Wednesday, October 21, 2015

GADGET GIZMO SPECIAL..WHICH PC Is Right For You?

GADGETGIZMO SPECIAL
WHICH PC Is Right For You?


Windows machines come in various form factors, with prices starting
as low as `4,999. But how do you know which one is right for you?

Different Form Factors
There are many different form factors in laptops today -just like there used to
 be with mobile phones. Each style can offer certain advantages to a type 
of user.
Typically, you pay a premium for unique form factors as compared to the
conventional laptop style -but if one of these form factors can replace
two devices for your kind of use, you save money in the long run.
Lenovo pioneered the Yoga form factor almost three years ago. It was called
so because of the unique twoway hinge that allowed the screen to swivel a
complete 360 degrees. The flexibility allows you to use it in multiple ways:
as a conventional lap top, as a stand (with the screen facing outwards and
keyboard facing down), as a tent (you can hang it on something), flat on a
table (screen facing up, for collaboration around a table) and as a tablet
(for media consumption). The ferris wheel style was a different take on the
flexible screen -Dell has this design on the XPS 12, a premium ultraportable
from their high-perfor mance XPS range. You could use it as a conventional
laptop and as a tablet, but since this design was more focused on style, the
various modes in between were left out. Apart from the eye-catching style,
the other advantage was that it could be made much sleeker as a tablet.

Detachables and convertibles are fairly new developments in the laptop world
you'll a l s o hear them being called hybr i ds an d 2-in-1s. The idea is simple:
 tablets are lighter than laptops and you can only use one device at a time,
so why not dispense with the extra weight and bulk when you don't need it.
Various such designs exist now, with the prices starting as low as `13,000
for basic Intel Atom powered machines like the Micromax Canvas Laptab
and iBall WQ 149i, going up to `1,60,000 for ultra-premium business 
machines  like the ThinkPad Helix.

A PC for less than 10k
Up till last year, if you told someone that you can get a full Windows 
computer for less than `10,000, you would have been laughed at. 
The scenario has changedquite dramatically. 
Not only there are devices running with the full version of Windows 
available in the sub-`10,000 segment, they have fallen as low as `4,999
(case in point, the iBall i701).You have two kinds of devices in this price range.
First, lets talk about the tablet. You can get the 7-inch iBall i701 mentioned
earlier -the cheapest Windows tablet available today . The 8-inch NotionInk
Cain 8, priced at `9,999 offers better hardware.
The second type of device is the PC on a stick. It's a full Windows system on
 a large TV dongle that connects directly to the HDMI por t of an existing TV
  Monitor. The stick offers a USB port, WiFi, Bluetooth connectivity as well
as expandable storage.
The cate gory was created to meet the demands of the budget users ­ students,
housewives and elderly people who do not want to spend a large sum of
money on a laptop or a desktop. Their re q u i re m e n t s are basic: web
surfing, document editing, video calling and multimedia consumption.
Thanks to the large number of apps, many users we r e o p t i n g f o r budget and
 Android devices that offered all these functions at a fraction of the cost,
even if it there was a learning curve involved.
O gain foothold into this segment, Intel and Microsoft worked with vendors
to create this category of budget-friendly devices with full Windows 
functionality.
To achieve such price points and considering the requirements,
 the hardware  specifications are basic.
All the devices available so far are powered by Intel Atom processors with
2GB RAM and built-in flash storage of 32GB. So what kind of performance
can you expect from this hardware? Well in our testing, we found that the
boot time was really fast, thanks to flash storage and the devices had no
issues switching between multiple open windows of Chrome and Office
documents. They can easily playback full HD video (we used VLC media
player for testing) and do ba sic photo editing using GIMP.

Should You get a Touchscreen Laptop?
There's a lot of talk about this and opinion is obviously divided. However,
for a generation that has been brought up on touchscreens ­ the digital natives ­
a touchscreen laptop offers an intuitive method of interaction.
The question is, should you opt for a touchscreen if you're in the market for a
new laptop? Is the increase in price justified? The primary argument against
touchscreens on laptops is that they're not needed. Plus, that the interface
has not been designed with stubby fingers in mind ­ it's better suited to control
with a tiny cursor.While that was true till Windows 7, Windows 8 and 10
have changed all that. With the interface, many apps and now games that
support touch input, it's now better to get the touch.
Hitesh Raj Bhagat and Karan Bajaj
ET 7OCT15 

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