News - HP Elitebook Revolve laptop convertible announced

[HEXUS]

The touch enabled laptop convertible should be available in March 2013.

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[Meowmatt]

I never liked rotating screens the hinges always look so weak and this is no exception...

[scaryjim]

Make one with a Trinity ULV and I might be tempted...

[keizcee]

durable enough eh?

[crossy]

I never liked rotating screens the hinges always look so weak and this is no exception...

Not sure about that - after all it'd be a major "fail" (to use Register speak) to go to the expense of designing that laptop and then "forget" that the hinge needs to be over-engineered. That said, I'd also assume that some IKEA-style abuse testing would have been carried out before it hits the streets. So, if anyone in HP-PSG wants to give me one for an extended test then I'd bite their hand off!

Nice design - bet it'll come with a price tag to match - figure £800+ at least.

Got to say that I like this design and the Lenovo Yoga - both show that the design teams are thinking a bit further than "boring stuff we've done so many times before" and trying to deliver something that fits Windows 8's schizoid nature.

[edzieba]

It'd be nice if the screen wasn't so pants. 1366x768? That's just embarrassing for anything outside of a netbook or ultra-budget.

[wasabi]

Ugh. We had a raft of these things circa 2003 when XP tablet edition arrived and Toshiba et al went mad trying to sell us tablets with rotatey tops at £300 above the regular laptop price. All the usual poser-users wanted them and they all fell apart in no time. At least they don't have styluses any more and the OS doesn't hate touch users any more. Nowadays it hates mouse users.

Edit - found a link to one:
http://www.mobiletechreview.com/note..._xp_tablet.htm

[THESPECIAL1]

Meh!

[AGTDenton]

I'm going to continue old hat with my HP TX2. Firstly the hinge design is fine to this day after 3 1/2 years, I do treat it with a bit of extra care of course.

The TX2 advantages over this are more day to day practicality use, the specs are obviously leaps and bounds ahead but for me the advantages are reason enough not to upgrade.
- Better Keyboard - the new Elitebook is jumping on the iMac bandwagon, they are awful copy cat keyboards, I've used the same style on some samsungs and acers and end up plugging in a real keyboard.
- A touch bigger screen at 12.1. I wouldnt want to get a laptop/netbook with a smaller screen.
- Removable DVD-Writer drive. I know they are old now, but at least mine is designed to be removable with a blanking plate to put in its place. I find writing to CD/DVD's useful out and about.
- 320GB HDD. An advantage if space is a requirement. The TX2 has enough oomph to hold several virtual machines and dual booting, very handy for testing and demonstrations on the road. A number of SSD's reportadly have problems when they start to get full so 256 could become 220 and that just isn't enough.

[GunJob]

It'd be nice if the screen wasn't so pants. 1366x768? That's just embarrassing for anything outside of a netbook or ultra-budget.

Totally agree, ruins the whole laptop in my opinion, for that money 1920x1080 should be the minimum.

[crossy]

Totally agree, ruins the whole laptop in my opinion, for that money 1920x1080 should be the minimum.

You do realise that this is a laptop?

Or are you actually meaning that you'd want to see - a 15" "retina" style display? So gets the high res by using a super high ppi? In HP's defence remember that it's the hinge that's the big deal - and screen res probably on an even keel with what's normal out there.

[edzieba]

You do realise that this is a laptop?

Yes. And also a tablet. Both have screens that sit pretty close to your eyes: skimping on resolution is a false economy.

in HP's defence remember that it's the hinge that's the big deal

The hinge isn't a big deal. There have been many, many laptops before with the same mechanism. If they're trying to pass off a sub-par laptop on a novelty that isn't actually novel, it's not going to go well.

On the subject of 'retina' displays: until things hit 7/8 pixels-per-minute-of-arc, you haven't hit a high enough pixel density to tackle vernier acuity. We've got a long way to go yet.

