Lenovo showed off their ThinkPad X1 Hybrid laptop at CES in Las Vegas, which evolves the veritable ThinkPad X1 hardware by giving the laptop more juice time in between charges thanks to two separate processors and a secondary OS. Thanks to an instant on mode, the Lenovo X1 Hybrid can go for 10 hours of run time on a single charge.

On the surface, the Hybrid resembles the vanilla Thinkpad X1. However, on the inside, you have up to an Intel Core i7 processor powering Windows 7. Additionally, the instant-on Instant Media Mode, which can be used for media, is powered by an Android-based OS to be a bit more conservative on the OS if you don’t need specialized Windows programs, and utilizes a more power-efficient ARM-based Qualcomm dual-core 1.2 GHz Snapdragon processor. On the Instant Media Mode side, there is also 1 GB of RAM and 16 GB of internal storage.

The 13.3-inch notebook weighs 3.73 pounds. The system has a rapid charge feature that allows you to quickly charge to 80% in just 30 minutes.

You can follow the ThinkPad X1 Hybrid more on this previous post.

CES: Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Hybrid Hands-On (Video) is a post by Chuong Nguyen from Notebooks.com.

There has been quite a bit of back and forth the last few weeks about the possible shift from Intel to ARM processor in Apple notebooks like the MacBook and MacBook Air. We were skeptical on the initial report and a well sources analyst has also weighed in with a collection of reasons Apple stay Intel for the foreseeable future, but now you can hear it straight from the Chipmaker’s mouth. Intel VP Tom Kilroy let slip to Reuters that Apple is a big deal for Intel, Telling the publication that, “Apple helps shape our roadmap” and adding, “they push us hard.”

The really interesting thing here is that Apple makes up less than 10% of Intel’s net revenue, according to the Intel 2010 Annual Report. Intel’s biggest customers are HP and Dell with 21% and 17% of Intel’s net revenue respectively. If Apple can, push Intel “hard” and “shape their roadmap” what kind of power does Dell or HP have? And if they aren’t shaping the Intel Roadmap, what does that mean for Windows notebooks? It’s clear that the Windows notebooks are almost always playing catchup, is it due to taking leftovers from Intel?

Is Intel planning to supply a much larger number of processors to Apple in 2011? That’s still up in the air. As of right now, Apple isn’t even mentioned in the 2010 Intel annual report.

Kilroy goes on to cite many of the same reasons that David Kanter gave in his take of the situation. The biggest issue isn’t an allegiance to Intel, but the current power and performance of ARM based processors. While these processors can deliver enough juice to keep your iPad from slowing down, the chips just don’t have the power to meet the needs of a MacBook or MacBook Pro user right now.

That doesn’t mean Apple will always stick with Intel. If ARM, or even AMD, comes to the front of the line in a few years then Apple would be remiss not to look at a processor change. For this to happen, the competition will need to heat things up, especially with Intel focusing on delivering chips to work in tablets and lower power processors that would be a perfect fit for the MacBook Air.

Intel Claims Apple Influences Roadmap, With Less than 10% of Business is a post by Josh Smith from Notebooks.com.

At our sister site Chuong Ngyen posted that Apple may be dumping Intel to switch their entire Mac lineup over to ARM processors. If true it would be the second time Apple has made such a switch, jumping from RISC to Intel in the last decade. Citing a rumor from SemiAccurate, a site the properly predicted the switch to ATI graphics, Chuong said that this would unify the Apple lineup of devices on the same platform. They already use an ARM based processor (the Apple A4 and A5 chips) in their iOS devices.

Imagine if all of those iOS devices and all Mac OS X computers ran on the same platform. The coming OS X Lion update is shifting towards a more iOS-like interface. Apple may want to take that a step further in the next couple of years so they can develop just one operating system.

If Apple had a custom ARM processor as their foundation, then they could maintain tighter control. Apple could prevent third-party manufacturers from making fake Macs called “Hackintoshes” where a user or company loads OS X on another Intel based computer.

