Gadgetory

welcome to top shelf my name is David Pierce and this week we're talking about this brave new weird world we've somehow found ourselves in it's about laptops so the thing is laptops haven't really changed for like two decades they've been different and faster and thinner and more powerful but they haven't really looked any different but now in 2013 we're in this place where we might have a world where we can do all sorts of different cooler things with laptops and it all comes from this little Intel chip called has well let's talk processors we ask a lot of the processors in our laptops whether we're playing games running Photoshop or just browsing the web and a dozen different sites while listening to music and chatting with their friends we want to do everything we want to do it all at once and we don't want to do it while looking for power that's why a lot of people have turned to tablets and smartphones lately the ARM chips and those devices last forever they let us do a lot of things but Intel's catching up with a new breed of processors and latest laptops that offer all-day battery life with the same kind of performance you can expect from the last generation and a fruity finish that I think you'll find a LED phone the new version of Intel's chips the core i5s and i7s will probably find inside your laptop are called as well the name doesn't mean anything but the implications are huge Intel's promising major performance increases better graphics performance for gaming and watching movies and most of all better battery life much much better battery life there's a lot of complex engineering behind it but the short version is that the power system the chip is now better integrated which lets Haswell chips ramp up and cool down much more quickly there are many different Haswell chips each with a different flavor profile and character that enhances different activities in different ways there's the ultra-low power Y Series chip and then I use a high-end graphics chips the Irish card so to let you play games on an ultrabook that's never even been close to possible but here's what that all means manufacturers can now build thinner laptops and tablets than ever before because they don't need to put in as much battery to get four hours of battery life they can also build much more powerful machines than ever before because the graphics performance is so much better or they can do what we're already seeing a lot of drop the new chips into existing models and just watch battery life shoot through the roof which brings us for the new 13-inch MacBook Air last year's model was already the best all-around laptop on the market thanks to good hardware a great keyboard and trackpad in solid performance this year's model changes almost nothing at least on the outside there's stereo mics on the side instead of just a single bottom like that's literally it on the inside though this has well we tested a 1.3 gigahertz core i5 model which came with a very slight performance decrease over last year's 1.8 gigahertz model but I didn't really notice the difference the story here is the battery life the new air lasted 13 hours and 29 minutes in our tests more than double last year's model and well above what intel says has well should offer 13 hours and 29 minutes is enough battery life to completely change things this is the first laptop we've ever seen that can legitimately claim the last two all day the new air is cheaper than last year's models starting at just 1099 and it's still the best all-around laptop on the market but it's also the first of a dramatically new breed of computer and it means that Intel can finally offer the ability for us to do anything we want on our laptops and do it all day long sometimes the best does get better with age so Apple made the MacBook Air probably the best laptop on the market better without actually changing much of anything they just dropped Haswell in and you know watch the money pile up but on the windows side manufacturers are trying a lot of different weird things trying to figure out if there are other ways we might want to use a PC Lenovo's probably doing the best job they have the IdeaPad yoga which has the weird flipping hinge and then there's this this is the ThinkPad helix and we first saw it at CES and this is probably the computer people have been waiting for the longest it's a tablet it's a laptop and there's kind of a lot of people excited about it so I took it for a spin this week to see if this might be a real competitor to the laptop we've known and loved for so long we've been waiting for the Lenovo ThinkPad Hilux for a long time after its debut at CES where the detachable laptop tablet Hybrid was easily one of the best things we saw all week we waited for the device 6 months later it's finally here but it's not quite what we've been waiting for basically the Hilux is a tablet but it's a tablet with a dedicated keyboard dock which has a big battery and a fan in it the battery makes it last much longer and the fan means the helix can overclock its processor and run even faster when it's docked the helix is many things but it is not well designed it's full of asymmetry and awkward angles it's really the furthest thing from a gorgeous unibody device like the sony vaio pro or the MacBook Air the hinge is ugly and exposed as if it's missing its housing there are screws and buttons and rubber feet and stickers everywhere none of which lends the impression that this is at all a well-made sleek attractive laptop there's an awkward odd flap on the back that sort of covers all of that but it looks weird and out of place by itself it's big too the tablet itself weighs 1.8 pounds and the dock adds two more it's eight tenths of an inch thick - and even though the matte black carbon-fiber body feels rigid the seams aren't connected well enough on the plus side the helix does get the benefit of Lenovo's expertise with keyboards and track pads the curved concave keys feel great and the trackpad is smooth and responsive even if it does have a few of the same quirks as most Windows laptops there's even a TrackPoint nub if you're so inclined though the buttons for track point users have now been integrated into the trackpad the display on the helix is good and bad the 11.6 inch screen is 1080p which is great but having that many pixels on such a small display can actually make it really hard to see and click some text or icons or webpages