W.A.Khan, HP Envy x2 The Envy x2 impressed us. Its outstanding industrial design really shows the potential of a tablet/laptop hybrid. The HP Envy x2 has a clean, comfortable design and feels lightweight in tablet form. It has excellent battery life, and works just as well as a laptop as it does as a tablet. Performance: Unfortunately, as soon as we start talking performance we’re confronted by the fact that Clover Trail is still Atom, and Atom is still not in any way, shape or form a performance chip – and that 2GB RAM maximum doesn’t help here either.Don’t get us wrong, for navigating through Windows and average daily use such as browsing the web and running apps or light programs, the Z2760 in the HP Envy x2 runs smooth as butter. Performance is consistently superior to that in the netbooks of yore, especially when it comes to HD video playback and light multi-tasking, and most non 3D-gaming apps you’ll find in the Windows store should run without a hitch.
However, proper multi-tasking; running intensive HD video simultaneously with another program; or using demanding programs like an image editor can still quite easily bring this kind of machine to its knees. In other words, as a tablet the x2 performs admirably, but as a laptop replacement you have to be prepared to put up with its limitations.
3D gaming in anything but the most casual titles, meanwhile, is also a big no-no. Even at minimum settings our test games simply refused to run or crashed after getting through the menus. Mind you, this is not surprising given that Intel’s integrated GMA 3600 chip paired with the Atom Z2760 is derived from an old PowerVR design the benefits of which Windows drivers don’t fully bring out. Hopefully updated drivers will eek out more performance. Battery life: Battery life is impressive, living up to HP’s claim of seven hours when we streamed video from BBC iPlayer. And, of course, there’s a second battery in the keyboard, which provides an additional seven hours of battery life. No ultrabook that weighs a similar amount can claim to last this long. But, The laptop mode is top-heavy, and the awkward tablet detachment mechanism isn’t perfect; it has limited ports; and a slower Atom processor means in performance it's far behind most ultrabooks, even though it’s priced like one. The bottom line: The HP Envy x2’s capacity to be a full Windows 8 tablet or dock with a keyboard works as well as advertised, provided you’re willing to live with slower performance at a high price. You’re paying for style.
Windows 8 (32-bit); 1.8GHz Intel Atom Z2760; 2GB DDR2 SDRAM 1,066MHz; 747MB (Total) Intel GMA; 64GB SSD Processor 1.8GHz Intel Atom Z2760
Memory 2GB, 1,066MHz DDR2
Hard drive 64GB SSD
Graphics Intel GMA
Operating system Windows 8
Dimensions (WD) 11.9x8.1 inches
Height 0.6-0.7 inch
Screen size (diagonal) 11.6 inches
System weight / Weight with AC adapter 3.1 pounds / 3.6 pounds (tablet + keyboard)
Category Ultraportable hybrid Price; $849 VS Asus Transformer Book TX300 The Asus Transformer Book TX300 is a rare hybrid with a Core i7 CPU, a high-res screen, and smart dual hard drives -- there's an SSD in the tablet half, and a larger hard drive in the keyboard base.The screen is fantastic, as is the overall build quality found across this aluminium-clad laptop. Quality oozes from every panel, and while it's in no way lightweight, the TX300 is thin enough to slip into a bag, although you'll feel it as you walk around.The tablet packs in a 38Whr battery, which gave us pretty good performance in Battery Eater Pro. We managed to get 2 hours and 28 minutes, which roughly translates to about 4-5-hours of real world usage. This is not bad considering we haven’t counted the battery in the dock as well.It runs Windows 8 on an Intel Core processor and also includes four gigabytes of RAM. Long-term storage is provided by 128Gb or 256GB solid state drives. This makes the system both a convertible and an Ultrabook. ASUS claims this is a world first, though that’s not exactly true. Dell and Lenovo have offered convertible Ultrabooks for months.The Asus Transformer Book TX300 is a great example of a hybrid laptop/tablet. Once the screen is attached, it turns into a true laptop with a high-performance processor and an excellent display. And as a tablet it's perfectly honourable.
But, The system is awkwardly top-heavy, and you feel as if you're fighting the touch pad at every turn.
