Microsoft Surface Book 4 concept bridges the gap between the laptop and the 2019 iPad Pro

If there was one standout feature from Apple’s iPad Pro announcement video at the beginning of this year, it was the magical keyboard case the tablet came with. The keyboard case (which came with a trackpad too) allowed the iPad to float off the surface, almost like an iMac, giving you a better-than-laptop physical experience… however that experience didn’t necessarily translate to the operating system.

With the Surface Book 4 concept from Ryan Smalley, that tiny gap gets bridged by successfully filling the void between netbooks and tablets. The Surface Book 4 concept comes with a laptop-inspired design, but factors in a second hinge that lets the screen float off the tabletop surface the device is kept on. The screen can be used conventionally, like a laptop, and can be height and angle-adjusted to give you the best viewing angle you need. Just like the iPad Pro, the Surface Book 4 packs a touchscreen, while also permanently being attached to a keyboard and trackpad… and here’s what makes it special – that good old Windows OS that gives you the right desktop experience that you need, unlike the iPad, which relies on a more rigid tablet OS and the App Store. Oh, the Surface Book 4 also packs multiple ports, an audio jack, and even a card reader for good measure!

Designer: Ryan Smalley

2017 Best Budget Laptops Under $400

Who says you need to shelve $500 or more when shopping for a high-end laptop? Nowadays, you can get a full fledged 15-inch laptop deal, or a more portable 13-inch netbook for $400 or less! What’s even better is that you can get all your basic computing needs covered without spending so much.

Your value-for-money purchase makes definitely an ideal choice whether you’re studying, word processing, or simply surfing online.  Here are our top picks for the best laptops under $400 this 2017.

Acer Aspire  

The Acer Aspire boasts of the 6th Gen Intel Core i3 processor that offers you a new experience when computing. Starting this laptop is relatively quick and its high-speed wireless connectivity allows you to access information and download at the blink of an eye. Acer Aspire’s capacity also makes multitasking smoother.

Each side of this laptop has two ports so accessing various peripherals is easy. Its USB 3.0 gives you up to 10x faster transfer speed compared to the usual USB 2.0! Now, you can transfer your 25GB HD movie in just 70 seconds. You can also access your media library with up to 1TB of storage.

Acer also has this Build Your Own Cloud (BYOC) which lets you have a cloud storage capacity to suffice your need. And that comes with the privacy and security that another cloud service provides can’t offer. With BYOC Apps, you can wirelessly synch your data and access anytime, anywhere you want.

Premium HP High Performance  

This 2017 premium HP high performance gives you the Intel Pentium Quad-Core N3710 Processor with the speed you need to get whatever you want to get done. This laptop comes with world-class processors that ensure you of enough power to last you longer than the usual. Its system memory ensures that no matter how many apps you’re using, you will have a laptop that still runs, no matter how tough the work is. The hard drive will let you store up to 500,000 photos, 214,000 songs or 395 hours of HD video while SuperMulti DVD Burner allows you to enjoy a movie, read and write CDs and DVDs in different formats

ASUS VivoBook E200  Portable Lightweight Laptop

 

The latest offering from Asus, the Asus VivoBook E200 is sleek and simple but is also portable and lightweight. All you need for a multifunctional laptop is here! It’s lightweight so taking this with you wherever you go is never a hassle. It’s only 11.6-inch and weighs less 1kg but comes with an all-day battery so it’ll really function heavy duty if you want to spend long hours with this gadget. It is Windows 10 so it’s compatible with software and peripherals compared to other OS.

Because it’s ultra-thin, the VivoBook E200 makes it portable enough to bring everywhere with you. It even fits snugly in your shoulder bag. VivoBook E200 weighs less than 1kg, making it lighter than other 11-inch notebooks on the market.

It sports a beautiful design with a minimal bezel surrounding the display and keyboard, providing more comfortable usage while still remaining as compact as possible.

Lenovo 110s Premium Built High Performance  

The Lenovo 110s may not be at the level of MacBook Pro, but despite its budget-friendly cost, it’s definitely a laptop to have if you’re looking for a worthwhile computing experience. This netbook operates like a laptop. It’s MS Office has full functionality. It also plays videos fairly OK, while surfing the net guarantees quite a decent performance and reliability. What makes it convenient to use is its lightweight appeal and sturdiness, making it a preferred device to take with you wherever you go.

Samsung Chromebook 3  

The Samsung Chromebook 3 guarantees quick web browsing with its built-in security features and battery life to keep it durable.  It’s only 2.54 pounds and its ultrathin feature makes it easy to take wherever you go. With a battery life of up to 11 hours, users have given the guarantee than the Samsung Chromebook 3 lets you do that tasks you have to get accomplished throughout the day.  Its spill-resistant design makes it very kid-friendly and you can use it while also multitasking in the kitchen. The picture quality is intense while the ergonomic keyboard ensures encoding your files is a relatively effortless.

Acer Chromebook R 11 Convertible

The Acer Chromebook R11 Convertible offers you a 360-degree hinge feature with dual-torque technology hallmarking both flexibility and strength for a worthwhile experience with this laptop.

With the sleek design and extensive functionality of the Chromebook R 11, users are given a treat of having this laptop cum tablet on-the-go. You can definitely get the most of the tasks you’re doing when this gadget is in its notebook mode. Move the screen in any way you want and you can use this as a collaborative tool for your work. The Chromebook detects the mode you are in and easily adjusts the sound when the display is flipped over, as well as the content of screen display.

The following are the modes which you can set the Chromebook R 11 on:

  • Notebook—making use of its functional keyboard, you can get any task easily finished;
  • Display—Bring the closer for enjoying any entertainment content.
  •  Tent—Set this laptop on a tent-mode and you’ll enjoy the features of this laptop no matter how small your space is.
  • Tablet: Play, share and browse in tablet mode.

