Netbooks have traditionally been slow and clunky. Marketed as the most affordable way to consume the internet, they were too slow and only mildly productive, when in reality they were used purely for consumption due to their powerlessness. Tablets quickly replaced them to become the new Netbook-style consumption device. But tablets aren’t even mildly productive, they’re just not meant to be, because of the lack of a proper input device that required precision. Some companies tried to solve this problem.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAy6JacKGOw
Companies like ASUS brought to the world, a concept called convertibles. A convertible is a tablet that could turn itself into a laptop or vice versa. The Transformer was the first convertible experience that carried a detachable keyboard that could seamlessly integrate with a tablet. The Transformer ran Android, which was not greatly suited for keyboard/mouse computing. Then Windows 8 happened which came with an interface that made more sense for a touchscreen and also retained all the good parts of the desktop which was always great for a keyboard-mouse combo.
Admittedly, Windows 8 was not so great but a lot of companies took cues from ASUS and built a lot of convertibles. But even then, most of them were costly or downright unusable, with the keyboard dock costing extra, sometimes *cough* Surface *cough*. At the same time, the mobile revolution pushed PC giant Intel to adopt the approach of using a “system-on-a-chip”, which, not only reduced the space for multiple components, but also made a lot more sense in a mobile-first world. Intel Atom chips, which now have the capacity to combine all kinds of connectivity, are now widely used in phones and tablets and even in recent convertibles like the Micromax Canvas Laptab.
The canvas laptab, powered by the Intel Atom Z3735, is a tablet that can turn into a 10″ netbook whenever necessary, or the other way around. It’s got specifications like a phone but runs full Windows, with a desktop that begs you to connect the keyboard, which comes along with the device. The pricing is key here. For 15,000 rupees, a price at which you usually get a netbook, if you’re looking for a cheap PC, you get the Laptab, which offers a lot more value and offers interesting use cases.
Thanks to the mobile-style approach, you get a SIM slot for any-time data, micro USB charging, a micro SD card slot and a more powerful chip that makes the experience a lot better. It also creates a lot of new use cases like easier consumption of media by just removing the productive part of the experience, the keyboard.
The Canvas Laptab has a very decent keyboard and a surprisingly good clickpad. Which it is certainly not perfect, it makes the case for a new way of portable computing which is not just affordable now, but also offers more value. However, while hardware has caught up, it’s time for Microsoft to step up the game with Windows 10. So, affordable convertibles are here and they seem surprisingly decent, are you getting one?