I bought my wife the 14" Samsung Ultrabook (paid $200 more at beastbuy last summer/fall whenever they came out)
The weight is excellent for the size, It’s not heavy, but it’s also not featherweight, but I think this is more because its a 14" size and not the little 11-12" ultrabooks.
Fit and finish is top notch. The aluminum top (back of screen) is beautifully done.
Ports are all where they should be. I wished these types of laptops had 4 USB ports instead of 3, but most manufacturers use one of the USB ports for a built in memory card reader. She uses a USB hub for all unpluggable stuff anyway (printer and other accessories that don’t travel with her).
How fast is it? Blazingly fast, especially with an aftermarket SSD I installed in it and Windows 8. It boots in mere seconds (literally, like 8 seconds from power button push to actual windows usability).
The screen is bright and crisp with it’s LED back lighting. It’s also razor thing. I like the way the hinges are built, it doesn’t look like it will crack or fall apart like a handful of other brands do within a year or use. We got her the model with the matte screen since glossy screens are just dumb.
The 14" model has a built in dvd drive too on the right hand side, but you wouldn’t know it unless you poked at the side of it and “Oh Hey! There’s a drive nicely hidden in the side here!”
I would love one for myself, but just don’t have the $$ right now. I would buy the smaller sized one for myself without trying it out first based purely on the quality of the larger one we already have.
We couldn’t be happier with ours and I would recommend it to anyone.
I also think that, while i would like the 13" model, the 14" model still felt “small and ultra-portable enough” that you could easily buy one for the much lower price and be happy with it “being small enough”