There’s an Ultrabook battery report out from the Electronics TakeBack Coalition – a company that “promotes green design and responsible recycling in the electronics industry” and it doesn’t look too good. Only 2 Ultrabooks have been highlighted as having removable batteries but there’s a different side to this story that hasn’t been considered by the ETBC. Report PDF here.

I’m not a fan of wireless charging. I love the idea of cable-less operation but the inefficiencies far outweigh the advantages for me. Maybe I’m just too focused on mobile operation though because I agree, there’s a case for desk-top charging while working. Even though, wouldn’t it be easier to just have a separate charging mat?

Those of you in the software development industry and looking at Ultrabooks and Windows 8 need to be aware of two updated SDKs. Intel’s Media SDK has reached 2012 R3 status and the SDK for OpenCL Applications has reached 2013 Beta. Both SDKs are important because they allow software developers to access video and OpenCL-specific hardware in the HD4000 GPU; Part of the Ivy Bridge platform for Ultrabooks. We’ve already seen how important the Media SDK is in video editing on an Ultrabook and rendering and the new OpenCL SDK […]

Over the last few weeks I’ve been researching Ultrabooks for business. I’ve been trying to put together an article series on the security and manageability features you can expect in all Ultrabooks, in selected Ultrabooks with security features and in VPro Ultrabooks. I’ve had calls with Intel and spent way too much time looking at white papers. I’ve learnt about three levels of Identity Protection Technology (Intel IPT), Anti Theft features (Intel AT), 3rd-Gen VPro and Mcafee EPO and Deep Command, Remote KVM, VPro over WiFi, hardware AES encryption and […]

Three major reviews of the Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Carbon hit the web this week and it was immediately clear that we were looking at something very special. Engadget calls it the ‘definitive Ultrabook for Pros.’ ABCNews (penned by the well known ex-blogger Joanna Stern) said it is “now the Ultrabook to beat.”  We’ve analysed the three reviews and here’s the summary.

Readers of this post will have at least given some thought to the word in the last minute but many of you are probably considering whether it fits into your buying plans. Let’s assume you’re looking to buy but haven’t pulled the plug yet. Why are you waiting?

All 6 teams have now revealed what software they will be working on over the next 6 weeks for the Ultimate Coder Ultrabook Challenge and the chance to win $10,000. We’ll be following their progress which we hope includes methodology, tips and demonstrations. During September we’ll be meeting the developers and later in September we’ll be judging all entries on a next generation touch and sensor enabled Ultrabook. The Coders already have the Ultrabooks so we’ve also got our first chance to take a closer look at the hardware. You […]

AMDs Ultrathin laptops have been a long time coming. I remember a promise of an Ultrathin at CES in Jan that didn’t materialise. I’ve heard big talk from AMD at their investor conference back in Feb. The Samsung and HP Ultrathins were launched around June but it’s mid August now and if you’re looking for an ultrathin based on AMD’s A6 at under 2KG, only the Samsung Series 5 NP535U3C fits the bill. But how does it perform? It’s coming in at about €100 / $100 less than the equivalent […]