[Slowpoke]

i think the swivelling hinge mechanism is just a novelty tbh

[crossy]

Yes. And also a tablet. Both have screens that sit pretty close to your eyes: skimping on resolution is a false economy. On the subject of 'retina' displays: until things hit 7/8 pixels-per-minute-of-arc, you haven't hit a high enough pixel density to tackle vernier acuity. We've got a long way to go yet.

Sigh! I repeat again ... is it any worse (lower resolution) than what people already accept? No. Is the "low resolution" nature likely to cause eye strain etc? No. Will people be willing to accept the price premium that would need to be paid to have your lusted-after "high resolution" display? No (probably).
And personally - speaking as an unashamedly humble user of these gadgets - I'm more interested in the quality of the screen rather than mere pixels. The most obvious analog being digital cameras - bigger megapixel ratings don't necessarily make for a better picture. I've been compelled to use some bl**dy dire "super resolution" screens in the past, and have returned gratefully to my more mundane kit. The differences being how those screens handle reflections, the colour balance, viewing angles etc

The hinge isn't a big deal. There have been many, many laptops before with the same mechanism. If they're trying to pass off a sub-par laptop on a novelty that isn't actually novel, it's not going to go well.

Erm, if you read the article it says "The clue to the form factor is in the name; it’s a convertible notebook which uses HP’s old reliable swivelling hinge mechanism" so to accuse them of pushing a non-novel novelty is a misrepresentation.
You've obviously decided that this device is not for you ... fine, I'm content with that. But to disregard it as totally unworthy isn't valid either.

i think the swivelling hinge mechanism is just a novelty tbh

And the fancy folding mechanism that the Leonova Yoga uses (and is being pushed prominently in Lenovo's adverts) isn't a similar "novelty", or the flip frame on the Dell Inspiron Duo (or whatever they're calling that model this month)?

All are attempts - and ones I think we should be applauding - to give that "fat tablet" option to people who'd prefer to have a proper laptop rather than an iPad or Surface. Now, personally speaking, I'm not entirely convinced that these are better options than an Asus Transformer type device. On the other hand Windows 8 surely is the first version of Windows where you genuinely can justify this kind of dual nature device. Maybe an ideal solution for someone who wants more than a Surface Pro can offer?

[edzieba]

Sigh! I repeat again ... is it any worse (lower resolution) than what people already accept?

The point is that sort of resolution is NOT acceptable. Certainly not in a premium product (magnesium chassis and a horde of interfaces? This ain't no cheapie lappie!). I wouldn't be the slightest bit surprised if it were a TN panel too. If you can cram a 2048x1536 panel into a £400 product, or a 2560x1600 panel into a £320 product (both IPS panels, mind you), then accepting a nasty panel in something that likely costs in the £1000+ range is just silly. 10" 1920x1080 IPS panels abound in sub-£400 tablets, so selling a product aimed at a chunk of that market (it's a convertible notebook/tablet, don't give me any of that 'it's a PC first' hogwash) is braindead.

And in the realm of convertibles? People are still hanging onto their venerable x61ts with 1400x1050 IPS panels until something that matches it comes along. People definitely don;t accept low resolutions, even at the expense of raw CPU grunt.

You've obviously decided that this device is not for you ... fine, I'm content with that. But to disregard it as totally unworthy isn't valid either.

It's 'unworthy' due to poor components, specifically the choice of a cheap panel for a device who's entire lifetime will be used looking from close range at said cheap panel. That's not just a minor quibble, that's a huge gaping chasm of a flaw.

And the fancy folding mechanism that the Leonova Yoga uses (and is being pushed prominently in Lenovo's adverts) isn't a similar "novelty", or the flip frame on the Dell Inspiron Duo (or whatever they're calling that model this month)?

Lenovo Yoga: 1600x900 IPS (still a bit pants), XPS12 (Duo's successor): 1920x1080 IPS, much better.
When it's contemporary has near 4x the resolution, that's a design flaw. When it's beaten by a convertible released half a decade ago, it's an embarrassing and inexcusable design flaw.