Andrei Girbea, author at Ultrabookreview.com

Andrei Girbea

Andrei Girbea is a Writer and Editor-in-Chief here at Ultrabookreview.com. I write about mobile technology, laptops and computers in general. I've been doing it for more than 15 years now. I'm a techie with a Bachelor's in Computer Engineering. I mostly write reviews and thorough guides here on the site, with some occasional columns and first-impression articles.

  • Andrei Girbea - September 9, 2017

    While we treat mostly ultrabooks here on Ultrabookreview.com, quite a few of you asked for my opinion on Chromebooks. As a result, in this buying guide we’ll get in-depth on the things you need to know when buying a Chromebook these days. As a...

  • Andrei Girbea - May 22, 2017

    The Asus Transformer Book Flip TP500 is a 15 inch convertible laptop with a touchscreen, capable Haswell hardware and a start price of roughly $650. The more powerful configurations sell for between $700 to $1000 at launch. In this post I’m going to tell...

  • Andrei Girbea - June 10, 2020

    I have to admit, I fancied the Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro from the moment I’ve got my eyes on it, back in September 2013 at IFA Berlin. But there’s more than meets the eye when it comes to a laptop, so in this post...

  • Andrei Girbea - October 4, 2017

    The HP Specte 13t-3000 has all the right tools to tackle pretty much any other 13 inch ultrabook of the moment. And it has the more affordable price tag on its side (starts at $999, while a similar config from its direct competitors will...

  • Andrei Girbea - October 18, 2023

    Some of you asked for a list of ultrabooks and other thin and light laptops with integrated cellular modems working at either 3G or 4G/LTE speeds and I’ve finally got to put this list together. As expected, this list is not that long, as...

  • Andrei Girbea - November 15, 2016

    The Asus Transformer Book Flip TP300L is a nice looking Haswell powered laptop with a convertible screen, with a start-price of roughly $700 at launch (will get cheaper down the road). I’ve told you a few things about this line before, now it’s time...

  • Andrei Girbea - April 7, 2021

    Asus were among the very first to offer stand alone Windows tablets paired with matching docking stations with their Transformer Books. In the meantime, this has grown to become one of the most popular 2-in-1 form-factor available these days and while other manufacturers released...

  • Andrei Girbea - October 30, 2023

    Vivobooks and the Transformer Book Flips are two series of mid-priced Asus ultrabooks, spanning over a bunch of different models. You’ll find Vivobooks with screen-sizes between 11.6 and 15.6 inch, while the Book Flips are available as 13.3, 14 and 15.6 inch variants. In...

  • Andrei Girbea - September 9, 2017

    There are quite a few Haswell powered Zenbooks available in stores these days, but pretty much all of them are seriously expensive, with start prices over $1000. The Asus Zenbook UX32LA however is here to change that, with a list price of around 750...

  • Andrei Girbea - October 4, 2017

    The Asus Zenbook UX32LA and UX32LN are nearly identical ultrabooks, built on the all-aluminum chassis of the older Asus UX32A/UX32VD lines, but sporting the latest Intel Haswell hardware platforms. Unlike the cheaper UX32LA, the UX32LN bundles an Nvidia 840M GT graphics chip and a...

  • Andrei Girbea - March 26, 2015

    Intel are going to release their updated architecture later this year, code named Broadwell, which will replace the current Haswell platform as the go-to for modern ultraportables. That means we’ll start seeing a lot of potential Broadwell running prototypes in the next couple of...

  • Andrei Girbea - September 22, 2015

    The Transformer Flip series is Asus’s new line of mid-level laptops powered by Haswell hardware. With prices starting at around $500, the Flip line stretches from 13.3 inch to 15.6 inch laptops, available in a multitude of configurations. Thus, if you’re after a decent...

  • Andrei Girbea - December 21, 2022

    A Haswell iteration of the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 has been much awaited and requested by many business ultra-portables’ users around the globe. Lenovo finally delivered, with the ThinkPad X1 Carbon 2014 edition, but they did not just update the hardware of their 2013 model....

  • Andrei Girbea - October 4, 2017

    There’s been a lot of hype around Asus’s Zenbook NX500 launched a few weeks ago at Computex. The laptop is expected to hit the stores by the end of the Summer or early Fall and in the meantime, I’ve got my hands on an...

