Samsung wowed us with its ultra-thin, surprisingly powerful Series 9 laptop earlier this year, but the £1,000-plus price tag lifted it beyond the grasp of most common folk.
We've spent a week with the latest Samsung portable, the Series 7 Chronos (or Samsung Series 7 Chronos 700Z5A-S01, to give it its full catchy monicker), which isn't quite as portable but certainly packs in the power - as well as a hefty price tag.
Although the rather curious name conjures up images of psychotic androids hell-bent on human extermination, the Chronos is a rather tame-looking beast.
Anyone expecting a super-slender chassis like the Series 9's will be disappointed. The Chronos is still slender, at just 25mm, but the 2.4kg weight means it's more of a chore to lug around than ultrabooks such as the Acer Aspire S3 and the Asus Zenbook.
The sleek silver lid is solid at the edges to keep the display from bending, and even the centre is surprisingly firm. Inside, the metallic motif continues. However, the palmrests are less sturdy than the lid, flexing under light pressure. It isn't a major concern, but a pity considering the otherwise strong build quality.
We have to admit to being a little disappointed by the overall appearance of the Samsung Chronos. Perhaps our expectations were too high, but this laptop isn't exactly a beauty compared to some of the new ultrabooks, or even the older Series 9.
Still, we were pleased to see the isolation-style 'chiclet' keyboard stretching the width of the interior, giving well-sized keys and enough room for a numeric keypad. Typing is a smooth experience, although the keys don't travel far when hit.
The arrow keys are once again crushed into a single row, but we could find them without looking, thanks to their wide design.
The keyboard is also backlit, and a built-in light sensor ensures the subtle glow only turns on when the atmospheric lighting is poor, thus saving your battery life as well as your eyes.
However, it isn't all good news. We noticed after typing for a while that the sharp edges of the chassis were cutting into our wrists.
Not hard enough to open up a vein, thankfully, but enough to leave a red mark. It isn't so bad if you don't slouch in your chair, but we found ourselves sinking further down as the working day progressed, putting our tender skin at risk.
We were also less than enamored with the Samsung Chronos' touchpad. It's spacious enough, taking up a generous chunk of the palmrest, but opts for annoying integrated mouse buttons.
You have to push the bottom corners to simulate left and right mouse button clicks, which quickly frustrates, since the cursor jerks each time. We gave up and started tapping the surface instead, which occasionally doesn't register but is less annoying.