The bottom line: Asus adds a lot of what I've been looking for in a hybrid to the Transformer Book, but no one has yet really nailed the perfect laptop/tablet combo. Specifications
Processor3rd Gen Core i7Intel i7-3517U / 1.9 GHz ( 3 GHz ) ( Dual-Core )
Memory4 GB
Hard Drive500 GB - Serial ATA-300 - 5400 rpm
Operating SystemWindows 8 64-bit Edition
Display Type13.3 in IPS
Max Resolution1920 x 1080 ( Full HD )
Graphics ProcessorIntel HD Graphics 4000
Optical DriveNone Price;$1,455 VS Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet 2 Lenovo's ThinkPad Tablet 2 is a Windows 8 Pro tablet with its own stylus aimed at business users and mobile workers.The Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet 2 is the best-looking Atom Windows 8 tablet yet, and the optional keyboard dock is excellent. All-day battery life makes it great for travel. Performance and Battery Life: Put a full version of Windows 8 on a tablet you're in for a bit of a juggle, just ask the Microsoft Surface Pro. You've got two balls to keep in the air: processing power and battery longevity. While the ThinkPad Tablet 2 often fumbles with the former, it flourishes with the latter.
Unlike the Surface Pro or the Surface RT, which are powered by an Intel i5 and an ARM processor respectively, this tablet has an Intel Atom chip. You may remember this processor from the netbook era of a few years ago, before tablets came along and cleaned their clocks. Now the Atom is back to power Windows 8 slates, like this and the Acer Iconia W510.The ThinkPad Tablet 2 handled web browsing well enough, with Internet Explorer at least. Sites load at an acceptable speed, and we were able to begin scrolling down the page almost instantly, before images and video embeds finished loading. Google Chrome, as well as the Google app, performed poorly though. There's an obvious need for a patch or two here.
The system had just enough grunt for some light multitasking. Using Window 8's neat split-screen feature, we could watch run a YouTube video while browsing news headlines in the Bing Daily news app. We also enjoyed listening to music via the Music app while playing some Angry Birds or Cut the Rope.
That's the limit of the ThinkPad Tablet 2's gaming and multitasking abilities. The low-wattage Atom processor is meant for battery life, not blazing speeds. Lenovo estimates the battery life at 10 hours. We generally came in around 8 hours, after taxing it with heavy web use and streaming video. That's not bad at all, enough to get you through the average work day, or to watch several movies on a long flight.While we enjoyed the battery life the Atom provided, it had us wondering why it was paired up with Windows 8. What's the point of making a device with wide compatibility if it doesn't have the horsepower to run the most important legacy apps? Food for thought, especially if you're between this and the more powerful but not as long lasting Microsoft Surface Pro, or just a regular old laptop.
But, The Tablet 2 is expensive, especially considering the small 64GB SSD, lack of USB 3.0, and generally slow Atom performance.
The bottom line: This Windows 8 tablet from Lenovo scores with great industrial design and battery life, but adding practically required accessories makes the ThinkPad Tablet 2 very expensive for what you get.
System configurations Windows 8 (32-bit); 1.8GHz Intel Atom Z2760; 2GB DDR2 SDRAM 800MHz; 737MB (Total) Intel GMA; 64GB MMC SSD Specifications
ProcessorIntel Atom
Operating SystemMicrosoft Windows 8
Display Type10.1 in
Weight1.3 lbs Price: $679.00
However, proper multi-tasking; running intensive HD video simultaneously with another program; or using demanding programs like an image editor can still quite easily bring this kind of machine to its knees. In other words, as a tablet the x2 performs admirably, but as a laptop replacement you have to be prepared to put up with its limitations.
3D gaming in anything but the most casual titles, meanwhile, is also a big no-no. Even at minimum settings our test games simply refused to run or crashed after getting through the menus. Mind you, this is not surprising given that Intel’s integrated GMA 3600 chip paired with the Atom Z2760 is derived from an old PowerVR design the benefits of which Windows drivers don’t fully bring out. Hopefully updated drivers will eek out more performance. Battery life: Battery life is impressive, living up to HP’s claim of seven hours when we streamed video from BBC iPlayer. And, of course, there’s a second battery in the keyboard, which provides an additional seven hours of battery life. No ultrabook that weighs a similar amount can claim to last this long. But, The laptop mode is top-heavy, and the awkward tablet detachment mechanism isn’t perfect; it has limited ports; and a slower Atom processor means in performance it's far behind most ultrabooks, even though it’s priced like one. The bottom line: The HP Envy x2’s capacity to be a full Windows 8 tablet or dock with a keyboard works as well as advertised, provided you’re willing to live with slower performance at a high price. You’re paying for style.
