At IFA 2012 Lenovo has revealed their next generation of affordable, thin, and light computers with the IdeaPad S Series Laptop lineup. This set of devices brings a balance between performance and portability with Lenovo providing more power than a netbook and longer battery life than your traditional notebook. The IdeaPad S300, S400, and S405 laptops each bring an affordable price to the market as well.
Each of the S Series notebooks measures in at 21.9mm thin and weighs in at 1.8kg. The entire S Series also works with either a 3rd generation Intel Core or AMD A-Series processor under the hood, and each come with a lovely metallic finnish on their outer bits. These units are finished in a variety of colors including crimson red, silver grey and cotton-candy pink, too!
The differences between these devices are in their components, each of the units having just a few changes from the next. With the Lenovo IdeaPad S300 and S400 you’ll be working with Intel’s 3rd Generation Core i3 or i5 processors. With the IdeaPad S405 you’ll have the option to work with up to an AMD A8 quad-core processor. Each of the units has up to 500GB of hard disk storage – save the S405 which has up to 1TB of HDD – and both the S400 and S405 have another storage option as well. Both the S400 and S405 have an available 32GB solid state drive to boost your speed on your boot time as well as the responsiveness of your applications.
Each of the S Series machines will be appearing with Microsoft Windows 7 Home Professional and will be eligible for the Windows 8 update program from Microsoft. Each of these units also works with Lenovo’s Quick Start “Instant On” functionality to hit the internet in mere moments. You’ll also have Lenovo OneKey Rescue System for your data right out of the box. Each S Series laptop has an AccuType keyboard as well for easy comfortable typing with individually rounded keys across the whole grid. The S Series’ intelligent touchpad also has functions for Windows 8 with both scrolling and zooming features.
Every unit in the S Series lineup has up to a 14-inch HD widescreen display, HDMI out port, Dolby Advanced Audio v2 certification, and stereo speakers besides. The Lenovo IdeaPad S300, S400, and S405 will be available starting today through your favorite Lenovo retailer in the USA. Depending on what features you’d like or model you opt for, this lineup will be starting at $499 USD.
Dell’s XPS Duo 12 has some lineage, but it’s not really the sort of ancestry you’d want to talk about too loudly. The original Inspiron Duo was a case of good in theory, poor in practice: a notebook with a rotating touchscreen that could turn it into a slate, let down by an underperforming CPU, clunky build and Windows 7′s lack of finger-friendliness. Now, with the XPS Duo 12, Dell has brought some of its ultrabook knowledge to the concept, and from what we’ve seen today it’s with good result.
Dell isn’t allowing people to properly play with the XPS Duo 12, and in fact the convertible ultrabook spent most of its time behind glass. Nonetheless, we’ve seen enough to be impressed by the industrial design. Gone is the cheap, thick bezel; gone is the fat chassis that made the original Duo so unconvincing as a slate.
They’re replaced by crisply finished metal, and the end result is a machine that looks great: convincing both as a notebook and as a tablet. What’s going on inside won’t be announced until closer to launch, so we’re keeping our fingers crossed that the performance lives up to the slickness of the exterior.
There’s inevitably a size and weight compromise when you bring a keyboard along with you, but Dell isn’t alone in expecting that Windows 8 tablet users will want traditional QWERTY input more often than not. Most other manufacturers are opting for the detachable keyboard-dock system, which makes for a lighter tablet but means you do end up with a thicker hinge.
In contrast, the XPS Duo 12 is an all-in-one for on-the-go. That distinctiveness, if Dell can price and power it accordingly, may well earn it some attention in what’s likely to be a crowded Windows 8 marketplace.
Good lord! Is Sony back on track? No seriously we didn’t seen anything that cool since well, the UX? Anyway behold the VAIO Duo, a new convertible Ultrabook than can be either used as like a tablet and changed into a really capable laptop thanks to its slide-out keyboard! The Vaio DUO comes with a tiny full HD 11.6″ screen, Windows 8 or Windows 8 Pro, a Core i3, i5 or i7 CPU (i7-3517U), from 4 to up to 8GB of RAM 128 or 256 GB of SSD and an Intel HD Graphics 4000 for just 1.3kg! Man …
If you liked the look of the HP SpectreXP TouchSmart Ultrabook with Windows 8 but thought it might be a bit to gigantic for you, the 14-inch HP ENVY TouchSmart Ultrabook 4 will be right up your alley. Everything you got in the Intel technology department on the HP SpectreXP TouchSmart Ultrabook is here with a slightly different set of physical specifications up top. You’ve got a 14-inch multitouch HD display Ultrabook with Beats Audio and a lovely set of HP software as well.
