| MacUpdate Weekend Sale | :This weekend MacUpdate has slashed prices on Painter 12 and Painter Lite. Painter 12 retails for $429, but has been reduced by 54% to $199. Painter Lite has seen a 58% price cut from $69 to $29. Hurry, because these deals are only available until May 19th 2013. |
Dell overnight put up a pre-order page for its delayed Latitude ST tablet. The 10-inch Windows 7 slate is now known to cost $859 and, in the first wave of orders, should arrive by November 29. Base trim gives it a 1.5GHz Atom Z670 chip, 2GB of RAM, and a 64GB solid-state drive along with rear five-megapixel and front 720p cameras.
HP late Wednesday refreshed its lone remaining tablet through the Slate 2. The Windows 7 hardware keeps the same outside form with an 8.9-inch, 1024x600 display but trades up from the 2009-era Atom of the original Slate 500 to a modern 1.66GHz Atom Z670 from the Oak Trail family. The upgrade theoretically nets it six hours of actual battery life versus the original's claimed five and often much less.
ViewSonic will bring three new tablets to the IFA show in Berlin. There are two 7-inch devices, with an Android 3.2-powered one called the ViewPad 7x and a cheaper, more e-reader like model in the ViewPad 7e. A 10-inch ViewPad 10pro will have Windows and Android with dual-booting.
Lenovo contributed a third model to its tablet introductions early Wednesday with a lone Intel model. The 10-inch IdeaPad P1 will be one of the last Windows 7 tablets and support both finger-touch and an optional pen. It carries an unnamed 1.5GHz Intel chip (likely an Atom Z670) and will be slightly bulkier than Android models at 0.57 inches thick and a weight just under two pounds.
Fujitsu in a surprise step delayed its upcoming LifeBook TH40D tablet. Just days before its intended launch, it pushed the release back by an unmentioned amount of time. The company gave no reason other than a "development delay."
According to reports, Acer has placed a substantial order for AMD's Z series APUs for its next generation of Windows 7 tablets. AMD's newest mobile CPU is an x86-based platform tailored to Windows 7, with support for DirectX 11, Adobe Flash 10.2 and HTML 5. The Z-series offers lower power consumption that Intel's competing Oak Trail platform, which would provide longer battery life and run time for tablets.
Android tablets running the NVidia Tegra 2 chipset have a substantial performance edge over Atom-based tablets, according to a series of benchmark tests performed for Tweakers. Researchers tested four tablets running Android 3.0.1 (Honeycomb). The lone Atom tablet tested, a prototype from Compal Electronics with a dual core 1.5GHz Oak Trail CPU, posted a Caffeinemarks score that was barely one-fourth that of the slowest Nvidia tablet. Caffeinemarks is a synthetic test that gauges the speed at which Android apps will run on a given system.
Intel chose not to wait for the formal start of Computex to show off a new concept tablet and netbook hybrid. Keeley Lake borrows slightly from the Eee Pad Transformer's concept of a detachable tablet and keyboard dock but is designed to be comparatively stealthy. The design has a much thinner frame and is shaped to have the tablet virtually fold into the design and become 'invisible' while closed.
ASUS' slew of Computex rollouts on Monday included notebooks and netbooks designed as Windows alternatives to the MacBook Air. The UX21 shares the tapered, all-aluminum body but is even thinner than its Apple counterpart at 0.67 inches thick and can be optioned up to a Core i7 processor. It similarly depends on SATA 6Gbps-based SSD storage and has custom software that takes more explicit advantage of the flash drive: it can resume Windows 7 in two seconds and stay in hibernate mode for up to a full week.
More details have emerged about one of the rumored Atom-based Android 3.1 tablets set to ship from the second half of the year. According to Digitimes, Acer will launch a 10-inch Android tablet on Intel’s new Oak Trail platform. The tablet is already being manufactured by Compal and will arrive before the end of July.
Intel announced plans to bring more than 10 new tablet PCs powered by its chips to the upcoming Computex show in Taiwan, the Wall Street Journal said. It will thus attempt to break into a market thus far dominated by ARM and follows up on a similar announcement on Tuesday that had the chipmaker committing to low-power Atom chips for smartphones. The show opens on May 31 and is expected to host a number of new tablet PC debuts, including from local company ASUS.
