Lenovo gave us the U300S, Asus gave us the UX21 and UX31, Toshiba gave us the Z830 and Acer gave us  the Series 3 this week at IFA. Samsung launched the Series 7 tablet too. They all have one thing in common. No, its not the word ‘Ultrabook’, it’s the word ‘tablet.’

We’ll get this weeks new Ultrabook details into the database as soon as possible but before that, let me give you my current analysis based on knowledge so far.

The tablet is truly eating into the PC space.

That’s no surprise. In the developed world, home netbooks are going to be hit first. I doubt many of the millions of netbook owners will update to another netbook. Why would they? There’s little difference today than there was 3 years ago. A dynamic, touch and app-enabled product is a much more likely choice.

It’s happening in the office space too where iPad experimentation is revealing some efficiencies.

What it means is that while Intel tries to push into the mobile space, they are also putting huge effort into re-architechting their notebook business to pick-up where the tablet can’t reach. Re-positioning is required. They’re building a second attack strategy. Or possibly a safe fall-back position.

To stay at a safe distance from Tablets requires leading edge silicon to create desktop-class power in a feature-rich laptop that does things that a $500 tablet won’t be able to do for a long long time. Graphics, wireless video, high-end connectivity, advanced security, sensors and even better battery life than tablets. Style and portability mean they become every bit as personal as the tablet. As end-users look to swap-out the low-end laptop and upgrade the desktop, it could mean a complete change to Tablet and Ultrabook for many. The total cost of ownership there is similar but the flexibility is way higher.

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In 5.5 years of testing, this is the first time I’ve ever seen a sub-1kg device break 100,000 in the CrystalMark test. The Series 7 Tablet is a serious bit of kit and really showcase just what Windows 7 tablet features can do.

It boots in under 20 seconds, plays 720p without pushing the CPU above 5% and due to the very very fast ssd, starts programs in the blink of an eye

To put these figures into perspective, just remember that the average netbook turns in a score of about 20k. A high end netbook, just 30k. The CPU alone in this Sandy-Bridge-based device is about 5x as powerful as a netbook CPU and these CrystalMark scores don’t even test advanced graphics features and the Intel Quick Sync video hardware.

As for battery life, I’m estimating a 36-40Wh battery in this. Due to the heat and the software and testing that has been done on the device here I can’t get it to idle properly but I an tell you that Samsungs Series 9 ultralight which uses the same platform, can idle down to under 5w. That would allow this slate to run for 9 hours. I’m estimating basic WiFi usage scenarios to be around 4hrs with video editing pushing it down to under 3. Its a high-dynamic range device, that’s for sure.

One USB 3, BT3+HS, a Trusted Platform module, 6-axis accelerometer micro SD, micro hdmi and headphones output are included. Screen viewing angles are good on the 1366×768 display. The fan is on in this 25+ degree room but its not too noisy. I have to get within 10cm to hear it above the ambient noise (relatively quiet demo area.)

If you’re looking for a serious tablet, don’t buy until you’ve tested the Series 7.

[ Posted via the Galaxy Tab. Ultra-Mobile at IFA 2011. For more IFA coverage, follow me on Twitter. @Chippy ]

Sascha of NetbookNews joins Chippy to discuss something odd; Samsung is removing the Galaxy Tab 7.7 from the show floor.

As you know, Chippy is our man on the ground at IFA 2011, and he’s been keeping us up to date with everything that’s been going on at the show. He and Sascha got together briefly to theorize about what’s going on with the Tab 7.7, listen below:

Update: Slashgear has more info and photos of the covered-up Tab 7.7 branding:

A little hands-on with the Viewpad 10 Pro for you here. Key features are the battery life (which we’re unable to confirm) and the Android OS (2.x) through the Bluestacks Android host environment that runs within Windows allowing you to switch environments in around a second. Take note that it’s the open-source version of Android so you won’t get any Google-specific features. Given that limitation and thru Windows 7 OS, this is obviously not for your average consumer but it could be interesting for a number of niche markets where business proceses are straddling or migrating between the two operating systems.