The HP ENVY TouchSmart Ultrabook 4 brings the notebook world another new dose of touchscreen loveliness with optional AMD graphics and 2GB of graphics memory. You’ve got a backlit keyboard as well as a projected 8 hours of battery life as well. Beats Audio technology makes the sounds sound sweet and the subwoofer embedded in this notebook sound booming.
You’ll have the latest Intel processor backing you up here with this next-generation Ultrabook and you’ll have a selection of solid-state drives available to you as well. Inside you’ll find a collection of HP software that includes HP CoolSense, HP Imagepad, HP ProtectSmart, HP TrueVision HD Webcam, HP Connected Photo, HP Connected Music, and HP Connected Backup. This Ultrabook is expected to be available in the USA right around the holidays near the end of the year 2012.
With one of its very first devices to work with Windows 8 right out of the box, HP brings the ENVY x2 – a “hybrid PC” otherwise known as a tablet with a keyboard dock. This device works as its own 11.6-inch touchscreen tablet and is able to dock magnetically with a keyboard that then turns it into a notebook computer. HP is making sure consumers do not lump it in with the mobile transforming tablet universe by calling the HP ENVY x2 a hybrid PC first and foremost.
This device uses its seamless magnetic latch to work as a perfectly solid notebook or as a tablet, both in one device. The device weighs in at 3.1 pounds with the keyboard attached or just 1.5 pounds with just the top half. This device has a 11.6-inch diagonal HD touch display for you to work with whilst entering the Windows 8 world this Fall.
You’ll be getting ultrawide viewing angles galore with this device’s 400nit IPS LCD panel that’ll have you working well both indoors and outdoors alike. You’ve also got an HD webcam on the front of the device above the display and an 8-megapixel camera on the back. Inside you’ll also find Beats Audio integration for high-quality sound delivery, and HP has shown off an optional stylus accessory you can purchase specifically for this unit as well.
The HP ENVY x2 has solid-state memory integrated within for both fast startup times and improved reliability, and you’ve got an NFC chip integrated in the tablet portion as well! With Near Field Communication technology you’ll be able to share content with devices around you with a single physical tap.
Inside you’ll be working with a collection of software that makes this HP device unique. With the HP Connected Photo application you’ll be able to connect your photos across multiple devices and sync them for editing from any device you’re working with. This app also works with instant-sharing abilities for several social networks as well. This HP machine also has HP Connected Music inside powered by Meridian – you’ll be able to download music, stream media, and work with internet radio as well.
The HP ENVY x2 will be appearing in the USA near the end of the year right in time for the holiday season. At the moment no pricing is available – check back soon!
The folks at HP have jumped in on the Windows 8 universe with a brand hew Ultrabook by the name of HP SpectreXT TouchSmart – complete with a touchscreen display. This device has a 15.6-inch IPS LCD screen working with multitouch and Radiance Full HD so you’re ready for awesome high definition media action. This device is also extremely portable at just 17.9mm thin and weighs in at just 4.77 pounds.
This Ultrabook has a lovely all-metal design with edge-to-edge glass across its display as well as Beats Audio inside so it looks good and sounds good as well. You’ve also got a soft-touch base for grip and comfort as well as a glass touchpad for so many controls that you’ll never be without!
HP brings this device to the market with its first ever implementation of Intel Thunderbolt technology for ultra-quick media transfer speeds. You’ll be able to transfer music, movies, and data of all sorts to external devices in a blink of an eye. With HP USB Boost technology you’ll also be able to charge devices with your USB ports even if the SpectreXP TouchSmart is powered off.
This device will be coming to the market with the latest Intel Core processors as well as Intel Smart Connect technology. Also included is Intel Identity Protection Technology as well as Intel Anti-Theft Technology and Intel Smart Response as well. All this comes on an mSATA solid-state drive, and you’ve got a large array of ports as well including HDMI out, USB 3.0, and Gigabit Ethernet as well.
HP has added HP CoolSense to this device for a “noticeably cooler PC”, their own HP Imagepad for ultra-precise gesture and multifinger navigation, and both HP Connected Photo and HP Connected Music for easy access and syncing of photos, music, and other media across multiple devices. You’ll be working with HP TrueVision HD Webcam technology as well as HP ProtectSmart – this for added hard-drive protection from the forces of evil.
This device comes with 90 days of HP SmartFriend Setup Service for easy setup and access to functions of all kinds for those who are new to the system. This device also comes with one year of Absolute Data Protect, two years of Norton Internet Security, and Intel Anti-Theft for good measure.
Right out of the box you’ll also have full versions of Adobe Photoshop Elements 10 and Adobe Premiere Elements 10. These applications will bring you fabulous photo- and video-editing capabilities that you’ll want never to be without!
