Hasta La Gadget!

Dell has thrown Intel’s new Haswell Core processors at its XPS, Latitude, and OptiPlex ranges, bringing numerous models up to date with the 4th-gen chips. The difference should be most noticeable in Dell’s notebook lines, with the company claiming that the XPS 12 is now around 60-percent faster, running Haswell, than it was before, as well as lasting longer on a single change.

In fact, Dell says that the XPS 12 should now run for more than two hours longer than when powered by 3rd-gen Core chips, with the notebook rated for 8 hours and 43 minutes in total. That’s comparing the Core i5-4200U powered machine against the Core i5-3427U chip, though Dell is quick to point out that real-world use will likely vary.

The little XPS isn’t the only machine in its series to get updated, of course. At the other end, Dell has slotted Haswell into the XPS 27 all-in-one, as well as the XPS 8700 desktop PC.

Over in the business ranges, Dell’s Latitude line-up has been refreshed with Haswell, and there’s a new model – the Latitude E6540 – which has FIPS 140-2 certified TPM and Dell’s own Data Protection for file-level encryption and integrated malware protection. Finally, the Dell OptiPlex 9020 gets vPro-compliant 4th-gen Core, making it the most powerful commercial desktop the company has offered so far, it’s claimed.

Beyond the CPU refresh, Dell’s showing at Computex this year has been subdued. The company brought along its new XPS 11 ultrabook for a sneak preview, a 360-degree folding notebook which can be twisted round to make a slate, much in the same way that Lenovo’s IdeaPad Yoga 11 operates.

Dell refreshes XPS, Latitude and OptiPlex with jolt of Intel Haswell is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

So you need to grab that hilarious gif from your desktop remotely. No worries, you can tunnel in with, wait, darnit your office PC is snoozing, and not on the wired network (so not even wake-on-LAN to the rescue). Splashtop’s woken up to that scenario, though, and in a collaboration with Intel will be bringing “wake over WiFi” functionality to its popular remote desktop app. Your target PC will need Intel’s Smart Connect Technology to make use of the feature, which is coming to Splashtop 2 Remote Desktop for iPad and iPhone first, with Android and other platforms to follow.

Filed under: Cellphones, Desktops, Tablets, Mobile, Intel

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During Intel’s press conference today, we got a brief glimpse into how Intel’s smartphones are fairing globally. The noticeable gap, however, was the US. Answering questions during a Q&A session following the Computex keynote, Tom Kilroy, Executive Vice President of Sales said that there was a major reason why it was lacking US carrier support: LTE.

“Absence of LTE is the reason. We can’t get ranged by US carriers without LTE, so once we have multi-mode LTE coming to market later this year, we’ll have an opportunity to compete in that business.”

While we’ve seen Intel add 4G radios to its Atom processors for global-roaming tablets, there’s no news yet of the capability launching on its smartphone designs. Last year, Intel launched a Medfield-powered version of Verizon’s RAZR M in Europe and Asia, under the RAZR i branding and with only 3G radios.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Intel

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Intel has predicted a $399 sticker price for the 2-in-1 tablet/laptop hybrids expected to challenge ARM-based machines from this summer, a newly competitive price tag given the chip maker’s previous struggles in the mobility segment. Building on Intel’s 4th-gen Core “Haswell” announcement, the new 2-in-1 details are part of the company’s attempt to match what have traditionally been the strengths of ARM chips from NVIDIA, Qualcomm, and others: low power consumption, strong multimedia performance, and fanless designs.

So, the 4th-gen Core processors can scale as low as 6W, Intel says, which means tablets can be thinner, cooler, and even fanless. Intel brought one unnamed reference design on-stage at Computex 2013 today, though exactly when we might see them hit shelves is obviously up to manufacturers themselves.

The first 2-in-1 ultrabooks will arrive over the summer, Intel says, dockable slates that can be fitted into a keyboard attachment for periods of text entry, or pulled out to use with a finger on the couch. Intel isn’t being shy with its runtime predictions, either; according to the company, the sort of 4th-gen Core SoCs we’ll see in those hybrids will be good for over 9hrs of active-use battery life, or 10-13 days of standby.

Helping with that is an array of new, ultra-low power modes, which pare back the SoC’s consumption in a far more draconian way than before. The first such chips will be accompanied by Intel’s Bay Trail-T, the latest iteration of Atom.

Of course, the ultraportable end of the scale is only part of Haswell’s premise. The 4th-gen Core series also ramps up through traditional notebooks and desktops, to high-end workstation processors that, Intel claims, will offer up to 15-percent more performance than their predecessors.

Intel cranks ARM competition with 2-in-1 Ultrabook hybrids is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Intel has shown off its new chips for tablets, smartphones, and LTE-enabled devices, with Silvermont, Bay Trail-T, and Merrifield all revealed at Computex 2013 today. Merrifield, due to show up in Intel-powered smartphones from early 2014, is the company’s next-gen smartphone platform, a 22nm Atom SoC that was, for today’s show, wrapped up in a new touchscreen reference design.

Intel was coy on specific details about the phone, and indeed about Merrifield, though did let slip a couple of elements the new Atom chip will bring. Unsurprisingly there’s talk of both more performance and more battery life; however, there’s also apparently an “integrated sensor hub” that will be used for “personalized services.”

Intel hasn’t said exactly what those services might be – nor, indeed, what types of sensors will be included – but it does remind us of Motorola’s comments last week about the incoming Moto X, and how the company was looking to contextual understanding for its new range of phones. Merrifield will also include “capabilities for data, device, and privacy protection,” Intel says.

As for tablets, first up will be Bay Trail-T, the 22nm quadcore Atom SoC that’s expected to crop up in slates for the holiday season. Bay Trail-T is good for more than twice the processor power of current Atom for tablet chips, Intel claims, as well as a boost in processor performance; 8hrs or more of battery life is supposedly possible, based on a 10.1-inch Full HD slate with a 30Wh power pack. “Weeks of standby” and support for Android and Windows 8.1 are also promised.

However, down the line there’s Silvermont, Intel’s 22nm “low power, high performance” architecture for phones and slates. Still no word on when, exactly, that will be ready for prime-time, however.

Finally, Intel has at last rolled together its own 4G LTE modem, a multimode system to pair with next-gen 22nm quadcore Bay Trail-T Atom SoCs for tablets. Intel is promising global LTE roaming – no small feat, given the array of different networks in operation around the world – from the XMM 7160, despite the chip also apparently being one of the world’s smallest.

Intel details Merrifield new phone chip; Homegrown LTE for Bay Trail tablets is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.