In June, Acer‘s Aspire S7 Ultrabook reboot was unveiled, bringing with it fourth-generation Intel Core processors and some other new features. At the time, Acer stated the laptops would be shipping out in the third quarter of this year, with pricing and some additional details surfacing around the same time. Such was the case this […]
B&H may have jumped the gun a bit, but here’s the word from the proverbial horse’s mouth: Samsung’s high-specced ATIV Book 9 Plus will be available for pre-order in the United States beginning August 18th, with shipments of the $1,399 laptop to commence shortly thereafter. For those in need of a brief recap, the 13.3-inch rig packs a QHD+ (3,200 x 1,800) touchpanel, a Core i5 4200U processor, 128GB SSD, a battery good for 7.5 hours and a copy of Windows 8.
Meanwhile, that ATIV Tab 3 that we handled back in June is getting a proper ship date of its own, with Sammy assuring Americans that they’ll be able to snap one up starting on September 1st for $699.99 — thankfully, that tally does include a Bluetooth keyboard / cover combo. It’s said to be the planet’s thinnest Windows 8 slate at 0.31-inches thick, with a proposed 7 hour battery, preloaded Office Home & Student and one of those always-lovable S Pens. For whatever it’s worth, it appears that Samsung’s distaste for Windows RT in the States hasn’t carried over to tablets with Windows 8 onboard… yet, anyway.
Oh, and for the enterprising individuals in attendance? Samsung has promised “to introduce versions of both products specialized for business use in the fall.” Nifty!
Filed under: Laptops, Tablets, Samsung
Source: Samsung
Dell’s Haswell-based Latitude laptops have been a tad on the chunky side so far, but the company is making amends by quietly launching its new Latitude 7000 series Ultrabooks. Both the 12.5-inch E7240 and 14-inch E7440 fit Intel’s new low-voltage, 1.7GHz Core i3 CPU into an aluminum shell that’s about 0.8 inch thick, yet meets military standards for resistance to dust, water and shock. They also support Dell’s WiGig Wireless Dock and WiDi. Neither will come close to the Precision M3800 in features, however. The two Latitudes both start with 4GB of RAM and a 1,366 x 768 display, and there’s no way to upgrade the performance or screen quality. They’re also expensive — the E7240 is launching at a $1,169 sale price with a 128GB SSD inside, while the E7440 with a 320GB hard drive isn’t much cheaper at $1,049. Still, we wouldn’t complain (much) if an IT manager plunked either of these Ultrabooks on our desks.
Via: Liliputing
Source: Dell (E7240), (E7440)
Dell has done as anticipated and rolled out the carpet for a couple of new laptops, the Dell Latitude 7000 12.5- and 14-inch ultrabooks. Inside, users will find Intel Haswell processors, with the laptops themselves looking very similar to many older models from Dell’s Latitude lineup. Both models of the 7000 series are available now, […]
Back in June, Samsung outed a handful of new products, including a new flagship Ultrabook called the ATIV Book 9 Plus. One of its most notable features is the 13.3-inch display that boasts an impressive resolution of 3200×1800, making it one of the most highest-resolution laptop displays on the market, and it looks like it’s […]
Intel has inspired another full refresh in Toshiba’s Satellite M and U laptop lines, this time bringing on touchscreen capabilities as well. Both notebook lines now work with up to 16GB RAM (2 x 8GB slots) and 39.6cm (15.6″) HD displays, kicking out up to 7 hours of battery life, the whole lot of them. They’re both coming with DTS Studio Sound audio enhancements across their speaker systems for loud, powerful music and media as well.
This line works with 2 x USB 3.0 ports, one of them working with Sleep-and-Charge. They’ve also got a single USB 2.0 port, one HDMI 1.4 with 3D TV support, and full-sized SD card slot. Inside you’ve got Bluetooth 4.0 technology as well as Miracast support for standardization in display mirroring. That comes with Intel Wireless Display technology as well.
The Toshiba Satellite U50t Ultrabook line works with 4th generation Intel Core processors for Ultrabooks paired with Intel HD Graphics 4400. This device works with a ten-point touchscreen display without option for a non-touch display, and comes in at 377.5 x 249.5 x 21.3mm. This unit comes with up to 1TB HDD and weighs in at 2.3kg at its lightest.
Meanwhile the Toshiba Satellite M range comes in three configurations: M50, M50D, and M50Dt. Users will have options for 4th generation Intel Core processors or the newest in new AMD APU processors, these paired with Intel, NVIDIA, or AMD graphics. That’s Intel HD Graphics 4400, NVIDIA GeForce GT 740M with 2GB VRAM graphics, or AMD Radeon HD graphics (this final option for AMD models only).
The Toshiba Satellite M family works with touchscreen abilities optionally, the whole collection paired with up to a 1TB HDD, weighting in at 2.1kg at least. Each of these notebooks is the same size as the U50t at 377.5 x 249.5 x 21.3mm.
