Now that Haswell is out, I need help finding a new convertible tablet PC

[ekuest]

Mods feel free to move if these threads belong in General Hardware or something.

So I have been waiting for Haswell to come out before I replace my aging core2solo 14" laptop that I got for $200 about 4 years ago. It is ridiculously slow with anything past web browsing and AoE2. I got an email today for the new HP Split X2 and decided that new Haswell convertibles are starting to emerge and I should start looking for the perfect one for me. I will list what I need and what I want below, but these list are by no means exhaustive. I will probably add stuff over the next few days or weeks. Also, if something is coming out like end of the year or something then I can wait til then, I just am not up to speed on what all the different brands have in the pipeline. I would prefer to buy sometime in the next 2 or 3 months, but can wait as long as the end of the year if I need to. I am more concerned with getting the perfect convertible PC for me than with getting it now or for the absolute best price. Thanks for the help!

Oh and feel free to suggest other categories that I can add to requirements or wants as I only spent like 10 mins on this list.

Requirements:
- Haswell
- 11-14" screen
- Detachable keyboard dock (as opposed to a flip-style like the yoga or something)
- i3 (or maybe i5) as i wont be doing any real gaming
- at least 3 hours battery life undocked, at least 8 docked
- at least 4GB RAM
- replaceable msata SSD or reasonable-priced 128GB option
- greater than 1366x768 resolution
- less than $1000 (can go higher if something is super duper awesome but i think $1000 should be enough)

Wants:
- 2.5" drive bay in dock for storage
- full-size USB in tablet section
- SD or microSD slot in tablet section
- HDMI out from tablet section
- 1920x1080 resolution

 

[dandragonrage]

Wait at least a few weeks if not a few months. Not much in the way of choices here yet.

 

[ekuest]

dang that's what i was afraid of. i was hoping since HP announced this one that some other manufacturers might have made similar announcements or demoed some products or something by now. maybe i'm still too early. well if anyone has heard of something decent that's coming out soon that might fit the bill, please do post a link so i can check it out.

 

[Andyk5]

For that price range you are asking for a Surface Pro with Haswell. Expect to pay $1099 without keyboard for the 128gb model and another $100 for keyboard. You could also wait until Samsung updates the Ativ700T series with Haswell. It would be $1199 but at least you would get somewhat like a real keyboard and although small and useless a pen storage. Surface Pro stylus rocks but does not have room to store it.

 

[Erebus]

The Lenovo Helix ticks almost every box except price and Haswell...If you are only concerned with 3 hours battery life undocked and 8 docked, I don't think waiting for Haswell is worth it (the extra 10-20% battery life would equal the Helix battery life)...

 

[ekuest]

For that price range you are asking for a Surface Pro with Haswell. Expect to pay $1099 without keyboard for the 128gb model and another $100 for keyboard. You could also wait until Samsung updates the Ativ700T series with Haswell. It would be $1199 but at least you would get somewhat like a real keyboard and although small and useless a pen storage. Surface Pro stylus rocks but does not have room to store it.

afaik there isnt any timeline for haswell on either of those yet right? i definitely want haswell as i can wait as long as i need. i only use this laptop for personal use, never for work, so the slowness doesnt really bug me too much. i just feel like ive used this shitty thing long enough that i deserve something nice for my next laptop.

The Lenovo Helix ticks almost every box except price and Haswell...If you are only concerned with 3 hours battery life undocked and 8 docked, I don't think waiting for Haswell is worth it (the extra 10-20% battery life would equal the Helix battery life)...

well those battery numbers are bare minimum. i really would like about 6 hours without and 10 hours with, but who knows if im going to get that. my current core2solo sips electricity so i am pretty spoiled now on battery life and would definitely appreciate more than what i mentioned. ive never heard of the helix, so i will check it out. again, i do want haswell so if lenovo is updating that thing to haswell at some point then it will definitely be a contender.

