Over the next 24 hours we’ll be preparing for CES. Ultrabooknews and UMPCPortal aren’t in Las Vegas this year but we will be bringing you all the news and adding the analysis that we often don’t have time for when we’re there.

To kick of the CES 2013 analysis I’ve put together a set of technology and features that you should be watching out for during next week and expecting to hit the Ultrabook ecosystem in 2013. We’ve come a long way already but 2013 is the big year. It’s the year when Intel says that the Ultrabook ecosystem will be finally ready to deliver what they planned many years ago.

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Written on the Acer W510.

Intel CloverTrail is a truly ground-breaking PC platform and the Acer W510 appears, in my 48hrs with it, to offer great ways to enjoy the new features of the platform along with amazing value. At least it does in Europe where the tablet and docking station can be had for €499 inclusive tax. I have the €599 version here which includes 64GB of storage.

I’ve been extremely impressed so far. It’s light enough to use in portrait mode using thumb input, it has battery life that will last you a full 24hrs in consumption scenarios or you can get creative and plug the dock in and work, like I am now, for a good 8hrs non-stop. This is not an ARM-based Windows RT device, this is  PC. ‘Post-PC’ needs to be re-thought because the dynamic range of this PC takes it into more scenarios than any computing product before.

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According to a couple of online source the HP Envy X2 should start shipping soon. An offer starting in Japan today promises delivery starting from the 27th December (some reports say 21st) and in Germany a couple of retailers have listed the same timeframe.

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At 499 Euro, including docking station and up to 18hrs battery life, the Acer Iconia W510 CloverTrail tablet (32GB) is somewhat of a bargain in Europe. Price and positioning is different in the USA but you can still get the tablet with 64GB storage for $599. It’s also the lightest Windows 8 PC in the world which makes it pretty interesting for mobile users. I took a closer look at the device in an article recently but today I was able to read through a full review from the good people at Tabtech.de. The original is in German but I’ve pulled out some of the important data for you.

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Reviewed by Osiris
Many thanks to Osiris for the review which was sent to us a few days ago. Osiris is a Samsung ATIC SmartPC owner and has submitted this review as a guest post.

For the last decade I have had an on-going, on and off again, love-hate relationship with Windows based tablets. Some of these tablets have included and spanned hefty Windows XP tablets, tiny Vista based tablets right through to modern more effective Windows 7 tablets. Despite these varieties and many more shapes and sizes, typically over this time the same limits have persistently dogged these tablets; poor battery life, heavy weight, poor performance and high niche pricing. In many instances the latter two were forgivable; however trying to use a tablet for day to day, study or business purposes with the first two deficiencies makes it an uphill – and often – inconvenient battle. With the advent of Windows 8 another era of hope and optimism dawns over the Windows tablet landscape. Promises of light devices providing all day battery, choices of performance at all levels and a true windows experience in a mobile platform abound. I am familiar with these promises from almost every generation of Windows tablets since their inception, the question is could this year finally be the year it all comes true? The short answer is Yes…but we are still in an era of compromise, this goes for all tablets.Keep that in mind as I will speak more about that at the end although without further delay let’s get into looking at our first Atom clover trail based Windows 8 tablet, the Samsung Smart PC.

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This is the feature that we’ve been waiting for low power states in Windows that match what you might see on a smartphone. Always on! Personally I  think it’s a feature that Intel haven’t promoted well enough, possibly because it makes Ultrabooks look a little old fashioned.

The new low power states have been available in hardware since Moorestown chipsets were available and you can experience them in action in Android tablets and smartphones running on Intel but in the world of Windows PCs, only the CloverTrail platform /Windows 8 offers this new level of of idle efficiency. It means you’ll get a big improvement in battery life and the possibility of always-on action.

In the last 24hrs I’ve had feedback from a user in Germany that proves it’s working.

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Starting from 9th November in the US you’ll be able to buy a Windows 8 PC, a full Windows 8 PC, that weighs just 1.27lb / 658gm lighter than the good old handheld ultra mobile PC favorite, the Viliv X70EM and lighter than any full-size iPad.  The Acer Iconia W510, part of the Acer Iconia W5 Series, runs a dual-core 1.5Ghz Clover Trail CPU with turbo boost to 1.8Ghz, a newer GPU, 32BG of solid-state storage, an optional keyboard dock, a claimed 9hrs of battery life and a 1366×768 IPS multitouch capacitive touchscreen. The Viliv X70EX started at about $600/ The Acer Iconia W510 starts at $499. In Europe you’ll get the dock thrown in for a total of 500 Euro.

Let’s take a closer look at the W510 and think about what it says about the state of ultra mobile PCs in 2012

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Surface is out and the reviews are in. Most reviewers seem impressed; Many worry about the  lack of apps.

From tomorrow you’ll be able to fill that app-gap with a product sector that I’m more excited about than a Chromebook on ARM, a Nexus 7 3G or a convertible Ultrabook.

Atom-based PCs don’t exactly bring up images of advanced computing but since the netbooks died a few important things have happened. A very new and very advanced power engine, a new operating system and a break-out from the rather restrictive specifications, prices constraints and designs of the simple netbook category.

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