COMPUTER REGENERATED
Just when you think laptops have reached the end of their evolution, along come two innovative new takes on the technology to push things forward
It has a 17in screen, for a start, which is huge for a laptop. But more than that, it has a second screen next to the keyboard – it’s a bit like having a mini-tablet built in.
YOU hardly expect to find real innovation in the computer space these days – after all, what more can you do with a screen and a keyboard?
Laptops, in particular, have settled on a form-factor and a way of working that almost all their manufacturers stick to. Until this week, that is.
Two new laptops from a pair of heavyweights in the business have been revealed for release soon that offer some interesting new ideas.
First up, let’s take a look at Dell’s new version of its popular XPS 13.
This laptop is interesting because of what it takes away rather than what it adds.
And it’s all the more impressive coming from Dell – not a computer-maker you’d associate with pushing boundaries.
The first thing you notice about the XPS 13 is that it appears to have no trackpad beneath the keyboard.
It is, in fact, there – you just can’t see it. Because it’s not an actual button that you can press, but what Dell calls a “haptic ForcePad”, it doesn’t need to be separate from the body.
You can just touch where you normally would when using a regular trackpad, and get haptic feedback from the surface as you tap.
This may be a little tricky to get the hang of at first, although Dell suggests that there will be no learning curve as it’s just the appearance rather than the functionality that is different.
The other departure from the norm is the lack of a row of function keys.
Apple tried this with the TouchBar on previous generations of the MacBook Pro, but ditched it last time around because it was so unpopular with users.
Dell has taken a different approach, and they are keen to differentiate what it has done from the TouchBar.
What you have is a row of buttons that do not move, each indicated by a little LED-lit icon, which work like a touch-screen – Dell calls it a “capacitive touch function row”.
This acts a bit like a regular function row, and it’s where you can alter things like the brightness of the screen or the volume.
Aside from all this, Dell has flattened everything out for a sleeker look – the keyboard is flush with the enclosure. Processor-wise we’re looking at options from a 12th generation Intel Core i5, all the way up to a Core i7.
It’s expected to appear in the spring with a price tag around the £1,000-mark.
The second laptop we’ve seen this week that is certainly something a bit different comes from another giant in the space - Lenovo.
The ThinkBook Plus Gen 3 is a special device not because of what it takes away – but because of what it adds. It’s a monster.
It has a 17in screen, for a start, which is huge for a laptop.
But more than that, it has a second screen next to the keyboard - it’s a bit like having a mini tablet built in.
What’s the point of that, you might ask?
Well, for photographers and videographers, having that touchscreen available all the time, and integrated into the software you are using, offers a second, much more natural way of interacting with your content.
It’s why things like Wacom’s drawing tablets exist.
Aside from that, the ThinkBook Plus Gen 3 is more or less a standard device – You can configure up to Intel’s 12th-gen Alder Lake processors, kit it out with up to 32GB of RAM, and 2TB of storage.
The surprising thing is the price – although we don’t quite know for sure, the ThinkBook Plus Gen 3 isn’t expected to cost much more than £1,000 when it hits the market in the spring.
Two surprising new devices to look forward to, then, in a market that didn’t look like it was capable of surprising anyone any more.