14 DAY TRIAL // A few weeks ago Intel revealed in a presentation the first wave of tablets and laptops which are going to be taking advantage of its 5th generation low-power chip architecture, known as Broadwell.
These machines are expected to hit the streets in time for the holiday season or in early 2015, but that’s not all next year is going to bring about.
Intel calls out to developers
More powerful Broadwell chips will also be making it in the wild in 2015. Intel wants software developers to really embrace the Broadwell platform and create new software by taking advantage of the new standard.
With this in mind, the company has created a Software Development Platform, and while there’s no official information about it posted on Intel’s official website, the platform just made an appearance with the FCC.
The Software Development Platform is an Ultrabook which comes equipped with some nifty hardware, that Intel hopes will prompt developers to unleash their creativity.
The FCC filing reveals the complete list of specs of the dev Ultrabook plus a bunch of new pictures giving us a glimpse of what the thin laptop will look like in real life.
The device arrives with a 13.3-inch moultitouch display with 3200 x 1800 pixel resolution and packs and Intel 5th gen Intel Core Broadwell-ULT processor (15W) fitted with (up to?) 8GB of RAM.
The laptop takes advantage of everything you might desire, including an N-Trig DuoSense Pen 2 active pen, two front-facing cameras (a full HD 2D camera plus an Intel Realsense 3D camera, 8MP on the rear with LED flash), Intel 7264 802.11 Wi-Fi + Bluetooth 4.0 module, Intel WiDi 5.0 wireless display and Miracast support and Intel XMM7160 LTE radio.
Furthermore, the laptop bundles NFC, support for optional WiGig wireless dock, Synaptics ForcePad touchpad, fingerprint sensor, 2 USB 3.0 ports, HDMI, Gigabit Ethernet, SDXC card reader, micro SIM card slot and a backlit keyboard.
Intel's Ultrabook is quite similar to the Lenovo Yoga
The Intel Ultrabook features a 360 degree hinge which you might recognize as being characteristic of the Lenovo Yoga line, so you will be able to switch between tablet and laptop mode.
And judging by the images made available to us by the FCC documents, it could be hypothesized that Intel actually partnered with Lenovo to build this Ultrabook, because the system has a distinctive Lenovo vibe to it.
It also runs Windows 8.1 and arrives with an ambient light and proximity sensors, stereo speakers, combo mic/headphone jack.
Keeping the Ultrabook alive and kicking is a 6640 mAh battery, which appears to be split into two parts, a method to help dissipate heat better, as outlined in the Intel guidelines of thin-and light notebooks. Speaking of which, the convertible notebook measures 0.73 inches / 18.5 mm and weighs about 3.4 lbs / 1.5 kg.
The Intel Software Development System Ultrabook isn't a product we’ll get to see arrive on the market, but it represents a good indicator that Broadwell-U machines aren't far from us.
