Windows 8 touch screen devices

These Windows 8 devices cover the major differences among the currently available touch hardware. There are Intel Core systems that are fast and powerful but don't have great battery life and there are Intel Atom Z2760 systems that aren't as fast but get really good battery life. There are standard DPI displays and Hi-DPI displays (anything smaller than 12.6" with 1080p resolution is automatically set to Hi-DPI mode in Metro.) Finally, there are notebooks, tablets, and tablet convertible things.

I've tested all of these extensively (and about a dozen that aren't listed here because they weren't terribly compelling or were downright awful) and they are solid machines that I expect well represent the device mix in the market this year.

Notebooks

• Acer Aspire S7 (11" touchscreen laptop)
  • Intel Core i5-3317U 1.7 - 2.6 GHz
  • 4 GB RAM
  • 1920 x 1080 capacitive touch (Hi-DPI)
  • 128 GB SSD

• Acer Aspire S7 (13" touchscreen laptop)
  • Intel Core i5-3317U 1.7 - 2.6 GHz
  • 4 GB RAM
  • 1920 x 1080 capacitive touch
  • 128 GB SSD

• Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Touch (14" Ultrabook)
  • Intel Core i7-3667U 2.0 - 3.2 GHz
  • 8 GB RAM
  • 1600 x 900 capacitive touch
  • 256 GB SSD

• Asus VivoBook S550C
  • Intel Core i5-3317U 1.7 - 2.6 GHz
  • 4 GB RAM
  • 16:9 HD (1366x768) LED Backlight Glare panel (15.6" Touchscreen Ultrabook)
  • 750GB+24GB(SSD)

Convertibles and Tablets

• Microsoft Surface Pro (10.6" tablet thing)
  • Intel Core i5-3317U 1.7 - 2.6 GHz
  • 4 GB RAM
  • 1920 x 1080 capacitive touch (Hi-DPI)
  • 128 GB SSD
  • (supports stylus input)

• Acer Iconia W510 (10.1" tablet and clamshell keyboard dock)
  • Intel Atom Z2760 1.80 GHz
  • 2 GB RAM
  • 1366 x 768 capacitive touch
  • 64 GB SSD
  • (~16 hour battery life with keyboard attached! nicest standalone tablet too.)

• Dell Latitude 10 (10.1" tablet)
  • Intel Atom Z2760 1.8 GHz
  • 2 GB RAM
  • 1366 X 768 capacitive touch
  • 64 GB SSD
  • (Accelerometer, Gyroscope, and Compass! Removable battery! Very nice tablet.)

• Acer Iconia W3-810 (8" tablet)
  • Total crap in every way, but cheap and OK for testing.

Promising but untested devices

• ASUS ZENBOOK Touch UX31A (13.3" Ultrabook)
  • Intel Core i7-3667U 2.0 - 3.2 GHz
  • 4 GB RAM
  • 1920 x 1080 capacitive touch
  • 256 MB (hybrid?)

• ASUS TAICHI 21 (11.6" dual-screen convertible)
  • Intel Core i7-3517U 1.9 - 3.0 GHz
  • 4 GB RAM
  • 1920 x 1080 and 1920 x 1080 capacitive touch
  • 256 GB SSD
  • (stylus input support, two screens!)