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Acer Reveals 8-inch Windows 8 Tablet

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Iconia w3Acer brings Windows 8 to the small (7-8-inch) tablet format at Computex 2013 with the Iconia W3, the first tablet the size of an iPad mini running the latest Microsoft OS.

Featuring regular Windows 8 (not RT), the 8-inch device weights 540g, is 11mm thick and carries a 1280x800 display, dual-core 1.8GHz Intel Atom processor, 2GB RAM, 32 or 64GB storage, front- and rear-facing 2MP cameras and micro-HDMI port.

The package also includes a full copy of Office and an optional full-size keyboard accessory similar to that of 13-inch Acer notebooks.

Will the Iconia W3 impress as a full-featured PC inside a dimunitive tablet? We will know more once it becomes available from July 2013.

Go Acer

Windows 8.1 "Blue": No Start Button No More

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If one is to believe Paul Thurrott's Supersite for Windows the Windows 8.1 (aka "Blue") update features a change set to please at least some Windows diehards-- the Start button makes a return in the bottom left corner of the desktop.

Blue StartReportedly this take on the Start button does not work as well as the one from Windows 7. As seen in leaked 8.1 update screenshots, it looks identical to the Start Charm, has similar animations and users can customise it to their preferences.

The website reports a further change to Window 8.1-- the update allows users to boot directly to desktop, skipping the Windows 8 Start Screen. One can also set a desktop wallpaper as the Start background, even if one needs to first enable such a feature.

SpeedUp Presents Pad at COMPUTEX 2013

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SpeedUp provides a first look at its tablet offering before launch at COMPUTEX 2013-- the SpeedUp Pad, a 7.85-inch Android 4.2.1 (Jelly Bean) device 7.9mm thick with 300g weight.

SpeedUp PadThe IPS display handles resolutions of up to 1024x768, while technical specifications include a 1.2GHz Snapdragon MTK 8389 quad-core CPU, 1GB RAM, 8GB storage and 5MP rear-/2MP front-facing cameras.

Connectivity comes through 3G (HSPA or EVDO Rev A).

The SpeedUp Pad should be available from August 2013 in select markets, namely Spain, Belgium and Germany.

Go SpeedUp Pad

HP Takes on Portable AIO PCs

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HP announces the Envy Rove20, an All-in-One (AIO) PC the company claims “frees the desktop PC from the desk and allows families and friends to enjoy a shared entertainment experience."

HP Rove 20Right! In other words, customers can use the 20-inch device as either a touch-enabled PC (complete with kick-stand, keyboard and mouse) or an oversized Windows 8 tablet.

Being battery-powered, the Rove20 can be carried around-- even if it does weigh 5.4kg. It also switches from upright to horizontal standing modes, with pre-installed multiplayer games (including Monopoly, Fingertapps and JgsWar Puzzle) turning it into a futuristic games board of sorts.

Nvidia Announces GeForce GTX 770

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Nvidia releases an upgrade on last year's GeForce GTX 680 with the GTX 770-- a graphics card aiming at the somewhat lower end of the gaming market behind the high-end GTX 780 and GTX Titan cards.

GTX 770The GTX 770 promises a 5% leap in performance over the GTX 680, but only through slight hops in memory speed (7GB/s vs 6GB/s) and clock speed (1046 vs 1006GHz) paired with an equal amount of CUDA cores (1536).

It includes the usual array of Nvidia gaming technologies-- PhysX physics, TXAA anti-aliasing, SLI multi-GPU technology, Experience driver software and single-click operation.

Nvidia also boasts of "nearly silent" operation thanks to new adaptive temperature controllers.

The GTX 770 is available now in either 2 or 4GB variants.

Go Nvidia GeForce GTX 770

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