Podcast: Play in new window | Embed
Consumer Reports joined Into Tomorrow this week to tell us about 2-in-1 laptops and whether they really are the best of both worlds:
If you’ve shopped for a computer lately, you’ve seen a growing number of 2-in-1 laptops that either detach from the keyboard or twist around to become a tablet. But are any of them really the best of both worlds? Consumer Reports electronics spokesman James McQueen is here with some recommendations.
That sounds great, but only if the 2-in-1 laptop performs as well as a conventional laptop—no one wants to buy a product that tries to be a laptop and tablet, but fails at both jobs. However, our testing shows that you don’t have to pay a premium to get a 2-in-1 laptop that’s just as good as an ordinary laptop.
This $900 HP Spectre xp360 2-in-1 laptop topped our Ratings of 11- to 15-inch convertibles. It’s a 13-inch model, with exceptional battery life—16 hours—that was longer than what most other laptops delivered. It folds into four positions: laptop, stand, tent, and tablet. The aluminum chassis helps keep the weight down a bit, but it’s still 3.3 pounds, which is heavy for a tablet. Performance was as good as the best, equally priced 13-inch laptops.
The Acer Aspire R737 13-inch convertible also performed well, and was one of the fastest laptops we tested. A unique hinge lets you easily fold this 2-in-1 laptop into a tablet with one hand, and you can use function keys to disable the touchscreen or touchpad.For more info on this story, visit ConsumerReports.org.
The team discussed the apps they’ve been playing with this week:
Kids Media, FREE
Reviews of movies, apps, games, TV shows, books, websites, etc. to help parents make better choices for what’s appropriate for their kids.
GIPHY for Messenger, FREE
Pick GIFs from GIPHY’s huge database and insert GIF responses into Facebook Messenger.
