14 DAY TRIAL // From the plethora of new products announced in Berlin at IFA 2014, some of them stand out for an obvious reason – they run Intel's latest Broadwell architecture.
This is Intel’s 5th-gen chip technology, and the first products to be unveiled taking advantage of the new platform are going to be extremely sleek laptops and tablets with Core M chips inside.
The processors are said to be capable of delivering improved processing power and at the same time bestow more battery life on the products living off it. Last but not least, these machines take advantage of fanless designs.
Note that Intel has said that the wider availability of these products is scheduled for 2015, but some select products with Broadwell will be making an appearance just in time for the holiday season.
Now let’s take a tour of the first products announced with Broadwell on board. We should remind you that ASUS launched the very first back at Computex, and this is the first convertible we’re going to talk about in what follows.
ASUS Transformer Book T300 Chi
The laptop convertible is expected to arrive in retail this holiday season and should come boasting a 12.5-inch IPS screen offering a resolution of 2560 x 1440 pixels.
The hybrid will take advantage of 4G LTE, and users will be able to opt for either 2GB or 4GB of RAM inboard.
Now, for some systems that got announced at IFA 2014 this week.
ASUS Zenbook UX305
This is one sexy machine, which unlike most Broadwell-based products we have seen, is an ultra-thin and light Ultrabook.
The device takes advantage of a 13.3-inch display with 3,200 x 1,800 resolution and bundles a battery that give users a chance to use it for up to 10 hours. The Ultrabook also comes equipped with 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bang & Olufsen speakers.
Lenovo ThinkPad Helix 2
We had the opportunity to play a little with this baby, and you should check out our hands-on right here. Naturally, we found the laptop to be thin and light and much better than 2013 Helix model.
Lenovo says that battery should be good for up to 12 hours of usage, if you use the tablet part in concert with a keyboard accessory that is part of the bundle.
The 11.5-inch product has support for a digitizer pen and should sell for $999 / €771 when it launches this October.
HP Envy x 2 Duo
HP is rolling out two new 2-in-1 convertible Broadwell-based models with relatively larger screens. One offers the 13.3-inch form factor, while the other is a 15.6-incher.
The products will be one of the last to arrive with the Beats Audio system and will be up for grabs for $950 / €734 and up.
Dell Latitude 13 7000 series
We talked about these new professional bound convertibles yesterday, but Dell did not say anything in the press release about what kind of chip powered the new devices.
As it turns out, it’s Intel’s Broadwell. The new Latitudes come with a 13.3-inch design and will start selling for $1,199 / €926.
But wait, that’s not all. More Broadwell laptops and tablets will be upon us in the upcoming months.
As UMCPCPortal reports, during a press event at IFA 2014 Intel showed us that we should be on the lookout for a new Acer Aspire Switch 12 (a larger version current Aspire Switch 10), ASUS Transformer Book T300FA and Wistron N-Midas.
