Hasta La Gadget!

With the release of the latest ThinkPad design from Lenovo, legacy users may notice a change in Lenovo’s design language. This Lenovo ThinkPad S431 takes much of what fans of the ThinkPad line have seen in models released over the past several years and makes tweaks to continue with a design evolution. Here with the ThinkPad S431, a 14-inch LCD display also fits inside a 13-inch frame and a bit of touchscreen technology is employed to control Windows 8.

This machine works with a 180-degree open angle on its display, allowing users to work with the keyboard and/or the touchscreen and Windows 8 in a variety of ways. This notebook works with 3rd generation Intel Core processor options and up to 8GB of memory. Also under the hood users will be able to keep 500GB of files, this allowing for students and entertainment users to store media to their content.

Lenovo appears to be moving toward a cross between small business users and budget thinkers this week with the ThinkPad S431. This release marks the first time that a Lenovo ThinkPad notebook is offered at a price point under a thousand dollars. Starting on the 21st of May, this machine will also be the first ThinkPad to be offered under nine hundred dollars and eight hundred dollars as well, coming in at a cool six hundred and ninty-nine dollars MSRP.

This machine will join its cousins in the ThinkPad line revealed earlier this year at CES and between then and the release of Windows 8. Have a peek at the timeline below to see additional insight on the Lenovo path from here into the future. Things are getting bendy, touchy, and ready for Windows 8, that’s for certain.

Lenovo ThinkPad S431 eases legacy look for Windows 8 touch is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

We all knew this was coming, but today it’s now official. The folks from Intel took to their social network channels to tease a countdown to their next Intel Core processors. The 4th generation chip that’s known as ‘Haswell’ that will be powering laptops, ultrabooks and hybrid portable devices moving forward. That countdown ends this summer on June 3rd.

Posting the image you see above to Twitter, Intel teases that in approximately 3,337,200,000,000,000 nanoseconds Intel will reveal their hotly anticipated 4th gen Intel Core processor to the world. Basically right at the beginning of Computex 2013, where we’ll see loads of Haswell powered hybrid PCs and more.

Haswell hasn’t been much of a secret, and earlier this month we confirmed Intel had already started shipping Haswell to an array of PC manufacturers. Haswell promises to bring a major boost in performance and more importantly battery life over Ivy-bridge for all those ultra-portables.

Around the same time we are also expecting to see Windows Blue show its face, so this years Computex is looking to be a pretty exciting event. We all knew the chip was coming but now all you enthusiasts can circle a time around June 3rd on your calendar and start getting ready for the onslaught of Haswell based systems. We could even see a few Android-based systems too, so stay tuned.

[via CNET]

Intel confirms 4th gen ‘Haswell’ processor to appear at Computex is written by Cory Gunther & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

This week the folks at Toshiba have revealed yet another oddity in computing the world might never have seen had it not been for Microsoft’s push for touchscreen interation with Windows 8. The device that’s opening up Toshiba’s push for the future is the Toshiba Portege Z10t. With Ultrabook on its back while its tablet display detaches from its keyboard dock, it is what Toshiba hopes will create yet another market for notebooks: the detachable Ultrabook.

This device will do what Toshiba hopes will draw in the odd-device-seeking masses with a set of specifications only otherwise seen on solid one-piece notebooks. Here the user will be employing an 11.6-inch touchscreen (Full HD) that functions as both the display for the notebook and a tablet on its own once detached from what then becomes just a keyboard dock.

This device aims also to take on the likes of the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 with an optional DigitizerPen. Writing notes and sketches on the display of this machine will be an interesting comparison to make with the Android competition, especially since at the moment, it appears that Toshiba’s solution will require said pen to be carried separately.

This device appears to be quite similar to the Acer Iconia W510 convertable tablet/notebook revealed earlier this year, but the big difference remains the Ultrabook angle. With full Windows 8 coupled with an Intel Core processor under the hood, Toshiba’s bid may end up being a win in this season’s Windows 8-toting market.

Toshiba aims to create new “detachable Ultrabook” segment for Windows 8 is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Say what you like about Windows 8, but before it arrived Microsoft’s presence in the tablet sphere was as small as it was stagnant. By the reckoning of number-crunchers at Strategy Analytics, just 400,000 Windows-running slates were shipped globally in Q3 of last year — a figure that was largely unchanged from the year before and which represented just 1.6 percent of the global tablet market. Six months later, now that the Windows-powered Acers, Lenovos and Surfaces of this world have had a chance to get their game on, Microsoft’s share has quadrupled to 7.5 percent, with a total of 3 million Windows 8 and RT tablets shipped in Q1 2013. That’s still pretty niche, but 3 million units would have equated to a bigger share were it not for the fact that the overall tablet market also grew over this period, from 25 million to 41 million units — and at least Microsoft can now claim to be a part of that boom. Look past the break for the numerical breakdown.

Filed under: Tablets, Microsoft

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Via: CNET, Neowin

Source: Strategy Analytics

In an effort to wean more people onto the Windows platform, Microsoft has partnered up with popular audiobook service Audible to offer Windows users a free audiobook. The offer only applies to users running either Windows 8 or Windows Phone 8, and it seems you’ll only have your pick from three pre-selected audiobooks being offered.

The three choices that you have to pick from are “The Power Trip,” Navy Seal autobiography “American Sniper,” and F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby,” which is narrated by actor Jake Gyllenhaal and will also be hitting theaters here shortly. All three of these books seem to be really popular, especially “The Great Gatsby,” so be sure to take advantage of the offer while you have it.

Howevever, there is some fine print to be aware of. Only new Audible registrants will be able to get a free audiobook, and you’ll have to register for a new account through the Windows 8 or Windows Phone app on your computer or smartphone. It’s also only available in the US and you have until May 13 to snatch up your free copy.

While this may be an enticing offer for some users, especially the book lovers out there, we’re not so sure that this promotion alone will be enough to get people to try out Windows 8 or Windows Phone 8. It’s certainly a good deal for those who already are on one of these platforms, but we can’t see others really going for it. Either way, if you’re yearning for a free audiobook, now’s your chance.

Audible offering Windows users free audiobook is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.