The HP SpectreXT TouchSmart Ultrabook will have a starting price of $1,399.99 USD and is expected to be arriving in the United States in December of this year. We’ll see it by the holidays, we hope!
Combing revolutionary design, the power of a notebook PC and the convenience of a tablet PC – the 11.6” Samsung ATIV Smart PC and ATIV Smart PC Pro are Samsung’s next set of smart devices. These provide computing power, with Windows 8 functionality as well as full Windows 7 compatability. Each device features a detachable keyboard-docking system that allows users to easily switch between a clamshell notebook PC and a tablet PC form factor. These devices allow for great mobility with maximum …
With Windows 8 on the horizon it’s time for IFA 2012 to bring the touchscreen wave, with Samsung bringing on a brand new version of their popular Series 5 ULTRA laptop. This machine is ready to bring on its 13-inch display of power with 1366×768 pixel resolution plus Samsung’s SuperBright Technology for a massive 300nits of brightness. This device also of course has 10-finger touchscreen capability now for the touch-friendly future of Windows software.
This refresh of the Series 5 ULTRA laptop brings either a 3rd Generation Intel Core i3 or i5 processor to your home with 4GB of RAM as well as a 500GB hard drive. This machine also includes 24GB of ExpressCache which brings you a faster boot-up and start for your most frequently used software. Other than that, this device is mostly the same fabulous device already on the market – you’ll have to pick up the new model though to get the full touch experience.
The MSRP for the new Series 5 ULTRA will be ranging between $799-$849 USD and wht machine will be available beginning on October 26th, 2012. Again, the two models of this new beast differ only in their processor power. You’ll get either an Intel Core i5-3317U or an Intel Core i3-3217U depending on what you want to pay.
Check this device out soon when we take a closer look at it at IFA 2012 along with the rest of the Samsung goodness that’s popping up extremely soon here in Berlin!
Acer first detailed their new Aspire V5 series earlier this year back in March, claiming to offer better laptops over previous generations all while managing to be around 30% thinner than previous models and other laptops in the price range. Now that Acer’s rolled out the lineup to retail stores we’re taking a look at the budget family member in their 11.6-inch Aspire V5. It might come at a budget friendly price but it doesn’t compromise on performance. Take a peek below.
Chassis
To be specific today we’re taking a look at the Acer Aspire V5 171-6867 with an 11.6-inch display. This well rounded little ultra-portable might look like the average netbook, but they’ve managed to pack in a pretty decent punch with the Ivy Bridge Core-i5 under the hood. As far as the chassis you’ll be greeted with a lightweight and rather cheap feeling plastic but the clear coat keeps it feeling smooth, and scratch resistant. That plastic pays off however as the laptop comes in at just 3.09 lbs. Making it rather fun to hold and wander to your nearest Starbucks with. It is 0.8″ thick at the thinnest point, and stretches to barely over 1-inch at the widest thanks to the 4-cell battery.
There certainly isn’t anything new in terms of specs or styling here, but for just over $500 we can’t be expecting anything revolutionary. The price however brings a pretty great laptop considering many in the price range feel flimsy and rather cheap. The Aspire V5 does have a lightweight plastic I’m not too fond of, but it doesn’t ooze of cheapness like some in the past. It looks fancy, but you’ll quickly recognize it’s plastic once you open her up. The rounded edges are nice and smooth, and the slightly textured feeling once opened is rather comfortable during daily use.
Ports
As you wrap around the curved plastic edges you’ll come to the left side full of useful ports. First you’ll notice the large venting system to cool that Core i5 dual-core processor. On the left we also have Ethernet, VGA out, HDMI, and a USB 3.0 port for added speed. Around front you’ll be greeted with the 2-in-1 SD card reader, and some LED notification lights for activity. Then to the right side is the rather bland female charging port, the other two USB 2.0 ports, followed by the micrphone/headphone jack.
Keyboard & Trackpad
Here with the Acer V5 we’ve been quite impressed by both the trackpad, as well as the keyboard. For being a compact 11.6-inch device the keyboard is one of the most impressive ones we’ve used as of late. The island style chicklet keys are comfortable, have a good texture, and the response is decent although a bit mushy. I instantly felt comfortable and was able to type with ease here when other 14-15 laptops have given me trouble. It’s safe to say this is one of the better 11-inch keyboards available to date.
The trackpad along with multiple newer laptops has a texture that I’d absolutely be fine without. It makes sliding your finger around for navigation irritating and doesn’t give you that smooth easy-going feeling. Considering the size of the laptop you get a decently sized trackpad, and usage was fairly acceptable. If you tried to click too high it wouldn’t register, as the lower end had the best response.
