Update: Sorry everyone, the live session this evening is cancelled. Will upload a video in a few hours that answers some of the questions in the comments. Again, sorry!

Video should be here (20 minutes after this update!) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSmH9iIzIDE

Update: Sorry everyone, the live session this evening is cancelled. Will upload a video in a few hours that answers some of the questions in the comments. Again, sorry!

Sony’s Engineering on Haswell-based Ultrabooks and tablets has been top-notch so far. The Sony Tap 11 2-in-1 is looking great. The Vaio Duo 13 slider is a quality bit of kit too. The Sony Vaio Pro 13 takes a more traditional approach but offers some unique specs. A 13.3-inch Full-HD Haswell Ultrabook in 1KG is one example.

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Update: Session finished. The overview videos are available as a continuous playlist below.

A little bit of gaming, a comparison of Ultrabook size and form-factor, touch and non-touch discussion and a lot of live chat. That’s pretty much what you’ll find if you tune into the Ultrabooknews live videocast tomorrow.  If you’re lucky you’ll see me blow-up or drop another device!

I’ll be here from 2000hrs Berlin time tomorrow (Sat) for 2hrs to show you three new touch Ultrabooks and to offer answers to your questions so drop-in, join the chat and find-out about touch Ultrabooks.

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It’s 1838 as I post this and I want to remind you all that I’m hosting a live Google Hangout at 2100 where I’ll be spending some time going over sildenafil the Lenovo Twist, Toshiba U940 and Acer W510 (CloverTrail) Windows 8 devices. If everything goes well we’ll have an open Q&A session. The session will stream live and I’ll try and embed the video here. For more information about the session you can check out the Hangout Event invite here on Google Plus.

  The Live video is over but it’s embedded below. I must say that the session didn’t go as planned. At some point the URL got changed and people couldn’t get into the Hangout. Maybe we’ll try again soon but it was certainly not as good as the Ustream sessions we’ve run where people like to chat and don’t need to put their face up on video. I’ll look into restoring the original method.
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Session is over. Information and videos available here.

Tonight, at 2100 CEST (your timezone here) I’ll be testing the Samsung Series 9 15” ultrabook with the new Ivy Bridge upgrade. It’s a stunning bit of kit but will it stand up to two hours of scrutiny? You can join in, watch the stream, chat and guide the review process by joining us here or via the ‘live’ tab up top.

Update: Session is over now. Videos of the Samsung Series 5 livestream review  are available here.

I’m back from CeBIT and have two new Ultrabooks here; the Samsung Series 5 13” and the Toshiba Z830.

There’s only one thing to do, readers, and that’s to get the live cam on them, show you around them, do a live review and let you ask questions.

If you want to find out more about these two devices, or just chat about Ultrabooks in general, join me tomorrow (Sat 10th March) at 2100 CET (Berlin time. Your location listed here.)

Where?  Ultrabooknews.com/live

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I’m loving it! The Samsung 900X1B is an 11.6 inch notebook running an Intel Core processor with a battery life of 5-6hrs in web-working scenarios. Sounds big and heavy right? It’s not. The price matches the productivity potential and it’s working well as a partner to  my 7 inch Galaxy Tab Android Tablet.

The Samsung 900X1B is part of the Series 9 range that includes a 13 inch version and it’s designed around the ‘Ultrabook’ principle of efficient, light and stylish. It’s been available for a few months now but in my opinion it’s one of the best 11.6 inch notebooks out there. It weighs 1.06KG, 2.33Lbs and has a dynamic range that excites me. From 2.8W screen-off idle to 31W video processing. This stylish bit of kit can handle a huge range of tasks.

Yes it’s a desktop device (although I’ve done some one-handed action with it in the last 48hrs) and it’s not in the same category as an Ultra-Mobile, handheld PC device but given the lack of solutions in that area and the improvement in 7 inch tablet devices recently, this fits in as a perfect portable PC companion.

I want one. Although having said that I think the Core i3 version I have here is unnecessarily constrained. Core i5 at 1.6Ghz with Intel Turbo Boost action would extend the dynamic range even further without major battery life penalties but, here in Europe, the 900X1B with Core i3 and 4GB RAM, 64GB storage is dropping in price quickly. It’s €880 right now. Very attractive and a lot of PC and quality engineering for the price. Matt screen, back-lit and high-quality keyboard, fast SSD, Gigabit Ethernet (via wobbly adaptor) and more.

OK let me stop now. If you’re interested, check out my first impressions, battery life test at Ultrabooknews.com and then join me on Sat 3rd Dec 2011 at 2100 CET (Your timezone details here.) for a live Q&A and review [I’ll be live here]. Those of you that were interested in high-end netbooks are going to love this. If the price is too high for you, just wait. This is the sort of 1KG laptop that will be $500 in a few years. Mark my words! Devices like this will totally displace the high-end netbook market.

Update: Full review including live session is now available.

It’s all too quiet over here at UMPCPortal. I’ve been working on a Samsung Series 7 Tablet (XE700) live review but it looks like it has been delayed for some reason. I’ll keep you posted on that but in the meantime, you might be interested in something that is built on the same platform. The 11.6″ ASUS UX21 is heading my way so of course I’ll be setting up a live review.

As a reminder, it’s netbook size and weight with a whole load more power. Up to 10x more CPU power than UMPCs we’re used to. It weighs 1.1KG and brings in 3-5 hour in-use battery life. Don’t forget that you’ll be able to use external power packs to boost that at minimal weight gain. It has a lightning-fast SSD too which helps you get things done quicker

The UX21 will be with me on Monday but the live session is likely to be on Thursday or Friday. I’ll update this post with the details and send info out on Twitter.