What was expected from apple

Since internet is already filled with views from many people about Apple launch events from 2016, their expectations, reality and how dissatisfied they are. Here are some of my expectations from apple that were not met.

Convertible device from apple

It has been quite some time since first launch of Surface, many people hated it while many loved it like anything. It was quite a unique product and tried to bridge the gap between portability and functionality. Main attraction about surface was its pen interface and a very unique stand. Apple provided somewhat similar capabilities of pen/pencil interface in its iPad pro line, how ever, it never was as useful as a surface due to many reasons, some of them are

• No ability to connect multiple devices

  Surface had capability to connect an external display, external USB devices, memory card (for expansion or otherwise), charger, headphones, and the obvious keyboard cover.
  When it came to iPad, it had a lightning connector and headphone jack, so maybe you could listen to some audio while charging, and buy a bluetooth keyboard to make up for the official (later announced) keyboard as available for surface, but there was no way to plugin an external display or some external (mostly) USB device for a common man. But maybe you are not a common man, as you already have the iPad (not so) pro.

• No integrated stand

  Yes the surface looks somewhat ugly when compared to an iPad, but the you can tilt it without having to buy an extra cover (unless if you don`t want a keyboard)

• Weird changing of the pro-ish pencil

  Yes we`ve all heard it a million times, and maybe criticized ourselves, keeping the giant pencil plugged in to your iPad was simply awkward

Updated iPod touch

Not so long ago, there was a time when the iPhone company was know as the iPod company, it was such a success the it captured the market right after its launch. Being so well accepted, the business for the word iPod was not merely from sales of the product but also from its accessories and obviously music/iTunes. Over the years iPod evolved in to many forms and almost all of these changes were good and were accepted with absolutely no issues. Then there was iPod video (or maybe the classic) and even better for videos, the iPod touch, which till some point was as up to date as an iPhone but did not have a sim card slot and was also a little bit thinner and lighter. iPod touch were very well priced and a very good value for money (may be they still are, if you take the 64 GB variant into consideration). However since iPhones dominated the sales figure, the iPods were refreshed less frequently and as of now, even though the last iPod tough runs latest iOS, its simply does not make sense to buy such old hardware. Maybe iPod touch could have received a larger screen (anti apple, but something they did with iPhone 6 and later) and also the touch ID (why security a hindrance between you and your music) as it is said, technology in its true form becomes invisible

Up to date hardware

With intel launching a new generation of CPUs almost every year, even the macbooks launched in late 2016 (just few days back) do not have latest CPUs. Maybe we could have got a little more out of our batteries. While it is completely different case when we talk about type and generation of ports.

Updated line up of other devices

Apple to me has always been a computer company, though software has always been a critical part of any computer system, but we can not keep on torturing old hardware buy running software which is designed to give better performance on newer hardware. Software guys tend to be smart in a million ways, they find workaround for issues like, this feature is not directly available in older CPUs, so they`ll emulate in software and this thing in turn makes more instructions to run, taking more cycles and more energy. These things also increase overhead as the emulated code was something that was extra workload for older machine.
Well this point would not have made sense to everybody on the planet

Touch Support

Well everyone was expecting this, but apple did what apple did. Wacom has been providing pen input solutions for apple devices for a very long time now, but maybe apple wants to keep mac OS a totally homegrown solution and wants to develop the hardware and software in house. Its the consumer not the company who is at loss, many people who love macs only for their reliability, software and maybe the pixel density will have to move to other solutions as apple thinks it may loose its pride if it asks for external aid (no questions about company policies and ethics).

Products mentioned in the article

Well here are some of the products mentioned in the article

Wacom solutions for pen input, works for both mac and windows

minimum recommended config for surface and keyboard cover

iPad pro (9.7 inch), apple pencil and smart keybaord

iPad pro (12.9 inch), pencil and compatible smart keyboard

iPod touch

Finding a good enough 2 in 1 laptop at around ₹ 50k

Note : this text is based on my individual opinion based on prices and availability of products in both online and offline stores. These opinions have not been sponsored from any brand or person.
This text is mainly focused on a consumer who uses his/her laptop/tablet after coming back from work. Expected lifespan of product is around 3 years or more. Form factor and usability matter and occasional hardware upgrades are entertained unless they do not burn a hole in the pocket. Build quality is expected to be good if not business grade.

