The Intel CES press event didn’t hold any major news for us yesterday. Low power 3rd-Gen Core, Perceptual Computing, Convertibles, Haswell and even a touch of Bay Trail were expected as Ultrabook-related news but to announce that all 4th-gen Core Ultrabooks (Haswell platform, Q3/Q4) will have Touchscreens was a complete surprise and I can only describe it as a massive risk-taking move by Intel. What does it really mean though? Higher pricing, consumer focus? There won’t be any Windows 7 Ultrabooks, that’s for sure.

One thing that is for sure is that the Ultrabook is going to get more difficult to use in bright light. Capacitive touchscreens mean fingers-on-glass and in general, glossy finishes. It means that all Ultrabooks will now have additional costs associated with them and it means that some users and some commentators will rebel because they don’t want a touchscreen. But there’s another view…

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Thunderbolt docks: expensive. WiGig docks: Not until 2013. Proprietary docks: Seldom seen on consumer laptops. USB3.0 solutions – cheap and available.

If you want to use your Ultrabook, or any recent laptop on the desk, there’s a lot of options talked about, but not much available. You’re left with plugging in that HDMI, the keyboard and mouse, DVD drive, network cable and speakers every morning. Every time you want to use the laptop away form the desk you have to go through the same procedure. It costs time, is annoying and kills those connectors. Following up from my review of the Toshiba Dynadock U3, a USB3.0 docking system, I thought I’d try to build the same myself for USB3.0 components. Here’s the modular USB3.0 docking station…

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Supporting 1080p wireless transfer, including protected content, using H.264 hardware encoding over 2.4Ghz or 5Ghz Wi-Fi networks in Version 3, Intel Wi-Di is becoming more and more interesting. There are now TVs and monitors available with Wi-Di built in and the new Netgear Push2TV 3000 (PTV3000) is breaking new ground in size and price.

I took a look at the latest low-latency version of the product and got hands-on with the tiny Netgear PTV3000 which is launching at $59.

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A lot has been said about Ivy Bridge, the 3rd generation Intel Core compute platform and the platform that will go into the 2nd Generation of Ultrabooks. Although the CPU core remains largely the same as in the ‘Sandy Bridge’ platform, it’s going to be manufactured with the next generation process at 22nm. That means lower power usage and more space for other goodness on the die and that’s exactly what Intel have done. They’ve taken the opportunity to vastly improve the graphics and media subsystem. You’ll hear about ‘70%’ improvements on the GPU which relates to gaming graphics. Early tests have shown that where modern game frame-rates were in the 10-20fps range, they may now reach above the all-important 30fps figure and include DirectX11 support which brings the Ultrabook right into mainstream gaming. In this article though I want to talk about the other features on the GPU that relate to media. For many people they may be more important than 3D gaming frame rates.

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Stepping away from the Ultrabook brand means Vizio are unlikely to get marketing support from Intel which makes us think that two laptops that will ‘exceed Ultrabook specifications’ are not true Ultrabooks. Does it matter though?

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The Toshiba Portege Z830 is lining up to be one very interesting Ultrabook indeed. It’s the lightest 13” model there is at an amazing 1.13KG [see Ultrabook weight comparison here by clicking ‘weight column] and has a great line-up of ports and features. Even better news, and solving the mystery of why some people are reporting the casing to be structurally solid when we felt something a little wobbly at IFA, is the news that the casing is now a magnesium alloy and aluminum structure.

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Following a tweet by  Dynamism today I took a look around to see if others were also advertising the Lenovo Ideapad U300s. Sure enough, we’ve got model details and prices available at a range of places in the USA and  even an estimated shipping date. It won’t be long!

The specifications match what we were told at IFA with two models being available.

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