Friday, September 6, 2013

Forgettable tablet

The good: The Acer Aspire P3 is a solidly built, full Core i5 Windows 8 tablet with its own keyboard for under $1,000. The lower-res display at least looks crisp.
The bad: Generic design, a cheap-feeling keyboard case, last-gen Intel processors.
The bottom line: Yet another Windows 8 Core i5 tablet, the Acer Aspire P3 has only one thing in its favor: it costs a maximum of $899.
MSRP:$899.00LOW PRICE:$699.99 Set price alert
The Acer Aspire P3 is a new product that already feels old.
Windows tablets are here, and they'll be everywhere by the end of the year. Different prices, different performance levels, different values. The Acer Aspire P3 is bit of a holdover conceptually--it's really not much different under the hood than the Microsoft Surface Pro. Or, for that matter, the Acer Iconia W700, a Core i5 tablet we reviewed months ago. Where it differs: price. The P3 costs $799 (for a Core i3 version, or $899 for our configuration); the Surface Pro, $899 (but $129 extra for a keyboard cover). The older Iconia originally cost $999, but now is available for less.
Instead of the last Iconia W700's stand and separate keyboard, the Aspire P3 adopts a folio-style keyboard case as a pack-in.
The mediocre Bluetooth keyboard case would be a hard accessory to recommend on its own, but at least it's included in the purchase price. Microsoft's Surface Type Cover blows it away, but that accessory costs $129 on top of the already-high Surface Pro price. Laptops like theSamsung ATIV Smart PC Pro 700T cost nearly the same, and at least have a proper keyboard-and-touch-pad base.
(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)
Many Atom-powered Windows 8 tablets tend to fall in the $500-$800 range; to see one with more powerful Core i5 processor is rare. You're also getting a fair set of specs: a slightly slower-than-normal Core i5 processor, 128GB SSD (more than many tablets), and 4GB of RAM.
But Intel is in the middle of revamping the processors you'll see in stores to fourth-gen Haswell ones, resulting in significant battery-life gains thus far. If I were buying a Windows 8 tablet, I'd wait for one of those processors to show up in what I was buying. As it stands, the Aspire P3 might do in a pinch, but it's a holdover product caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. Call it the Surface Amateur.
Acer Aspire P3 171-6820Sony Vaio Pro 11MacBook Air 11-inch (June 2013)Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 11S
Price$899$1,149$999$999
Display size/resolution11.6-inch, 1,366 x 768 screen11-inch, 1,920 x 1,080 touch screen11.6-inch, 1,766 x 768 screen11.6-inch, 1,366 x 768 screen
PC CPU1.5GHz Intel Core i5 3339Y1.6GHz Intel Core i5 4200U1.3GHz Intel Core i5 4250U1.5GHz Intel Core i5 3339Y
PC memory4,096MB DDR3 SDRAM 1,600MHz4,096MB DDR3 SDRAM 1,600MHz4096MB DDR3 SDRAM 1,600MHz8,192MB DDR3 SDRAM 1,600MHz
Graphics32MB Intel HD Graphics 40001,748MB Intel HD Graphics 44001024MB Intel HD Graphics 500032MB Intel HD Graphics 4000
Storage120GB SSD hard drive128GB SSD hard drive128GB SSD hard drive256GB SSD hard drive
Optical driveNoneNoneNoneNone
Networking802.11 b/g/n wireless, Bluetooth 4.0802.11b/g/n wireless, Bluetooth 4.0802.11a/c wireless, Bluetooth 4.0802.11 b/g/n wireless, Bluetooth 4.0
Operating systemWindows 8 (64-bit)Windows 8 (64-bit)OSX Mountain Lion 10.8.4Windows 8 (64-bit)
Design and feel
Define "generic." Here it is. Combine gray metal, boxy design, and an overall appearance that says "knockoff Android tablet," and you have the Aspire P3. Actually, the tablet is virtually identical to the previous Acer Iconia W700 in design. To give it credit, the P3 has a solid aluminum case, even though from any distance the flat gray looks like plastic.
Pleather.
(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)
A glass-covered 11.6-inch display lends the P3 a better "touch feel" than some lower-end tablets. At just under 3 pounds with the keyboard case, it's a good half-pound heavier than the 11-inch MacBook Air. Without the case, it's 1.74 pounds: lighter than a Surface Pro, but that's not saying much.
(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)
An official Ultrabook sticker comes pasted onto the Aspire P3. That's a sign, perhaps, that this machine is considered a laptop more than a tablet. It's not: it's really a tablet that got a low-end keyboard case, the type you graft onto any iPad. And, unfortunately, this tablet's as heavy as a laptop. I'd ignore that "Ultrabook" moniker; although from a processing perspective it's as good as any basic ultrabook, it's far from being as comfortable to type on as a laptop.
