Samsung X120, X420 and X520: Skinny genes

Last year, Samsung joined the size-zero laptop club with its X-series lineup. Today, at a packed press conference at IFA in Germany, it's updated the range with the waif-like X120, X420 and X520 follow-ups.

Alright, we're being a tad unfair -- we have no confirmation of these laptops' eating habits, or their official dimensions -- but we've seen them, and while they're not as gaunt as the MacBook Air, if they swallowed meatballs, you'd think they were pregnant.

The X120, X420 and X520 rock 11.6-, 14- and 15.6-inch displays, and tip the scales at 1.36kg, 1.76kg and 2kg respectively. All three will feature integrated HSDPA broadband Internet access via a 3G SIM card, three USB ports, three-in-one memory card readers, plus VGA and HDMI video outputs. Battery life is expected to be in the region of 9 hours thanks to a six-cell power unit.

Samsung is keeping core specifications a secret for now, but expect dual-core Intel processors and, in all likelihood, some quantity of RAM. Hard-drive sizes are unconfirmed too, but whatever their capacity, your data should remain fairly safe. The X series feature anti-theft devices that take a photo of the user each time it starts up. If the user is adjudged not to be the rightful owner of the laptop, the system is then disabled, and the owner is given the option of remotely erasing all its data. MI5, are you listening?

The X series is expected to go on sale this October in time for the launch of Wnidows 7, and will cost between €699 (£610) and €899 (£780) depending on size and specification. We'll have more hands-on info with all three in the near future, but in the meantime, have a butchers' at the pics in our photo gallery.