Speaking of tight control, if Apple moves further in the direction of iOS, then every piece of software installed would come through an App store, like it does now on all iOS devices so long as they are not jailbroken. Apple would get an even bigger pool of money from which to innovate and dominate since they take 30% of all app profit from their app store.

The problem with this rumor is twofold, at the least. First, as Chuong points out, developers would not be happy. The number of developers who would have to shift in a totally new direction to support the change is far larger than it was years ago when Apple made the RISC to Intel jump. Developers are an important lifeline for any computing platform. Making them unhappy is not something you want to do.

Proponents of this shift, however, would say that OS X and iOS are not so far apart that developers could not port their apps. Look how many apps have been ported between the two. iOS would have to developer into a more powerful operating system to sustain some of the very advanced software that can run on OS X, but that is not an impossible evolution. Also, the huge number of iOS apps would be able to sustain the new computing platform. I spoke to one iOS developer who creates a Bible app that I use and he said he would be interested in that possibility.

The biggest issue is the current close partnership with Intel and Apple. They worked together to develop the Thunderbolt port and Apple was given early access to Intel’s new Z68 chipset. No other company has this in their computers, yet you can buy an Apple with it now. Apple is cut throat enough to take with one hand while preparing to stab Intel in the back with the other, but will they?

Based on past history it is not impossible to think of this happening. Until Apple officially responds or makes an announcement about the shift, this is all just a rumor and not a very strong rumor at that. As Chuong said at the end of his post, the folks at SemiAccurate seem to have an anti-Intel bias.

Is Apple Dumping Intel for ARM? is a post by Kevin Purcell from Notebooks.com.

Internet Explorer 9 was just released, like last month, but Microsoft isn’t taking a backseat in the new browser war. Microsoft has already released a preview of Internet Explorer 10 for developer testing.

The Internet Explorer 10 platform preview is a very early build of what we may see on IE10, and offers Windows user the opportunity to try out a new browser layout and test drive the browser on a special ietestdrive.com website. The IE10 testdrive will show you what the new browser is capable of.

According to the Windows Team Blog, the focus of the IE10 Platform Preview will be on two areas, “(1) More HTML5 with full hardware acceleration. (2) Continuing to deliver regular updates that provide progress on a regular cadence.”

On stage at the MIX conference where Internet Explorer 10 was shown off, attendees were able to see the demo shown above, and learned that the system running IE 10 on stage was an ARM powered processor, specifically an NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor. This is exciting, because it shows the performance on ARM which is a different type of processor that will be supported in Windows 8.

In addition to running in standard notebooks, the ability to run on Tegra 2 devices means that we should see some new form factors and devices with Windows, perhaps as soon as early 2012.

More on what to expect in Internet Explorer 10.

Internet Explorer 10 Available For Download, Let the Testing Begin is a post by Josh Smith from Notebooks.com.

If you were to ask the average consumer what they want out of their next laptop you can expect to hear affordable, but beyond that thin, light and speedy are the common requests heard from many end users. If you focus on the latter three criteria the first notebook that pops into most people’s minds is the MacBook Air which set a new standard for thin, light and snappy when it launched last year.

At the MacBook Air unveiling, Apple CEO Steve Jobs called the MacBook Air the future of Macbooks. Well, it looks like Apple isn’t alone in setting their sights on the MacBook Air. CNet reports that Hen-Hsun Huang, CEO of NVIDIA, told the publication in a phone interview that the next generation of notebooks will use the MacBook Air as inspiration.

It’s not just the external design Huang was speaking too either, he went on to say that these thin notebooks won’t need heat pipes or cooling systems like we are currently seeing on many thin and light notebooks such as HP CoolSense or like that found on Toshiba’s Portege R830.

Along the same lines, we can expect more laptops to incorporate the battery into the design, without leaving the option for users to replace the battery. We are already seeing this on the Samsung Series 9 and the Lenovo u260, but we’ll either need a breakthrough in battery technology or more efficient processors before notebooks as a whole can live up to the hype of an all day enclosed battery.