Form factor

Convertibles or 2-in-1s are available in two major forms.

Detachables

these are the ones which have a tablet part which has (almost) all the parts that matter and have a keyboard (which in some cases is sold as an optional extra at additional cost)

Flip / Foldback

these are the ones which look like normal laptops but screen can be opened all the way back. These tend to have thinner screens and a more even distribution of parts (and also the weight).

Detachables

The Pros :

Since the keyboard is completely removable, these can have very close to least possible weight and will be comfortable to use for a longer duration.

The Cons:

As almost everything is sitting right behind the screen, manufacturers have to select parts which generate less heat and often have lower computing potential.They may have processors with lesser potential (but still have higher price) than those in the other type of convertibles.Most models do not offer dedicated GPUs (even as an option). In other words these are similar to tablets but usually have more weight and may have just a few extra ports (than a tablet) in most cases. And the worst part being almost no scope of upgrade after the product has been bought. Some of the available options in India at this point of time are.

Lenovo miix 310 view on amazon

Lenovo miix 510 ( not yet launched)

HP Pavalion x2 (10 and 12 inch model) view on amazon

Asus transformer pad view on amazon

Acer (personally have had bad service issues hence not digging much deep)

Surface (goes beyond budget) view on amazon

Flip / Foldback

These are basically laptops with emphasis on lower weight and a very flexible screen hinge. As parts can be placed more like a laptop, these can often have some scope for upgrade at a later point in time. These also have less restrictions and may have more powerful processors and dedicated GPUs. As the keyboard part always stays with the screen, it can be placed on any surface and be used for media consumption without carry any weight.

The Cons :

As there are two different sections, both being necessary for the entire device to work, it becomes overall more bulky.

Some of the models available in India as of now are :

Lenovo yoga 300 view on amazon

Lenovo yoga 500 view on amazon

Lenovo yoga 510 ( newer but availability is an issue)

Lenovo yoga 710 (goes beyond budget and availability is an issue)

Lenovo yoga 900 (goes beyond budget) view on amazon

Thinkpad yoga 260 (goes beyond budget)

Thinkpad yoga 460 (goes beyond budget)

Thnikpad x1 yoga (goes beyond budget)

HP x360 ( 11inch 13inch and 15inch) veiw on amazon

Dell inspiron (11 inch 13 inch and 15 inch) view on amazon

Asus ux360 view on amazon

Cutting down the count

All the models have normal sized keys despite being of different size. However 11 inch models do not come with a backlit option (at least in India) but all the large screen counter parts have backlit keyboards as standard. Therefore leaving us to chose to make compromise with either portability or usability. Also the sub 12 inch models do not offer FHD screens which can be an issue for some people.Our use case involves using the devices in dark (sometimes for hours), hence we are now left with all the options having screen size of more than 12 inches.

Considering value for money in terms of specs, yoga 500 and yoga 510 offer better configuration for a smaller price tag followed by HP ,Dell and Asus (it deserves a special mention though) respectively (this opinion is based on MRP of these products). Lenovo brings most economic product in this category with a minor compromise, that being max memory support of only 8 GB in both yoga 500 and yoga 510. While HP and Dell offer expansion upto 16 GB of RAM in total. HP offers most variants with 4 GB RAM while Dell has some variants with 8 GB RAM in one of the two slots available. Asus machines on the other hand come with soldered RAM and hence there max support does not matter (please avoid upgrades for soldered RAM there are more chances of damaging everything else on the motherboard if not done correctly).

