We’ve already covered several laptop docks for smartphones such as NexDock 2. AFAICR, all those modes would come with a full laptop body with non-touch display and keyboard. “Losing the wires” company offers something slightly different with their Sm@rtDock 15 Touch as it aims to convert Samsung DeX smartphones into 2-in-1 hybrid laptops. That means the 15″ display comes with a touchscreen, and the keyboard is separate. Sm@rtDock 15 Touch kit includes the following items and features: 15.6″ LCD display Full HD/1080p resolution (1920 x 1080 pixels) with 10 point capacitive touch USB – 1x USB-C port to smartphone, 1 x micro-USB port for peripherals, 1x USB- C charge port Video Output – Mini-HDMI in for use as a secondary display for another device Battery – Up to 4 or up to 7 hours life (model specific) Dimensions – 356 x 224 x 9mm Weight – 900g (without case) UK […]
MAG1 Intel Core m3-8100Y Mini Laptop Sells for $590 and up in China
In recent years, we’ve seen mini laptops with sub-9″ displays from companies like GPD, One Mix, and CHUWI featuring Intel Gemini Lake or Amber Lake processors. There’s another company joining the fray with MAG1 “Magic Small” mini laptop with an 8.9″ display, an Intel Core m3-8100Y Amber Lake processor coupled with 8GB or 16GB RAM, and 256GB or 512GB SSD storage that’s currently selling for 4,199 RMB (~$593 US) and up on JD.com. MAG1 specifications: SoC – Intel Core m3-8100Y dual-core/quad-thread Amber Lake processor @ 1.1 / 3.4 (Turbo) GHz with Intel UHD Graphics 615; 5W TDP System Memory / Storage Configurations 8GB DDR3 RAM + 256GB PCIe SSD + MicroSD slot 16GB DDR3 RAM + 512GB PCIe SSD + MicroSD slot Display – 8.9″ IPS touchscreen display with 2560 x 1600 resolution Video Output – Micro HDMI up to 4K @ 60 Hz Audio – Built-in microphone, 3.5mm audio […]
Intel Introduces 10th Generation Comet Lake Y and U-Series Processors
10th Generation Ice Lake processors for 2-in-1 laptops and tablets, and other low-power devices have just started shipping, but Intel has now launched another 10th generation family, namely Comet Lake, that is also designed for the same type of products. But instead of being manufactured using a 10nm process, Comet Lake processors will rely on Intel’s “highly optimized” 14nm process technology leveraging “improvements in intra-node optimizations”. There will be Y-Series and U-Series like in other low-power high-performance Intel processors with respectively 7W and 15W TDP, and those processors will come as Core i3/i5/i7 parts Intel Comet Lake family is the first to offer a 6-core processor in the U-series family and will provide faster CPU frequencies, faster memory interfaces, support for Intel Wi-Fi 6 (Gig+) and Thunderbolt 3. The new processors are said to deliver up to 16% overall performance gains, and over 41% better productivity and multitasking on Microsoft […]
Gemini Dual Screen Laptop is Made of Two Kay Lake-R Tablets (Crowdfunding)
[Update August 24, 2019: CNX Software has received a message claiming the project is a scam (identity theft): This is Li Yunjian, the Owner of following company : GST Communication Co., Ltd (Hongkong) 深圳市杰仕特通讯有限公司 (China Mainland) Our Website on Alibaba: https://chinagstgroup.en.alibaba.com/ This is a fraudster illegally using our company information to scam ] [Update October 2, 2019: Gemini Dual Screen Laptop crowdfunding campaign is up again, but references to “GST Communication” are gone] Note by CNXSoft: The campaign is under review and they have stopped taking contributions. I can only assume it’s a trademark issue because Intel did not like them to use the name “Gemini”. If it’s indeed the case, It should be resolved with a new name. We’ll remove this notice when/if the campaign comes back online. The Chinese company GST has been running a crowdfunding campaign for the Gemini, a dual-screen laptop, with the ability to be […]
