Friday, January 24, 2014

GADGET GIZMO SPECIAL.................. Over the Top LAPTOPS


Over the Top LAPTOPS 
 
Laptop makers broke convention in the year just gone by. A look back at some of the unique designs that made it to the market



Sony Vaio Duo 13
The Vaio Duo 13 has an innovative form factor that provides the best of tablet and laptop worlds: it’s light enough to be used a tablet and at the same time offers a laptop mode with large keys and a trackpad. The screen slides open with a flick to reveal the keyboard, it offers a stylus, 13.3 inch full HD touchscreen and impressive battery life in a device that weighs a mere 1.3kg.


Acer Iconia W4
Acer is the only one who thought of putting a full Windows 8 experience into a form factor that you can use in one hand. The original, with a similar size, was the W3. This year, the W4 addresses all the shortcomings of the original to become a truly usable (and affordable) Windows 8 computer that you can carry with you in a jacket pocket.


Asus Taichi
Asus obviously thinks that two screens are a better approach than a single, swivelling one. But this also made the Taichi quite pricey. Both screens have a full HD resolution: the outer one offers capacitive touch so that you can use it as a tablet with the lid closed. Both screens can also remain on and mirrored, while dual screen mode enables a different display on both.


Asus Transformer Book Trio
This is a machine bursting with innovation. Not only is it a ‘detachable’ with a removable screen, it is actually two machines in one. With the screen docked on the keyboard, it’s a touchscreen Windows 8 laptop. Remove the screen and you can use it like an Android tablet. Meanwhile, the dock itself can be connected to another display as used as a standalone Windows machine.

Dell XPS 12
The XPS 12 was actually launched in late 2012 (updated in 2013 with 4th gen Intel processors) –however, we still chose to include it here because it kickstarted innovation in laptop design. Called the ‘ferris wheel’ design, the XPS 12 has a touchscreen that swivels inside a machined aluminium frame. It can be used as a conventional touch laptop or as a tablet (with the lid closed).


    Acer Aspire R7
The R7 has what Acer calls an ‘Ezel’ hinge. Thanks to this unique design, it can be used as a conventional laptop, as a tablet (with the lid closed and screen facing up) or in the third ‘Ezel’ mode – with the screen pulled closer toward you. You’ll also notice that the laptop touchpad is placed close to the screen as opposed to the normal location below the keyboard. 

Hitesh Raj Bhagat  ET140104

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