A number of top-tier companies are already lining up devices based on Android 3.1 and in some cases using Intel chips, industry tips maintained Thursday night. Devices are reportedly coming from Acer, ASUS, and Lenovo. The first two already have one or more Android 3.0 tablets on shelves, hinting that Digitimes' sources are referring to models shipping soon that would already have the new OS out of the box.
Motion Computing has just announced that the CL900 tablet is now available to order. The enterprise-grade device runs on Windows 7 Professional or Home Premium 32-bit and uses the dual-core 1.5GHz Atom Z670. Otherwise, there is Wi-Fi, 1GB of RAM, and a 30GB solid state drive that can be upgraded to 62GB.
Intel's plans to support Android 3.0 on x86 may include paying incentives to get developers onboard. The chip designer was said on Wednesday to be paying a $10 chip subsidy to "first-tier notebook vendors" if they make a tablet using an Intel processor. One of those spotted by Digitimes would include an unannounced Cisco tablet using the Atom Z670 (Oak Trail) that would bring Android 3.0 to enterprise users.
The Razer Switchblade introduced at CES will see its first market release in China thanks to a newly announced partnership between the device's maker and Chinese ISP Tencent, Netbook News said. The portable gaming device has Windows 7 preloaded and will not only get access to QQ Speed, a chat program, but be optimized for games like Crossfire, League of Legends, and Dungeon & Fighter. The netbook-like device's keyboard can change function and appearance depending on the software loaded.
Intel netbook and tablet group lead Doug Davis during a speech on Tuesday at the company's Beijing Developer Forum mentioned a follow-up processor to the Atom Z670. Called Cloverview, it would be built on the same 32 nanometer process as the Cedar Trail design for netbooks and the phone-oriented Medfield but target the in-between tablet category. Davis didn't give more details, but the shrink from 45nm in the Z670 to 32nm would reduce the size and power consumption.
Intel on Monday finally began shipping its first Oak Trail chip, the Atom Z670, and gave a preview of its next-generation Cedar Trail platform. The more tablet-ready processor, first unveiled a year ago, is due to reach its first shipping devices in May. Most of the first batch will include Windows-based tablets like the ASUS Eee Slider as well as the Samsung Sliding PC 7.
Intel said this weekend that the first tablets running its Atom Z600 (Oak Trail) platform should ship in May. The platform, introduced in May last year, had only vague plans for an early 2011 launch but has now been narrowed down to a launch one year after its public reveal. A spokeswoman wouldn't tell PCAdvisor which companies would go first.
The Intel Atom Z670 CPU will cost $75 in bulk amounts at launch, Fudzilla found on Friday. This makes it more than three times as costly as dual-core ARM Cortex A9-based chips such as NVIDIA's Tegra 2. Either will be used for tablet PCs, though the Z670 is more powerful, with a clock speed of 1.5GHz and 512KB of cache.
Just before the CeBIT show in Germany that kicks off on Tuesday, Fujitsu announced pricing for its Stylistic Q550 tablet. The 10.1-inch, Windows 7-powered device will come to stores on Tuesday, March 1, and cost a tax-inclusive 699 euros ($967). Other markets will have different prices, with the North American tag likely to be less and possibly subsidized by carriers.
Fujitsu plans on bringing out a new tablet as one of the few to use both Windows 7 Professional and an Intel Atom Oak Trail processor. The device will be aimed at the enterprise market and as such, will get a fingerprint reader. It will also have an SD card slot and a trusted platform module (TPM) for corporate buyers worried about security.
Sony's delayed entry into tablets should include more than just one model, sources said Monday. A second Android 3.0 model, the S2, would take advantage of Sony's dual-screen patent to create a unique ovoid, book-like model with two 5.5-inch displays. The Engadget tip suggested it would behave like a more advanced version of the Kyocera Echo and run apps that use the separate screens, such as Gmail showing a message list on one and the actual message on the other.
Evolve III at CES quietly showed off an unusual tablet that promised to be one of the few near-universal tablets. An updated version of the Maestro normally boots Windows 7 but also runs Android and a customized version of MeeGo. While only the MeeGo side has been seen in earnest in a demo at the Intel booth, it has a much more visual front end with music and photo browsers much like Apple's Cover Flow.
