Acer America today announced the Oct. 26th availability of its highly anticipated Acer Aspire S7 Touch Ultrabook Series in North America. Previewed in Europe and Asia, the S7 has already been hailed as one of the most exciting Windows 8-based touch Ultrabooks to debut this holiday season. As thin as a tablet, the Aspire S7 has a simple, clean design with embellishments kept to a minimum to maintain a clean and elegant look. The use of straight lines, glossy white glass, glowing light and anodized aluminum have culminated in notebooks that champion cutting-edge technology alongside innovative design.

"Acer took a fresh approach to the design and development of the Aspire S7, using premium construction methods and materials," said Sumit Agnihotry, vice president of product marketing for Acer. "We also used cutting-edge manufacturing processes that are not typically used in the PC industry, but were necessary to achieve the high level of engineering and design quality we set for the S7."

Toshiba UK today announces the launch of the Satellite U920T - a new hybrid device combining the ease-of-use, wake up time and performance of an Ultrabook with a tablet's touchscreen interface and portability. The 31.8cm (12.5") touchscreen transforms easily from laptop mode to a tablet with a simple sliding motion that reveals a full size keyboard.

The Satellite U920T is perfect for users looking for a versatile computer in an extremely compact form. Offering the best of both worlds for both content consumption and creation, the convertible Ultrabook can be operated in tablet mode, or in a more traditional laptop position when required, such as writing lengthy emails or for web chats.

Like its compatriot Sony, Toshiba has taken advantage of IFA 2012 to showcase a Windows 8 hybrid machine that can be used as a tablet or as an ultrabook, depending on its owner's needs. Known as the Satellite U925t, Toshiba's 'best of both worlds' mobile solution is just 0.78 inches thick, it weighs 3.2 pounds (~ 1.45 kg), and features a 12.5-inch sliding touchscreen (protected by Gorilla Glass), a backlit keyboard, an Intel Core i5 (Ivy Bridge) processor, a 128 GB SSD, a rear-facing 3-megapixel camera, and a HD webcam.

The U925t also has two USB 3.0 ports, a HDMI output, support for Intel's Wireless Display technology, NFC, and comes pre-loaded with a few branded apps like Desktop Assist, Toshiba Central, App Place, News Place and Book Place. Toshiba's creation is expected to become available on October 26th (Windows 8's launch day) priced just north of $1,000.

According to a fresh report, in Q2 Dell will be releasing a new XPS 15 laptop, one that makes use of Intel's 3rd generation Core processors (codename Ivy Bridge), has a chassis just 24.2 mm thick (down from 38 mm of the current XPS 15), and packs a 15.6-inch WLED-backlit Full HD (1920 x 1080) display protected by Gorilla Glass.

The upgraded XPS 15 is said to feature a Core i5-3210M or Core i7-3612M CPU, up to 16 GB of RAM, a 1 TB HDD or a 512 GB SSD, a GeForce GT 630M or GT 640M graphics card, a glass trackpad, a 3-in-1 card reader, USB 3.0 connectivity, Gigabit Ethernet, WiFi, Bluetooth 3.0, and both HDMI and mini DisplayPort outputs. The laptop's release date and pricing scheme have yet to leak.

Announced last month, Dell's XPS 13 13.3-inch Ultrabook has now become available for purchase bearing a starting price tag of $999. The XPS 13 is 0.71" at its thickest point and features an aluminum casing with a carbon fiber composite base, an edge-to-edge LED-backlit (1366 x 768) display protected by Gorilla Glass, a full size backlit chiclet keyboard, a glass integrated button touchpad, and a 6-cell (non-replaceable) battery enabling up to 8 hours and 53 minutes of operation per charge.

Dell's mobile machine packs a 1.6 GHz Core i5-2467M or a 1.7 GHz Core i7-2637M processor, 4 GB of RAM, Intel HD Graphics 3000, a 128 GB or 256 GB solid state drive, two 1.5 W speakers, a 1.3 megapixel webcam, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi and Bluetooth 3.0 connectivity, a mini DisplayPort output, and two USB ports (one USB 3.0 and one USB 2.0).

The XPS 13 can be ordered via this page.

Corning Incorporated today announced the first shipments of Corning Gorilla Glass 2 to key device makers who plan to utilize the glass in new consumer electronics devices planned for release in 2012.

"Corning's new glass composition, Gorilla Glass 2, enables slimmer and sleeker devices, brighter images, and greater touch sensitivity, providing an ideal solution for the newest, most sophisticated smartphones, tablets, and personal computers," said David R. Velasquez, global director, Marketing and Commercial Operations, Corning Gorilla Glass.