Another factor mentioned in the article on CNet is the ability for future versions of Windows to run on more power efficient ARM processors, but it’s yet to be seen how well this will work out in the consumer market where trying to get a shopper to pick AMD over Intel is a challenge. Then again, maybe it will be the quad-core Tegra processor from NVIDIA that helps sell this reality to consumers.

NVIDIA Sees MacBook Air as The Mold for Next Gen Notebooks is a post by Josh Smith from Notebooks.com.

CUPP is bringing a modular hybrid solution to convert your power-hungry laptops powered by a desktop OS into a power-sipping a smartbook with a mobile operating system, such as MeeGo or Android, powered by a modular conversion that brings an ARM-based processor design. The solution that CUPP is introducing will enable users to switch between a desktop OS–such as Windows or OS X–and a mobile OS, which is less power hungry.

A good use case scenario for CUPP’s solution is when you’ve basically depleted your MacBook Pro’s battery–which isn’t hard to do when you’re away from your charger and running some CPU and GPU intensive programs–and really need to finish editing a blog post, Word document, or adding some more cells to your Excel spreadsheet. Just save your document, and hit the physical switch–which you’ll add via the modular conversion kit–and you’re off to Android where you can finish off your Office duties in QuickOffice or Documents to Go suites.

To hack your MacBook Pro system to use CUPP’s solution, you’ll essentially be giving up your slot-loading optical drive–goodbye CDs and DVDs, by inserting a small board with the ARM CPU into the optical drive. The kit will also give you a switch so you can quickly toggle to the ARM-based environment, which looks like it will occupy the space for the Kensington lock port on the side of the MacBook Pro next to the optical drive.

Essentially, when switched to the ARM mode, you’ll essentially be using your MacBook Pro–or comparable, compatible notebook–in a mode that resembles Motorola’s Atrix 4G with the Laptop Dock and Webtop OS. You’ll utilize the notebook’s screen and full-sized keyboard along with trackpad, but you’ll derive your computing power from the modular ARM board add-on rather than the Atrix 4G in this case.

Image: Courtesy of Flickr

Via: JKK Mobile

CUPP Hybrid Brings ARM CPU, Android to Your OS X-Powered MacBook Pro is a post by Chuong Nguyen from Notebooks.com.

Heating up the mobile CPU war with ARM-based chip designs, Intel has shown off its Medfield processor design, which the company hopes to deploy into smartphones, handhelds, and tablets–spaces that ARM has dominated over the years.

Intel says that Medfield offers better performance as the system on a chip utilizes a new 32 nm manufacturing process that combines the Medfield CPU and the chipset into a single die compared to the older generation Moorestown design, which utilizes a separate CPU chip (45 nm) and chipset (65 nm) design. By integrating the chip and the chipset, the Medfield SoC will offer greater performance while reducing power consumption, leading Intel to claim that it is the most efficient mobile chip architecture in the world with the longest usage time in between charging.

The chips will begin to ship to manufacturers by the end of the year.

Via: GSM Arena

Intel Claims Atom-Based Medfield CPU to be Most Efficient is a post by Chuong Nguyen from Notebooks.com.

At the Innovation Qualcomm conference in London, during a Q&A session, Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs confirmed that the company will be shipping the new dual core 1.5GHz Snapdragon processor chipset during the first three months of 2011. This will enable dual core mobile devices to ship during the first half of next year, said Jacobs in response to a question from Sascha Pallenberg of Netbooknews about when consumers could expect to see these devices.

Snapdragon is a chipset technology with an ARM processor which Qualcomm is designing for smartphones and other mobile electronics, like tablets. The key features include long battery life, due to the very low power needed to run Snapdragon, and better multimedia platform for HD video and other graphics.The bump in speed and the fact that it has two cores for multitasking this chipset should provide a significant performance boost.

Pallenberg told us:

“It seems that Qualcomm is really pushing to get Snapdragon into future tablets and handhelds, because they will face quite some competition with Tegra 2 and Intel’s Moorestown.”

