A few days ago I found a CPU-Mark score for the ‘Oaktrail’ Z670 CPU. It confirms to us in no uncertain terms that the 1.5Ghz single core Atom CPU is, relative to other X86 CPUs, extremely weak and really no different from the first generation Atom CPUs that came before it. The difference with Oaktrail is that the memory and graphics speeds should be vastly superior to that which we [...]

Although it’s been getting quieter and quieter around here (I’m down to about 20 posts per month from a peak of over 100 and our traffic is down 50% over a few years ago) and I’ve started a new blog of at Ultrabooknews.com, I haven’t forgotten about UMPCPortal and UMPCs. If there’s significant news, I’m here to let you know about it. While we wait for that news, I’ve been [...]

I posted some first impressions  overview video and of the Samsung 900X3A over at Ultrabooknews.com today and it’s embedded below. Those of you that are interested in seeing this live (in terms of processing power / efficiency Sandy Bridge is worth taking a look at) see the details below. UPDATE: Full Samsung 900X3A review and live review videos now live!. Click here. Live Session Announcement If you’ve been to any [...]

Here’s the weekly rundown of items that we posted to the middle column on UMPCPortal, our ‘Other News’ section. It’s all good UMPC and MID-related stuff that, in most cases, we didn’t write about as a main news item. Posted Android Community – LG Revolution Review. Posted Netbooknews Malata 10.1-inch Honeycomb tablet hands on. Posted Stuff – Samsung Series 9 900X3A Review. Posted Engadget – Samsung 9 Series slides its [...]

Thanks to Samsung Germany I am now using a rather swish and expensive Series 9 (Model 900X3A) 13″ laptop running the new Sandy Bridge ULV platform. This isn’t a UMPC of-course but it’s not here for ultra-mobile testing, it’s here for two other things. Firstly I want to use it for the next part of my Ultra Mobile Video Editing series and you’ll see that happen here are UMPCPortal. Secondly [...]

You don’t have to buy a Chromebook to get Chrome OS. Using the Hexxeh open source Chrome OS builds, Lars F. Jørgensen built a Chromebook out of an early netbook, the Aspire One A110. With netbooks in Europe dipping under 200 Euros occasionally now (here’s an offer for a current Acer D255 at Amazon, Germany – my Affiliate link) it doesn’t have to be old or expensive either. I’ve posted [...]

Here’s the weekly rundown of items that we posted to the middle column on UMPCPortal, our ‘Other News’ section. It’s all good UMPC and MID-related stuff that, in most cases, we didn’t write about as a main news item. Shared Welcoming Damian and James to the Carrypad Team. Shared Asus Eee Pad Slider launching in the UK, Germany soon. Shared HTC Flyer tablet review. Posted Samsung Series 5 Chromebook Review. [...]

Let’s say you need a UMPC. It’s not as uncommon as some people think. It might not be the consumers cup of tea but in industry, mobility counts for a lot. Logistics, amateur pilots, health industry, blue-light industry, traveling geeks and other situations where full capability, compatibility and flexibility in the smallest package is key. The problem is, if you need a UMPC today, what the hell are you going [...]

Here’s the weekly rundown of items that we posted to the middle column on UMPCPortal, our ‘Other News’ section. It’s all good UMPC and MID-related stuff that, in most cases, we didn’t write about as a main news item. Posted Galaxy Tab 10.1 Hands-on by Liliputing. Shared Hands-on with the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. Shared Nokia Continues to Evaluate the Tablet Market. Shared Honeycomb on Oak Trail gets benchmarked on [...]

I tweeted this earlier today: “If companies want to differentiate in the tablet space, the should try smaller devices with keyboards. Slider, clamshell at 5-7″ My follow-up tweets to queries highlighted that the time and ingredients are right now. A new attempt at the ultra-mobile PC shouldn’t be far away. The UMPC of 2006-2008 failed, yes, but not because of the wrong concept. Portable, desktop-style capabilities with flexible connectivity options, [...]

About a year and a half ago I looked deeper into Intel’s Moorestown to report on some of the key features. One of those features was power gating which could significantly reduce the power drain of the platform by turning of areas of the CPU/GPU when they weren’t in use. It’s the feature that brings Intel into the ‘always on’ space but offering a 50x reduction in idle power.  The [...]

There’s lots to learn from the demonstrations and information on Windows 8 from the last few days. Not only from Microsoft themselves but through the reactions and thoughts of commentators. I’ve given it some time, made some notes and am ready to put my thoughts down.These are the thoughts of someone that’s used tablets in both the commercial and consumer world, someone that loves social networking but someone that also [...]

Here’s the weekly rundown of items that we posted to the middle column on UMPCPortal, our ‘Other News’ section. It’s all good UMPC and MID-related stuff that, in most cases, we didn’t write about as a main news item. Shared Intel: We’d make custom chips possibly with rival cores. Shared AMD Fusion Z-series APU to take on Oak Trail in tablets. Shared Android Still Trails iOS as a Money Maker [...]

This is the way it’s going. You’ve got a CPU and a GPU but it isn’t enough to differentiate as power envelopes, battery life and processing power from all vendors converge. You’ve got to provide more than just a CPU and GPU and that’s what Cedar Trail is all about. WiDi, wireless audio, Fast Flash Standby and integrated 3G. The Windpad 120W could be one of the first to feature [...]

AMD announced the Z-01 tablet-focused Fusion platform today and Netbooknews have already tracked down the first product to be built on it. Here’s the proof that the MSI Windpad 110W has the Z-01 APU Netbooknews are seeing 2GB of RAM (the platform support 4GB in theory) a 4200mah battery (probably 30wh in total) and a 32GB SSD. Let’s remember that while the GPU is a real bonus and advantage over [...]

Looking like the same industrial design as the Iconia A500, this is Acer’s Meego Tablet. Full credit to @ndeviltv and @ngde_live More coming soon. I’ll be reporting on this over at Meegonews. Update: Videos, screen grabs and thoughts on the article.

It’s a crossover point when Intel demonstrate a mobile operating system that grew on ARM devices, on their i86 platform and that’s what happened yesterday. I played around with an image from the Intel pressroom and here’s the Medfield tablet running Honeycomb. Looks like 7” to me and designed for Android 2.x rather than 3.x (See buttons.) Interestingly, most of the PR around Medfield talks about tablets and not smartphones. [...]