Overall the keyboard and trackpad can’t be considered great since we only have 11.6-inches to work with, but considering the circumstances this will do just fine and is certainly among the better options available. My only other main area of concern is the tiny arrow keys that double as volume controls or brightness, and wish they’d be larger. In all other regards this was smooth sailing.
Display & Sound
Here Acer has outfitted the V5 with their 11.6-inch 1,366 x 768 display surrounded by an extremely glossy and fingerprint prone bezel — but what’s new. You do get a 1.3 megapixel webcam, but it wasn’t too great. The Acer CineCrystal LED display was decently crisp although we’ve certainly seen much better in this size range. Again considering the price, the screen is crisp and decent although a bit lacking in the brightness department. We’d love to have a bit more brightness as well as better colors as they felt a bit dull and lifeless at times.
The same could also be said about the sound — dull and lifeless. A good way to explain it would be that usual tin can sound we get in basically every laptop available, but with a bit of a distance and fade to it. Sadly even at max volume the sound was nothing special, although it did get plenty loud for those wanting to blast away. Aiming down the sound was also muffled when using anywhere aside from a computer desk.
Performance and Benchmark
This laptop is running on Windows 7 x64 and as we mentioned above is rather sneaky in the fact that this small size still rocks a 1.7 GHz dual-core Core i5 Ivy Bridge processor. To be specific we have the Core i5 3317U on board. Along with 6GB of slow DDR3 RAM and a 500GB hard drive. I’m used to SSD’s and always enjoy the good ol sound of spinning hard drives these days. Obviously the Intel HD Graphics 4000 won’t be getting you any extreme game performance but as I mentioned in my video above it was enough for some quality video output through HDMI for some Pre-season NFL gametime.
As usual it all comes down to the benchmark performance and we’ve ran a quick Geekbench to take it through the paces, as well as posted up the Windows scores too. While it didn’t perform as good as the recent Aspire S5 we reviewed, it handles its own extremely well. Especially when considering the $500 price segment.
Benchmark Score – Acer V5-171
Section
Description
Score
Total Score
Windows x86 (64-bit) – Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)
Integer
Processor integer performance
5331
7274
Floating Point
Processor floating point performance
9655
Memory
Memory performance
6850
Stream
Memory bandwidth performance
6598
System – Acer V5-171
Manufacturer
Acer
Product Type
Notebook
Operating System
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)
Motherboard
Acer Mimic
Processor
Intel Core i5-3317U
Processor ID
GenuineIntel Family 6 Model 58 Stepping 9
Processor Frequency
1.70 GHz
Processors
1
Threads
4
Cores
2
L1 Instruction Cache
32.0 KB
L1 Data Cache
32.0 KB
L2 Cache
256 KB
L3 Cache
3.00 MB
Memory
6.00 GB DDR3 SDRAM 666MHz
FSB
99.8 MHz
BIOS
Acer V1.02
Wrap-Up
All things aside if you are in the market for a quality 11-inch notebook this is certainly one of the better options available. Given the impressive price/performance ratio and specs you’d expect to see in a larger notebook you’ll love the Aspire V5. Of course all that in a tiny package gets quite hot, and if you’re going for an Ivy Bridge and 500GB hard drive you might as well pick up something with a 14 or 15-inch display.
For those that want some top of the line performance while not suffering in the portability and ease of use department — you could certainly do worse. The battery life barely managing 5 hours no matter the task was a problem with the small battery however. For a few more dollars you could get a bigger screen and better battery life with similar performance. Do you need the lightweight and small size? If so this is the notebook for you.
Samsung’s Series 5 Hybrid tablet/notebook will make its official debut at IFA 2012, the company has confirmed, a converting Windows 8 portable with touchscreen control. Samsung took to Facebook to further tease the tablet, asking whether tableteers were “ready to be smart?” with the promise of a Berlin unveil this week. However, this isn’t the first time we’ve seen the Hybrid.
In fact, Samsung brought the concept to Computex back in June, where it had a detachable 11.6-inch slate screen section and a magnetically-attached keyboard dock. Samsung was coy with specifications at the time – we spotted HDMI, and front and back cameras (2- and 8-megapixels respectively) and an active digitizer stylus were confirmed – so we’re expecting to see full hardware details revealed this coming week.
Samsung has already used its digital stylus technology to good effect on the Galaxy Note and Note 10.1, though those devices run Android rather than Windows 8. The pen is a potentially strong differentiator between Windows 8 machines and Apple’s iPad, supporting higher-accuracy in sketching, handwriting and more.
It’s not the only teaser we’ve seen from Samsung in the past few days. The company had another Windows 8 focused tidbit over the weekend, with what could well be another angle of the Series 5 Hybrid or, indeed, its Core i5-powered Series 7 cousin.
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