Computex 2013: Taiwan’s computer makers exhibit year’s upcoming tech – The Verge

Massive battery life, killer graphics: can Intel’s Haswell deliver on the hype?

2013-06-13T11:48:24-04:00

Intel (STOCK)

For years now, it seems everyone has been waiting for Haswell, the latest processor from Intel that promises major improvements to graphics performance and battery life. The new silicon just officially launched last week at Computex Taipei, and we're starting to see the first machines that take advantage of it, including Apple's updated MacBook Airs. Apple promises the new Airs will deliver 70 to 80 percent better battery life and graphics that are up to 40 percent stronger than the previous Ivy Bridge-powered models.

Those are some impressive numbers - if they hold up in real-world testing - but Haswell's been billed as revolutionary, and th …

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DisARMing mobile: is Intel finally ready to live inside your phone?

2013-06-07T09:00:59-04:00

Intel (STOCK)

It's been difficult to escape Intel's presence at Computex Taipei this week; not only has the chip maker used Asia's biggest computer event to formally launch its Haswell PC microarchitecture, it's yet again made the case that it's a serious player in the mobile space. And on the face of it, there may be reason to believe.

"We've busted the x86 power efficiency myth."

Major manufacturers, including Samsung and Asus, have announced Android products powered by Intel chips in the past week. The new Bay Trail Atom processors promise significant leaps over the current Clover Trail generation, Merrifield smartphones are said to offer a 50 percent …

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One year after debut, Windows RT is a Computex no-show

2013-06-05T12:01:03-04:00

Steve Mollenkopf qualcomm windows rt 8.1

Three days into Computex Taipei, Asia's biggest computer show, not a single manufacturer has announced a Windows RT device. Windows RT, the version of Windows 8 designed for more power-efficient ARM processors, made its official debut at last year's show on a convertible tablet by Asus.

The operating system has suffered a shaky period since its October launch, with disappointed comments from partners, fire sales from manufacturers, and unflattering performance comparisons all contributing to a general sense of negativity. The Computex show floor has been dominated by devices running Windows 8 on Haswell and other chips from Intel, but ARM-p …

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Lost in translation: when East meets West, press conferences get weird

2013-06-05T11:15:03-04:00

asus press conference

As the thunderous but indistinct techno music blares over Acer's Computex press conference, you can't help but feel transported back in time. This is the sort of atmosphere a Westerner would expect from a product launch in the 1980s. Everything's hitched up an extra notch, from the neon sign outside Acer's venue to the models' skirts at Asus' Transformer launch. The only thing missing are the crazy, voluminous perms.

But volume, in both its aural and metric sense, is the exact thing that defines the Taiwanese press event. If you want more style, you just add more of it, and if you want to be heard by more people, you shout louder. That atti …

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Sony’s VAIO Duo 13 takes on the sliding, shape-shifting convertible once again (hands-on)

2013-06-04T23:45:50-04:00

Gallery Photo: Sony VAIO Duo 13 pictures

The VAIO Duo 11, Sony's sliding, laptop / tablet hybrid didn't exactly take the market by storm - its price was too high, its keyboard cramped, its trackpad non-existent, and its battery life too short to really be a compelling product. Despite all that, Sony thinks the form-factor works, and the company's new Duo 13 promises to fix what ailed the previous device.

The simplest solution to the Duo 11's cramped feel was to simply make the device bigger, and that's what Sony did. The Duo 13 is much roomier and more comfortable than the Duo 11, though it's not actually that much larger - it weighs less than three pounds and is only 0.77 inches …

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Asus’ $4,000 4K monitor goes on sale this month, pushes Retina MacBook to its breaking point

2013-06-04T07:22:41-04:00

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There's no denying that Asus has a real technological marvel on its hands with the newly introduced 31.5-inch 4K monitor that's gracing its Computex 2013 stand. This stunningly sharp IGZO panel can output images and video at a resolution of 3840 x 2160, and what's more, its US release is scheduled for before the end of this month - a true rarity for Ultra HD panels of any screen size. It does, however, come with a significant and somewhat surprising downside. It's not just the price, which Asus told us today will be in the vicinity of $4,000, making the PQ321 unaffordable for all but the most zealous or resolution-needy among us. Users of hi …

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Acer’s flagship Aspire S7 may be 2013’s ultrabook to beat, S3 needs low price to succeed

2013-06-04T00:05:00-04:00

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At Acer's press conference in Taipei yesterday, the company announced some very welcome changes to one of our favorite ultrabooks of 2012: the Aspire S7. Our two primarily complaints with the machine - battery life and limited RAM - have been addressed, while everything we loved about the laptop - its solid construction and Gorilla Glass lid - has remained the same. It's a promising combination, and after handling the Aspire S7 here at Computex, it looks like Acer may have a winner on its hands.

The Aspire S7 remains an attractive ultrabook. Like before, Acer's used aluminum for the body and covered the white lid with Gorilla Glass, giving …

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Nvidia shows how Tegra 4 graphics processing can improve stylus input

2013-06-03T22:48:01-04:00

nvidia tegra 4 stylus support

Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang was personally on hand at Computex today, proselytizing his company's current flagship ARM chip, the quad-core Tegra 4. Beyond the usual claims of great CPU and GPU power, Huang showed off an impressive demo of how Tegra 4 can help improve stylus input as well. Using the third generation of Nvidia's own DirectTouch technology on a reference Tegra 4 tablet, Huang was able to draw with extreme precision using a very basic and crude conductive stylus. "The precision of DirectTouch is many, many times higher than your normal touch controller," said the CEO, "the resolution and sample rate are much higher."

His demo was …

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Dell XPS 11 combines the best of Lenovo’s Yoga and Microsoft’s Surface

2013-06-03T05:30:58-04:00

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Unlike Acer and Asus, who overwhelmed us with sheer numbers this morning, Dell's Computex assault is formed by just one, standout product, the XPS 11. This 11.6-inch laptop touts an outstanding 2560 x 1440 resolution, plus its exterior is adorned in a carbon fiber weave and machined aluminum, yet the company is pitching it as something even more: a two-in-one device.

The hinge on the XPS 11 allows the screen to flip nearly a full 360 degrees, turning the workaday laptop into a fun-filled tablet - very much in the same vein as Lenovo's Yoga machine. You can't detach the display, but the …

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Asus unveils VivoMouse, ‘world’s first’ mouse and touchpad combination for Windows 8

2013-06-03T04:15:50-04:00

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Asus is launching its latest PC peripheral today: VivoMouse. The name makes it sound like an ordinary wireless mouse, but this particular device features a desktop touchpad with multi-touch support. It closely resembles the look of Motorola's Aura handset, with a metallic body and curved shapes. Asus describes it as the 'world's first' combination of a mouse and touchpad, with the option to be used with a desktop PC or projector scenarios and living room TVs thanks to its thumb control with the circular touchpad.

It comes complete with support for Windows 7 and Windows 8, with swipe gestures to control the Charms and multitasking of Microso …

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