tablet

Consumers looking for an iPad Mini now stand a better chance of grabbing one for the holidays.

The wait time for the 7-inch tablet through the Apple online store just dropped to one week from two weeks. The new estimate applies to all variations of the Mini, from the 16GB Wi-Fi-only edition to the 64GB Wi-Fi + Cellular version.

The shorter ship time comes amidst reports that production of the new tablet had been hampered by manufacturing challenges at panel supplier AU Optronics. Apple uses both AU and LG Display to make the Mini's display panels. A recent DigiTimes story … Read more

As if we didn't already know that the tablet market is the hottest thing this side of a pizza oven, IDC today raised its forecast for the tablet market for 2012 and beyond.

The fuel for the fired-up forecast? Greater variety among tablet choices as new, and often cheaper, devices crowd onto store shelves.

"Tablets continue to captivate consumers, and as the market shifts toward smaller, more mobile screen sizes and lower price points, we expect demand to accelerate in the fourth quarter and beyond," Tom Mainelli, IDC's research director for tablets, said in a statement.… Read more

Toshiba has announced a new addition to its lineup of Excite tablets. The Excite 10 SE tablet comes equipped with a 10.1-inch screen, Android 4.1, and an Nvidia Tegra 3 processor.

The tablet starts at $349.99 for the 16GB model and will be available for purchase starting on December 6.

The Excite 10 SE is the third 10.1-inch tablet Toshiba has introduced in its family of tablets this year, although it is the first that runs Android 4.1.

Toshiba has been ambitious in its 2012 lineup of Excite tablets, which at one point included the … Read more

Not satisfied with the current crop of Android tablets and the restrictions Google often places on its mobile OS? Finally, the Linux army has its own portable, touch-screen option.

As of this morning, PengPod, a spin-off of a Florida-based importing company, officially closed its crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo for its line of open Linux and Android-based tablets and mini-PCs on a stick.

It wasn't a barn-burner campaign like some of those seen on Kickstarter for things like the Ouya game console or Pebble smart watch, but it did raise more than $72,000 to meet its $49,000 goal and be able to start production.… Read more

A new tablet could be in the works from the folks who brought us the Google Nexus 7.

A few specs about the potential tablet recently popped up on benchmark site GLBenchmark.

The limited details revealed so far point to a Jelly Bean flavored tablet with a 1GHz processor, a Mali 400 graphics chip, and a screen resolution of 1,024x552 pixels (likely 1,024x600), as described by blog site Cult of Android.

Codenamed the Asus ME172V, the new tablet doesn't match the specs of the Nexus 7, which sports a 1,280x800-pixel resolution and a maximum processor speed … Read more

Intel is on a mission to cut the power consumption of its chips. But that's not only future silicon. The current Ivy Bridge chip will get throttled down too.

Intel will cut power consumption "significantly" for future versions of the chip, an industry source familiar with the chipmaker's plans told CNET.

Intel's most power efficient Ivy Bridge chips today -- used widely in Windows ultrabooks and Apple's MacBook Air -- are rated at 17 watts.

A future version of Ivy Bridge would be rated well below this, the source said. Processors able to throttle … Read more

Owners of the Google Nexus 7 and other 7-inch Android tablets can now remotely control their Xbox 360 consoles via a free app.

Updated yesterday, the Xbox SmartGlass for Android app acts as a second screen for your Xbox console. You can use the app on your phone or tablet to navigate your Xbox dashboard, control videos and music playing on your console, search Microsoft's Xbox catalog, and surf the Internet.

Until yesterday, the app worked only on certain Android devices. The release notes for the update don't list which 7-inch tablets the app now supports. But logging … Read more

How much does battery life matter to tablet users? Microsoft may soon find out, first hand.

Microsoft went public today with pricing for its Surface Pro PC/tablet devices -- the Intel-based ones running Windows 8 Pro that will allow users to run their existing third-party apps on the desktop. The 64GB version will be $899; the 128GB version, $999. (Both prices include a pen, but no touch or type keyboard/cover. So add another $120 to $130 for that.)

Pricing is not all the team shared about the Microsoft-branded Surface Pros, due out in January 2013.

Surface Pros are … Read more

Ever since Microsoft unveiled the Windows RT Surface and its much more PC-like Windows 8 Surface Pro sibling, the big question has been about price. Well, consider the question answered: the Surface Pro will cost $899 for a 64GB version, and $999 for 128GB of storage.

A full ultrabook-level Intel Core i5 processor, 10.6-inch 1,920x1,080-pixel display, 4GB of RAM, and an included Surface Pen are some of the Surface Pro's distinguishing features. Those sexy Touch Covers and Type Covers, both of which are compatible with the Surface Pro, will be sold separately. The real question, of … Read more