(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)
The keyboard case pairs via Bluetooth like any iPad third-party accessory, and lacks any touch pad or touchpoint, which is a feature we especially like on the Surface Pro Type Cover. The flat, slightly raised island keys are reasonably comfortable, and the keyboard layout generous enough, but the material of the case itself feels cheap, and the plastic's too flexible to rest easily in your lap. The P3 docks into the cover just by resting in a slot. The case auto-pairs, but needs to be separately recharged via Micro-USB, and has its own confusing power button.
(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)
Snapping the case onto the tablet is easy; getting it back off is the bigger challenge, and I actually bruised my finger trying to free the P3 from its plastic-case prison with my nail. The whole construction feels bound to snap sooner or later.
There are some oddities with how the Bluetooth keyboard and the tablet interact, too. Tap on the screen, and a pop-up virtual keyboard appears. Start typing and the soft keyboard vanishes. If the physical keyboard is paired, that pop-up keyboard shouldn't be invading your screen at all. While all this is going on, a fabric loop holds an optional capacitive stylus.
(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)
An 11.6-inch 1,366x768-pixel IPS display looks better than you'd expect for an ordinary resolution, but it's not as good as the Acer Iconia W700's 1080p-resolution screen. The step-down means it's equivalent to any basic laptop resolution, including the 11-inch MacBook Air. Because it's an IPS display, off-angle viewing still looks crisp. Stereo speakers, mounted on the bottom edge, sound adequate.
Posted by at No comments:

A business hybrid with an executive price

The good: The Lenovo ThinkPad Helix is a solidly built laptop-tablet hybrid with all the security features your IT department needs. Thanks to dual batteries in the tablet and keyboard base, it can run for a full workday.
The bad: The Helix is stuck with Intel's less efficient previous generation of CPUs, making it feel especially expensive.
The bottom line: Even with the best detachable-screen hybrid hinge we've seen, the older CPU and high price make the ThinkPad Helix a hybrid for a select audience only.
MSRP:$1,679.00LOW PRICE:$1,583.12 Set price alert
The Helix is a well-made but expensive product that presents an interesting question. While there very well may be a market for an 11-inch hybrid with an emphasis on business and security features and a body leaning toward the industrial, rugged side, exactly what sort of premium should one expect to pay for it?
When it was first introduced at CES 2013, Lenovo described the Helix laptop-tablet hybrid as a "flip-and-rip" system, which sounded like the usually staid company was trying to add a little sizzle to the normally conservative ThinkPad lineup.
In person, this detachable-screen hybrid still has a very ThinkPad-like look and feel, and from a distance, it looks nearly identical to the army of ThinkPads on office and cubicle desks around the world.
The flipping and ripping comes into play when you activate the small hinge-based latch for removing the display from the rest of the body. In this case, the screen pops off much like any other hybrid's, but then can reattach after being rotated 180 degrees, leaving the screen facing out from the back of the system. That makes for a good presentation mode, which I sometimes call a "kiosk" setup. Of course, you can also use the Helix screen by itself as a Windows 8 slate, or fold the unit shut with the screen facing out for a thicker tablet mode backed up by the extra battery power of the keyboard dock.
(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)
But as an 11-inch laptop, the Helix is in the middle of a suddenly crowded market. The Sony Vaio Pro 11 and 11-inch MacBook Air are on the traditional clamshell side, while Lenovo's own IdeaPad Yoga 11S and the Acer Aspire P3 are hybrids, although ones that work differently than the Helix.
Another potential stumbling block: the Helix (like the Yoga 11S) is currently stuck with Intel's previous-generation processors, rather than the new fourth-generation Core i-series, called Haswell. The difference is important for a device such as this, because the battery life numbers we're seeing from the first few Intel Haswell laptops make the new chips more than worth waiting for, especially if you're going to be using a hybrid in its extra-portable tablet mode. The Helix ran for an acceptably long time when both the base and screen batteries were used together, but for pure tablet use, it's tempting to wait for an updated version.
Because this system is from Lenovo's professional-grade ThinkPad line, as opposed to the consumer-targeted IdeaPad line, you can expect to pay a bit of a premium compared with other machines with similar specs. For a ThinkPad's rigid construction, best-in-class keyboard, and IT-friendly security features, that's perfectly reasonable, in theory. But, the Helix starts (starts!) at a frankly surprising $1,679 -- and for that, you get only a last-gen Intel Core i5 CPU, 4GB of RAM, and a 128GB solid-state drive (but, points for the 1,920x1,080-pixel-resolution display). Upgraded versions (all include a digitizer stylus) add faster processors, more RAM, larger SSDs, and mobile broadband, but those can cost somewhere north of $2,000.