it's hard with the mouse and even harder with your finger there's an integrated digital pen which helps a lot and I found myself using it a lot more than I thought not for drawing really but just for getting around the operating system and doing some of this small on-screen things that are hard to do with such small targets but it's not enough and Microsoft really needs to improve how Windows handles high-res screens movies look great in 1080p as do games so you really can't play many games thanks to the integrated Intel graphics here actually the biggest problem with the graphics here is that they're already outdated the Hilux runs a mostly clean version of Windows 8 on an Ivy Bridge processor last year's model which really doesn't make sense when Intel's new hazard chips are already out performance on the Hilux is really good especially when it's connected to the dock and able to use that fan but has well promises better performance better graphics and especially a better battery and the thing is better battery life might be killer here because it's already pretty great we got more than eight hours of battery life with the two parts connected and more than five hours for the tablet alone for something this powerful with this many features that's pretty great here's the thing though it's not performance that's the problem with the Hilux its design lenovo did indeed make a powerful Windows 8 tablet which not a lot of companies have done and it coupled it with a good keyboard and a good trackpad but in doing all that Lenovo seems to have forgotten design entirely I'd much rather have something like the yoga which is heavier but much better-looking and more cohesive or even the ThinkPad x1 carbon which is just a thin beautiful powerful laptop design isn't everything but your 1600 and $79 should buy a lot more care and attention to detail and even if you think this is the right form factor for Windows 8 I don't personally but even if you do this isn't the right way to do it so joining me now to talk about all this is like all of the laptops in the world and Nilay Patel our managing editor this is these are laptops so this is the beauty the best part of this was like it took me no time to just like walk in and be like what are the crazy laptops I can find they just they're all they're all right here the industry is crazy so I want started the MacBook Air okay so what do you wish Apple had changed things about the MacBook Air because they did right they like it's the stereo mics are cool but otherwise they didn't change anything like yeah should they have alright it's green or I think this what 1099 I think for most people this is like a lot of top you should buy and I think what's interesting if you look at this array of machines Apple is like the only one trying to solve the problem of how do we build a better actual laptop everyone else seems focused on other problems there's nobody else so every time I meet with the Nova they call it the PC plus era right so I don't like to call it the post PC era and the Nova's like no we're just gonna build a piece this is the helix yeah I just want to if you are spending your time if you're the product manager right it's that Lenovo we're gonna build a new think pad and our engineers are spending time building this door like can you see this look at this this door what's happening here just I mean it looks there's a there's a very appealing Batmobile aspect to this we're like when Batman opens the door to his car like many flaps move that's cool but like I don't but you're not Batman I mean like this door hides two additional fans and like I get it look like the processor is overclocked and when you put it in the dock like I get it sure I understand why all these decisions are made but I don't understand how they arrived it we're gonna solve this problem because I think the problem most people have is my laptop doesn't the battery doesn't last long enough the trackpad is no good I mean you should spend all of your time focusing your engineering area if your Windows laptop manufacturer yeah you should spend all your time right there yeah making that good yeah not here well taking this crazy with this sort of lenovo runs into the same problem and this is like a big Microsoft problem it's been like nobody's made a good trackpad and I'm inclined to not believe that's all their fault like Windows needs to get it together and it's the same with like these high-risk screens where everything looks really tiny on such a high res screen that's I think all different game really right I mean I there's there's obviously like the interplay of like software and hardware and you can see that the specs and the windows side are like kind of out racing the software a little bit it might look Microsoft will get there I think they know then you just repress screens but it's just like that you I look at this array of products and it's like all of these companies have done they're doing crazy things that are like structural about their laptops or like how are we gonna innovate on form factor and it's weird because I really like that Acer over there which is the reason I like it is because they spent a lot of finals and making a good laptop like it's awesome I think yeah it's really enough last I love on our team like wrote like like how much she loves it like it's a great little laptop and it's then like they didn't try to do anything to build a laptop with the form factor is true itself I'd like this Dell the most interesting thing about this Dell is this I'm never gonna use this computer like rest right but that's what makes it like interesting and like novel and you look at the ads and it's always spinning around yeah just like this let me just show you what I do with this thing every time I every time I get it I get it I don't know I don't even turn this thing on I just stand here and I'm just like oh right I just just see how hard you can hit it and it'll go back is that the problem that people are trying to solve so I don't know I think it's like this is the question to me it's like we all of these most of these anyway a couple of these are like regular laptops but every other one is trying to solve this like I want a laptop and a tablet right problem right and like I don't know that that's a problem I don't know anyone who owns a laptop and like an iPad and is really pissed that they're not the same what I think is this are they screwing up things