Dell Inspiron 15 5000 15.6″ Touchscreen Laptop

Dell Inspiron 15 5000 offers you cutting-edge performance powered by its newest Intel Core i3-7100U processor. Its 1TB hard drive allows guarantees that you can store as many files as you want, like HD videos, HD movies, games, favorite music or more on the laptop without ever worrying about running out of space soon.

This laptop comes in HD display and Intel HD 620 Graphics. It yields excellent image quality and interesting performance to make your movie and video watching a worthwhile experience.  With integrated stereo speakers, you are promised of good audio quality and rich sound for listening to music.

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Lenovo’s Flex 10 offers a flip-mode display on a $550 netbook-style body

Aging Busta Rhymes witticisms aside, this new Lenovo might just be a contender for anyone on the lookout for a versatile Windows 8.1 machine. The Flex 10 is a 10-inch version of the Flex 14 and 15 models we've already seen, with the same 1,366 x 768 resolution and 10-point touch panel, but with a Bay Trail Pentium or Celeron processor instead of Haswell. It's a sort of half-way house between a fanless hybrid and a full-wattage laptop, and in some ways it offers the worst of both worlds -- for example, the base model provides a battery life of just four hours but has a relatively stocky weight of 2.6 pounds (1.2kg). On the other hand, the Flex 10 should run Microsoft Office and other productivity software at a faster clip than mobile-class machines like the Miix 10 or Miix2. Plus, it allows the screen to be flipped back 300 degrees into a "stand" mode, likely without costing as much as a Core i3-powered Yoga 11S -- assuming the unconfirmed starting price of $550 proves to be accurate. Lenovo has a habit of adding products to its website before releasing full pricing and availability, so we'll update this post when we learn more. (Woo Hah!)

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Source: Lenovo

SOL Laptop Runs on Solar Power & Ubuntu: Double Open Source

Canadian telecommunications company WeWi will soon be launching a solar-powered notebook called the SOL Laptop. While it’s not the first of its kind, it has at least one impressive feature that makes it one to watch: WeWi claims that the built-in solar panels can charge the laptop in just 2 hours.

sol solar laptop by wewi

I got in touch with WeWi Founder & CEO David Snir to find out more about the SOL Laptop. David said that they were motivated to make their own solar-powered laptop partly because of their projects in Ghana, where weekly outages frequently left them with no access to electricity.

sol solar laptop by wewi 2

David is still keeping his cards close to his chest with regards to the laptop’s solar panels, but he did say that they’re currently getting about 16.08% efficiency. Pair that with the laptop’s entry level guts – an Intel Atom D2500 1.86GHz dual-core CPU and Intel GMA 3600 integrated graphics – and you get a 2-hour charge time. The laptop’s battery can store enough energy to power the laptop for up to 10 hours, but David said that the laptop can run “directly by sunlight”: as long as its solar panels are exposed to sunlight, you can use the laptop even if the battery is nearly empty. It’s like plugging into the sun.

sol solar laptop by wewi 4

The SOL Laptop’s solar panels will also be detachable; you’ll be able to work in the shade while the panels soak up the sun. WeWi is also working on an accessory that will let you charge other devices using the laptop’s solar panels.

sol solar laptop by wewi 6

Like its power-sipping CPU and integrated graphics, the rest of the SOL Laptop will only excite people stuck in 2010. It has a 13.3″ 1366 x 768 LCD screen, a 320GB HDD, 2-4GB DDR3 RAM, a 3MP webcam, 3 USB ports and a card reader. But it does have Ethernet and HDMI ports, as well as support for modern wireless standards: GPS, Wi-Fi 802.11n and Bluetooth 4.0. It even has a cellular modem that supports 3G & LTE.

sol solar laptop by wewi 3

David also said that the laptop’s case is made of a “special polymer with unique treatment for strength.” Finally, the laptop will come with an unspecified version of Ubuntu installed. I guess by now you can see what all of those bullet points are describing: an affordable netbook that’s at home outdoors.

sol solar laptop by wewi 7

The SOL Laptop will be released at the end of 2013 in African and Middle Eastern countries, with U.S. and Canada soon to follow. It will have two variants, a $350 (USD) standard model and a $400 Marine model that’s water-resistant.

Assuming that the 2-hour charge time claim holds up in real world usage, what’s most disappointing about the SOL Laptop is that it’s actually a SOL Netbook. But David also said they’re working on other solar-powered devices; perhaps a high-end version of the laptop is in the works as well.

[via SOL & DVICE]

 

Casetop Smartphone Dock: Return of the Lapdock

Remember Motorola’s Atrix and Photon 4G? They were phones that could be plugged into a proprietary dock that turned them into Linux netbooks. If you ever wished you had something like that for your phone, check out the Casetop.

casetop smartphone dock

The Casetop doesn’t give you a desktop OS but it does add three useful things to your phone: a full-sized keyboard, an 11.1″ 720p LEd-backlit screen (not a touchscreen) and a battery. That’s right – the Casetop has its own battery, and if you plug your phone in via a USB cable the Casetop will charge your phone. The Casetop works with any smartphone that has Bluetooth connectivity (to connect to the keyboard) and a video output via HDMI, MHL or micro-USB (to connect to the screen). It also has a couple of 1W speakers, but you’d probably be better off plugging in a pair of headphones via the 3.5mm connector. Here’s a brief demo of the prototype Casetop:

And here’s the full Kickstarter pitch video:

It’s kinda weird having to navigate via your phone’s touchscreen, but aside from that I think this device could find its niche. Pledge at least $250 (USD) on Kickstarter to get a Casetop as a reward.

[via Ausdroid]