HybridPc
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Dell XPS 18 is up for pre-order online: $900 and up, shipping in May
Add this to the list of Tax Day surprises: the Dell XPS 18 all-in-one is available for pre-order online one day ahead of schedule. The giant tablet / semi-portable desktop won't actually ship until the first week in May, but you can add one of three configurations to your cart now. The entry-level model, with a Pentium processor and a 320GB hard drive, will set you back $900, while Core i3 and Core i5 versions are priced at $1,000 and $1,350, respectively. We liked what we saw when we went hands-on with the 4.85-pound PC: its flip-out feet let you transition between slate and desktop mode easily, and the 1080 capacitive touch display is very crisp. Admittedly, there is only a handful of tabletop Windows 8 slates, but the XPS 18 can hold its own against the Sony VAIO Tap 20 and Lenovo's jumbo-sized Horizon Table PC. Click through to Dell's US site for more details. [Thanks, Tom]
LG announces Windows 8 12-inch slider laptop hybrid and all-in-one PC (updated)
Windows 8's imminent launch continues to draw out even more devices in almost every permutation imaginable. LG's up next, with its collection ranging from a familiar-looking V325 all-in-one PC, through to a slider PC with tablet skills. The size of LG's 11.6-inch H160 hybrid means we're not certain whether it'll be running Windows RT or the more power-intensive complete package. LG's brief explanation below the press shots also suggests we're only looking at two models for now -- despite the three devices on show here; presumably that tablet is just the laptop transformed, given that the company decided to put that particular family of devices on the back burner. The hybrid laptop houses its own auto-slide button, and measures in at 15.9mm thick, despite the built-in keyboard. The 11.6-inch screen is another LG-made IPS panel, promising up to 178 degrees of crisp visibility, while the manufacturer expects the battery to last up to 10 hours. Connectivity encompasses WiFi, HDMI output and a USB port and -- according to Google's translation -- a microSD card slot. The device will have to compete for fans against Sony's similarly-sliding VAIO Duo 11 -- not to mention Toshiba's U925t Ultrabook. The touchscreen V325 AIO packs all the thinking parts behind a 23-inch display, with up to 10-point touch sensitivity. There's a (presumably Korea-only) TV tuner built-in, which can be activated without powering up the whole PC, while processing powering is provided by a third-generation Core i5 processor and NVIDIA's GeForce GT640M. Both devices are currently set to remain on home turf for now, starting from October 26th and will be accompanied by LG's latest range of Ultrabooks, refreshed with Windows 8 software.
Sony teases 'Freestyle Hybrid PC' tablet slider and next-gen ultra-portable laptop
We're not sure how this slipped past us at the Sony Android tablet event, but turns out the electronics giant also teased a couple of interesting VAIO laptops. First up is a "Freestyle Hybrid PC" that slides between tablet mode and laptop mode -- very much like the Samsung Sliding PC, but with a seemingly slimmer bottom-half sans trackpad (though we can just about spot a pointing stick on the keyboard). No word on specs, prices, or availability here, but you may recall our proven tipster mentioning a 9.4-inch screen and a $799 launch in the fall. Could this be it? We shall see. Also shown alongside is a swanky "Ultimate Mobile PC" -- pictured after the break -- with a hint of USB 3.0 and HDMI on a slim body, but again, there's not much else to go with this slide. Hey, at least we now know it's time to start saving up for these bad boys.
Sony crafting VAIOs with Chrome OS, external GPUs and Thunderbolt tech?
Sony's top-secret prototype labs must be clocking hours like mad, as Sony Insider reports that the company has two more surprises in store -- in addition to a PlayStation tablet, dual-screen clamshell and sliding PC, the skunk works has cooked up a Chrome OS notebook, as well as a "VAIO Hybrid PC" that defies any sort of meaningful explanation in just three words. The Chrome OS device is reportedly modeled after Google's own Cr-48 reference design with roughly the same dimensions and keyboard but an oh-so-slightly smaller 11.6-inch screen, and NVIDIA's Tegra 2 running the show alongside 1GB of RAM and 16GB of flash storage. Sony's also shooting for eight hours of battery life, and a weight of just 2.2 pounds. All of that pales in comparison to what Sony's plotting for this "Hybrid PC," though. The publication says we're looking at a thin-and-light Core i7 notebook with an incredible 8 to 16.5 hours of battery life, Intel Thunderbolt and an internal SSD, all of which plugs into a dock of some sort that adds a Blu-ray burner and external graphics (by AMD) for gaming and multimedia. We don't have any pictures or proof at this point, but it sounds like a whopper of a tale, and just the sort of thing that Intel was talking about making possible with the 10Gbps of bandwidth that Thunderbolt brings.
CUPP Hybrid PC makes dynamic duo out of ARM and x86, dubious new 'Computicator' class of device
There's a quiet war going on for the thin-and-light laptop space between ARM and x86 architectures. Intel and AMD are winning handily right now, thanks to their ability to run Windows, but there's still that small hope within the industry that a Good Enough Linux build will come along one day and rescue these power-sipping ARM platforms from obscurity. Well, CUPP Computing would like you to have it both ways. The company's Hybrid PC, which is in a early prototype stage right now (a rather ugly stage, unfortunately, as seen above), runs an ARM A8 OMAP 3430 processor with 512MB of RAM right up next to a Core 2 Duo processor with 4GB of RAM, with both platforms sharing the 320GB HDD, 16-inch LCD, keyboard, touchpad, HDMI out, and USB plugs. A simple alt+tab command switches between the systems on the fly. It's pretty flashy, although the real use case for a device like this would more likely be to use the ARM setup as a low powered mode and then boot into Windows when necessary. Of course, Dell does exactly that at "Latitude ON" in its Latitude Z and Latitude E series, but we won't begrudge CUPP having a go at its own spin on the concept -- although if they try and push this "Computicator" classification on us it might come to blows. Check out a few video demos after the break.
