was selected to spearhead Samsung invasion into Singapore and other parts of Southeast Asia. (I guess there must be really something about Red in Asia)
[ Read more on Samsung Q Series here ]
The Aura Series
So now on the upcoming Aura Series, what is in it?
“The 14.1-inch glossy LCD is juiced by the AMD ATI Radeon Xpress 1250 HyperMemory chipset, in case you enjoy the occasional WoW session. You have the option to pick from a Celeron M up to a Core 2 Duo clocked at 2.16GHz. RAM is bumped up by an upgrade on the motherboard to RS600ME chipsets allowing for two DIMM slots. Previous Samsung notebook PCs sported just 256MB of integrated system memory. No joke. If you choose to go with Vista on this you can bump RAM up to 4GB to handle the onslaught of 64-bit apps in the future. Hard drive space ranges from 60GB to 160GB.
The Aura R20 looks ready to kick butt, and it would be a toss up between this and a black Macbook if I were in the market for a laptop. Coincidentally they both weigh about the same, 5.2 pounds. Could it be more than coincidence?”
Discuss this topic at the IDAsia.org forum here.
