The 11.6” Samsung 900X1B, the 1KG sibling to the 13” 900X3A that we tested a while back, arrived today and I’ve had a solid afternoon of testing, and enjoying, this pre-Ultrabook. I won’t call it an Ultrabook alternative because  just like the Apple MacBook Air it pre-dates the Ultrabook launch but uses the same design principles…and it’s just as good. With an 11.6” screen it obviously goes up against the Asus UX21 and Apple MacBook Air. Here are some first impressions, relatively detailed, that might help you raise or lower […]

Acer’s Jim Wong has told media in Taiwan that Ultrabooks are on track and prices will fall, potentially to $499 in 2013. Acer had planned to ship, that’s ship, 250000 to 300000 units of the Acer Aspire S3 this year and expect to achieve that target. It’s a slightly veiled shout of confidence to the media but even shipping a third of a million devices requires a lot of risk-taking and investment.

We love Ultrabooks but we also love the competition from other parts of the notebook industry.  Lower prices, faster processors, bigger batteries, discreet graphics and other features give the consumer a choice and challenge the designers of  future Ultrabooks.  There are some devices that are closer (MacBook Air, Series 9) than others (DM1, SH771) but we can’t ignore them.

Available with Core i3 (1.3Ghz non-Turbo) and Core i5 (1.6Ghz, Turbo-enabled) the Samsung 900X1B (Series 9 range) is a stylish alternative to the ASUS UX21. It’s been around for a few months and in theory, it’s not an Intel Ultrabook but apart from slightly slower quick-boot and a missing TPM module (we are told) it’s an Ultrabook! Later this week we’ll be testing it and comparing it to our ASUS UX21 experiences.

I’m testing Beta 2 of the new WordPress 2.0 for Android application and I like what I see so far. The team have implemented windows (I assume fragments on 3.x – I’m testing on a Galaxy Tab 7 with 2.3.5) and completely re-designed the user interface with an icon-based dashboard and a new editor. The content editor now allows images to be added anywhere in the post. ? Here for example. And. . . ?

I often refer to the Sandy Bridge platform as an HDR Computing platform that can span multiple mobile usage scenarios but how about adding that platform to a product that covers every angle in terms of hardware too? The Gigabyte T1132N might just be that device. Forget Ultrabook looks but do think about flexibility and expandability.

I think it’s going to take me a while to work out the reason why this rather akward and cumbersome looking docking solution port is being considered for Ultrabooks. A common docking standard could be a good move though. We know already that the 2012 Ultrabook platform will include support for Thunderbolt and that it is going to make a great single-plug docking system given a Thunderbolt station or hub. Ok, the price of the Thunderbolt hub/station or a Thunderbolt monitor is going to be expensive to start with but that […]

Along with three other models, the Core i7 variant of the Z830 has surfaced for order in the U.S,  with a fingerprint reader but no 256GB SSD option yet. Following previous announcements in Europe that appear to have held back the Core i7 version of the Toshiba Z830 [seen in testing results] from the shelves, it’s good to know it’s actually available in the U.S.with a max 6GB RAM. It’s dissapointing not to see a 256GB SSD storage option as that could have been a way round the relatively slow […]