  • Andrei Girbea - August 27, 2015

    I’ve got my hands on an Asus Zenbook UX303LN and played with it in the last days. This one will be officially released later this year (around July-August) as probably the most powerful 13 inch Zenbook of the 2014 line, with the updated Intel...

  • Andrei Girbea - February 11, 2020

    In this post we’re going to take a detailed look at the Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga. This one is Lenovo’s first attempt at merging the versatility of the Yoga form-factor, with its 360 flippable screen, and the business-grade characteristics of the iconic ThinkPad line. And...

  • Andrei Girbea - September 9, 2017

    Many of you were waiting for a new 15 inch Zenbook, the kind of laptop that could stand proud next to the Apple Macbook Pro or the Dell XPS 15, while packing fast hardware and selling for a bit less than those. The newly...

  • Andrei Girbea - January 14, 2014

    In this post we’re going to pitch the Asus Zenbook UX301LA against the Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro. These two are some of the best ultrabooks money can buy right now, so I’m pretty sure many of you have considered at least one of them....

  • Andrei Girbea - March 21, 2014

    In this post we’re going to compare the Asus Zenbook UX301LA and the Asus Zenbook UX302LG, in their top configurations, the ones that I’ve already reviewed here on the site. In other words, we’ll have side by side the two most powerful Asus Zenbooks...

  • Andrei Girbea - May 6, 2014

    These guys at Asus have a talent for creating products with confusing, cryptic names. Their 13 inch Zenbook lines are a good example for that and in this post I’m going to shed some light on their latest Haswell entries. From what we know...

  • Andrei Girbea - February 11, 2020

    In this article we’re going to talk about the Asus Zenbook UX301LA, or the so called Zenbook Infinity, Asus’s top of the line ultrabook available right now. It combines a sleek body made from glass and metal with a high-resolution touchscreen and a powerful...

  • Andrei Girbea - November 15, 2016

    Asus haven’t been too hasty with their Haswell ultrabooks. We’ve first seen them at Computex and later on at IFA and a couple of other shows. They are scheduled to hit the stores in the next weeks, but we’ve got them earlier for reviews....

  • Andrei Girbea - October 4, 2017

    The Lenovo ThinkPad X240 is what we could call a classic road-warrior. It comes with a rugged body, yet fairly light and compact, the simple looks familiar to the ThinkPad Line, Intel Haswell hardware and a large swappable battery that can push the laptop...

  • Andrei Girbea - February 9, 2023

    Hey everyone, Mike here and this is the Asus Vivobook S301, a 13 inch portable laptop with a touchscreen, Intel Haswell hardware and optional dedicated graphics, that starts at around 700 dollars in the US and about 700 euros over here in Europe. But...

  • Andrei Girbea - November 18, 2022

    Hey everyone, this is just a quick update to my extended list of ultrabooks worth buying and I’ve put it together as many of you were asking for a curated list of all the Haswell ultrabooks available right now or soon to be launched....

  • Andrei Girbea - March 16, 2015

    I’ve told you a couple of things about the Samsung ATIV BOOK 9 Plus in a previous article and in this one we’re going to see how the Book 9 Plus stands when compared to some of its most known rivals: the Sony Vaio...

  • Andrei Girbea - July 3, 2014

    The ATIV Book 9 Plus is Samsung’s most impressive ultrabook to date. It carries on from last year’s Samsung Series 9 line, while offering extra features and polishing even more those small details that can make a laptop great. As a premium ultrabooks meant...

  • Andrei Girbea - September 9, 2017

    The Acer Aspire S7 is one of the most hyped ultrabooks of the moment and in this post we’re going to talk about the 2013-2014 version of this laptop, the Acer Aspire S7-392. Compared with last year’s model, the new S7 does offer a...

  • Andrei Girbea - February 11, 2020

    While 15 inch ultrabooks are still a rare commodity these days, more and more potential buyers are interested in this class of portable machines, as they offer the power and the features required by most everyday activities, while losing the bulk. The Asus Vivobook...

  • Andrei Girbea - April 2, 2021

    After having the Sony Vaio Pro 13 last week on my test bench, this week I got to play with the Sony Vaio Duo 13. Once again, this was a pre-release unit coming directly from Sony, but it’s identical to the unit in stores...