An Introduction to Laptop Tablets

Convertible laptop tablets, or hybrid tablets as they’re also popularly known, are tablets/laptops that can shift from one function to the other. In other words, they can be both a tablet and a laptop at different times.

The way in which this is achieved differs from product to product. At the moment each company has their own unique technology that allows the device to be used as either a tablet or laptop. These technologies include a screen that folds a full 360 degrees so that it faces up on the back of the keyboard, a screen that twists on the vertical access from the connection with the keyboard base and can then lie face up over the keyboard, a screen that slides over the keyboard into an upright position and a screen that can be completely removed from the keyboard base.

Each of these options has its merits, although the one that offers the best solution to tablet portability and laptop functionality is probably the one with the completely detachable screen. This screen then becomes only the size, thickness and weight of a standard tablet when removed from the keyboard base, making it vastly more portable than the alternatives.

The other remarkable kind of hybrid laptop/tablet is that which has a keyboard built into the tablet cover. Windows Surface RT provides the best example of this right now, and is truly a marvel. Although the cover looks almost no different to one used for an iPad from the outside, open it up and you find a full keyboard on the inside. This incredibly thin keyboard adds next to nothing to the size or weight of the tablet but provides the additional productive capabilities that a keyboard brings.

Convertible or hybrid tablets generally boil down to a trade-off. This trade-off is between functionality and portability. Tablets generally have longer battery lives and are lighter weight and smaller than hybrids. Hybrids, on the other hand, are more powerful and are better suited to productivity tasks. That makes them better as devices for work as well as leisure.

If you’re not sure which option to go for, then read through our handy guide that introduces you to the basic essentials of tablets and hybrids. The options can seem many and varied, but once you understand the core features that really determine what kind of use you’ll get from a product things get considerably easier.