like is a pre Haswell era they couldn't build tablets with Windows right like that was hard they did the surface pro I think is an excellent example of what happens we try to put full windows and a tablet and Windows RT is apparently just been a non-starter right most these companies aren't even building and it's mostly a battery life thinnest in the real web so they Android tablets I think for most of these companies have also been a non-starter RT tablets have been a non-starter so they're like we need an operating system to build tablet products here's full on Windows to do that we need a fan and running an Intel processor and so we're gonna build a laptop and we'll try to shoehorn it into a tablet as well just to get some product on in the market and I think that has led a lot of these companies to make what are fundamentally mistakes rightly all of this like this yeah so this is like fine but like when you're a lot like what am i doing I mean like they're 14 it's like here's a tablet and we're just gonna like add pieces to it until I write and I get it like this is like if you are a manufacturer and you're looking at the iPad and you're like this is what people do with their iPads and it's like you know what people hate doing with our iPads this like this is not a like I what do you what is this right right yeah and I think though I think that has well processors like now that are out and they can make reasonable computers with like all then right cool all they battery life so the thing is I feel like this this kind of thing can work like it's it feels like a laptop like I don't personally when I was using it I like never used it like a tablet I just used it like a laptop but it works is left out it's a good keyboard a good trackpad it's sturdy it's humongous but like this could work I I don't know if anybody wants it necessarily and this is $1,700 and that's ridiculous but like I feel like this could work I guess right like it is I think the biggest problems just do for us is that the MacBook the base model MacBook Air is 1099 right and the iPad is $500 and you can buy both of those products and they work together a little bit more right like more or less but you're in at least a content ecosystem regularity they understand each other they're aware of each other's and that that's like a that's expensive it's two things but they each serve their use case really really well and I think the these products like you're saying you never use this as a tablet and when you do pull it out like this is a big heavy tablet and it's sixteen by nine which continues to be the wrong aspect ratio for a tablet but it's right for a lap like this is like the thing there is a fundamental cool you know what's cool those you can see like four hundred thousand words of text all at once we decided somebody has to know that like somebody had to have picked this up at some point no I feel like this isn't great this isn't right but well but then or is like don't worry don't worry about that Steve just keep working again yeah I just feel like they everyone at any laptop company I just feel like just in general you these are this is solving problems that don't exist okay right but they have to they have to try right so that's the question is like where where do we go so like haswell's cool because it takes what we already have and makes it into like what we've always wanted it to be right like this all-day battery life thing Intel's been quoting for like three days or for three years it's like actually real now like our laptops like twelve hours is all day I don't need more than twelve hours I did the the P Sun has wealthy air yeah in that there's the time-lapse the okay actually lasted longer than the battery and the camera that was taking the time was ridiculous so they're because they're just letting one page I'm doing like anything strenuous they actually lasted for 17 hours that's great from the camera went like dive it well I mean that's the thing so it's like that's you know if battery life at 12 hours battery life it's like not a concern anymore look if you're using your laptop for more than 12 hours at a time like thing down rethink things so stop right on that hinge right exactly come on Steve just close it let's go see your family yeah but so like is there do we just have to sort of if I'm Lenovo right do I just give up and like keep making the same thing I have yours look I think Microsoft is there they've picked a direction Windows 8 I get there for better or worse they're leading the charge and touchscreen laptops like build touchscreen laptops okay that's cool but don't don't try to figure out what to do with this like don't have this problem like this is fundamentally a problem with all of these like at some point you end up dealing with this micro right just down the line all of these detachable keyboard and it's like what are you gonna do with this or I just believe it like you have to look at this like just you made this object and this object might enhance like this computer but fundamentally it's like this is gonna end up in a yard sale some someday like 14-year old me is gonna come staggering along like what is this know what's gonna happen is your it's gonna break like I kept putting this thing in my backpack in this like weird little flap will just catch on side yeah I don't I don't need to just hate on this one like I'm I'm just saying like I think each of these I think what we've discovered after all this exciting with form factor innovation innovation yeah is that these form factors need to be true to themselves okay and the thing that these manufacturers can do is directly compete with the MacBook Air right like they this is I think we've agreed that in terms of general-purpose laptop for like regular people like that's pretty much the best you can get right now sir and they need to go after who that idea which is the lasts all day has a reasonable amount of price and performance a reasonable mix of price and performance the track that is good the screen is decent I mean it's not some of these the VAIO right there has a higher resolution screen like you need to go after this you don't need to go after a market that is kind of nice and doesn't exist does that marketers mean you or the iPad there yeah I mean it seems like we've sort of that like that market has been ceded to Apple like you're gonna win at tablets and that's okay and nobody wants to spend $1700 on a