Dell outs the XPS Duo 12 and XPS 10 portable devices

Dell has announced yesterday at the IFA trade show in Berlin that it is adding two new mobile products to its existing XPS Series – the XPS 10 tablet and the XPS Duo 12 convertible Ultrabook. Aimed at users on-the-move, both devices will reportedly go on sale alongside Windows 8 on October 26th.

XPS 10

The manufacturer claims the tablet sports a 10-inch touchscreen display and runs on the RT version of Windows 8’s OS. Furthermore, Dell’s upcoming slate computer is apparently powered by an ARM-based Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 central processing unit and an integrated Adreno GPU.

According to a report from The Verge, the XPS 10 can be purchased with a QWERTY keyboard dock and offers up to 20 hours of battery life on a single charge (when connected to the dock).

XPS Duo 12

Next in line is the XPS Duo 12, which seems to be the successor to the company’s Atom-based Inspiron Duo model introduced two years ago. In contrast to the 2010 Duo, however, this system can be configured with up to an Intel Core i7 chip and sports an illuminated keyboard.

Combining two devices in one, the convertible Ultrabook features a flip hinge design (aluminium + carbon fiber) and a 12.5-inch touchscreen display with Gorilla Glass coating, and a native resolution of 1920-by-1080 pixels (Full HD).

Dell says it will reveal pricing details when available.

Read More

Lenovo IdeaPad U510

The Lenovo IdeaPad U510 is the new 15.6-inch addition to Lenovo’s popular U series of Ultrabooks and, at first glance, it seems like a bargain. For a starting price of $679, you get the U510 with Nvidia GT625M graphics and a DVD drive for those who still want to play DVDs. However, we got to go hands-on with the U510 at Lenvo’s IFA Berlin booth and we were not particularly impressed with its size, keyboard or multimedia prowess.

The IdeaPad U510 is listed at 4.8 pounds, but in our hands, this notebook felt even heavier. When you consider that the Samsung Series 9 15-inch and 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display weigh in at less than 4 pounds, this is hardly the most portable system around.

You’d think that a system with discrete graphics and a DVD drive would take advantage of its larger screen by providing better display quality, but you’d be wrong, as the IdeaPad U510′s 1366 x 768 screen seemed pretty washed out and not as sharp as notebooks with higher pixel densities. Considering that you can now find 13-inch notebooks with full HD screens, a 15-inch screen with the lowest possible resolution is nothing to type home about.

Speaking of typing, the keyboard on the display unit we tested wasn’t as sharp and tactile as those on other IdeaPads like the S400 that was just a few feet away from it. Even worse, the keyboard had a noticeable amount of flex, something we’d never expect from Lenovo, a company that’s famous for its high-quality keyboards. The metal wrist rest also got a little warm, though mainly toward the right edge of the system.

We did like the matte chrome chassis design, which is identical to the aesthetic on the smaller IdeaPad U310 and IdeaPad U410, both of which came out earlier this year. We were also pleased with the slim, 0.82-inch thick chassic and its plethora of ports.

However, our initial impression of the IdeaPad U510 is that might just be too heavy to carry around everywhere and its washed out, low-res screen and flex-y keyboard make it a poor stationary PC. We look forward to getting a closer look at a final production unit to see if it leaves a better impression.

Read More