In just a few hours the press will be gathering in San Francisco for the warm-up to IDF 2012. The Intel Developer Forum is the most important of the years IDF events as it represents the start of a new wave of marketing for Intel and allows analysts to piece together a picture of what Intel will get up to in 2013. In terms of Ultrabooks we already know that we’ve got Windows 8, touch and Haswell coming but there’s more to it than that. Here’s what you can expect from us over the next week as we attend 4 days of Intel events.

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It’s week 4 of the Ultimate Coder Ultrabook Challenge competition where 6 teams are competing for $10K. We’re meeting all of the coders and other judges next week so if you have specific questions, leave them below and I’ll put them to the coding teams. Meanwhile, read about touch UI design, NFC breakthroughs and Windows 8 app monetization.

You can track latest posts from all competitors and all judges here.

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Toshiba formerly announced two new Ultrabooks this morning, taking their total number of individual designs to 5 – a figure that tells us that manufacturers are totally on board with the Ultrabook idea.

The Toshiba Sattelite U920T (U925T in the USA) is the slider device we previewed a few days ago. It’s going to be available some time in the fourth quarter. The second is the Toshiba Sattelite U940 (again, expect U945 in the USA.) As you’d expect, both are WIndows 8 models.

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If you’re looking for a new 11” Ultrabook, the Acer Aspire S7 is probably on your list, especially if you’re interested in driving Windows 8 with a little bit of touch. We’re expecting the Acer Aspire S7 to be in the premium pricing category (i.e. not at the $799 that the Samsung Series 5 Touch could start at) but it will be much thinner and lighter than that.  The Verge have taken it for a spin and are extremely impressed by the build and style. Unanswered questions remain though…

Pricing, battery size and availability are specifications we’re working on adding to the database as soon as possible.

The video (which we couldn’t get to embedd here below) is in the complete article at The Verge.

Via Tweaktown

Samsung just presented their new range of Windows 8 devices. You’ve already seen the new Series 7 Slate and the Series 5 Touch but Samsung also announced that the Series 9 will get WIndows 8. No surprises there. The disappointing news is that it won’t have a touchscreen.

Samsung also say that the system has been re-optimised, something that you’d expect anyway when a new OS is available.

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Starting at $799 with a Core i3 Samsung have just set the a very competitive lower benchmark for touchscreen Ultrabooks. Based on the existing industrial design it’s going to be a really solid offering.

Laptopmag don’t have an article about this yet but we’re expecting one soon. We might even hear details in the Samsung event that’s just kicking off in Berlin right now.

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Via TLBHD on YouTube a hands-on with the ASUS UX21 Touch

This 11.6” Ultrabook based on the Ivy-Bridge powered UX21A is obviously going to be more expensive than the UX21A which itself isnt the cheapest Ultrabook out there. $100-$150 premium over the UX21A price is to be expected. As for availability, expect end of October, when Win 8 is available. Video below.

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Toshiba will be showing their new convertible Ultrabook, the Satellite U920T, at IFA this week. This hybrid device isn’t official yet but Mobilegeeks have some early specs and this image below is coming via Nomobile.ru, both at IFA.

Update: Some more info at ABCNews.

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