Intel’s Ivy Bridge processor has arrived in all its 22nm glory. With it comes a beefy line-up of launch hardware all sporting the new CPU. Every major manufacturer rather unsurprisingly, from Lenovo to MSi, has a laptop lined up for Ivy Bridge’s arrival.

Pocket-lint has been lucky enough to get a look at most of the inbound Ivy Bridge notebooks at a recent Nvidia event. Sadly though, a lot of the laptops were lacking full specifications, as designs were being finalised for the US and Europe. This means no definite processor clock speeds yet for the hardware. As soon as we have the full specs for each, we will be adding them in. 

Toshiba Satellite P850

First up is Toshiba's attempt at an Ivy Bridge laptop and it's actually rather nice. A bright, glasses-free 17.3-inch 3D screen sits above a decent looking keyboard with an unusually offset trackpad. Inside is a Blu-ray drive, a powerful Nvidia GeForce 650m and up to a 1TB hard drive with 8GB of RAM.

There is also HDMI output and a proper HD webcam. Inside it's all good then, but from our extremely brief play with the laptop, we have to say, the build is a bit too plasticky for our taste. No pricing yet for this one but we imagine, giving the graphics card and Ivy Bridge processor, it will be up the top end of the cost spectrum. 

Lenovo Y480

The highlight of all the hardware we were shown was Lenovo's offering. Small and light enough to be portable yet extremely powerful and put together rather decently as well. The Y480 is sporting a 14-inch widescreen display with LED backlighting, which up close looks very sharp and saturated. Inside is a mid-range Nvidia 650m which, believe us, is more than powerful enough to run most current PC games at decent settings.

What we think is an i3 processor clocked at 2.4GHz with 8GB of RAM and a 500GB hard drive completes the package. The exciting bit comes in the form of the audio, which is powered by JBL and sounds damn good for such a small device. 

MSI GT70

Part of a pair of laptops MSI plans to release for hardcore gamers, the GT70 and GT60 are both packing Ivy Bridge processors and what we presume is a top-end Nvidia GT670m processor, although Nvidia wouldn't tell us. 

MSI has gone connection crazy with this one, adding USB 3.0 ports and two USB 2.0 as well as SDHC and proper audio inputs. There are also optical drives, a custom-made Steelseries keyboard and backlighting for the gamer who likes a bit of disco styling in a laptop. 

Asus N56

Like the MSI, this laptop comes as part of a family; the N56, N46 and N76. All look absolutely fantastic and despite blatantly ripping off the MacBook Air, are still impressive to behold. A brushed-aluminium body with drilled speaker holes and Bang & Olufsen audio ensure it looks and sounds great.

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Inside is a choice of i3, i5 and i7 processors, up to 8GB of RAM, a maximum hard drive size of 1TB and GeForce GT650m graphics cards. Loads of power to play with then and rather nicely, a Blu-ray drive to enjoy movies on the laptop's 15-inch display. 

Samsung Series 5

Samsung's current flagship Ultrabook, the Series 5, is getting an Ivy Bridge overhaul. All the usual hardware is there, including the JBL speakers and the usual 256 GB SSD or 1TB HDD options, as well as the ability to use 8GB of RAM. 

A nice and bright 13-inch screen is backed up with an Ivy Bridge processor and an Nvidia 650m card. A big refresh then for the Series 5 which previously used Intel's integrated graphics. 

 

Like the sound of the new Ivy Bridge hardware? Let us know in the comments below ...