I’ve done some tests on the Kupa X11 and  just like they say, it’s possible to use it for up to 10 hours on battery. It’s impressive but what about getting things done on the Kupa X11? You can have all the battery life in the world but if you can’t use the device, it’s worth nothing. To test the real-world value of the Kupa X11 in terms of ‘getting things done’ I’ve swapped out my Ultrabook-desktop for the Kupa X11 today and as you can see in the image, […]

When the Ultrabook launched in June 2011, Samsung were ahead of the curve because the Series 9 had already launched into the thin and light space. It was expensive  but brought the best of Samsung’s engineering to the table in exactly the way the Ultrabook was to do just months later. Over time the price has come down so it was difficult to imagine how Samsung might fit a product into the Ultrabook market but at CES the strategy was revealed as the Series 9 received a complete refresh to […]

I’ve just finished the main text for the full Samsung Series 5 13” Ultrabook review. It’s been a tough one. [Details, specs, gallery here, Review will be live tomorrow and linked on this page.] To all intents and purposes the Series 5 is a simple, unfussy and polite Ultrabook but there’s a lot going on under the hood. It’s a swan! Express Cache is doing it’s stuff to improve boot, hibernation and application startup times and Turbo is giving a leg-up where needed; but only a little one. It seems […]

I’m looking back on UMPCPortal to see how long it’s been since we’ve had hands-on with a 1KG, 10 inch  PC…..In Sept 2011 we covered the MSI Windpad 120W which didn’t make it to market. There was also the Fujitsu TH40/D which also doesn’t seem to have made it to the market. I also had some hands-on with the new Gigabyte S1081 Windows tablet at CES (which I forgot to post here, sorry here’s the video.)  I know I’ve missed a few in between (for example the Viewsonic Viewpad 10 Pro) […]

If Apple launches a 15” MacBook Air this spring it will send a strong message to everyone that the time for traditional laptop designs is coming to an end. A report at Apple Insider says it’s likely to happen. Personally, I’m not surprised at all. We’ve already seen Samsung and Acer launch 15” ultra-thins and if the Ultrabook methodology is as cheap as I think it is, traditional style laptops for gamers could get more niche, and more expensive. The same will be true of traditional MacBook Pro. A launch […]

It was last August that I wrote about the Kupa X11 tablet. I highlighted the battery capacity as the key feature because it’s not often you see such a high capacity battery in  an X86-based device under 1KG. What I didn’t know then was that Windows 8 would require 1366×768 to run the full range of Metro apps and features so the Kupa is now one of only a handful of tablets you can buy today that are Windows 8 ready. At the top-end you have the Samsung XE700 based […]

Back during CES, Sony was showing off a hybrid tablet with Windows 8. This was a sliding design that could function as a tablet with the screen down, or the screen could slide up screen up to reveal a full QWERTY keyboard. Image credit: Engadget We’ve seen a similar approach from Samsung, but despite an official press release about the product, it never made it to market (perhaps they were waiting for Windows 8?). Asus launched the Eee Pad Slider last year using the same concept but with the Android and ARM […]

Sellout.Woot has the Archos 101 G9 Turbo on sale (for one day only, as is Woot’s style) for a reasonable $259 (permalink). The price has been dropped $20 from when we saw the same product on sale from Woot back in February for $279. This is a brand new 8GB WiFi-only version of the Archos 101 G9, though, unlike most tablets, you can add data connectivity thanks to a USB modem that can be optionally added after purchase. The ‘Turbo’ in the name denotes that this unit is clocked to […]