Lenovo ThinkPad HelixSony Vaio Pro 11MacBook Air 11-inch (June 2013)Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 11S
Price$1,539$1,149$999$999
Display size/resolution11.6-inch, 1,920x1,080 screen11-inch, 1,920x1,080 touch screen11.6-inch, 1,766x768 screen11.6-inch, 1,366x768 screen
PC CPU1.8GHz Intel Core i5-3427U1.6GHz Intel Core i5-4200U1.3GHz Intel Core i5-4250U1.5GHz Intel Core i5-3339Y
PC Memory4,096MB DDR3 SDRAM 1,600MHz4,096MB DDR3 SDRAM 1,600MHz4,096MB DDR3 SDRAM 1,600MHz8,192MB DDR3 SDRAM 1,600MHz
Graphics32MB Intel HD Graphics 40001,748MB Intel HD Graphics 44001,024MB Intel HD Graphics 500032MB Intel HD Graphics 4000
Storage128GB SSD128GB SSD128GB SSD256GB SSD
Optical driveNoneNoneNoneNone
Networking802.11 b/g/n wireless, Bluetooth 4.0802.11b/g/n wireless, Bluetooth 4.0802.11a/c wireless, Bluetooth 4.0802.11 b/g/n wireless, Bluetooth 4.0
Operating systemWindows 8 (64-bit)Windows 8 (64-bit)OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.4Windows 8 (64-bit)
Design and features 
Though I have misgivings about the price and older components, Lenovo has created the best detachable-screen latching system I've seen. It's still overly fiddly, with multiple hook-and-eye-style connections, but it feels more robust and solid than other detachable hybrid hinges, and the release mechanism is a large push-in button on the left edge of the hinge, rather than a chintzy-feeling button right below it (as found on the HP Envy x2 and other hybrids).
There's even a short horizontal panel that covers the entire hinge mechanism from the rear of the system, both to protect it from the elements and to give the entire package a cleaner look. I've taken to calling it the Helix Modesty Skirt.
(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)
At 3.7 pounds for the screen and body (not including the power cable), it's hefty for an 11-inch laptop, but note that there's a three-cell battery in the tablet and a separate four-cell battery in the keyboard dock.
Removing the screen from the base, flipping it around, and reattaching it has a couple of obvious uses. One is to create a kiosk-style display, with the screen pointing toward your audience without a keyboard or touch pad in the way. I've used Lenovo's own Yoga 13 like this many times, and if you share a lot of onscreen content, it can be a useful feature, especially if you can still drive the system from behind, as you still have access to the keyboard and touch pad.
From that kiosk mode, you can fold the system shut, so it's in its closed clamshell mode but with the display pointing out. That gives you what Lenovo calls a tablet-plus mode, which essentially means you've got a large secondary battery bolted to the back. That makes for a thick and heavy tablet, but if you need a half-dozen hours or more of Windows 8 touch-screen productivity, you can get it.
The rest of the physical design is up to Lenovo's usual impeccable ThinkPad standards. The matte-black chassis feels like it could take a bullet, and the standard, island-style ThinkPad keyboard, with keys slightly curved at the bottom, is impossible to top.
(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)
Keyboards on 11-inch laptops are especially tough to design well, but using the Helix, I never felt unduly cramped while typing. Shift, Enter, Tab, and other important keys are well-sized, and functions including volume, microphone, and brightness controls are mapped to the primary functions of the F-key row at the top of the keyboard. But, keep in mind the power button is actually on the top edge of the screen itself, so you can use it while in tablet mode.
The large, buttonless clickpad is also generous in size and feels tighter than its counterpart on Lenovo's X1 Carbon ultrabook. There's a red trackpoint nestled between the G, H, and B keys. I'm on the record as saying that method of pointer navigation is not what most laptop users are looking for these days, but at least it's only minimally in the way.
The 11.6-inch display has a very high native resolution of 1,920x1,080 pixels, which is great to see in such a compact laptop/tablet. In the Windows 8 interface, icons and text scale automatically to a comfortable level, although in the traditional Windows view, things can look very small indeed. The screen itself is bright and glare-free, and, very importantly for a tablet, it's an IPS display that looks fine even from extreme side angles.
Lenovo ThinkPad Helix
VideoDisplayPort [tablet and keyboard base]
AudioStereo speakers, combo headphone/microphone jack [tablet]
Data1 USB 2.0, SIM card slot [tablet]; 2 USB 3.0 [keyboard base]
Networking802.11n Wi-Fi
Optical driveNone
Connections, performance, and battery
The ports and connections on the Helix, such as they are, sit on on the bottom edge of the tablet. That means they'll be covered up when the tablet is connected to its dock in laptop mode, except for the audio jack.
Posted by at No comments:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)