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.