Ease to upgrade

While supporting least amount of RAM yoga 500 ram slots are easily accessible and opening the back is quite easy. Yoga 510 also being same with just a minor step added as it has a metal lid on top of RAM slots. Dell hardware (RAM and HDD/SSD) is most easy to upgrade in all the mentioned laptops with relatively lower chances to get messed up. Asus does not come with upgradable memory and has an SSD pre-installed hence may rarely require opening back other then a situation when something is seriously screwed up inside [ don`t unscrew; don`t get screwed up]. HP completely changes the game when a question about RAM or HDD upgrade comes. Even though it supports upto 16 GB of ram, RAM slots can be reached once you have dissembled the entire laptop.

Keyboards and backlights

I was not able to find ux360 from asus and hence will not be able to give an opinion about its keyboard. Other three being mostly equally comfortable to type and had almost similar key travel. When it comes to using keyboard in dark, backlit keys from lenovo turn out to be most usable as the backlight is quite controlled and is non-intrusive in my opinion. HP on the other hand has the brightest backlit keys. Also HP does not have multiple brightness levels for backlight, its simply on and off. Turning on backlight was easiest for both lenovo machines reason being the fn + Space combination assigned for this task.

Screens

All the 2-in1s under ₹ 50k with screens larger than 12inches offerr FHD (1920 x 1080) resolution, however the one on yoga 500 appeared to be less bright in a well lit space, this maybe due to the visible separation between the top glass and screen it self. Dell appeared to be just a little bit more brighter and was clearer as there was no visible separation between glass and screen. HP was even brighter than Dell and also come with an option of antiglare glass for people who`ll be spending more time outside (or more bright places). Asus, as we could not find the machine, we have no opinion about it.

Battery life:

Yoga 500 claims the least (around 6 hours), yoga 510 with the newer hardware and DDR4 RAM claim around 8.5 hours. Dell and HP also claim almost the same. Asus has a claim of 10 hours thanks to its ULV processor and inbuilt SSD.

Other Features:

Asus, Lenovo and Dell offer USB pass through which allows charging USB devices even when the device is shutdown ( not sleep ) and offer higher current for faster charging of devices ( phones is most cases). Even though this feature may not appear to be of use for many people, it can save some time (to boot up) before your devices are able to charge from your laptops, and some space in your bags by eliminating requirement to carry a powerbank. If this is the deal breaker for you, HP is not an option.

Warranty

All brands offer damage cover for first year, and max warranty cover for 3 years. Please consider availability of service center in an area around you if this will be your first machine or if you have had an overall bad track record in handelling laptops.

Overall Build and system performance

HP and Dell offer a similar build quality and both have a fake metal finish. Their bodies are mostly plastic but have a metal finish on top, these will mostly not dent but crack. Lenovo has a more grippy finish on both the models. As per reviews available online, build quality of Asus should be somewhere in between lenovo and the other two. Asus is also the slimmest and offers least number of ports but is the only one which has USB type C. Asus also SSD as the only storage option available making it the faster performing of these all, but for the people who`ll be storing too many videos and photos, well you`ll soon be running out of space. Other three brands offer rotating HDDs and more storage, but startup, shutdown and time taken by applications to load suffer because of the same.

Final verdict

If you do not need a dedicated GPU, can work with no future RAM upgrades and a smaller storage at present, but can not compromise on app startup time and future ready USB type C and are mostly on the go, Asus should be the preferred option. If you are looking for something with high constraints of price tag, but can do with a max possible 8GB RAM and would not mind buying a 5th gen CPU in end of 2016, buy yoga 500. If only 5th gen CPU was your issue with yoga 500, you can wait for yoga 510. If you need a better display and will be heading to a service center for all hardware upgrades, HP will not be a bad decision. If you can spend more money now and would not like to have approach the company for any upgrade that you may plan in future, go for Dell.

There are links to purchase some of the variants of the laptops down below. Feel free to check them out.

Lenovo miix 310

Microsoft Surface

HP Pavilion x2 10 inch

Asus Transformer Pad

Lenovo Yoga 500

HP x360 13.3 inch 7th gen