The full Vizio PC line has gotten a boost for 2013 with what’s essentially the same great industrial design we saw first in 2012, coming on this time with AMD internals and full touchscreen displays. Perhaps the most interesting of these updates is the CT14 notebook being refreshed as the CT14T, coming in two models with one on AMD and the other with an Intel Core i7, both of them with the same sharp industrial design to keep them looking nice.
The CT14T will come with a 2.3GHz AMD A10 4657M processor in its CT14T-B0 configuration while its partner, the CT14T-B1, comes with 3rd Gen (Ivy Bridge) Intel Core i7 under the hood. Both models have the same 1600 x 900 pixel resolution over their 14-inch display, and both work with 128GB SSD and 8GB of RAM. These models are also (and have been thus far) called the “Thin + Light”, and they’re also, of course, classified as Ultrabooks.
Note: Vizio revealed a Windows 8 Tablet PC this week as well – as seen above.
The Vizio 15.6-inch notebook, also known as “Notebook” by Vizio, has also been refreshed a bit with two similar variants, AMD and Intel again with the same specifications on the whole as mentioned in 2012. This machine is the slightly higher-grade version of the Thin + Light though Vizio is marketing each model as its own unique beast, not necessarily as good/better. You’ll find that each machine has its own real benefits, and not just by size.
Vizio have also re-introduced their all-in-one machines (there’s two of them at this point), they having been refreshed back in late October 2012 and reviewed by SlashGear before they had touchscreen monitors back in early October. We’ll be getting our hands on them for the first time this week at CES 2013, so have a peek through one of two portals: first you’ll want to hit the Vizio tag portal to have a peek at everything they’ve got, top to bottom. Then you’ll want to see our massive CES portal as it expands throughout the week – be there!
This week the folks at Vizio have unleashed the full barrage of Windows 8 machines you’d expect from a burgeoning new manufacturer of such devices, starting with the Vizio Tablet PC. The thing is though, Vizio isn’t new, they’re only just entering the PC market now, having released several rather aesthetically pleasing (and rather nice to use) machines over the past year. Here during CES 2013, they’ve jumped in on the tablet market as well.
The Vizio Tablet PC works with an 11.6-inch display and runs full Windows 8 across a full 1080p resolution. Like the rest of the Vizio lineup across the board, you get a full Microsoft Signature install of Windows 8, this meaning you’ll get no “bloatware” as such, only what Microsoft originally intended for the operating system – Skype included. This machine also works with a fabulous dual-core AMD Z60 processor inside clocked at 1GHz – a rarity at this moment in time.
Also inside you’ll find 2GB of RAM as well as 64GB of SSD (solid-state storage, of course). This machine has a 2 megapixel camera on the front, micro-HDMI port on the side, and a microUSB port as well for connectivity to your larger machines (if you so choose to do so). This machine will almost certainly be appearing in Vizio’s hands-on lineup this week at CES 2013 so we’ll have a closer look at what it means to use this beast before the week is through.
Have a peek at a selection of Vizio posts in the timeline below to get an extended taste of what the company has been offering over the past few months, especially our most recent review of one of their all-in-one machines. Very sleek, very well thought out – we’ve got high hopes for this company, needless to say! Also be sure to take a peek at our CES hub all week for all the hands-on action you can handle!
Windows 8 can take some getting used to. While the desktop app works very much like Windows 7, there are plenty of new shortcuts, options, and tricks built into the operating system. Think you know how to use it like a pro? Here are a few Windows 8 features that you probably haven’t found yet. More »
Despite some launch hiccups with Windows 8 and its related devices, Microsoft has received a smashing bit of news in the form of a new $617 million licensing agreement that will bring the fledgeling OS to 75 percent of US DoD personnel. The deal also includes Office 2013 and Sharepoint 2013 Enterprise, and will let users access the software “from any location, and any supported device, while taking advantage of enhanced security,” according to Redmond. Microsoft added that the agreement was “the most comprehensive” it’s ever signed with the sprawling government arm, which plans to use the software for a wide range of priorities from cybersecurity to mobility. Meanwhile, the software giant is working to achieve the coveted, though highly unwieldy-sounding “Army Golden Master and Air Force Standard Desktop Configuration” compliance for Windows 8 — which we imagine is a good thing, and hope to never have to type out again. To reconnoiter further, check the sources below.
