New Ultrabooks and Ultrathins
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Engadget reviews the Asus Transformer Book
Engadget has posted their review of the Asus Transformer Book, which was recently revealed to be coming to the US on May 21. Can it still offer competition to the likes of the HP Split X2 and Lenovo Helix and with future Haswell on the horizon?
AMD Kabini: On-Par Performance, Good Efficiency, Great Competition.
Posted by Steve Chippy Paine in Opinion on May 23, 2013
AMD Kabini, based on the new Jaguar Cores, is aimed at the ultrabook-alternative segment. Specifically the A4-5000 and A6-5200 are the quad-core parts at 15W and 25W TDP that will compete against Ivy Bridge and Haswell based Ultrabooks and ‘pro-sumer’ tablets in 2013 and 2014. We’re expecting clock-for-clock performance with the quad-core Kabini platforms on par with (dual core) Ivy Bridge Ultrabook platforms but with a slightly better power utilization figure, especially when when the GPU is under load. However, remember that the A4-5000 is running at 1.5Ghz with no Turbo boost. Real-world performance on that part won’t be up to what we see on Ultrabooks that can sustain 2.4Ghz. Will the A6-5200 be better positioned with 2.0Ghz clock?
Lenovo Helix available to order on Lenovo’s website
The Lenovo Helix has popped up on the official Lenovo website with 2 configurations immediately available to order with a June ship date.
UMPCPortal – Acer Iconia W3 official, shows up on Acer Finland with full specs
The Acer Iconia W3 leaked a few weeks back and while the renders looked official it was still considered to be a rumour. Now Acer in Finland has posted an official page for the W3 with specs and press shots which confirms the device is real and offers more information.
Asus Teases ‘We Transform’ for Computex 2013 — Expect Haswell Designs
Asus loves their teaser videos. Last week they put out a teaser about their forthcoming appearance at the annual Computex conference in Taipei, Taiwan. There’s not much to go on except for their slogan ‘We Transform’. With their commitment to convertible designs over the last year, we expect to see more of the same (a good thing). This time around, expect thinner and lighter devices with better battery life thanks to Intel’s forthcoming Haswell processors.
Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 11S available online, comes to BestBuy June 23rd
The Lenovo Ideapad Yoga 11S, the smaller version of the currently available 13″ version has now become available to order on Lenovo’s website, with BestBuy also listing it for preorder with expected availability on June 23rd.
Asus UX51VZ with 2880×1620 Display; Asus Quietly Joins the Retina Club with an Ultrabook Alternative
Back in June of 2012, Apple revealed their MacBook Pro with ‘retina’ display — a super high resolution panel. Since then we haven’t an answer in the Ultrabook or Ultrabook-alternative world by anything higher than 1920×1080 (likely due to Windows’ poor scaling support). It looks like Asus will be the first to make a comparable offering. A new variant of the UX51 popped up quietly on Amazon.de sporting a 15.6 inch 2880 x 1620 panel.
Asus Transformer Book available May 21 in the US
The wait for the Asus Transformer Book in America looks to be coming to an end soon with the 13.3″ version slated to be available within a week on May 21st, Liliputing reports via the official Asus North America Facebook page.
HP Split X2 – new Core powered Windows 8 hybrid
Transformer Book competition? HP has just outed the Split X2, a Core powered 13.3″ touchscreen Windows 8 hybrid with WiDi, HDMI, and a keyboard dock with an extra battery and a 500GB HDD. Is this a viable alternative to the Transformer Book?
See Average Battery Life and Check for Connected Standby on Windows 8
Posted by Steve Chippy Paine in How To on May 15, 2013
What’s Connected Standby? It’s the hardware and software that turns a PC into a smart device. Always on, Always Connected! You can find more information here and I encourage you to read it and to consider this ‘seal of efficiency’ for your next laptop or mobile PC which, in 2013, can only be an Ultrabook or a Clovertrail or BayTrail based laptop, tablet, convertible or dockables.
Here’s a way to check for Connected Standby, battery capacity and to view historical battery life reports. Useful to use quickly in the PC store!
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