Intel today posted record results for the fall that nonetheless illustrated a pronounced effect from the iPad and other tablets. Its net profit was up 48 percent year-to-year and 10 percent sequentially, to $3.4 billion, but was owed almost exclusively to its large-scale server group and investments. Its revenues for both Atom chips and its regular processors were both flat compared to the summer.
The sudden ouster of AMD's CEO Dirk Meyer was owed to poor competition against Apple and Intel in tablets, insiders said Tuesday. Although the company didn't give a formal explanation, those aware said the board of directors forced him out as they were frustrated with a lack of growth in server-class hardware and the tablet field established by the iPad. A presentation in November revealed that Meyer just wasn't moving fast enough for the board's liking, the WSJ said.
Razer used the start of CES to show off a unique concept for mobile gaming. The Switchblade has a notebook-style clamshell but is just 6.8 inches across and is designed to be used while entirely handheld. Along with a multi-touch screen, it has a dynamic keyboard whose assignments change depending on the game context.
Korea's OCOSMOS announced on Monday it will bring its portable gaming and work tablet, based on the OC1, to CES' Showstoppers event. This time around, the device will have a dual-core Intel Atom processor. OCOSMOS says the device will have the ability to play mobile, PC and online games thanks to its relatively high-end graphics and yet can still run Office apps on Windows 7.
MSI at a Taipei preview of its CES plans had a demonstration (below) of the WindPad 100W. Despite plans to launch it in 2011, the Windows 7 slate is entirely unchanged from its May appearance at Computex and still runs a 1.66GHz Atom Z530, 2GB of RAM and a 32GB SSD. The processor is reportedly the best MSI could manage on a Windows tablet without having to use a noisy fan, NetbookNews was told in its look.
MSI is reportedly preparing to launch its 10-inch Wintel-based tablet in January or February, ahead of the company's Android-based models, according to a DigiTimes report. Several other Oak Trail-based tablets are also said to be set for formal introduction at CES early in January.
Microsoft will try to force itself back into the tablet market again in 2011 with a repeat of its HP Slate demo at CES this year, a new leak detailed today. CEO Steve Ballmer will once more demonstrate examples of Windows 7 tablets and is expected to highlight both an unnamed Dell example and the Samsung Gloria. The Samsung device depends on a slide-out QWERTY keyboard in landscape but uses an on-screen keyboard in portrait mode, the New York Times heard.
MSI in a talk on Monday promised to more formally introduce its WindPad tablets at this year's CES but cautioned that Intel might not play the biggest role. Although Intel is placing most of its faith on the Oak Trail Atom platform, North American Sales Director Andy Tung said to Engadget that the battery life and speed increases were "not extremely significant" compared to existing designs. The WindPad 100 was being improved to use Oak Trail but would keep the 10-inch, 1024x600 touchscreen, an accelerometer, mini HDMI and USB connectors as well as an SD card slot.
Intel chief Paul Otellini on Wednesday revealed that smartphones running its processors won't arrive until the second half of 2011. After his company promised phones might ship as soon as early 2011 with the Atom Z600, the CEO told those at a Barclays conference that the true smartphone-class chips, codenamed Medfield, is still having its bugs worked out and won't be ready for most of next year.
Intel today confirmed that it has started up a dedicated network and tablet group in what's likely an attempt to counter the iPad and a slew of other ARM tablets. The group will be lead by the leader of the company's embedded chip and communications team, Doug Davis. It should help "sharpen our focus [at Intel]" on the newer categories, company spokesman Bill Kircos told the New York Times.
Acer, ASUS, Dell, Samsung and Toshiba will ship tablet PCs in the first quarter of next year with Intel's Oak Trail CPUs, reported industry sources said Friday. DigiTimes heard the new Intel platform, made up of the Atom Z670 CPU and SM35 chipset, will be supplied to notebook makers in January. Some of the products with the new Intel hardware are expected to show up at the CES show in January as well, with production models likely to ship in February or March.
Korea OCOSMOS has revealed the details about its forthcoming UMPC, the OCOSMOS OC1. It will be based on Intel’s Oak Trail platform and will be powered by a single-core 1.5GHz or 1.9GHz chip running Windows 7. The device is being pitched at gamers and is equipped with a 400MHz graphics processor with 720p decoding capability.