 

[Andyk5]

afaik there isnt any timeline for haswell on either of those yet right? i definitely want haswell as i can wait as long as i need. i only use this laptop for personal use, never for work, so the slowness doesnt really bug me too much. i just feel like ive used this shitty thing long enough that i deserve something nice for my next laptop.



well those battery numbers are bare minimum. i really would like about 6 hours without and 10 hours with, but who knows if im going to get that. my current core2solo sips electricity so i am pretty spoiled now on battery life and would definitely appreciate more than what i mentioned. ive never heard of the helix, so i will check it out. again, i do want haswell so if lenovo is updating that thing to haswell at some point then it will definitely be a contender.

Do you really believe Microsoft to keep selling Surface's with the Ivy Bridge CPU while everyone is stuffing them in their devices and their mothers? It will be out sooner than you think and you'll thank me later for waiting a bit more.

 

[ekuest]

Do you really believe Microsoft to keep selling Surface's with the Ivy Bridge CPU while everyone is stuffing them in their devices and their mothers? It will be out sooner than you think and you'll thank me later for waiting a bit more.

your wording is confusing. are they stuffing haswells in their mothers' computers or just in their mothers?

yeah i agree it should be soon, but there was another thread about it somewhere and no one had any clue when it was happening. i think they still must have a surplus of IB surfaces out there, and theyre not gonna release the haswell models until theyre almost out of IB ones.

 

[Kueller]

The sony vaio Duo 13 is a slider-tab that's out now. You'd need to find it on sale though.

Samsung Ativ Q is the main one to watch for though...Probably also well over $1k, but oh so nice specs.

 

[rudy]

slider tabs are horrible, you cant position the monitor well and the keyboards almost always lose any decent trackpad, if they have one at all.

I think the good old tablet is going to start making a come back honestly. You know the rotating single hinge screen. There was a reason the industry settled on that in the past, because it worked for everything. I think HP already is putting one out. Lenovo just needs to start putting better specs in theirs. The industry just had to pretend the other stuff was new and cool. Detachable keyboards are alright, but how many people really want to keep track of their keyboard? If you have a separate keyboard it ends up being stupid because then you need a bag to keep it in etc... I think the dell flipping style works well and going back to the rotating hinge. But all the others are mostly fluff and hype.

 

[dot_Zen]

slider tabs are horrible, you cant position the monitor well and the keyboards almost always lose any decent trackpad, if they have one at all.

This is what prevented me from buying Sony's overpriced haswell offering, that and their issues with shipping units.

Sony better enjoy the revenue stream for now, as soon as the competition arrives their sales will shrink unless they drop the price to reflect the form factors limitations.

 

[ekuest]

slider tabs are horrible, you cant position the monitor well and the keyboards almost always lose any decent trackpad, if they have one at all.

I think the good old tablet is going to start making a come back honestly. You know the rotating single hinge screen. There was a reason the industry settled on that in the past, because it worked for everything. I think HP already is putting one out. Lenovo just needs to start putting better specs in theirs. The industry just had to pretend the other stuff was new and cool. Detachable keyboards are alright, but how many people really want to keep track of their keyboard? If you have a separate keyboard it ends up being stupid because then you need a bag to keep it in etc... I think the dell flipping style works well and going back to the rotating hinge. But all the others are mostly fluff and hype.

This is what prevented me from buying Sony's overpriced haswell offering, that and their issues with shipping units.

Sony better enjoy the revenue stream for now, as soon as the competition arrives their sales will shrink unless they drop the price to reflect the form factors limitations.

which slider tab are you guys talking about? i am not familiar. personally i would be ok with a rotating screen if the notebook was thin enough. i just want a detachable keyboard so that i can use it around the house as just a tablet and make it weigh half as much just for consumption purposes like recipes while cooking, surfing while watching tv, that kind of thing. if i ever left the house or wanted to do any productivity then i would dock it for extra battery life and physical keyboard.