We’ve already seen Microsoft’s original design mockups for its Windows 8 OS. But today, we are seeing earlier concepts of Windows 8′s Startscreen and the Lockscreen, thanks to its designer, Marius Bauer, who recently posted the designs on his website. Bauer designed the Startscreen and Lockscreen background of Windows 8. He begins the process by coming up with a subtle design for the Startscreen and the Lockscreen. Bauer was also joined by a team who worked on the art direction and final composition. (more…)
What we’ve got here is the HP EliteBook Folio 9470m Ultrabook, a business-oriented notebook made to work in the Windows 8 environment with an amalgamation of hardware that’s precision-tuned to suit your in- and out-of-office needs. At first glance, this machine doesn’t strike one as the most unique piece of machinery on the planet – it’s a silver laptop, after all. But what it lacks in unique aesthetics, it more than makes up for in details that we’d consider suggesting this device to friends for on their own.
Hardware
This machine measures in at 13.3 x 9.09 x 0.75 in (33.8 x 23.1 x 1.89 cm) and works with a lovely 14-inch LED-backlit HD anti-glare 1366 x 768 pixel resolution display and is cased in mostly hard and soft plastic. While the bulk of this machine is metal, its ever-so-slightly soft along the top and the bottom while a ridge of almost rubbery soft plastic runs along the head – above the display, the area that you’ll use to pull the notebook open – very well placed. This notebook is 3.6 pounds – not the lightest Ultrabook in the universe – and is 0.74-inches thick.
Along the sides you’ve got more ports than you’re going to know what to do with, including 2x USB 3.0, 1x USB 3.0 (charging), DisplayPort 1.1a, VGA, AC power, headphone/mic jack, RJ-45, and a single SD/MMC card slot. You’ve also got an ethernet port so you can hard-wire to the web if you’re not all about wi-fi connectivity. You’ve also got a Kensington lock slot so you can keep the machine secure if you’re at a trade show or in a particularly nefarious office setting.
Note also that HP has made a point of assuring the public that their Elite line of products is hardcore – have a peek at our HP Making of Elite Tour Roundup to see our adventures all those months ago – smashing inside!
Also important if you want to keep your machine secure is the built-in HP Fingerprint Sensor which appears on the right side of your palm rest – make sure you’re not eating too much cake before you try to get read. Up to the right above your keyboard you’ve got dedicated on/off switches for both wi-fi and sound (muting, basically), and up and to the left you’ve got your power button – heavy metal!
The model we’ve got here works with a 3rd Gen (Ivy Bridge) Intel Core i5-3427U (2.80/1.80 GHz, 3 MB L3 cache, 2 cores) and has a Mobile Intel QM77 Express chipset. You’ll be able to see some standard performance results in the benchmark listing we’ve got below, but know this: this machine is performing at a 2013 level. It’s swift and powerful, more than ready to take on your standard business needs.
Software
The security and business-friendly options you’ve got on this machine are just what your manager’s been looking for, including HP’s ProtecTools suite with so many tools to keep people out of your computer that you’ll forget why they wanted to get in in the first place – pre-boot authentication and a password vault included! You’ve also got SpareKey for when you forget your own password. And of course, a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) built-in.
You also get a tossing of apps that HP’s decided to add-in above what Microsoft’s Windows 7 or 8 gives you, including such gems as PowerDVD and PDF Complete. You do get Evernote right out of the box though, a good incentive to keep taking notes on your smartphone as well as your laptop. You get the option of working with Windows 7 Pro, Windows 7 Home Premium, or the version of Microsoft’s OS that we’re working with here, Windows 8.
If you do choose Windows 8, you’ll need some time to get used to the gestures you’ll be needing to make your own in order to get friendly with your everyday average apps. If you’ve got no touchscreen (this device does not have one, mind you), you’ll be dragging two fingers to the right or the left to navigate your Live Tiles. If you don’t know what that means, we suggest you pick this machine up with Windows 7, without a doubt.