Intel has started full production of its Oak Trail platform for Atom-based tablets, insiders said Wednesday. The first processor to ship in the Atom Z600 series should be a Z670 running at an unknown clock speed with one Oak Trail chipset, SM35, to keep it running. Price would be the focus as the combination would cost about $25 when using Intel's in-house MeeGo platform, Digitimes tips said, with Microsoft's relatively expensive Windows 7 adding more.
Intel tonight sent out an invitation confirming that it would launch its Sandy Bridge processors at its CES keynote on January 5. PC Client Group general manager Mooly Eden will show the chips, now badged "second generation Intel Core processors." One of these will be the "world's fastest processor," the invite said.
Intel's Oak Trail platform for tablets shouldn't pose any threat to the iPad or other ARM-based tablets, ARM's own CEO Warren East said today. The Atom chips reaching tablets next year would still be poor as they used too much power, he told the FT. ARM has developed a reputation for power efficiency and is key to Apple getting over 10 hours and even Samsung's smaller Galaxy Tab getting seven, on par with a much thicker and heavier netbook.
Microsoft's Windows product management GM Gavriella Schuster surprised the industry with remarks that the iPad was taking away netbook sales. When asked about the trend, the division leader said netbooks were "definitely getting cannibalized" by tablets, of which the iPad is nearly the only model. Both netbooks and tablets were "and" devices that were supplements to a main computer, she stressed to Seattle's Post-Intelligencer, but this made netbooks vulnerable.
The Federal Trade Commission today approved an order changing its settlement with Intel to determine changes for Oak Trail processors. The company can ship the future Atom chips as-is until June 2013, when it will have to either add PCI Express to a future version or drop it entirely. Intel had originally been exempt because of Oak Trail's tablet focus, but companies have been planning Oak Trail netbooks and thus turned it into a computer.
Intel has announced that its next-generation Atom platform, which carries the monicker Oak Trail, is on schedule to arrive on the market early in 2011. The system-on-a-chip lineup is geared for tablets, offering improvements to energy efficiency. The company claims the components will allow users to browse the web or watch videos for up to 12 hours, although the tablet size used for reference was not mentioned.
Intel has given notebook manufacturers the first details of its next notebook platform after Huron River, mainboard developers claimed on Monday. Chief River would support the 22 nanometer processors based on Intel's future Ivy Bridge architecture and would have native USB 3.0 support. Digitimes was told the design would enter mass production in September 2011, although it wouldn't ship until January 2012, likely arriving at CES.
Intel during the call to discuss its summer results acknowledged that the iPad could be having an effect on computer sales but downplayed the long-term effect. Executives said Apple's tablet was likely taking away sales "at the margin" as customers without a large income often had to choose between one device or another. A similar effect happened with netbooks, Intel claimed, but eventually both regular notebook and netbook sales grew substantially.
Intel chief Paul Otellini in an interview today [sub. required] confirmed that the first Google TV devices should start shipping in September. He didn't say whether the Logitech Revue or Sony's Bravia TVs, though Logitech has been the furthest in development. There are "many, many" other companies supporting the platform, the executive added.
Intel on Monday confirmed its plans to buy Infineon's wireless division for $1.4 billion in cash. The deal will see the Wireless Solutions group work as a stand-alone company on Intel's behalf and will give the company access to both 3G chipsets and a faster path to LTE-based 4G. It plans to use these not only for full-size notebooks but also Atom-based smartphones and tablets.
MSI this afternoon said it wouldn't ship its Windows 7 tablet, the WindPad 100, until next year. The company's Andy Tung told Engadget that the slate won't ship until Intel's Oak Trail Atom platform is ready at the start of 2011. Current Atom hardware is too battery-hungry and slow for MSI's goals, he said.
Intel used its opportunity at the Computex show to provide a major upgrade to the Atom platform, starting with its first dual-core mobile Atom processors. The 1.6GHz N455 and 1.83GHz N475 have similar clock speeds to their ancestors but are much faster for netbooks or other portables with an OS that supports multiple cores. They don't use significantly more power than single-core Atoms, however, and could give an immediate speed boost without necessarily hurting battery life.