Pricing is keen. $649 for the 2GB Windows Home Premium version for example although quite a bit removed from the low-cost 10″ Android space. This is a Windows 7 tablet first and foremost though so you should probably treat Bluestacks as a bonus.

[ Posted via the Galaxy Tab. Ultra-Mobile at IFA 2011. For more IFA coverage, follow me on Twitter. @Chippy ]

At IDF, Toshiba is showing off its second entry into the 10 inch Honeycomb slate category with the AT200, which currently holds the title of both thinnest and lightest 10 inch slate.

Toshiba’s first 10 inch Honeycomb tablet was the Thrive which went for a utility-over-style approach. The Thrive is 16mm thick and weights 725 grams, but it also offered a range of full-sized ports such as USB and HDMI.

With the AT200, Toshiba is showing that they’re just as capable as the rest when it comes to making a svelte slate. To prove it, the AT200 beats out the current champ, the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in both thickness and weight.

The Tab 10.1 is 8.63mm thick which the AT200 bests by 11% at 7.7mm. For weight, the AT200 undercuts the Tab 10.1’s 564 grams by 3% at 550 grams.

Impressively, the AT200 is even thinner than the recently announced Galaxy Tab 7.7 which is in the 7 inch category and has a thickness of 7.89mm.

Of course, the margin for these titles is quite thin, so things could change slightly, but just enough to unseat it, by the time the unit hits production especially when they throw 3G/4G into the mix.

Toshiba says that the AT200 will be available in a WiFi-only incarnation in December, while you’ll have to wait for sometime in Q1 2012 for a data-equipped model. Pricing is not yet official and specs are quite thin at the moment, but a 1.2GHz dual-core CPU has been confirmed so far. We’ll track down full details for you though, stay tuned!

The Windows Tablet PC reputation never really earned anything through the cheap netbook-based versions that hit the market over the last few years. Low power processors, lack of docking stations and capacitive touch layers that prevent anyone from taking advantage of the natural input features. The Samsung Series 7 slate should fix that!

It’s the first Sandy Bridge (2nd generation Core i5) tablet PC I’ve ever tried and wow, she flies. The digitiser works well and the slate will be delivered with a dock and keyboard as part of the package. It weighs less than a kilo and Samsung tell me it will return up to 7hrs battery life. Ok, lets take the 30% ‘marketing markup’ off that and call it 5hrs. That’s usable although I know from my work with Ultrabooks that you can easily get carried away and kill the battery in half that time.

I like it a lot, just like I like Ultrabooks a lot. They fit in nicely above consumer tablet and smartphone usage scenarios that are eating into the reasons you might buy a netbook and they truly negate the need for a desktop. This mobile/desktop usage scenario certainly helps to justify the price which, as can be expected, is going to around the same 1000-1100 € or $ level as Ultrabooks.

There’s another Series 7 slate article over at Ultrabooknews.

[ Posted via the Galaxy Tab. Ultra-Mobile at IFA 2011. For more IFA coverage, follow me on Twitter. @Chippy ]

A few minutes after the Acer Aspire S3 demo devices were brought to the stand I managed to get some hands on. Check out the number of people crowded round the devices! This is important for Acer as they bellieve its the next generation of PC device growth and it was clear from the press conference that they are betting a lot of this category.

The Acer S3 will launch this month in key countries. US was mentioned as one of those countries. Core i3, i5 and i7 variants will be available and prices range €799 to €1999

As we move forward with Ultrabooks, its obviously going to be harder for manufacturers to be different. It might mean that the price becomes the most important factor, at least at the low-end of the price scale.
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Just to give you an early feel for the Acer Aspire Series 3 Ultrabook, here’s a quick `n dirty video from the launch event today.

I’m also uploading a Hands-On video that will be up soon on Ultrabooknews.
The Hands-On video is now available.
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