iSuppli slashes their Ultrabook shipment estimates

Do you believe that Ultrabooks has become the new standard of mobile computing (smartphones and tablets not withstanding)? Have you noticed an increased presence of Ultrabooks when you look around you? Well according to market research firm, iSuppli, it seems that despite their rather upbeat predictions of PC makers shipping 22 million Ultrabooks earlier this year, the firm has since come forward and announced that they have made some changes to their predictions. (more…)

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Lenovo X1 Carbon Review, Intel’s Ultrabook Design Induces Growth In Premium Laptop Market,

[CEATEC 2012] Toshiba renames its Satellite U925t in Japan as a Dynabook

Announced early September, the Satellite U925t, a Sony Vaio Duo like ultrabook powered by a Core i5 Ivy Bridge is now making its debut in Japan under the Dynabook series. While Toshiba did not gave any specific price and specification details on this Japanese version of the Satellite U925t is schedule to hit Japanese stores within a few month with identical specs as its North American cousin.

Acer’s Aspire S7 Ultrabooks coming October 26th, starting at $1,200 for the 11-inch version

Back at Computex, Acer announced the Aspire S7 series — the company’s third line of Ultrabooks, and the first of the bunch to sport touchscreens. At the time, we were told they’d go on sale once Windows 8 started shipping and sure enough, Acer just sent out a press release confirming they’ll be available October 26th, the day Win 8 officially launches. Prices will start at $1,200 for the 11-inch model (the S7-191), but you’ll pay either $1,400 or $1,650 for the 13-inch version (S7-391), depending on which configuration you choose.

For those who missed the initial June reveal, the laptops all have 1080p IPS screens and backlit keyboards. The 13-inch model in particular has a display that can lie completely flat. Another key difference: the 11-inch version has an aluminum lid, while the 13-incher’s is fashioned out of Gorilla Glass. Whichever you choose, the S7 comes with a USB to Ethernet adapter, a micro-HDMI to VGA dongle and a carrying case — a first for Acer. They also make use of Acer’s TwinAir cooling technology and are set up to work with AcerCloud, the company’s free online storage service, which you can use with mobile apps on iOS and Android.

Inside, the SSDs are all arranged in RAID 0 configuration, which means you can expect the kind of absurdly fast I/O speeds we recorded on the Aspire S5. (The lack of redundancy in that RAID 0 setup also means you might want to be extra vigilant about backing up your stuff.) The battery life is rated for six hours on both models, but the 13-inch version will be available with an external cell that can supposedly double the runtime. Meanwhile. RAM is fixed at 4GB, and integrated Intel HD 4000 graphics are the standard. All told, just the kind of specs you’d expect on a high-end Ultrabook.

Again, these will ship on October 26th, starting at $1,200 for the smaller 11-inch model. In the meantime, we’ve got a few additional specs after the break, and you can always revisit our hands-on from Computex if you want to re-live the magic of a crowded press conference.

Continue reading Acer’s Aspire S7 Ultrabooks coming October 26th, starting at $1,200 for the 11-inch version

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Acer’s Aspire S7 Ultrabooks coming October 26th, starting at $1,200 for the 11-inch version originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Oct 2012 08:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Fujitsu Lifebook UH75 running Windows 8 at CEATEC (hands-on video)

Fujitsu Lifebook UH75 running Windows 8 at CEATEC handson video

CEATEC isn’t exactly the first place you’d expect a new notebook to turn up, but Fujitsu’s booth had a bit of a surprise on the laptop front. The Japanese company had its Lifebook UH75 Ultrabook on display running Windows 8. That OS is the real news here: no other real specs beside the 14-inch screen we already knew about. Fujitsu said this machine will launch alongside its new Arrows Tab sometime in late October or November. Check out our video hands-on below the break.