Samsung Galaxy Book S Snapdragon 8cx Laptop to Launch soon for $1,000
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx was announced as the first Snapdragon processor specifically designed for connected mobile PCs (aka laptops with cellular connectivity) last December. Earlier this year we got confirmation 8cx would support 5G connectivity as an option, and in May, we got news Lenovo Limitless 5G laptop was coming and got some benchmarks showing Snapdragon 8cx with performance similar to an Intel Core i5 Kaby Lake-R processor (15 Watt TDP) while offering much longer battery life. It’s Samsung turn to announce their Snapdragon 8cx laptop with Samsung Galaxy Book S that will be available this fall for $999 and up. Samsung Galaxy Book S specifications: SoC – Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Compute Platform with eight 64-bit Armv8 cores in two clusters: Kryo 495 Gold cores (Cortex-A76 class) @ 2.84 GHz + Kryo 495 cores (Cortex-A55 class) @ 1.8GHz ; 7nm process; 7W TDP System Memory – 8GB RAM (LPDDR4X) Storage – […]
PineBook Pro Arm Linux Laptop now up for pre-order for $199.99
Pine64 unveiled a Pinebook Pro laptop prototype at FOSDEM 2019 as an update to the original Allwinner A64 powered Pinebook laptop, but instead of just being a toy to play with, Pinebook Pro aimed to be used as a daily driver thanks to a relatively powerful Rockchip RK3399 processor combined with 4GB RAM, and 64/128GB storage, and equipped with a 14″ Full HD display all for a target price of $200. Last May, we noticed some good progress on the software development side with a demo showcasing Ubuntu & Debian with MATE desktop, 4K video playback, 3D graphics acceleration, and USB-C video output. The good news is that Pinebook Pro has just launched and can be pre-ordered for $199.99 on Pine64 store. [Update: If you are an existing forum member, you may want to redeem your coupon here] Pinebook Pro laptop specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3399 big.LITTLE hexa-core Arm Cortex […]
Testing Ubuntu 18.04 on XIDU PhilPad 2-in-1 Hybrid with Touchscreen
So I’ve recently completed the review of XIDU Philpad 2-in-1 hybrid with Windows 10. The laptop features a 13.3″ touchscreen and support stylus, and I was intrigued whether those would work in Ubuntu 18.04. So I flash the Ubuntu 18.04.2 Desktop ISO to a flash drive and installed Ubuntu to another USB flash drive to give it a try with persistent storage. Note that while it’s OK for testing, running Ubuntu 18.04 from a USB flash drive is very slow, so it’s not recommended. The good news is that you can enter the BIOS by pressing either Esc or Del at boot time, an option is available to select Linux in the BIOS. I could then select Partition 1 in my bootable flash drive, and install Ubuntu 18.04 on the other drive with some patience, and everything works smoothly, albeit slowly due to using a cheap USB flash drive during […]
XIDU PhilPad 2-in-1 Hybrid 2K Laptop Review
I had never heard about XIDU laptops and tablets, and it’s apparently the brand name of “Shenzhen Baohuazhong Co Limited” that was founded in 2014 and specializes in the design, development, manufacturing, distributions, and support for computer systems. I came to know about the company as they approached me to review one of their laptops, namely XIDU PhilPad XT133A model with an Intel Celeron N3350 dual-core Apollo Lake processor coupled with 6GB RAM and 64GB storage, and equipped with a 13.3″ touchscreen display with 2K (2560×1440) resolution. XIDU PhilPad Specifications SoC – Intel Celeron N3350 dual core Apollo Lake processor @ 1.10 GHz / 2.40 GHz (Turbo) with 12EU Intel HD graphics 500 GPU; 6W TDP System Memory – 6GB DDR3 Storage – 64GB eMMC flash, microSD card slot Display – 13.3″ touchscreen IPS display with 2560 x 1440 resolution Audio – 3.5mm headphone jack, built-in microphone and speaker Camera […]