GADGETGIZMO
SPECIAL
WHICH
PC Is Right For You?
Windows machines come in various form factors, with prices
starting
as low as `4,999. But how do you know which one is right for
you?
Different
Form Factors
There are many different form factors in laptops today -just
like there used to
be with mobile phones.
Each style can offer certain advantages to a type
of user.
Typically, you pay a premium for unique form factors as compared
to the
conventional laptop style -but if one of these form factors can
replace
two devices for your kind of use, you save money in the long
run.
Lenovo pioneered the Yoga form factor almost three years ago. It
was called
so because of the unique twoway hinge that allowed the screen to
swivel a
complete 360 degrees. The flexibility allows you to use it in
multiple ways:
as a conventional lap top, as a stand (with the screen facing
outwards and
keyboard facing down), as a tent (you can hang it on something),
flat on a
table (screen facing up, for collaboration around a table) and
as a tablet
(for media consumption). The ferris wheel style was a different
take on the
flexible screen -Dell has this design on the XPS 12, a premium
ultraportable
from their high-perfor mance XPS range. You could use it as a
conventional
laptop and as a tablet, but since this design was more focused
on style, the
various modes in between were left out. Apart from the
eye-catching style,
the other advantage was that it could be made much sleeker as a
tablet.
Detachables and convertibles are fairly new developments in the
laptop world
you'll a l s o hear them being called hybr i ds an d 2-in-1s.
The idea is simple:
tablets are lighter than
laptops and you can only use one device at a time,
so why not dispense with the extra weight and bulk when you
don't need it.
Various such designs exist now, with the prices starting as low
as `13,000
for basic Intel Atom powered machines like the Micromax Canvas
Laptab
and iBall WQ 149i, going up to `1,60,000 for ultra-premium
business
machines like the ThinkPad Helix.
A PC
for less than 10k
Up till last year, if you told someone that you can get a full
Windows
computer for less than `10,000, you would have been laughed at.
The
scenario has changedquite dramatically.
Not only there are devices running with the
full version of Windows
available in the sub-`10,000 segment, they have fallen
as low as `4,999
(case in point, the iBall i701).You have two kinds of devices in
this price range.
First, lets talk about the tablet. You can get the 7-inch iBall
i701 mentioned
earlier -the cheapest Windows tablet available today . The
8-inch NotionInk
Cain 8, priced at `9,999 offers better hardware.
The second type of device is the PC on a stick. It's a full
Windows system on
a large TV dongle that
connects directly to the HDMI por t of an existing TV
Monitor. The stick
offers a USB port, WiFi, Bluetooth connectivity as well
as expandable storage.
The cate gory was created to meet the demands of the budget
users students,
housewives and elderly people who do not want to spend a large
sum of
money on a laptop or a desktop. Their re q u i re m e n t s are
basic: web
surfing, document editing, video calling and multimedia
consumption.
Thanks to the large number of apps, many users we r e o p t i n
g f o r budget and
Android devices that
offered all these functions at a fraction of the cost,
even if it there was a learning curve involved.
O gain foothold into this segment, Intel and Microsoft worked with
vendors
to create this category of budget-friendly devices with full
Windows
functionality.
To achieve such price points and considering the requirements,
the hardware specifications are basic.
All the devices available so far are powered by Intel Atom
processors with
2GB RAM and built-in flash storage of 32GB. So what kind of
performance
can you expect from this hardware? Well in our testing, we found
that the
boot time was really fast, thanks to flash storage and the
devices had no
issues switching between multiple open windows of Chrome and
Office
documents. They can easily playback full HD video (we used VLC
media
player for testing) and do ba sic photo editing using GIMP.
Should
You get a Touchscreen Laptop?
There's a lot of talk about this and opinion is obviously
divided. However,
for a generation that has been brought up on touchscreens the
digital natives
a touchscreen laptop offers an intuitive method of interaction.
The question is, should you opt for a touchscreen if you're in
the market for a
new laptop? Is the increase in price justified? The primary
argument against
touchscreens on laptops is that they're not needed. Plus, that
the interface
has not been designed with stubby fingers in mind it's better
suited to control
with a tiny cursor.While that was true till Windows 7, Windows 8
and 10
have changed all that. With the interface, many apps and now
games that
support touch input, it's now better to get the touch.
Hitesh Raj Bhagat and Karan Bajaj
ET 7OCT15
|
Wednesday, October 21, 2015
GADGET GIZMO SPECIAL..WHICH PC Is Right For You?
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