Windows 8 (32-bit); 1.8GHz Intel Atom Z2760; 2GB DDR2 SDRAM 1,066MHz; 747MB (Total) Intel GMA; 64GB SSD Processor 1.8GHz Intel Atom Z2760
Memory 2GB, 1,066MHz DDR2
Hard drive 64GB SSD
Graphics Intel GMA
Operating system Windows 8
Dimensions (WD) 11.9x8.1 inches
Height 0.6-0.7 inch
Screen size (diagonal) 11.6 inches
System weight / Weight with AC adapter 3.1 pounds / 3.6 pounds (tablet + keyboard)
Category Ultraportable hybrid Price; $849 VS Asus Transformer Book TX300 The Asus Transformer Book TX300 is a rare hybrid with a Core i7 CPU, a high-res screen, and smart dual hard drives -- there's an SSD in the tablet half, and a larger hard drive in the keyboard base.The screen is fantastic, as is the overall build quality found across this aluminium-clad laptop. Quality oozes from every panel, and while it's in no way lightweight, the TX300 is thin enough to slip into a bag, although you'll feel it as you walk around.The tablet packs in a 38Whr battery, which gave us pretty good performance in Battery Eater Pro. We managed to get 2 hours and 28 minutes, which roughly translates to about 4-5-hours of real world usage. This is not bad considering we haven’t counted the battery in the dock as well.It runs Windows 8 on an Intel Core processor and also includes four gigabytes of RAM. Long-term storage is provided by 128Gb or 256GB solid state drives. This makes the system both a convertible and an Ultrabook. ASUS claims this is a world first, though that’s not exactly true. Dell and Lenovo have offered convertible Ultrabooks for months.The Asus Transformer Book TX300 is a great example of a hybrid laptop/tablet. Once the screen is attached, it turns into a true laptop with a high-performance processor and an excellent display. And as a tablet it's perfectly honourable.
But, The system is awkwardly top-heavy, and you feel as if you're fighting the touch pad at every turn.
The bottom line: Asus adds a lot of what I've been looking for in a hybrid to the Transformer Book, but no one has yet really nailed the perfect laptop/tablet combo. Specifications
Processor3rd Gen Core i7Intel i7-3517U / 1.9 GHz ( 3 GHz ) ( Dual-Core )
Memory4 GB
Hard Drive500 GB - Serial ATA-300 - 5400 rpm
Operating SystemWindows 8 64-bit Edition
Display Type13.3 in IPS
Max Resolution1920 x 1080 ( Full HD )
Graphics ProcessorIntel HD Graphics 4000
Optical DriveNone Price;$1,455 VS Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet 2 Lenovo's ThinkPad Tablet 2 is a Windows 8 Pro tablet with its own stylus aimed at business users and mobile workers.The Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet 2 is the best-looking Atom Windows 8 tablet yet, and the optional keyboard dock is excellent. All-day battery life makes it great for travel. Performance and Battery Life: Put a full version of Windows 8 on a tablet you're in for a bit of a juggle, just ask the Microsoft Surface Pro. You've got two balls to keep in the air: processing power and battery longevity. While the ThinkPad Tablet 2 often fumbles with the former, it flourishes with the latter.
Unlike the Surface Pro or the Surface RT, which are powered by an Intel i5 and an ARM processor respectively, this tablet has an Intel Atom chip. You may remember this processor from the netbook era of a few years ago, before tablets came along and cleaned their clocks. Now the Atom is back to power Windows 8 slates, like this and the Acer Iconia W510.The ThinkPad Tablet 2 handled web browsing well enough, with Internet Explorer at least. Sites load at an acceptable speed, and we were able to begin scrolling down the page almost instantly, before images and video embeds finished loading. Google Chrome, as well as the Google app, performed poorly though. There's an obvious need for a patch or two here.
The system had just enough grunt for some light multitasking. Using Window 8's neat split-screen feature, we could watch run a YouTube video while browsing news headlines in the Bing Daily news app. We also enjoyed listening to music via the Music app while playing some Angry Birds or Cut the Rope.
That's the limit of the ThinkPad Tablet 2's gaming and multitasking abilities. The low-wattage Atom processor is meant for battery life, not blazing speeds. Lenovo estimates the battery life at 10 hours. We generally came in around 8 hours, after taxing it with heavy web use and streaming video. That's not bad at all, enough to get you through the average work day, or to watch several movies on a long flight.While we enjoyed the battery life the Atom provided, it had us wondering why it was paired up with Windows 8. What's the point of making a device with wide compatibility if it doesn't have the horsepower to run the most important legacy apps? Food for thought, especially if you're between this and the more powerful but not as long lasting Microsoft Surface Pro, or just a regular old laptop.
But, The Tablet 2 is expensive, especially considering the small 64GB SSD, lack of USB 3.0, and generally slow Atom performance.
The bottom line: This Windows 8 tablet from Lenovo scores with great industrial design and battery life, but adding practically required accessories makes the ThinkPad Tablet 2 very expensive for what you get.
System configurations Windows 8 (32-bit); 1.8GHz Intel Atom Z2760; 2GB DDR2 SDRAM 800MHz; 737MB (Total) Intel GMA; 64GB MMC SSD Specifications
ProcessorIntel Atom
Operating SystemMicrosoft Windows 8
Display Type10.1 in
Weight1.3 lbs Price: $679.00
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