The full range works with Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g/n) as well as Gigabit LAN, so you’ll be connecting at full speed. Every notebook in this article is also being promised by Toshiba for the third quarter of 2013, prices unknown as yet.
Toshiba Satellite U and M notebooks go Haswell in full refresh is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.
While Toshiba already outed its Haswell plans, the company has chosen today to unveil a few more PCs. The outfit’s refreshing its Satellite U and M range in the UK, with the U50t being equipped with a 10-point touchscreen and Windows 8 onboard. The Satellite M50D and M50Dt, meanwhile, boast AMD’s latest APU processors and Radeon graphics. The whole line (which is slated for dispatch in Q3) ships with Intel’s fourth-generation processors and HD 4400 graphics, while those needing a bit more oomph on the pixel pushing side can opt for NVIDIA’s GeForce GT 740M. As you’d expect, Intel’s WiDi and Miracast technologies are infused, and each machine arrives with a full-size HDMI port, Bluetooth 4.0, an SD card slot and a pair of USB 3.0 sockets. Tosh isn’t talking pricing just yet, but you can dig into the specification list just after break.
Filed under: Laptops
Source: Toshiba
We first met Acer’s Aspire S7 at Computex in 2012, and since then it’s gone through a major overhaul to become the Aspire S7-392 — a Haswell-equipped Ultrabook that’s now available in the US. You can choose between two models up for sale at retail outlets and on Acer’s online store, with the cheaper $1,450 package toting a 1.6GHz Core i5 processor and a 128GB SSD. The $1,700 variant comes with a more powerful 1.8GHz Core i7 processor and double the storage space, but their other specs are identical. Both Windows 8 Ultrabooks boast a 13.3-inch 1,920 x 1,080 touchscreen display, an HD webcam, an 8GB of DDR3 RAM, and a bigger battery that promises up to 7 hours of power. It’s too bad the European version’s 2,560 x 1,440 screen didn’t make it stateside, but at least the US incarnations are a bit easier on the wallet.
Update: We’ve revised the post to reflect that the higher-end model comes with a Core i7 processor, and not a Core i5.
Being touted as a “mini ultrabook” the Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 11S is the latest and greatest to grace the IdeaPad lineup with full-fledged Windows 8 on board. Everything about the Yoga 11 from last year is still present, only we’ve received a huge upgrade to an Intel Core 15 processor (no ARM Tegra 3 here) and dropped Win RT for the full experience. The device is still as portable and impressive as ever, so read on for the rest of our thoughts.
If you’re a fan of the IdeaPad Yoga 11 or Yoga 13, there’s absolutely nothing not to like about the new and improved 11S. It’s faster and better in every way, while keeping true to the original complete with the 360 degrees hinge setup offering multiple viewing modes and usage experiences. Lets take a look.
Now before we start on hardware (or anything else for that matter) you’ll want to check out our original Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 11 Review, as it’s the same experience in terms of the general hardware. We’re working with an 11.6-inch 1366×768 resolution HD IPS display, Intel HD Graphics 4000, 8GB of fast DDR3 RAM, 256GB SSD hard drive, and Bluetooth 4.0 on board. Flip it into tablet mode and you’ve got an excellent touch experience, not to mention full out Windows 8.
Just like the original we have Silver Grey, or an epic looking Clementine Orange for color options. Then Lenovo also has two pricing models too. Starting at $749 you get a Core i3 at 1.4 GHz, 4GB of RAM, and 128GB of storage. From there the price bumps to $999 and you get the high-end (although not Haswell) specs mentioned above. Now lets talk about the outside.
Again, nothing’s changed here. We have the same soft to the touch durable materials on the outside and magnesium aluminum frame, followed by a sleek build and chicklet keyboard under the hood. The entire wrist rest area is almost a soft to the touch fabric as well, which has us worried about longevity. On the outside is the power button on front, USB 2.0 on the right and 3.0 on the left (in blue), followed by HDMI out and a 3.5mm headphone jack. Back to the right edge we have a screen orientation lock, SD for expanding on the 256 GB of storage, and the proprietary charging port. Don’t forget your cable or you’ll be sorry out of luck.
Just like our original review, what’s not to love. It’s thin and portable being only 11.73″ x 8.03″ x 0.67″ in size and barely over 3 lbs. We get a solid 6 hours of battery life, and even a 720p front webcam for Skyping with friends and family. It really is the best form factor for a laptop/tablet on Windows 8. The ThinkPad Helix was neat, but a mess to use in real life. The IdeaPad Yoga 11S is more manageable, and more comfortable.
In closing, we absolutely love the hardware. It’s as portable as ever (save for maybe the MacBook Air) lightweight, durable, comfortable, and extremely adaptable to your needs. Being a Lenovo you know the build quality is awesome, as will be the support should you have issues. Our only hardware complaint would be that both USB ports aren’t 3.0, and the keyboard isn’t backlit. That should be standard these days, even at this price point. Oh and one other thing, the display is a bit glossy. We’d love a matte anti-glare option in the future. That aside, we love the Yoga 11S.
