Anyone here have hands-on experience with 2-in-1 laptops?

[jana519]

I'm thinking of buying one. They seem like a good device, which are able to function both as a tablet and a laptop when attached to the base. But I lack any first hand knowledge of pros and cons. I considered buying a tablet + bluetooth keyboard, but a Windows environment is very useful for me. So, before buying, what should I know?

 

[thestrangebrew1]

I bought my wife and step son a couple of Dell Inspiron 15's and my daughter an Inspiron 11. The wife and stepson are in school so they use them for homework, research etc. My daughter just plays minecraft and roblox on hers and she uses it as a tablet to watch youtube etc. I don't think my wife and step son use them as tablets at all, although my stepson is away at college so I'm not 100% sure. I do know that when I mess around with my wife's as a tablet, I don't like it, it's just clunky and too big for my liking. We do not have the base for any of the units so I can't speak to that.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Buy one with enough power to run win 10 and your apps properly. At least 4GB ram, i series CPU, and SSD, are the must for me at this point. The surface series are a bit over priced, but there are some models with good specs.

Pros and cons are somewhat subjective, but hinges failing on the non detachable models, failing touchscreens, and price premiums on decent hardware specs would be my choices for cons.

 

[XavierMace]

I've owned an HP Pavilion X2 and Chewi Hi10 Pro. I cracked the screen on the Pavilion X2 like an idiot when I was opening it up to upgrade the SSD and WiFi card. The unit itself was great though and for my usage the docking system is preferable to a bluetooth/case style setup that you'd get on a Surface. Chewi Hi10 Pro is decent enough for it's price. The touchpad is poo, the keyboard dock doesn't have a second battery, and the charging port is excessively finicky (it's too far recessed). But it was under $200.

Main cons of any 2in1 is they're going to be a bit heavier than a straight laptop or straight tablet and generally a bit bulkier. But I prefer being able to have a conventional laptop with the option of using it as a tablet.

 

[jana519]

Buy one with enough power to run win 10 and your apps properly. At least 4GB ram, i series CPU, and SSD, are the must for me at this point. The surface series are a bit over priced, but there are some models with good specs.

Pros and cons are somewhat subjective, but hinges failing on the non detachable models, failing touchscreens, and price premiums on decent hardware specs would be my choices for cons.

I forgot to mention that this will actually be a secondary laptop. My primary laptop has an i7-4720hq and GTX 860M, but it's quite heavy and immobile. The reason I'm looking at a 2 in 1 would be primarily to have a lightweight tablet with Windows environment. I don't need it for productivity, just to be light and have good battery life and capable of loading webpages. Aren't most modern day processors pretty snappy when loading Chrome pages in Windows 10?

 

[gorobei]

i've been using convertibles with digitizers for over a decade now, hp tx2000 and fujitsu t902. as portable cintiq alternatives they are incomparable.

all mine have had swivel hinges as opposed to the 360 hinges on yoga/etc. as long as you take care of them the hinge longevity issues are nonexistent. my biggest problem is battery life. i was worried the lid angle tension might get loose but no problems at all. weight is typically a bit heavier than a conventional laptop but you want the extra structural strength when using it as a tablet.

for versatility it is way better than a tablet and dock/kb as you dont have to worry about losing a part or finding the pen.


since this is for casual usage the 360hinge easel types should be fine,

 

[compcons]

I use a Thinkpad x1 tablet 20GG. M7 with 8 GB RAM (new ones can come with16GB) and an upgraded 960 Evo NVME. I use it for work and can even run some VMs effectively if an external ssd. The kickstand folds down so it's more lap friendly than models that kick out. I don't use the pen often, but it gets great reviadd. I ditched my corporate provided dell 7450 for this and couldn't be happier.

 

[kenzz]

I forgot to mention that this will actually be a secondary laptop. My primary laptop has an i7-4720hq and GTX 860M, but it's quite heavy and immobile. The reason I'm looking at a 2 in 1 would be primarily to have a lightweight tablet with Windows environment. I don't need it for productivity, just to be light and have good battery life and capable of loading webpages. Aren't most modern day processors pretty snappy when loading Chrome pages in Windows 10?

I have a Lenovo Miix ... it seems to me that most 2in1's are heavier than a normal laptop ... even taking the keyboard off still means you have a heavy tablet. How about a 4GB Chromebook for browsing and a 10 hour battery life? Then perhaps one of the cheaper Chinese windows tablets for occasional use. That's the combination that suits my purposes and I find I hardly ever use the Lenovo 2in1.