Below is a video Pallenberg made showing off the Snapdragon architecture running a game called ilomilo on a prototype from Qualcomm.

Here is a video from Qualcomm demonstrating the fluidity of the video in Snapdragon.

Qualcomm Will Ship 1.5GHz Snapdragon Processor in Q1 2011 is a post by Kevin Purcell from Notebooks.com.

If Intel has its way you’ll soon see Android running on Intel Atom powered netbooks and slates. APCMag reports that Intel has set developers to task “Atomising” Android over the next two months, with the expectation of providing a release to developers yet this summer.

The Intel developers are working on converting Android 2.2, “FroYo” from an ARM processor, like those found in android smartphones, to the x86 platform which is what powers netbooks, notebooks and in the future some powerful smartphones.

While we have already seen Android on netbooks, like the Toshiba AC100, these have been restricted to ARM processors. The release of a native version of Android optimized and designed for x86 processors could spur development of low-cost tablets and netbooks that run on Android. When the project is done, later this summer, Intel will be releasing the code back to the Android development community for use and further improvement.

Personally I am excited to see what Intel can do to bring more powerful tablets, with the more polished FroYo Android operating system. When it comes to netbooks Windows 7 is a good fit for my needs, but if a manufacturer brings an iPad competitor I could be tempted. There’s always the chance we’ll see some kind of cool MID, mobile internet connected device, that leverages an Intel Atom processor and the Android OS to shake things up.

Ultimately, it will depend on the Android Market, which has traditionally been a mixed bag on non smartphones. If manufacturers can get the full Android market on an “Atomised Android” release hen perhaps the vision I shared above can come true. An Android device, or any similar internet connected device, cannot survive without an app store. Good or bad, if the device is to be used by the general public it needs an app store to work.

For a collection of other opinions on the creation of an x86 version of the Android operating system, ComputerWorld’s IT Blogwatch has rounded up many opinions on what effect, if any this will have on the industry.

Intel Readies Android for Atom Powered Netbooks and Slates is a post by Josh Smith from Notebooks.com.

While Google is busy working on a Chrome Operating System for notebooks which will be available later this year, some manufacturers have taken it in their own hands to put the Google Android Mobile Operations System on cheap ARM powered notebooks.

Charbax from Armdevices.net has been testing the Hivision PWS700CA Android powered notebook, which he thinks could easily be sold at retailers like Walmart or Best Buy for under $100.

As he points out in the video review of the Hivision PWS700CA, Android is replacing Windows CE and other “crappy” versions of Linux as the operating system on these very cheap computers which is a welcome change but the demonstration shows that there are still some limitations.

While it is great to see a more modern operating system coming to these ultra cheap devices the video demonstration only highlights the problem with putting an inherently mobile and touchscreen based OS onto a non touchscreen device. The function keys have had to be tweaked to handle standard home and menu buttons found on mobile phones, the on screen keyboard shows up even though there is a hard keyboard attached, you have to click and move the page for scrolling and there is no access to the official Android Marketplace.

Still, the device is snappy and loads web pages pretty fast over the MiFi connection that is being used and it looks much better than the Windows CE cheap notebooks that I have seen. Hopefully Hivision will be able to make the Android OS work better on a notebook style device before they attempt to bring it to market. Even with the Chrome OS coming quickly, an ARM powered Android Notebook like the Hivision PWS700CS has a place in the market so long as they can overcome the hurdles of porting a touchscreen driven OS to a non touchscreen device.

image via Armdevices.net

Hivision PWS700CA Specs:

• Rockchip RK2808 600mhz ARM926 processor
• 128SDRAM
• 7″ 800×480 screen
• 720p Video playback support
• WiFi, Ethernet, audio input/output
• Weighs 1.4 pounds
• Estimated cost under $100

Review of the $100 Android Notebook: Hivision PWS700CA is a post by Josh Smith from Notebooks.com.