Continue reading Fujitsu Lifebook UH75 running Windows 8 at CEATEC (hands-on video)

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Fujitsu Lifebook UH75 running Windows 8 at CEATEC (hands-on video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Oct 2012 22:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hard drive shipments recover from floods in Thailand, expected to reach record high

Hard drive shipments recover from floods in Thailand, expected to reach record high

Last year’s floods in Thailand caused hard drive shortages after wreaking havoc on a number of electronics manufacturers, but new stats from IHS iSuppli indicate that the HDD market for PCs has fully recovered and is poised to hit an all time high. The firm expects 524 million units for internal use in PCs to ship this year, besting the previous record by 4.3 percent. What’s giving the recovery an added boost? According to the analytics group, the extra demand comes courtesy of Windows 8 and Ultrabooks. Unfortunately for deal hounds, the company noted in a report earlier this year that prices aren’t expected to dip below the pre-flood range until 2014. If IHS iSuppli projections hold true, total annual hard drive shipments could reach 575.1 million by 2016.

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Hard drive shipments recover from floods in Thailand, expected to reach record high originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 29 Sep 2012 16:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HP announces Envy m4 thin-and-light, along with two slimmed-down Sleekbooks

HP announces Pavilion m4 thinandlight, along with two slimmeddown Sleekbooks

Remember the Pavilion m6? It was one of many, many lightweight laptops HP announced last spring. To recap, it didn’t technically fit Intel’s Ultrabook specifications, but it was still quite thin, and offered features not normally found on ultraportables — things like discrete graphics and a subwoofer. In any case, HP is expanding that particular line: it just announced the Envy m4, a 14-inch companion to the 15-inch m6 that went on sale this summer.

Like the m6, it has an aluminum design, along with Beats Audio and a subwoofer. Spec-wise, it’ll be offered with Core i3 and i5 processors, up to 8GB of RAM and either a solid-state drive or up to 1TB of HDD storage. The display resolution is fixed at 1,366 x 768 — typical for mid-range laptops. (Note: only one configuration will be available in the US, though additional variants will be offered in other countries.) Intel Wireless Display is standard, and the battery promises up to eight hours of runtime. It also has a fingerprint reader, which you can use with HP’s SimplePass technology to log into the PC and as well as websites.

Meanwhile, HP added two models to its growing line of Sleekbooks (read: thin-and-light laptops that for whatever reason don’t meet Intel’s Ultrabook requirements). These new models include the Pavilion Sleekbook 14 and 15, which look like the company’s entry-level G series, but are significantly trimmer. The laptops, available in black and red, will be offered with Ivy Bridge chips, optional discrete graphics, 1080p displays, up to 8GB of RAM and up to 1TB of HDD storage. In both cases, the battery life is said to max out at six hours — less than the m4 or most Ultrabooks, but still decent.

Last thing — and this really is apropos of nothing — HP also mentioned in its press release that the existing 11-inch Pavilion dm1 will be offered with an HSPA+ radio capable of running on T-Mobile’s network. HP says it will offer up to 200MB of free data per month, for two years. That deal is effective next month, on October 26th.

The Envy m4 will start at $900 while the Pavilion Sleekbook 14 and 15 will go for $500 and $560, respectively. These, too, will arrive on the 26th, the day Windows 8 launches. For now help yourself to photos galore past the break.

Continue reading HP announces Envy m4 thin-and-light, along with two slimmed-down Sleekbooks

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HP announces Envy m4 thin-and-light, along with two slimmed-down Sleekbooks originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 20 Sep 2012 00:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Targus Ultralife accessories for Ultrabooks turn their noses up at lesser, non-ultrafied PC peripherals

TK Targus

If sales figures from earlier in the year are any indication, it would seem that Ultrabooks are gaining traction, so you can’t really blame accessory makers for wanting to piggyback on their success. Targus just introduced a bunch of slim, lightweight peripherals, and while you don’t have to use them with your skinny little ultraportable, the company’s marketing team really hopes you do. All told, the Ultralife line includes almost a dozen items, all of which have the same anodized bronze aluminum design and peekhole accent (looks like you’re out of luck if your laptop skews more gray). Included in the group are a 65W adapter ($70) and a $40 hub with three USB sockets and an Ethernet jack, the idea being that most Ultrabooks don’t have a wired internet connection built in. Also on tap: a polishing cloth ($10), a stylus with a magnetic holder ($20) and a slew of cases and sleeves, ranging in price from $40 to $80 (the MSRP varies depending on the material, and whether you buy it in a 13.3- or 14-inch size). Finally, the company announced a trio of wireless mice, including a plain-Jane model ($50), one with a microSD reader ($60) and one that doubles as as presenter ($90). All of these are available now, if the heavy, pedestrian mouse and USB hub you currently own just won’t do.