 

[IntelUser2000]

I have a 2012 model Dell XPS 12. The tablet functionality is hindered by the weight. I wished they continued developing because by now it might have been a near perfect device.

By the way regarding battery life, you need to use Microsoft browsers. IE used to be best up to Windows 10, but is now Edge. Edge is featureless and honestly if it wasn't for the battery life its worth ignoring but the single advantage seem to be too great. IE may still be great on 10, but reviews don't cover it.

 

[jsalpha2]

My daughter has an Asus Transformer 2-in-1 detachable. Not sure what model. It came with Windows 8.1 and was updated to Win10. It has mixed reviews, but she loves hers. I would stay away from the non-detachable ones with hinges or swivels.

 

[ZippZ]

I've been interested in getting a 2 in 1 laptop which I could use like a regular laptop, but also watching movies on airplanes and using it as a point of sale terminal and signing petitions.

I was looking at the new Dell 13" 2 in 1 with Ryzen. Fairly small, cheaper than most, and decent graphics.

 

[OlyAR15]

I bought the first Surface Book when it was announced, and recently purchased the Book 2 15” version. Love them both, although the first one had numerous initial bugs. Apart from the price, these are very nice machines. The 3:2 aspect ratio of the screen is perfect, wish other monitor manufacturers would support this aspect ratio.

 

[marcplante]

I forgot to mention that this will actually be a secondary laptop. My primary laptop has an i7-4720hq and GTX 860M, but it's quite heavy and immobile. The reason I'm looking at a 2 in 1 would be primarily to have a lightweight tablet with Windows environment. I don't need it for productivity, just to be light and have good battery life and capable of loading webpages. Aren't most modern day processors pretty snappy when loading Chrome pages in Windows 10?

If you're an android user, consider a samsung Chromebook plus. I use mine for light surfing and web page reading. It will also run videos and its great for reading magazines with my local library's zinio app. The keyboard isn't enough for a primary device, but it's a great "tablet plus" form factor. If you have to do some light office work (review docs, spreadsheets or PPT) microsoft makes free apps available to run on Chrome OS.

It's very light and portable, and the new Pro even has a backlit keyboard,

 

[IntelUser2000]

My daughter has an Asus Transformer 2-in-1 detachable. Not sure what model. It came with Windows 8.1 and was updated to Win10. It has mixed reviews, but she loves hers. I would stay away from the non-detachable ones with hinges or swivels.

In terms of reliability non-detachables are actually pretty great, especially the ones like the XPS 12 or Lenovo's Yoga series. They become almost an extension of the regular hinge. I would think the bad ones are the ones that swivel on the center, because its bearing the entire load. Sliders also have a lot of moving parts for the mechanism.

Some detachables don't look that great either. I'm talking about(mostly older) ones that have bunch of power connectors sticking out of it, or need a button press to detach. XPS 12/Yoga feels far more sturdy.

 

[gorobei]

I would think the bad ones are the ones that swivel on the center, because its bearing the entire load.

as i mentioned above, the swivel types hold up fine.
the easel/360 types like the yoga/envy have heat issues when folded over because the air vents/intakes of the underside of the keyboard section get covered by the back of the display. acer's double hinge arm for the display half solves some of the complexity issues compared to swivels, but has issues getting flat when in tablet mode.

 

[IntelUser2000]

as i mentioned above, the swivel types hold up fine.
the easel/360 types like the yoga/envy have heat issues when folded over because the air vents/intakes of the underside of the keyboard section get covered by the back of the display. acer's double hinge arm for the display half solves some of the complexity issues compared to swivels, but has issues getting flat when in tablet mode.

The easel/360 types typically use cTDPdown in Tablet mode(since type of applications used generally change), and also likes of the XPS 12 has it so it can be cooled even when switched.

 

[JoeBleed]

anyone have any experience with a HP Spectre x360 13t or HP EliteBook 1030 x360 G2? I've been trying to decide and yesterday i find out the g3 EleteBook is due out this month. the Spectre is cheaper, but i do like the EliteBook a little more due to the standard hp power brick for charging. through the G3 may not have that, it will be more like the spectre i think. (2 thrunderbolt ports vs 1) the G3 is also looking at shrinking the display bezel a bit, but doesn't look like too much.

Anandtech actually has an article on the g3
https://www.anandtech.com/show/1278...3-convertible-quadcore-cpu-700nits-lcd-18-hrs

Still want to see more specs on it, but i do like the much brighter screen option as long as it will dim a lot for indoor use. Doesn't look like the g3 will retain the old power plug though. maybe the g2 price will drop drastically.