The display on this machine is decent, but not spectacular. The same can be said about the speaker system. HP didn’t put as much effort into this machine’s entertainment abilities as it has with some of its more eye and ear-pleasing machines like the HP ENVY Spectre XT Ultrabook. This Folio machine is, on the other hand, one of the more well-put-together business-minded machines we’ve seen through the past 12 months.
System – LENOVO 344422U
Manufacturer
Lenovo
Product Type
Notebook
Operating System
Microsoft Windows 7 Professional (64-bit)
Motherboard
LENOVO 344422U
Processor
Intel Core i7-3667U
Processor ID
GenuineIntel Family 6 Model 58 Stepping 9
Processor Frequency
2.00 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
4.00 MB
Memory
3.73 GB DDR3 SDRAM 666MHz
FSB
99.8 MHz
BIOS
LENOVO G6ET22WW (1.01 )
Have a peek below at our standard benchmark test results for this machine and remember that it’s not an entertainment machine, and certainly isn’t made for gaming. Instead you’ve got a bit of a worker her made for a worker, inside and out.
Benchmark Score – Hewlett-Packard HP EliteBook Folio 9470m
Section
Description
Score
Total Score
Windows x86 (64-bit) – Microsoft Windows 8 Pro (64-bit)
Integer
Processor integer performance
3538
5029
Floating Point
Processor floating point performance
6639
Memory
Memory performance
4933
Stream
Memory bandwidth performance
4812
Battery Life / Options
On the bottom of this machine you’ve got both a docking connector and a secondary battery connector. HP doesn’t mess around when it comes to a strong accessories ecosystem and will certainly have your back when you look to expand with extra long-life-loving batteries and/or if you want to dock this beast up at your house when you get home from the cube. That said, the battery life on this machine is rated by HP for “up to 9 hours and 30 minutes” with its HP Long Life 4-cell (52 WHr) Li-Ion unit, and we’ve seen it bringing on easily 5-6 hours of up-time while using it for medium-to-heavy lifting on an average day.
Lifting, in this case, consists of editing enough video and photos for a full day of work on SlashGear, browsing massive amounts of content on the web, and items as simple as editing text documents (plus lots, lots more, of course). If you’re all about document editing and basic reading, you’ll have no trouble reaching up further for the beastly time HP suggests.
Wrap-up
With the HP EliteBook Folio 9470m Ultrabook you’re getting one of the nicest business-minded computers on the market today. Priced at $1,349.00 USD straight from HP, you’re going to get what you paid for. This is a machine you’re going to be able to use for years to come, and with the hardware this Ultrabook comes with right out of the box, it’s unlikely you’ll need to update your innards any time soon.
If you can judge a technology’s wow-factor by how much it’s accused of being vaporware, Leap Motion‘s gesture-tracking was a hit from the off; companies jumped on the idea, though it’s perhaps a surprise that the first should be ASUS, not Apple. The matchbox-sized gadget – which can track the movement of ten fingers individually, and 200x more accurately than kit like Microsoft’s Kinect – will soon be integrated into Windows 8 PCs from ASUS, according to a new deal announced today. Microsoft’s OS certainly loves fingers, but Apple’s moves to blend the best of OS X and iOS arguably make it and Leap Motion more obvious bedfellows.
If you missed it first time around, Leap Motion’s eponymous gizmo is a tiny, $70 box that hooks up via USB and creates a four cubic foot area above itself within which individual finger movements can be tracked. That’s at an accuracy of within 1/100th of a millimeter, and the system can differentiate between fingers and, say, a stylus being held for mid-air handwriting, as well as recognize when finger movements are intended to be linked, such as for pinch-zooming.
Leap Motion walkthrough:
So why would Apple be interested in Leap Motion’s tracking technology? It’s all down to the Cupertino firm’s dual stance on touchscreens. On the iPhone and iPad, Apple hasn’t been slow to adopt touch, driving the adoption of capacitive technology, but its Mac desktop and notebook ranges have stubbornly avoided finger-friendly displays.
“The ergonomics of touch aren’t suited to a notebook or desktop”
Apple’s argument has always been that the ergonomics of touch simply aren’t suited to a notebook or desktop form-factor. Reaching out across to a display – whether to your MacBook screen or to stab at an all-in-one – isn’t comfortable, so their argument goes, when compared with a large trackpad such as the company’s own Magic Trackpad.
