MSI's Primo 81 is a 7.85-inch tablet with the same display as the iPad mini (hands-on)

It doesn't seem fair to call the MSI Primo 81 a KIRF iPad mini. Sure, it looks a helluva like Apple's smaller tablet, but it wouldn't be accurate to call it an imposter either. What we have here is a 7.85-inch Android slate that actually uses the same IPS, 1,024 x 768, LG-made display as the mini, putting it a step above a knockoff, if you ask us. In addition to those shared viewing angles, the Primo 81 has nearly identical dimensions, and it's almost as thin too (7.8mm thick vs. 7.2 on the mini). Even the matte finish is similar to the iPad's, and the build quality isn't bad either, even if it isn't quite on par with what Apple has to offer. As it happens, the Primo 81 isn't headed to the US, so the specs might be irrelevant to you, but in case you're tuning in from overseas, this thing runs Android 4.2, powered by a quad-core Allwinner A315 processor, 1GB of RAM and a 3,500mAh battery. No word yet on price or an on-sale date, unfortunately. In the meantime, we've got hands-on shots of that below, along with the similarly specced Primo 93, which takes after the iPad 4 with a 9.7-inch screen. With rubber accents on that one, though, you'd hardly mistake it for an Apple product.

Gigabyte PC revamps include game-ready Ultrabooks, AMD A4-based tablet (hands-on)

Gigabyte loves to pull out all the stops at Computex, and this year is no exception: the company just unveiled 11 (mostly) new laptops and tablets. According to a brochure on hand at the computer maker's demo table, the emphasis is chiefly on slimmer portables with both Haswell-era Core processors and some dedicated graphics firepower. The P34G and P35K Ultrablade models are equally 0.83 inches thick, but pack gaming-friendly GeForce GTX 760M (P34G) and 765M (P35K) video. More pedestrian Ultrabooks get a boost as well: both the touchscreen U24T (pictured above) and the non-touch U24F wield a mid-tier GeForce GT 750M. If you don't mind bulkier laptops, the Q2546N, Q2556N, U35F, P27K and P27W scale from the GeForce GT 740M through to the GTX 770M while allowing for more storage and Creative Sound Blaster audio tuning.
The tablet updates aren't nearly as extensive. Most of Gigabyte's energy centers on the 10-inch Slate S10A, a spin on the S1082 with an AMD Temash-based A4-1200 processor that delivers up to 14 hours of battery life. Other refreshes are even subtler: the 11.6-inch U21M convertible is similar to the U2142, while the dockable S1185 returns virtually unchanged outside from a new Padbook nickname. Release dates and prices aren't immediately available for any of the new systems, unfortunately, but you can peek at a few of the fresh models in our hands-on photos just below.

Seagate ships 5mm Laptop Ultrathin hard drive to ASUS, Dell and more

Western Digital may have been quick to release a 5mm hard drive, but it doesn't have a lock on the category: Seagate is entering the fray by shipping its own slim disk, the Laptop Ultrathin. Like its rival, the drive stuffs as much as 500GB of conventional, rotating storage into SSD-like dimensions ideal for Ultrabooks and some tablets. It even costs the same $89 as its WD counterpart, although we're more likely to find the disk built into our next PC than pick one up as an upgrade. Both ASUS and Dell have chosen the Laptop Ultrathin for new models, and we suspect they won't be alone.

ARM unveils Cortex-A12 CPU and Mali-T622 GPU in expectation of a mid-range boom

Few trend-spotters would disagree with the following prediction from ARM, but it's worth laying it out anyway: Of the 300 million mobile devices sold in 2010, the majority cost over $400. Within the next two years, however, these "crazy money" products (as a spokesperson described them) may represent just 25 percent of the total mobile market -- still huge in absolute terms, since almost two billion phones and tablets are forecast to be sold in 2015, but a distinct minority relative to entry-level and mid-range options.
In an effort to convert these expectations into an even taller heap of gold, ARM has just announced a new mid-range core, the Cortex-A12, which is designed to replace the aging Cortex-A9 while offering a 40 percent boost in performance. This gain will likely come with the added advantage of better battery life, since the Cortex-A12 will initially be fabricated at 28nm instead of 40nm, and will be offered to manufacturers alongside a new Mali GPU (the Mali-T622) and video engine (Mali-V500) that promise further power savings of their own. The Cortex-A12 will also support big.LITTLE configurations, allowing it to be installed alongside Cortex-A7 cores that will take over for low-effort tasks in order make further power savings. Big.LITTLE hasn't really blown us away so far, at least not on the Octa-core Galaxy S 4, but its wrinkles may well have been ironed out by mid 2014, which is when the Cortex-A12 is due to land. Check out the PR for more technical details on each component.