When it comes to Android tablets, there are tons of different vendors, power configurations, prices and features. This is both a blessing and a curse for the platform, and something that it seems that Microsoft will be repeating with Windows 8 devices. A flood of devices featuring Windows 8, both as tablets and ultrabooks, are on their way. According to Intel’s CEO, Paul Otellini, there are twenty Windows 8 tablets based on Atom on their way and more than 140 new Ivy Bridge Ultrabooks, forty of which will be touch-enabled or even tablet/laptop convertibles.

While Ultrabooks have been quite pricey up until now, it seems Intel is set to introduce $699 ultrabooks this fall, in time for Windows 8. Consider this is just Intel’s ATOM and Ultrabook Ivy Bridge iniatives, there are many more ARM and x86 tablets heading our way in a few months from a variety of different vendors and processor manufacturers, including AMD.

Having a robust amount of options to choose from in the tablet and convertible space, including Microsoft’s own Surface tablet, is great- but from a consumer point of view having so many choices can also make it difficult to narrow down exactly which device is right for you. What do you think about the upcoming launch of Windows 8 and the inevitable flood of devices that come with it? Are you excited to get your hands on a Windows 8 or RT device, or indifferent?

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Apple is not interested in CES, and Microsoft earlier announced that it’s bowing out of next year’s event.  Many have started to believe that the show is losing its luster. But that did not stop manufacturers from around the world from unveiling their latest innovations.

Samsung was one of the tech giants to show off their latest and greatest products at the event. The company arrived at CES 2012 to unveil the “future of consumer electronics” and they definitely didn’t disappoint.

Samsung ES8000 LED TV

The Samsung ES8000 LED TV, their latest flagship Smart TV, instantly became a head turner when it was unveiled at CES. Coming equipped with features such as a dual core processor, a thin bezel, multitasking, integrated camera, microphone, face recognition, gesture-based controls, 3D content streaming and much more, the new TV has been designed to “listen, see and do what you want.”

Samsung 55″ OLED TV

Samsung’s 55″ Super OLED TV is ultra-thin and is super sharp. The beautifully designed TV is so thin that you can hardly see it when you move to the side. It is also coming with a built-in camera and microphone for motion control, voice control and face recognition, and a dual core processor for easy multitasking.

Samsung Smart Camera and Camcorder

These new cameras and camcorders are definitely going to make the life of shutterbugs a whole lot easier. The products are Wi-Fi enabled, so you will be able to email your photos right from your camera. And the auto backup feature will automatically upload all your photos to your PC wirelessly.

Samsung Galaxy Note and Galaxy Tab 7.7

The Samsung Galaxy Note 4G LTE enabled smartphone/mini tablet is coming with a 5.3 inch HD Super AMOLED display and a dual-core CPU. The Android device is coming with the S Pen stylus which is designed with 256 levels of pressure sensitivity.

Their latest addition to the Galaxy Tab range, the Galaxy Tab 7.7, is also LTE enabled and will take advantage of Verizon’s high speed network. The device features a Super AMOLED Plus screen and is being billed as the thinnest and lightest tablet ever released by Samsung.

Samsung Series 9 Notebook

The company is saying about their new Series 9 Notebook as “the world’s thinnest and most compact premium notebook”. And thin it is. It’s a mere half inch thick and weighs in at only 2.5lbs. The 13-inch machine is definitely trouble for all the Ultrabooks out there.

If you missed Samsung’s presentation at CES 2012, you can check out the video below to enjoy the moment. Don’t forget to tell us which device has caught your eye.

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We already know that Windows 8 is going to be a platform that is simultaneously geared toward both tablets and regular PCs, but it has now been confirmed by Intel that you’ll effectively being able to get both in one package with touchscreen-enabled Windows 8 ultrabooks.

This confirmation comes by way of Intel CEO Paul Otellini. Ultrabooks are barely out of the gate with their sleek and slim profiles, but adding touchscreen capabilities would also add cost to an already premium product. Ortellini says that they need to “get touch to a lower cost. This is particularly important, as we move to the launch of Windows 8. The iPad and the iPhone have made touch a paradigm.”

He wants to see the touch-based ultrabooks down to the $699 level. “Starting with Windows 8, you have a mainstream operating system incorporating touch. Our view is that in the ultrabook lines, touch is a pretty critical enabler. When users see that new Windows interface, they’re going to want to touch it. If the screen does nothing, you have disappointed [the] consumer.”

This makes sense. To this day, my favorite Android tablet is still the Asus Eee Pad Transformer and a big part of that has to do with the keyboard dock. I get a laptop-like experience, but I still get the touchscreen of a tablet. Here, you get a real Windows machine too, but I have a feeling that $699 still isn’t cheap enough. Starter laptops can be had at $299 and the Eee Pad Transformer with dock can be had for $499.

The post Intel: Windows 8 Ultrabooks To Feature Touchscreens Soon appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Thin and light. Those are the two key characteristics that make ultrabooks so appealing to the masses, especially since they also bring the price points down to a more affordable level. The latest to join in on the ultrabook craze is the recently revealed Acer Aspire S3.

Being shown off at IFA 2011 in Berlin, the Acer Aspire S3 ultrabook clearly borrows some of its styling inspiration from the MacBook Air and possibly the Asus UX-series. The thin metal design narrows down to just 1.3cm at its thinnest point, but you still get a 13.3-inch HD LED display and the full-size Acer FineTip chiclet keyboard.

Power comes by way of Intel Core i3/i5/i7 Sandy Bridge (second-gen) processors, along with your choice of either a 240GB SSD or a 320GB/500GB hard drive with embedded SSD technology. Rounding out the specs are Dolby Home Theater v4, HDMI-out, card reader, webcam, WiFi, and Bluetooth. The Green Instant On technology from Acer also means you get instant resumes, just like what you’d get with a tablet.

I’m totally digging the idea of an ultrabook, because it used to be that you had to spend quite the pretty penny to get this kind of horsepower in this slim a package. The Aspire S3 will start at 799 Euro (about $1100) and ramps up to 1199 Euro. Look for it to launch in “select regions” later this month.

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