Most of the top PC makers have already hopped on the ultrabook bandwagon, introducing thin and light laptops with the latest Intel processors, quick boot technology, and other newfangled features. But while Intel has trademarked the word “ultrabook” it certainly doesn’t have the monopoly on ultraportable laptops. Chip maker AMD is hoping that computer makers will slap some of its…

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Intel is finally getting ready to launch chips for phones and tablets that could compete with ARM-based processors in terms of performance and power consumption. The company has been working on its next-generation Atom design, code-named Medfield, for a few years. But now Intel is starting to demonstrate reference devices based on the platform. The MIT Technology Review got to…

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ZiiLabs has been showing off its 1.5 GHz dual core and quad core chips for a few months, and now the company has introduced a tablet reference design that device makers can use to build products featuring the ZMS-20 or ZMS-40 chips. The Jaguar3 reference design doesn’t look all that different from any other Google Android tablet you may have seen….

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Intel introduced a reference design for thin and light fanless computers last year called Canoe Lake. But while Intel showed off the platform at events in June and November, no PC makers ever brought anything looking like a Canoe Lake laptop to market… until now. Malata is showing off an upcoming netbook at Computex in Taiwan, and it’s pretty much…

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Last year Intel was showing off a Canoe Lake reference design for ultrathin notebooks using the company’s low power Atom chips. This year Intel is rolling out a new reference design called KeeleyLake for ultrathin netbooks which can also be used as tablet computers. The Keeley Lake design features a base so thin that there’s no room for USB ports…

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ZiiLABS is showing off two new tablet designs based on the company’s latest ZMS-20 and ZMS-40 1.5 GHz dual and quad-core chips. The new ZiiLABS JAGUAR tablets come in 7 and 10 inch sizes and can run Google Android 3.x Honeycomb. The company is positioning the tablets as OEM or designs, which means you probably won’t walk into a store…

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Intel has updated its Clasmate PC design. The Clasmate PC line of netbooks are designed for children, and tend to feature semi-rugged cases. The latest model goes a bit further with improved water resistance and anti-microbial protection. The reference design features a rubber cage around the hard drive to minimize damage from a fall, and rubber protection around the LCD…

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Intel introduced a new Canoe Lake reference design for ultrathin netbooks earlier this week. And when I say ultrathin, I’m not kidding. Intel says that Canoe Lake systems can be as thin as 14mm, or about 0.55 inches. That’s because the low power chipset doesn’t generate a ton of heat and PC makers can use passive cooling instead of a…

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Intel introduced a line of new low power chips for netbooks, tablets, and smartphones this morning. But one of the more interesting things Intel launched wasn’t a chip, but a reference design for creating ultrathin netbooks that use passive cooling instead of noisy fans. Intel’s new Canoe Lake platform would let PC makers design netbooks as thin as 14mm (about…

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Chip maker Broadcom designs the HD video accelerator found in a handful of netbooks today, as well as a wired and wireless communication technology found in a huge number of phones, computers, digital media boxes, and other devices. With tablet-style devices set to take over the world (or at least with dozens of PC makers looking to release tablets in…

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Freescale Semiconductor is introducing a new reference design for a dirt cheap web tablet using an ARM Cortex A8-based processor and running Linux or Google Android. The company will be showing off a prototype at CES this week, and Freescale is looking for hardware partners to build actual products based on the reference design. Freescale says the tablets can be…

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Hot on the heels of the VIA eNote Turnkey Solution, chip-maker VIA has unveiled yet another reference design for mini-laptops. The VIA NetNote Turnkey System seems to be rather flexible, and covers laptops with VIA C7-M or VIA Nano processors with screen sizes ranging from 10.2 inches to 12.1 inches. At first glance, the images of the new NetNote prototypes…

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