As mentioned above, we’re working with an 11.6inch HD display that’s also an IPS panel. That means wide 178 degree viewing angles and excellent color reproduction. Viewing angles were great, colors were vibrant, and blacks were inky black. The overall bezel could be smaller, but then again this form factor is nearly perfect if you ask me.
The touchscreen was smooth, stable, and responsive. Flipping through Windows 8 was easy and extremely accurate, although of course Win 8 could still use a little work in the touch department. Brightness was never a problem outdoors, and our only complaint again would be the glare from this glossy (but beautiful) display.
We really had one complaint when we reviewed the original Yoga 11, and that was obviously the fact that we were stuck with Windows 8 RT and an ARM chip under the hood. No steam games, no latest Win 8 apps, nothing. The watered down experience was a bummer, but Lenovo fixed all that here. While we still are stuck with a slightly outdated Core i5 processor (instead of Haswell) we get full on Windows 8. Perfect!
Unlike the Yoga 11, the 11S is a full Win 8 machine so we were able to run some Steam games, although obviously the integrated Intel 4000 HD graphics can only take you so far. A little Starcraft 2, some old school Counter-strike, and I even played Angry Birds in the Chrome browser while using the 11S in tablet mode.
Lastly, we ran a few GeekBench tests just to check the performance, for those curious. Again, there’s no i7 under the hood, nor do we have an Intel Haswell processor. So the 1.5 GHz Intel Core i5-3339Y Processor did just about as expected. Check em out below for those interested.
| Section | Description | Score | Total Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Windows x86 (64-bit) – Microsoft Windows 8 (64-bit) | |||
| Integer | Processor integer performance | 4001 | 5321 |
| Floating Point | Processor floating point performance | 7016 | |
| Memory | Memory performance | 5141 | |
| Stream | Memory bandwidth performance | 4371 | |
| Manufacturer | Lenovo | Product Type | Notebook |
| Operating System | Microsoft Windows 8 (64-bit) | ||
| Motherboard | LENOVO Yoga2 | ||
| Processor | Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-3339Y CPU @ 1.50GHz | ||
| Processor ID | GenuineIntel Family 6 Model 58 Stepping 9 | ||
| Processor Frequency | 1.50 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 | 8.00 GB DDR3 SDRAM 799MHz | FSB | 99.8 MHz |
| BIOS | LENOVO 77CN16WW | ||
Overall the i5 handles the full Windows 8 experience just fine. Lenovo’s Yoga 11S is the perfect blend between the bigger Yoga 13, and the underpowered original 11. If you’ve been on the fence, this should help you out.
Now battery life is always a mixed bag here, especially considering the user, his usage, and other variables. As usual we tried to get the estimated 6 hours of battery that Lenovo quotes, but never quite made it. A few times once fully charged the battery lasted under 5 hours, but we did manage a solid 5 hours and 12 minutes with intermittent games, browsing, downloading apps, and watching some Dark Knight Rises.
With the screen turned down to about 40% we managed a solid 5+ hours no matter the usage (except for gaming of course) and felt it was quite decent. Then again, this is where Haswell would really come in handy.
The options available are pretty open at this point in Windows 8′s life. There’s tons of options available, not to mention the original Yoga 11 for those on a budget. However, we feel the full Win 8 experience is essential to truly enjoy this machine. Others that come to mind would obviously be the MacBook Air, which by the way, recently got upgraded to Haswell, and even the Google Chromebook Pixel.
Now that we have a full Windows 8 build here and a Core i5, we’d put this up against any other Windows 8 machine in the price range in terms of overall usage and functionality. The 360 degrees hinge really comes in handy more than you’d think. The Yoga 13 is another excellent option, but for those on the go the 11S is the clear choice.
In closing, we’ve enjoyed using this machine for the past few weeks. The Lenovo Ideapad Yoga 11S has a unique design, and could be one of my favorite hybrid/portables on the market. It’s made for the traveler, and can do it all whether you’re out and about, or sitting on the couch. With Lenovo you know it is top quality, and it shows during daily usage.
The Yoga 11S is one of the most portable and flexible machines on the market, and now that we have full Windows 8 nothing will be slowing you down. Give us a similar design with Haswell and a bigger battery, and we’ll be plenty happy. In the meantime you can’t go wrong with the IdeaPad Yoga 11S. Get one today!
Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 11S Review is written by Cory Gunther & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.
While Tobii has a peripheral that brings eye tracking to Windows PCs of all sorts, there’s little doubt that an integrated approach would be more elegant. The company agrees: it’s partnering with Synaptics on a concept Ultrabook (seen above) that combines both Gaze UI and Synaptics’ pressure-sensitive ForcePad in a showcase of new input methods. The partners haven’t said just what new tricks they’ll demonstrate, if any, but it’s clear that there won’t be a size penalty when the concept is as slim as the laptops in stores today. Synaptics and Tobii plan to tour the PC throughout the industry during the summer and the fall, and they’re no doubt hoping that a few vendors use the concept as inspiration.
Filed under: Laptops, Peripherals
Source: Tobii
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