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Microsoft knew it was going to ruffle the feathers of some of its manufacturing partners when it unveiled plans to produce its own tablet computer, but now the feathers are starting to fly.

While the Surface is Microsoft's attempt to compete with the iPad and the slew of Android tablets on the market, the tablet will also be competing with similar devices from Microsoft's own partners, which were not informed about the Surface until just before its announcement in June.

That new competition led Acer CEO JT Wang to tell the Financial Times that Microsoft's plans to … Read more

Acer, Intel, Qualcomm, and SingTel-Optus have joined Futuremark's "Benchmark Development Program" in order to create industrywide benchmarks for the gaming industry.

The to-be-launched 3D gaming benchmark is primarily concerned with games developed for Google's Android operating system, found on smartphones and tablets.

Input, opinions and expertise are gathered through the program, which will be used to create the industrywide standards that can measure and rate the performance of game titles and software packages.

Jukka Makinen, Futuremark CEO said:

For more than 10 years, we have worked with the world's leading PC hardware manufacturers to create … Read more

Hewlett-Packard, Acer, and Lenovo, among others, are expected to bring out Windows 8 tablets using Intel's latest system-on-a-chip.

HP and Acer are working on designs, a source familiar with the vendors' plans told CNET. In addition, details leaked today about a Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet 2, which will also use Intel's Clover Trail system-on-a-chip (SoC).

These Intel-based Windows 8 designs are distinctly different from Windows RT tablets that will use ARM chips. Windows RT devices use a version of Windows 8 that does not offer backward-compatibility with the millions of existing Windows software programs. Intel-based systems offer that compatibility. … Read more

Uh oh, looks like Mircrosoft's partners really are not big fans of the Surface.

Oliver Ahrens, Acer's senior VP and president for Europe, Middle East and Africa, told Reuters that Microsoft's strategy to take on Apple with the Surface tablet will fail.

Microsoft left its partners in the dark about its tablet, releasing it this week at a secretive, Apple-style press event. While it generated some buzz, there are still questions around price, battery life, and connectivity that may take away from its initial energy. And Ahren's comments probably don't help.

"I don't … Read more

How big can an ultrabook be before it stops seeming like one? Back at CES, the Acer Timeline Ultra M3 looked like a lot of other Acer Timelines: thin and full-featured, but not particularly "ultrabooky."

A few months later, we got some in-depth hands-on time with the Acer Timeline Ultra M3-581TG, featuring impressive Nvidia graphics and last-gen Intel processors. It turns out that that M3 won't see the light of day in the U.S., but its successor -- the Timeline Ultra M5 -- will, and it'll be available to order by the end of June.

Read our first take of the Acer Aspire Timeline Ultra M5.… Read more

Microsoft's objective in unveiling its new Surface tablet is to prod device makers to bring out Windows 8 tablets, then withdraw from the tablet market once that's accomplished, according to reported comments from Acer founder Stan Shih.

Microsoft "has no real intention to sell own-brand tablet PCs," according to a report in Taipei-based Digitimes, citing Shih.

"Once the purpose is realized, Microsoft will not offer more models," the report said.

Shih reportedly goes on to say that the strategy was conceived as way to "encourage" device makers to bring out Windows 8 … Read more

The broad mainstream future of Thunderbolt is in question, but there's no doubt it's already useful for people with heavy computing demands.

With hundreds of gigabytes of high-resolution digital photographs and a smaller but still bulky collection of video, I'm one of them.

To supply fast external storage for my Dell laptop, for a few years now I've relied on eSATA -- an external version of the SATA standard used to connect hard drives inside computer chassis. It's functional but prickly: the external drive must be powered on before the computer, sleep and wake can … Read more

Intel believes Thunderbolt will remake mobile computing by endowing laptops with a high-speed, versatile port.

To match Intel's mainstream ambitions for Thunderbolt, though, Intel will have to prove to hardware designers and to consumers that it's got compelling advantages over the alternatives. Today, those are chiefly USB (Universal Serial Bus) and HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface. Tomorrow, another challenger could arrive in the form of PCI Express Cable, and it's got a strong ally in PC giant Hewlett-Packard.

Getting new input-output technologies to catch on is particularly hard because I/O standards only succeed with support from both … Read more

To some, Thunderbolt is just a port on the side of a MacBook, a mere check-box on a feature list.

But to Intel, the high-speed communication technology is an ambitious attempt to do something that only happens every decade or so in the computing industry: rewrite the rules of how people plug stuff into their computers.

Thunderbolt arrived in 2011 with the potential to bring the flexibility of a tower computer to something as compact as an ultrabook. And it's got a bright future in premium and professional products, as events this week show.

First, Apple's new Retina display-equipped MacBook Pro … Read more