Microsoft Windows 7 Tablets, Convertibles Dominate Intel CES Booth

by Clint Boulton

??íThis gorgeous notebook/tablet convertible device caught our attention right off the bat. It’s also light at 2.1 pounds.??í

??íThe device sports a 10.1-inch touch screen on resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels. It will run up to 9 hours before recharging.

??íThe device slides out, like a smartphone, to put the tablet atop the keyboard. Voila! Samsung’s first Windows 7 tablet. It will ship in March for $699.

??íDell offers this Inspiron Duo convertible based on Windows 7.

??íWatch the Dell go from notebook to tablet like a Transformer.

??íDone—the Duo converts to a tablet in seconds. See the 10.1-inch HD 1366 x 768 display with capacitive multi-touch. There is also an integrated 1.3MP Webcam and digital microphone.

??íNot to be outdone among convertibles, Asus offers this T101MT convertible, running Windows 7, of course.

??íAsus converts to the 10.1-inch LED-backlit screen. Works with touch and uses PenWrite technology for stylus input.

??íYou haven’t had enough Asus? Check out the Asus Eee Slate EP121. This device sports a 12.1-inch display.

??íThen there’s the ExoPC slate running Windows 7 on an 11.6-inch screen. The gadget sports a capacitive touch screen, accelerometer, Atom Pinetrail processor and 2GB of RAM.

??íFujitsu, too, joined the Windows 7 tablet fray. The slate has a 10.1-inch capacitive touch-screen display and will run the as-yet-unavailable Intel Atom Oak Trail Z670 processor.

??íHP Slate 500 is one users don’t have to wait for. It’s been out for a few months. The gadget runs Windows 7 with an 8.9-inch multi-touch display. For $799, you get 2GB of RAM and 64GB of Flash storage.

??íThis Lenovo IdeaPad Slate has a 10-inch screen with 1,280-by-800 resolution and a 1.3-inch megapixel camera in front.

??íMotion offers this comely device. The CL900 also has a 10.1-inch screen with 2GB of RAM. Motion bills it as a “rugged, lightweight and powerfully equipped tablet PC that’s been purposefully designed, developed and built for mobile business.” At 2.1 pounds, it’s hardly light for a tablet. ??í

??íAs far as we understand, this is a prototype. Toshiba representatives declined to discuss it in detail with eWEEK.

??íIntel’s big news at CES was its second-gen Sandy Bridge chip, which integrated the CPU and GPU on one die. Acer, Asus and HP are on board, as you can plainly see here. More info on these devices will come out as second-gen becomes broadly available.