As the year draws to a close I’m frantically trying to finish the full review of the Toshiba WT8. It’s taking longer than expected for a number of reasons, not least is the fact that there’s just so much to this tablet. So many usage scenarios, so much dynamic range and even a few surprises! For example, I didn’t realize that Bitlocker encryption is available.
In order to demonstrate a few of the unique features I’ve put together a couple of videos for you that I hope will keep you interested until the full review is available in a few days. You’ll see Miracast, a USB display setup, the Bitlocker encryption and a few other things. Below the videos I’ve also published a paragraph from the full review; A teaser!
Extract from the full review of the Toshiba Encore WT8 Windows tablet:
The performance advantage over previous, Clovertrail-generation tablets really shows up in web browsing. It’s much more of a desktop experience in terms of speed and quality. Program startup times are good too and after measuring the SSD, an eMMC-based soldered module, I was pleased to see an improvement over many Clovertrail-generation test results.
Cinebench tests results for CPU and OpenGL are as good as an Ultrabook I tested recently and, just for fun, the CrystalMark04 scores are 10 times the first netbook I ever had and about 4 times that of a good quality netbook from 2010.
..and a demo image from the 8MP auto-focus rear camera which I find surprisingly good in daylight usage. One more demo pic here.
We like CloverTrail. It’s the only connected-standby capable X86 platform on the market and it blows every other Windows-capable platform out of the water when it comes to battery life but in terms of processing power it’s not quite enough to satisfy most people on a day-to-day basis. I’ve recently been testing AMD Temash and with about 2X the all-round processing performance it’s enough to satisfy most people. It’s efficient, but unfortunately you lose that CS-capability, the mark of an energy efficient Windows platform. At the top end of the efficiency-focused platforms are the Intel Core U processors used in Ultrabooks. They’re expensive and don’t offer CS capability but if its processing power you want, they are the king.
I took three devices based on each of these platforms and ran some tests to try and get some sort of guideline performance differential between the three and I’ve come up with 1:2:5. Where Clovertrial 1.8Ghz is the baseline, AMD Temash (high-end A6-1450) comes in at around 2X the processing power and a high-end Intel Core i7 at 2.0-3.2Ghz will hit 5X the performance of Clovertrail. Obviously these figures will vary across different tests and system builds but after running a number of tests, this is a ratio I’m happy to use as a guideline.
Peacekeeper, the browser performance test, is a good example as it addresses one of the most common usage scenarios for a PC. In the tests above (done with Chrome) you can see that 1:2:5 ratio showing up. (1:1.6:6 in this case) In a Floating point test I saw 1:2:5 and in Cinebench, 1:2:5. The Sunspider ratio was 1:1.4:6.3. The average across all the tests I performed was 1:1.9:5.1
In two days we’ll have another platform to consider. Intel’s 4th-Gen Core, aka Haswell, will eventually offer sub-10W parts (timescale unknown) with CS capability and a performance ratio that probably fits into the 4X range. In Q4 we’ll see BayTrail that will offer lower TDP and something like 2X the current Clovertrail performance seen here. Again it will be CS capable. From AMD we also need to consider Kabini, the higher-clocked, and higher TDP version of Temash although that’s really only for laptops and Ultrabook-alternatives.
Performance ratio of mobile Windows 8 capable platforms (guideline.)
Clearly for Ultra Mobile PC fans looking to 2014, the BayTrail, Temash and low-TDP Haswell parts will be the most important and with BayTrail offering connected-standby, that’s the one that could work best in your next Windows 8.1 handheld.
Back to today though, here’s a (long) video showing three devices on three platforms with commentary and some visual indicators of performance.
For some people it’s more important to be mobile with all-day, all-scenario capability at the expense of processing power or speed. For others, the most important thing is to be able to carry desktop power. Intel Atom and Intel Core separate these two areas of computing cleanly but how big is the difference in platform performance? I took the chance to test the Acer W510 alongside an Ultrabook convertible the Lenovo Thinkpad Twist. Both devices have strengths, and weaknesses.
A copy of this article also appears on our sister site, Ultrabooknews.
We focus on Ultrabooks here but also keep a close track on what’s happening in the ultra mobile PC space through our work with UMPCPortal. For some people it’s more important to be mobile with all-day, all-scenario capability at the expense of processing power or speed. For others, the most important thing is to be able to carry desktop power and that’s where a Core-based Utrabook comes in. But how big is the difference in platform performance? I’ve had a Atom-Clovertrail based tablet convertible for a few weeks now and so I took the chance to test it alongside an Ultrabook convertible – the Lenovo Thinkpad Twist. Both devices have strengths, and weaknesses.
As part of our continuing co-op with Intel on highlighting interesting and useful resources from our favorite Ultrabook-related company (!) we’ve got a 3rd party report for you that highlights the responsiveness and performance characteristics of an Ultrabook compared to previous generation laptops.
Intel CloverTrail is a truly ground-breaking PC platform and the Acer W510 appears, in my 48hrs with it, to offer great ways to enjoy the new features of the platform along with amazing value. At least it does in Europe where the tablet and docking station can be had for €499 inclusive tax. I have the €599 version here which includes 64GB of storage.
I’ve been extremely impressed so far. It’s light enough to use in portrait mode using thumb input, it has battery life that will last you a full 24hrs in consumption scenarios or you can get creative and plug the dock in and work, like I am now, for a good 8hrs non-stop. This is not an ARM-based Windows RT device, this is PC. ‘Post-PC’ needs to be re-thought because the dynamic range of this PC takes it into more scenarios than any computing product before.
After spending a good two months with Windows 8 on the developer preview Touch Ultrabook I decided I was 100% happy with Windows 8 and that there was no reason not to upgrade the Toshiba Z830, a first generation Ultrabook. The upgrade was completed fairly smoothly although extra drivers, as always, are going to mean a bit of searching and a bit of luck with the installation order.
Ultrabooks might not be able to play the latest blockbuster titles at max settings like a full blown liquid-cooled gaming desktop, but there’s still a heck of a lot of great titles that they can play. I’ve been using the Asus UX31E (Core i5 Sandy Bridge with Integrated HD3000 graphics) to happily play Minecraft, Tribes Ascend, Half-Life 2, Day of Defeat Source, Bit Trip Runner, League of Legends, Team Fortress 2, and plenty more. Having my Ultrabook running at peak performance means I get a competitive advantage and the most enjoyment thanks to my games running smoothly and responsively. This guide will tune up your Ultrabook to run at maximum performance and will benefit your graphical applications even if you aren’t a gamer!
