Hardware

Image Credit: Stewart Wolpin/DVICE

A few months after the iPad came out, computer makers who had made convertible laptops started phasing them out, believing the iPad usurped their need. What's old is new again: several computer makers are planning to introduce new Windows 8 convertible laptops soon after Microsoft makes the OS official on October 26.

I agree with the assessment that the iPad stymied the need for convertible laptops; if you need a keyboard with the lighter-than-a-convertible iPad, or even an Android tablet, you could buy an auxiliary Bluetooth QWERTY keypad. In fact, your bag would probably be lighter with an iPad and an ultrabook both contained therein, as opposed to a single convertible laptop.

But if these new hybrids succeed, we can't keep calling them "convertible laptops" (for one thing, it takes too long to type). So, I'm inventing a new name for these sometimes-a-laptop, sometimes-a-tablet combo computers.

"Laptabs!"

It's a name I'd trademark if I could (I wish I'd made up "phablet," for instance). Please cite me if you use it. (And don't get dyslexically clever and start calling them "tablaps" — I'm claiming that portmanteau, too.)

Here's the convertible rundown on the five laptabs I found during last months IFA electronics showcase in Berlin, Germany — some have sliding tops and some have detachable tabs, but they're all proper laptabs.

1. Dell XPS Duo 12 It looks like a regular clamshell at first glance, but the 12.5-inch screen pops out and swivels 360 degrees on its central horizontal axis inside the machined aluminum frame, then lies back-to-front over the keyboard to create one fat tablet. The idea isn't exactly original — the company put out a 10.1-inch Inspiron Duo netbook a few years back with the same swinging configuration, but was discontinued when the iPad also killed the netbook.

2. HP Envy X2 Here's a detachable tablet laptab with an 11.6-inch snap-off screen. Combined with its keyboard, the X2 weighs a whopping 3.1 pounds; the separated screen/tablet tips the scales at just 1.5 pounds. Its heavier-than-thou nature stems from HP building a battery into both the X2's keyboard and the screen/tablet. HP didn't have a battery life rating, only saying the dual configuration meant it will be naturally massive.

3. Samsung ATIV Smart PC/Smart PC Pro Like the HP, Samsung's offering has an 11.6-inch screen that pops off the QWERTY keypad. The Pro sports an Intel Core i5 processor, measures 11.9 mm thick when closed and will run for eight hours on a single charge, while its sibling is endowed with an Intel Core i3 chip, measures a relatively svelte 9.9mm thin and operates for a healthy 13.5 hours on its battery.

4. Sony VAIO Duo 11 Isn't it odd that Sony and Dell came up with similar laptab appellations? Or maybe not. The VAIO Duo 11 is equipped with an 11.1-inch touchscreen that slides flat-then-back-to-front so it lies back-down on top of the keypad. You also get a digitizer stylus. Sony's Duo doesn't offer any weight advantages compared to an ultrabook, though, which I think poses a problem for most of these laptabs. For instance, both the Intel i3 and i5 Duo 11 editions weigh in nearly a half pound more than Apple's 11-inch Mac Book Air, and at 2.86 pounds, just 0.1 pounds lighter than the 13-inch MacBook Air.

5. Toshiba Satellite U920t Like the Sony Duo, the Satellite U920t is a back-to-front slider, but lacks the seemingly overly complex mechanism of its sliding laptab competitor. Instead, you lay the U920t's 12.5-inch screen flat, then slide it over the keyboard. While easier to slide, it's a bit thick at 19.9 mm compared to Duo 11's 17.8 mm depth, and weighs a heftier 3.2 pounds.

Choices, Choices And More Choices

So: a light ultrabook, or a heavier laptab? And once you pop the tab top off the HP and Samsung when mobile, your bag continues to be weighed down by the keyboard, obviating the whole advantage of carrying a tablet.

In other words, laptabs carry all the disadvantages of a heavier laptop with none of the weight advantages of a tablet. Perhaps there are some functionality advantages by having both; I just don't see these worth a sore back.

Check out the gallery below for a closer look at each laptab written about here.

All images above by Stewart Wolpin for DVICE.

The MakerBot Replicator 2 Desktop 3D Printer. (Image Credit: Kevin Hall/DVICE)

The new Replicator 2 looks good on a shelf, but also boasts two notable upgrades: it's insanely accurate with a 100-micron resolution, and can build objects 37 percent larger than its predecessor without adding roughly any bulk to its size.

In a small eatery in Brooklyn, New York, MakerBot CEO Bre Pettis unveiled the next generation Replicator 2, which he presented in terms of Apple-like evolution in design. From the memory of its own Apple IIe in much smaller DIY 3D printing kits comes the all-steel Replicator 2. The fourth generation MakerBot printer ditches the wood for a sleek hard-body chassis, and is "designed for the desktop of an engineer, researcher, creative professional, or anyone who loves to make things," according to the company.

Of course, MakerBot, which helps enable a robust community of 3D printing enthusiasts, is all about the idea of 3D printing at home. By calling them desktop 3D printers, MakerBot alludes to 1984's Apple Macintosh, the first computer designed to be affordable. The Macintosh was introduced at a fraction of the cost of the Lisa, which came before it and was the first computer with an easy-to-use graphical interface.

Each iteration of MakerBot's 3D printing technology has tried to find a sweet spot between utility and affordability. Usually, affordability comes at the cost of two things: micron-level layer resolutions (the first Replicator had a 270-micron layer resolution, nearly three times as thick) and enough area to build. The Replicator 2 prioritizes these things, and, while it only has a single-color extruder, can still be sold at an impressive $2,100.

Well, to really be a Macintosh, the Replicator 2 also needs a user-friendly GUI. To that end, MakerBot is announcing MakerWare, which will allow users to arrange shapes and resize them on the fly with a simple program. If you don't need precise sizes, you can just wing it and build a shape as large as you like in the Replicator 2's 410-cubic-inch build area. More advanced users can set out an array of parts with the tool across the build space, and print multiple smaller components at once:

Even with all that going for it, $2,100 isn't a very Macintosh price — the original Macintosh was far cheaper than the Lisa before it. MakerBot's 3D printers have gotten more expensive over the years: $750 Cupcake, $1,225 Thing-O-Matic, $1749 Replicator (which the company still sells), and now a $2,100 Replicator 2. With that in mind, maybe it's not price that will determine 3D printers finding a spot in every home, but the layer resolution.

Printing with a 100-micron layer resolution, the amount of material the Replicator 2 puts down to build an object is impressive. To illustrate, each layer is 100 microns, or 0.1 millimeters, thick. A six-inch-tall object, which the printer can manage, would be made of at least 1,500 layers.

Most importantly, at 100 microns, the objects printed feel smooth, where the previous generation of home printers created objects that had rough wavy edges. The Replicator 2 uses a special-to-MakerBot bioplastic that's made from corn (to quote Pettis: "It smells good, too"), and the 3D-printed sample MakerBot gave us definitely felt smooth with a barely detectable grain.

The MakerBot Replicator 2 appears on the October (2012, if you're from the future) issue of Wired magazine with the words, "This machine will change the world." Does that mean 3D printing affordable, useable, accurate and space-efficient, yet? If the answer is yes, you can get your own MakerBot Replicator 2 from MakerBot

(One last thing, Pettis urged us all to check out the the brochure as the MakerBot team "worked really hard on it" to make it the "best brochure in the universe." Straight from my notes to your screen.)