Although there are a number of slider and rotating screen Ultrabooks out there it’s the dockable slates that seem to interest the readers here the most. The Samsung XE700 / Smart PC Pro is available in a number of location now but it’s the Acer Iconia W700 that get’s the first round of reviews. Laptop Magazine and CNet have published their thoughts so make sure you read these to get a feel for weight, battery life, performance and features for this new phase of Window Tablet PCs.
The upgrade from non-touch to Windows 8 touch is one you’ll see on a lot of models over the next year. It’s a relatively easy upgrade for manufacturers to make that expands their ranges out into the new touch-enabled market. The Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Carbon is the latest to get the treatment. Order the Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Carbon Touch today and you could be swiping and pinching your way through the holidays later this month.
Since 2006 I’ve owned three swivel-screen laptops and one of them, the Gigabyte Touchnote, became completely ingrained in my mobile computing life. The Lenovo Twist is a similar size and weight but it offers quite a bit more. We’re talking about a useful and desktop-capable Core i5 CPU, 4GB of RAM, a 500GB hybrid HDD and 5-point capacitive touch. This little Ultrabook Convertible is running Windows 8 and also includes a great set of ports. To top it off there’s an IPS display. Out of the box it’s an extremely exciting form factor and it looks and feels both stylish and strong. My first thoughts were ‘I need this Ultrabook.’ After 4 hours of testing I’m still very positive but there are a couple of things that are annoying me.
![windows 8 touch language_thumb[3]](https://www.umpcportal.com/files/2012/12/windows-8-touch-language_thumb3.jpg "windows 8 touch language_thumb[3]")
We’ve covered the importance of Windows 8, the Windows 8 Store and Windows 8 apps before on Ultrabooknews. [Video and article here] and we’ll be bringing you more on software development, apps and opportunities in the future because we believe it’s one of the most important opportunities there is for developers right now. It’s also something we want to promote because for every Ultrabook and touch-enabled app that is launched, the Ultrabook product gets a little bit better. In an article over at the Intel Developer Zone you’ll find a great overview of the considerations you need to give when designing a touch-enabled application.
Revolve. It sounds better than 2730p doesn’t it! The HP Elitebook Revolve is the latest in a long history of HP TabletPCs but with its new name and an Ultrabook-focused design it looks like HP want to make this, like Lenovo are doing with their Thinkpad Twist, a product that appeals to pro-sumers and business customers alike. GottaBeMobile have had hands-on with the new twist-screen convertible which is currently planned for the end of Q1 2013
Those of you that have been following me for a while know that I also have my finger in another pie…
The Lenovo X1 Carbon is already available to order with Windows 8 but if you really want to outfit your Ultrabook with every option under the sun you can wait for the touchscreen that is said to be coming. We can’t find any evidence of this yet but a number of sites are reporting it…so it must be true ;-)
Every major computer manufacturer is now offering Windows 8 Ultrabooks since the launch of the new operating system on October 26th. For many, Windows 8 is going to offer some welcomed improvements. For others it is going to offer little but confusion and frustration. RetroUI is a piece of software by Thinix which brings back the things you’ve gotten used to in Windows over the last many versions of the OS.
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