Continue reading Targus Ultralife accessories for Ultrabooks turn their noses up at lesser, non-ultrafied PC peripherals

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Targus Ultralife accessories for Ultrabooks turn their noses up at lesser, non-ultrafied PC peripherals originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 19 Sep 2012 08:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HP Envy Spectre XT review: a sleek and speedy Ultrabook with a killer keyboard

HP Envy Spectre XT a 13inch Ultrabook

HP’s Envy 14 Spectre hit almost all the right notes when we reviewed it back in March, thanks to its high-res display, sleek metal-and-glass design and brisk performance, but a stiff trackpad and the steep $1,400 price were clear downsides. The new Envy Spectre XT, a 13.3-inch Ivy Bridge-powered Ultrabook, has a thinner, lighter profile than its big brother, and a lower $1,000 price tag to match. That’s still not chump change, though, so does the XT deserve a spot in the top tier of Intel-approved ultraportables? Join us past the break for the full breakdown.

Continue reading HP Envy Spectre XT review: a sleek and speedy Ultrabook with a killer keyboard

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HP Envy Spectre XT review: a sleek and speedy Ultrabook with a killer keyboard originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 13 Sep 2012 12:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nuance and Intel team on Dragon Assistant Beta for Ultrabooks, Dell XPS 13 to lead the charge

Dell XPS 13 review lead

Intel at CES promised a partnership with Nuance to give Ultrabooks a taste of ready-made voice recognition, and we’re finally seeing the results at IDF in San Francisco through the launch of Nuance’s Dragon Assistant Beta. As the name implies, this isn’t just a voice dictation engine like that in Naturally Speaking: chatty users can delegate common tasks like playing music, reading social network updates and searching the web. The beta isn’t immediately available as of this writing, but it should go live soon and will be a core part of of Ultrabook software bundles in the near future, starting with the Dell XPS 13 this fall. We’re wondering why Intel is focusing its Dragon Assistant efforts solely on thin-and-lights — the company still makes money from portlier PCs, after all — but we won’t mind as much given the simultaneous launch of a Perceptual Computing SDK 2013 Beta, which lets developers work Dragon recognition into their own apps. More details await after the break.

Continue reading Nuance and Intel team on Dragon Assistant Beta for Ultrabooks, Dell XPS 13 to lead the charge

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Nuance and Intel team on Dragon Assistant Beta for Ultrabooks, Dell XPS 13 to lead the charge originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 12 Sep 2012 07:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Spotted at IDF: NEC’s lightweight LaVie Z Ultrabook (hands-on video)

Spotted at IDF NEC's lightweight LaVie Z Ultrabook handson video

Remember NEC’s LaVie Z Ultrabook we first heard about at Computex? It’s a super light (875g / 1.93 lbs) and thin (15mm / 0.59-inch) magnesium alloy system running Windows 7 that’s only available in Japan and we just spotted it here at IDF 2012 in San Francisco. Spec-wise you’re looking at a 1.9GHz third-generation (Ivy Bridge) Core i7 CPU, 4GB RAM, 128GB SSD with integrated Intel HD 4000 GPU driving a 13.3-inch 1600×900-pixel display. It features an SD card slot on the left side, audio, USB 2.0, USB 3.0, HDMI and power connectors on the right edge and the obligatory webcam.

We spent a few minutes using the LaVie Z and were quite impressed with how lightweight and well made it is. It feels like a premium Ultrabook yet still looks unique — unlike the plethora of me-too designs the PC industry’s been dumping on the market lately (yes, we’re looking at you, HP). The screen is nice and bright with decent viewing angles. NEC’s done a good job with the button-less trackpad which is properly responsive. Sadly the keyboard is a bit of a mixed bag — the short travel and small surface area of the individual keys will be an issue for some. Want to know more? Check out the gallery below and hit the break for our hands-on video.

Continue reading Spotted at IDF: NEC’s lightweight LaVie Z Ultrabook (hands-on video)

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Spotted at IDF: NEC’s lightweight LaVie Z Ultrabook (hands-on video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 11 Sep 2012 18:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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