Intel's Reference 'North Cape' Laptop / Tablet Design Has 10 + 3 Hours of Battery Life
Intel's "North Cape" reference laptop / tablet features 10 + 3 hours of battery life and a 13" / 11.6" transforming display.
This year we’ve seen some interesting hybrid laptop / tablet concepts and designs from both AMD and Intel. Engadget was able to get a hands-on look at the latter company’s “North Cape” reference design at an Intel’s recent “Intel's Innovation Future Showcase” in London.
“North Cape” is, of course, powered by an Intel “Haswell” processor and features a 13” FHD (1920 x 1080) display that when detached from the keyboard dock shrinks to a more “hand friendly” 11.6” capacitive screen that will “ignore your grip along the sides of the screen.” Intel reckons that this will enable users to get the widescreen real estate they require for standard laptop use, along with a “tablet that won’t stutter as you handle it.”
It is also worth noting that detaching the screen from the keyboard can be done with one hand and involves pressing a button on the screen’s top edge that activates an electrical catch that connects the two parts of the device.
Since the reference model wasn’t able to charge at the event, Engadget was not able to see any of the aforementioned features in action, but were able to get an “early glimpse of battery performance” and reported that you can expect up to 10 hours of battery life in tablet mode, which is extended by a further 3 hours with device’s keyboard battery.
There’s still no information as to when “North Cape” will be arriving to market or at what price, but we expect further information to be revealed at Computex, which is taking place in Taipei from June 4 to June 8.

I think the iPad currently is the the "high" of tablet pricing. At this price point it's more economical to buy a proper Ultrabook or 13" laptop with a larger battery.
Also, why wouldn't the keyboard tray offer a larger battery? It's not like there is a whole lot of hardware in there.
Also, why wouldn't the keyboard tray offer a larger battery? It's not like there is a whole lot of hardware in there.
The keyboard is probably super thin to make the combination tablet-keyboard manageable, thus it's got less room for a large battery.
"13” FHD (1920 x 1080) display that when detached from the keyboard dock shrinks to a more “hand friendly” 11.6” capacitive screen that will “ignore your grip along the sides of the screen.”
what worries me is the electronice ctach seems like somethign else to break to me, imo it should be mechanical and manual would suck to have a small servo go out and be stuck in laptop mode
If most notebooks will be like that, people who buy notebooks would hardly bother buying a tablet.
Win/Win for Wintel if it works.
If I had to design such a laptop, the main reason for putting a secondary battery in the keyboard would be to provide counter-weight for the docked screen/tablet and prevent it from tilting the keyboard over.
The keyboard battery likely isn't much larger/heavier than necessary to achieve that goal and would likely be located near the front of the keyboard (in the wrist rest/trackpad area) to maximize leverage.
Nothing particularly new here... basically MS Surface or Asus Transformer with a secondary battery stuffed in the keyboard.