More than last year, 2012's ultrabooks have been and will continue to be about tradeoffs: low-res screens vs. high-res, TN panels vs. IPS, snappy SSDs vs. capacious HDDs, dual-core CPUs vs. quad-core, 2GB vs. 8GB, power-sipping IGPs vs. muscle-bound GPUs, mainstream vs. premium pricing, and so on.

Acer's new TimelineU makes its own compromises. Our review unit touts a full-size backlit keyboard, 500GB of storage, a GeForce GT 640M LE GPU, an optical drive, an eight-hour battery life and an attractive $830 price tag. Naturally, the question is: what's the catch? Let's get to the bottom of that.

One of the great things about building your own desktop computer is that you can configure it exactly how you want it with off the shelf parts. But it's a different story when it comes to laptops -- your options are limited. Today we want to know: when buying a laptop, what do you value most?

Apple’s coveted Retina display has finally found its way to a full-size notebook courtesy of the latest MacBook Pro. In addition, there’s an entirely reworked chassis that’s nearly as thin as the MacBook Air and weighs more than a pound less than the standard Pro. Customers can also configure a Retina system with up to 16GB of RAM and 768GB of flash storage, versus a maximum of 8GB of RAM and 512GB of solid state storage on a standard Pro.

But hey, who are we kidding, the only reason that most people are going to dish over the extra cash for Apple’s latest and greatest is the 2880 x 1800 resolution goodness of the Retina display. And I’ll go ahead and let you in a little secret: it’s a thing of beauty.

Dell Home offers its 5.2lb Inspiron 15 Notebook in Obsidian Black, model no. N5040, for $399.99 with free shipping. That's tied with a deal from two weeks ago and the lowest total price we could find by $199. It features a 15.6" 1366x768 (720p) LED-backlit LCD...

Steve Jobs unveiled the first MacBook Air in early 2008 to mixed reviews, but a series of redesigns and hardware refreshes through the years have resulted in a product line that has had a huge impact on the industry. PC makers have struggled to match the Air’s extremely thin and simplistic design, prompting Intel to announce the ultrabook initiative at Computex in 2011.

New for the 2012 MacBook Air is the Intel Ivy Bridge processor sporting Intel HD 4000 graphics, higher capacity storage and memory options, as well as an improved 720p Facetime HD camera, and support for USB 3.0. The 13-inch system also received a $100 price cut, now starting at $1,199.

Buy.com cut its price on the Samsung 23.6" 1080p LCD Monitor, model no. E2420L, to $129.99 with free shipping. That's $10 under a deal from March and the lowest total price we could find, this time by $29. Features include a 1920x1080 (1080p) native resolution, 1,000:1 contrast ratio...

HP Home & Home Office offers coupon discounts on several laptops, as listed below. They're tied with last week's deals as among the best discounts we've seen on these units in recent months. Plus, many items qualify for free shipping. Coupons expire June 13. The deals...

Although it's well-versed in developing thin-and-light machines, Sony has been slow to ship a machine under Intel's ultrabook branding. That's changed today with the company unveiling its new VAIO T series as part of a major refresh. The system, as you might expect, is touted as the ultimate travel companion...

After many customer requests, Amazon has expanded its trade-in program to include mobile computers. As of yesterday, you can use the service to exchange your used laptops and netbooks for an Amazon gift card. To get started, search for eligible items here, provide information...

Asus has unveiled a new ultrabook with discrete graphics at an event in Taiwan this week. Like virtually every upcoming ultrabook, the 13.3-inch Zenbook UX32VD packs an Ivy Bridge CPU (i3-3217U, i5-3317U or i7-3517U), and although Intel's latest chips boost graphics performance...