The Touch interface of Windows 8 has
prompted the return of an old and mostly forgotten form factor: the
convertible notebook. Mostly laptop but with some way of transforming
into a tablet, these portable PCs try to do two things well.
Microsoft tried this a decade ago with
Windows XP Tablet PC Edition. According
to an analyst at IDC, only half a million tablets shipped with
that operating system in 2003, including both convertibles and pure
tablet PCs. The same year, nearly 40 million standard notebooks
shipped. Not exactly a resounding success.
Things have changed, though. The
industry is different, Microsoft has a different attitude, and
technology has advanced. What could make convertible tablets a
success this time around?
The Embrace of Touch:
Windows XP Tablet PC Edition was a
compromise, and not a very imaginative one. It took Windows XP and
added a few tools that made it friendlier to stylus input. That still
meant every tablet had to come with a stylus – and smart consumers
bought a few extra for when they inevitably misplaced the first.
This time around, the input device is
the finger. Perhaps – oh, who are we kidding, of course –
prompted by the success of the iPad, Microsoft realised that users
needed a direct connection to the screen to see it as an improvement.
Otherwise, they were still using an input peripheral. The stylus was
just a different kind of mouse or keyboard.
Realising that goal required more of a
re-imagining of the interface than Windows XP Tablet PC Edition ever
was. Rather than simply replacing the mouse cursor with the tip of a
stylus so that tiny interface widgets could be touched with
precision, those widgets needed to be made larger to accommodate
fingertips. And once those widgets became that large, they needed to
contain information, because they took up too much screen real estate
to leave blank. Thus were born the Live Tiles of Windows 8.
Better Touchscreens, Better Laptops:
In the dark old days of 2003, there
were two main types of touchscreens: resistive and capacitive.
Capacitive screens were more responsive, but required an electrically
conductive stylus. (A finger would work, but those darn tiny
interface widgets…) Resistive screens required a firmer press, but
any stylus, pencap, or moderately pointy thingy worked. In short,
there were benefits and drawbacks to each solution, leading to no
real winner in the marketplace.
Now, in 2012, you’d be hard-pressed
to find a resistive touchscreen anywhere. Capacitive screens used to
cost more to produce, but economies of scale have erased that
disadvantage, and the ascendance of the finger as primary input
device make its use a no-brainer. The fact that they can be designed
to detect several touches at a time makes them even more desirable.
The internals of laptops have improved
as well. The increase in speed of processors isn’t so essential to
the success of modern convertibles, though, as is increased density.
More processing power can be packed in less space, along with more
storage and memory capacity. It all doesn’t need as much cooling,
either, allowing notebooks to be slimmer.
Which brings us to notebook
manufacturers.
More Creative Convertible Designs:
As pointed out by
Scott M. Fulton of ReadWrite.com, Windows PC 8 notebooks can look
“Darn
Different” from notebooks of the past. The touch interface
prompted notebook makers to come up with different methods of getting
the keyboard out of the way when it wasn’t needed.
Toshiba and Sony opted to slide the
screen over the keyboard with their convertible models. HP’s
Atom-based convertible detaches altogether from the keyboard dock,
much like’s Microsoft’s own Surface detaches from its keyboard
cover. Dell’s solution was to flip the screen within its bezel and
fold it back down upon the keyboard.
Lenovo hedged its bets and created
three different solutions. The Lynx unhooks from the keyboard like
HP’s tablet and the Surface; the Twist looks like convertibles of
days past, with the screen twisting 180 degrees on a central pivot
point and folding back down; and the Yoga simply keeps opening, going
from a closed clamshell to an open clamshell laptop all the way to a
tablet with the keyboard on the opposite side.
All these creative form factors try to
give consumers a tablet and a notebook in a single device. They’re
thicker than dedicated tablets, to be sure, and generally larger
screens make them heavier and bulkier. But they’re light and thin
enough that users just might accept the compromise.
At least, that’s what Microsoft,
Dell, HP, Lenovo, Sony, Toshiba, and other manufacturers are hoping.
John “jaQ” Andrews writes for
Zco
Corporation, one of the largest developers of mobile
applications, 3D content and custom software in the world.
