CES 2018: Dell, HP & Samsung Windows 10 Laptops Debut

Manufacturers including HP, Samsung, Dell and Acer have launched Windows 10 laptops at CES as the electronics show kicks off in Las Vegas.

At the event HP announced a new version of its Envy x2 convertible tablet-laptop powered by an 7th-generation Intel Core Y-series processor, complementing the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835-based version already announced.

Qualcomm’s chip is built into high-end smartphones such as the Galaxy S8, but the Intel version of HP’s x2 means users can run Windows 10 Home instead of Windows 10 S.

It sports the same fanless design with LTE as the Qualcomm-powered laptop, but is slightly thicker and heavier and has a shorter battery life – 16.5 hours instead of 20.

Intel-powered Envy x2

HP’s Envy x2 sports a 12.3-inch, 1,920 x 1,280-pixel touch display protected by Gorilla Glass 4 and comes with 256GB SSD storage and up to 8GB of RAM.

The screen has laptop, reading or tablet positions and the x2 also includes a 13-megapixel rear camera and 5MP front camera, two USB Type-C ports, a microSD slot, a SIM card slot, a 3.5mm audio jack, keyboard and stylus.

The laptop is set to launch in the spring alongside the Qualcomm-powered x2, with pricing to be announced later.

HP’s laptop is one of the first to run Windows 10 on ARM, which uses an energy-efficient architecture for long battery life, and offers Win32 application compatibility via emulation.

The company also announced the performance-oriented Spectre x360 15 laptop with an 8th-generation Intel Core Core quad-core chip, discrete graphics, a 4K UHD 15.6-inch Gorilla Glass 4 touch display and optional HP Tilt Pen.

The laptop is set for availability on 18 March with pricing starting at $1,370 (£1,010).

Samsung trio

Samsung announced three Windows 10 laptops, the Notebook 7 Spin, Notebook 9 Pen and Notebook 9, all of which are set to go on sale in the US in the first quarter of this year.

The Spin is a convertible laptop with a 1080p rotating touchscreen, an 8th-generation Intel Core i5 chip, 8GB of RAM, a fingerprint sensor and support for the Samsung Active Pen, which isn’t included.

The higher-end Samsung Notebook 9 Pen, which went on sale in South Korea last month, has a 360-degree hinge and a 13.3-inch Full HD touchscreen, an 8th-generation Core i7 chip and up to 16GB of DDR4 RAM.

It supports the included S-Pen and has a metal chassis built of a lightweight magnesium aluminium alloy called Metal12.

The Notebook 9 comes in three versions whose screens range from 13.3 inches to 15 inches, with the Core i7 chip and up to 16GB of RAM, 1080p displays and 720p cameras.

Users can optionally purchase a massive 1TB SSD and 75Wh batteries. The Notebook 9 is also currently available in South Korea.

Dell XPS 13

Dell has launched what it calls the world’s smallest 13.3-inch laptop, the XPS 13, which it says is 24 percent smaller by volume than last year’s 2-in-1 model and twice the performance of the original version.

The laptop measures 0.46 inches thick, compared to last year’s 0.66 inches, but replaces the previous version’s two USB 3.0 slots with a single USB-C port and two Thunderbolt-3 ports, one of which is used by the AC adaptor.

The new model brings back cooling fans and adds Gore cooling technology, a thin, flexible material by the makers of Gore-Tex. The screen is now made of Gorilla Glass 4 with the bezel reduced to 4 millimetres.

The laptop has a fold-behind keyboard and can double as a tablet, with touchscreen optional.

It comes in black or rose gold models, the latter of which features a stain-resistant alpine white woven glass fibre. The Dell laptop is available immediately with pricing starting at $1,000.

Acer Swift 7

Dell may have some competition for laptop thinness, however, with Acer also launching an the ultra-thin Swift 7 (SF714-51) at 8.98 mm, or a mere 0.35 inches in depth.

Set to go on sale in April, with prices starting at a whopping $1,699, the eye-catching laptop features a 14-inch touchscreen with narrow bezels, 4G LTE and a 7th-generation Intel Core i7 chip.

Other features include a 256GB SSD, 8GB of LPDDR3 memory and a fingerprint reader.

CES continues through Friday.

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