Look, ma, a laptop and a tablet in one!

Next year the trend will be convertibles

MANILA, Philippines – Tired of carrying both a laptop computer and a tablet? Then better get ready for the coming of the convertibles, laptops that have touch-screen monitors that can be bent to resemble a tablet computer.

Ricky Banaag, Intel Philippines country manager, said during the recent Intel’s year end press briefing that a lot of convertibles will hit the Philippine market in 2013.

He cited the recent Windows 8 Experience Study conducted by Intel which showed that 44 percent of people surveyed had chosen convertible laptops over tablets and normal laptops in deciding which device they would like to run Windows 8.

Windows 8 is the latest operating system of Microsoft that can run on mobile devices, tablets, and laptops. Its main feature is that it is best used with touch-screens.

“[Convertibles] have the best of both worlds, the traditional keyboard [and at the same time] a touch-screen,” Banaag said.

The convertible will be able to serve the needs of touch applications and typing applications in just one package “instead of carrying both a tablet and a laptop when going out,” he said.

In today’s world where people have more than one device for their many needs, the convertible will help reduce the need for several devices.

The results of the Windows 8 Experience Study also found that 31 percent of people chose non-convertible laptops with touch-screens and 22 percent chose tablets. Only three percent chose the traditional laptop with no touch-screen.

Several laptop manufacturers have previously announced their convertible laptops which feature touch-screen monitors that can rotate like a revolving door or can be bent completely backwards.

Banaag said that the touch-screen monitors, which are connected to the main body of the laptop through a single or double hinge, had passed extensive stress tests.

“Tablets, convertibles, and new devices will enter the market en masse, blurring the boundaries between PCs and tablets. According to Gartner, by 2015 media tablet shipments will amount to around half that of laptops,” Intel said in their statement.

“As tablets become more popular at work, people will covet improved processing power. People will look to tablets for productivity, moving from consumption to multi-tasking; placing greater processing demands on their devices,” Intel Asia-Pacific director of regional sales organization, Philip Cronin, said in the statement.

People wishing to get their hands on a convertible however, should start saving money as early as now since one could cost P60,000, Banaag said.