Been following the latest Haswell buzz and ran into this article.....

Analysts mull Haswell impact - TechEYE.net

Good discussion fodder and pertinent to travel.

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ETA: Intel's Haswell Dramatically Strengthens The '2 In 1' Device Argument - Forbes

I have an ASUS ultrabook. 13.3" weighs a good bit under 3lbs and is extremely thin. Has an annoying bug though in that it shuts itself off at random times. But when it's working it's great.

Not sure I understand the need or desire for a touchscreen on a laptop though, even with Windows 8. Just that many more smudges and fingerprints. It's bad enough on my phone and tablet. Don't want it on my laptop too. Altho I guess this new processor is supposed to have dramtically better battery life.

Off-topic [already ] but this is so out of the box....and just plain weird. Folks are pushing the envelope from the gate.

Acer $400 'PC' will run Android, pack Intel's Haswell chip - CNET-Asia

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ETA: This reported i5 processor may be an error.

Acer Aspire S7 (Intel Haswell processor, 8GB RAM) - CNET

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ETA: Computex 2013: Gigabyte Launches U21M Convertible Tablet With An Intel Haswell CPU - pcper.com

For $1400, you can just about get a 10-inch tablet and Ultrabook, have both.

Or an iPad Mini and MacBook Air.

Intel is going to charge a premium for Haswell apparently, with prices much higher than the Ivy Bridge processors they're replacing.

Hasn't shown up in the desktop chip pricing, which is pretty much dead identical to the Ivy Bridge chips they were replacing.

Laptop chip pricing is a much more opaque art and will be clearer in a month or two, and the very-low-power tablet ones are essentially a new market with nothing to compare to except Atoms.

eta: from those early laptops announced at Computex for which price is already available -- not many -- it does not sound like the machines with the quad core i7 Haswell chips are being priced any higher than the Ivy Bridge-based models they're replacing were when introduced last year, and in some cases they're being priced competitively with the models they're replacing (despite the latter being a year old and at the end of their lifecycle.) Obviously a very small sample size so far.

But isn't the whole point to have one device that fulfills both functions equally well, so you don't need both?

For some, yes, all other things being equal, a single device that does both is better -- fewer things to carry, no need to synchronize apps/content between the two, etc.

For some other folks, all other things being equal, the utility of having two devices outweighs advantages of having a converged device.

Not that things are likely to be equal in this generation; while lighter and more power-efficient than convertible devices based on Ivy Bridge, and a lot faster than the Atom-based ones, Haswell-based devices are still going to be bigger, heavier, and more expensive than most Arm-based (and the smaller Atom-based devices.) They're also going to be a heck of a lot faster.

Before we've got a true best-of-both-worlds device, we're starting to get devices converging from either side.

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As someone with a lot more use for an ultrabook/subnotebook than a larger tablet, something like the Lenovo S230u Twist or the Gigabyte mentioned here is ideal for me -- mostly a laptop, but usable as a slate when space is very tight or when I need to read/review documents in portrait mode. Someone who needed to use it more heavily in tablet mode would likely find either one quite heavy/bulky compared to a removable keyboard solution.

Why buy a single device if it costs the same or more than two task-specific devices?

Single device should justify itself by costing less.

As I already pointed out, you can ask just the same "why carry two devices around when you only have to carry one?"

Or put differently, why spend $400+ for an iphone when you can get a $200 iPod touch and a $99 dumbphone?

How often do you need the capabilities of both devices and have to carry both?

If you only need to take one or the other, that's better than carrying a heavier combo device.

That the combo device is heavier is a fact not in evidence, and indeed, with current ones varies greatly by the device; an ASUS Transformer, for example, is not substantially heavier than any other 10" tablet, nor are most of the convertible Ultrabooks much heavier than any other ultrabooks.

If you can do real work on a keyboardless tablet, and travel with only the tablet, more power to you -- I know a fair number of people on FT claim to. I can't.

Transformer with the keyboard dock is lighter? That's what we're talking about when we're talking about the combo or converged device.

Or those hybrid Win 8 tablets and laptops?

Are any of these as light as the 7 inch tablets or the iPad Mini?

No didn't think so.

Or you can just pack a MacBook Air or comparable ultrabook if you anticipate doing a lot of typing. ONe or the other is the flexibility you get with separate devices.

Being able to carry only a combo device is like driving the big SUV to the market down the street by yourself.

Substantially lighter than a tablet AND an ultrabook, yes (or indeed, than most ultrabooks to begin with.)

Similarly, a Surface Pro with the full keyboard is no heavier than most comparable ultrabooks. It's certainly heavier even without the keyboard than most tablets, but it's a much more powerful device.

No, but nobody's tried making a converged one of those, and the use case is more "big phone" than "primary device."

You're mixing arguments.

You're going out for the day. Reason for two separate devices is to avoid carrying both all the time.

So any tablet is going to be lighter than these combo things. And Ultrabooks are lighter than these convertible devices where the screen folds over.