It’s a strategy entirely at odds with where Microsoft has pushed Windows 8, with the new Metro-style interface of the latest OS expressly designed for touchscreen computing. ASUS’ deal with Leap Motion, however, means its future laptops and all-in-ones will also support gestural interaction, waving and grabbing at the air in front of the display so as to manipulate what’s on-screen.
That’s actually an area of research that Apple isn’t unfamiliar with: the company has previously filed patents for Kinect-like navigation, including around a 3D display, or by using infrared light bouncing off your hands above a keyboard. None of that research has actually ended up in shipping hardware, however.
OS X has borrowed an increasing number of features and usage concepts from iOS in its latest iterations; that’s only expected to increase with the launch of OS X 10.9 later this year. With iOS so finger-focused, however, the limitations of a trackpad or Magic Mouse will continue to keep the reach-out-and-tweak-it immediacy iPhone and iPad users are familiar with from the desktop experience. Leap Motion’s approach would’ve fit that paradigm perfectly, though I’d be surprised if Apple wasn’t cooking up its own approach as the gap between mobile and traditional computing narrows.
It’s been a little while since we last heard about MSI’s Slider S20 convertible. We ended up getting hands-on session with the device at Computex 2012 back in June, and it was later tipped for an October release, but that obvious has yet to happen. However, the company just announced that we should be seeing the new Ultrabook sometime in Q1 2013.
The Slider S20 is essentially a chunky tablet of sorts, but it converts fully into a laptop for those wanting a physical keyboard combination. The device sports a 16:9 1920×1080 full HD 10-point touchscreen display, 8GB of DDR3 RAM, and 128GB of SSD storage. It also packs Intel’s 3rd-generation Ivy Bridge Core i5 processor and integrated Intel HD 4000 graphics.
The Slider S20 weighs 2.2 lbs. and is less than 1-inch thick, great for lightweight on-the-go computing. There’s a Jackson Peak Wireless adapter, ethernet, two USB 3.0 ports, Bluetooth capability, mini HDMI-out connector, and an integrated 720p HD webcam. It also has a 2.5-inch drive bay for additional storage.
The Slider S20 is set to be available in Q1 2013 for an MSRP of $1,199, which is a far cry from what we heard back in June with a possible $800 price tag. Either way, we should be seeing the new convertible laptop gracing the display stand at MSI’s booth during CES 2013 before it officially releases to the public.
The US Department of Defense (DoD) has jumped aboard the Windows 8 bandwagon at last, after issuing a press release last Friday which confirmed that different sections of the military have started to make use of the Windows 8 operating system, in addition to plans for implementation of upcoming Microsoft software products in the coming years. In fact, the DoD also signed a new three year software contract with Microsoft which is worth a grand total of $617 million.
According to the press release, “Under the agreement, the Army, Air Force and DISA (Defense Information Systems Agency) can begin using the newest versions of Microsoft products, including Microsoft Office 2013, SharePoint 2013 and Windows 8, officials said, adding that Office 2013 provides enhanced security and content management tools.The package has been customized to meet the specific security needs of the Defense Department.”
The DoD says that $617 million is the best price offered by Microsoft to date, and at that price point, the US Army would have saved $70 million annually throughout the inked three year contract.
Samsung is kicking off 2013 with a the Series 7 SC770 Touch Monitor that’s optimized for Windows 8. The 24-inch LCD supports up to 10 points of simultaneous touch on its 1080 x 1920 display and rotates 90 degrees to a vertical portrait setup so you can take full advantage of Microsoft’s flexible new OS. Still no word on pricing or availability, but hopefully we’ll hear more at CES next week. [Samsung] More »
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We’ve already seen 
The US Department of Defense (DoD) has jumped aboard the Windows 8 bandwagon at last, after issuing a press release last Friday which confirmed that different sections of the military have started to make use of the Windows 8 operating system, in addition to plans for implementation of upcoming Microsoft software products in the coming years. In fact, the DoD also signed a new three year software contract with Microsoft which is worth a grand total of $617 million.