thing that they think is a tablet or even a thousand dollars like right if something is primarily a tablet I feel like you can't charge what people are charging for this but I think the one exception is the yoga and this like I've talked about this way too much and I keep coming back to it but it's like I'd really feel like they kind of nailed this cuz it's like yeah you could just use it like a regular laptop and you'd never know and like the trackpad is as good as it can be on Windows and there's a touchscreen and you know it's thin and pretty light I have the 11 inch one upstairs and it's like my favorite 11 inch Peter I've ever used but then it also if you like really want to do crazy stuff you can do this and it you know is a half-decent tablet it's a little weird so that's this but like when I was reviewing the thing I wound up like putting it down sort of like just watching movies a lot I I think this is this is this is where you get right and yeah it's almost like a it's almost like a tell but here's how you know one if one of these products is going to be successful these hybrid products like can you see mechanical stuff right like yes you can with here's a surface like yes you can like there's mechanical stuff involved like there's the the VAIO duo which is like just add this thing a festival for the eyes in terms of like hinges are really pretty good and it doesn't like hours just trying to see but a second you see this I'm telling you yes that can you see this on a computer and like look at the other side that you can see the ribbon cable like the second you're aware of the ribbon cable like your product is a family am i I'm sorry I love Sony I think they're it's cool that they died but this is never going to work the reason this is successful is because all of the mechanical stuff that makes this what it is is totally integrated right it's so like that's that's it it's like okay this makes sense like I understand a laptop I understand how to open it I'm just gonna keep opening it until it closes again and now it's now is doing this thing and I think this is intuitive and make sense to consumers what all of this is just complexity that nobody's asking but isn't that the problem like aren't we in this place where we need to be you know moving forward and like you know not to keep using Apple as like the last unit of everything great but like Apple came out with the iPhones but nice iPhone is like my example of that where they came out with this thing and they're like this is different we promise it's better we think you're really gonna like it and like maybe there's there's something to that like we've been in the same place where like you know if I held this up next - you know Lenovo laptop from 20 years ago you know they were both lenovo laptops and like that's good on one hand but really bad on another cuz it's like a lot of health's is changed in 20 years like why hasn't this and I mean that hasn't changed dude we just three years sure but like I guess maybe did we just nail this three years ago I guess touchscreen is a big one things like at higher res and then I guess just like thinner and we'll eventually just carry it around and it'll be this big and that'll be cool well you know I think the thing with laptops and this is just my theory is it I think laptops they're essentially like the perfect expression of the ti 99 and I was like eight and that's what computers are thinkin that yeah that's what they become but those computers appeal to a really narrow subset of people like my parents don't want to use a lot they've never asked me for laptop have an iMac an iPad yep stop using the back they only use the iPad my niece and nephew have no interest in laptops like they just want to use the iPad I think this is like there's like this narrow window of people who grew up with computers that look like this and they this is the ultimate but we've hit that like this is what the computers would look like that are going to look like there are really good options now the second you try to deviate from that like build hinges and ribbon cables like you start building something else that like isn't that right and you're trying to shoehorn like we find we get it like these have evolved to their final condition right the next step is all these touch devices and those touch devices need to be true to themselves so I think yes these will inherit qualities of those devices they I don't know that any of this form factor innovation has led us anywhere meaningful and like the surface pro I think is it's about as good an example of like let's build a tablet that's a keyboard and O'Reilly word laptop and it has this hinge in a kickstand and it's like you look at it like why didn't you just go the lot right but maybe that's where we're going right is that like it you know people will have like a desktop and a tablet in a tablet becomes the portable thing and maybe this is like we're slowly taking like awkward baby steps toward that where eventually though desktop computers are coming back I mean I think if tablets become what everybody thinks they're gonna become which is like the future of how we compute on the move yeah then yeah I think that's ups are coming back I think in like they'll be thinner and cheaper and it'll basically be like your TV and your computer sitting on your desk all at once and that'll be really you like get real work done because nobody's ever gonna you know with the on-screen keyboard of the iPad no matter how good it gets you're never gonna want to like really like sit down a new business on your iPad here you know like poor shoes let's I mean maybe these are just like the ugly baby steps towards I just think like the the whole listen trees like they're these are attempts to compete with the iPad and not attempts to compete with the MacBook Air right and in doing so but they cost more than it cost more than that go together and in do in in in failing to recognize where they need to compete they all miss the mark wildly in in different all different ways except for except for that one except for the SFF which literally is like we should compete with a MacBook Air and they made a really good thank you they did except that it's like and it has it has surround sound on the bottom and it's as professionally tuned on the inside just kiss you didn't know how good well I agree I think this is like Toshiba says an amateur turn but if like yeah I mean it's a Sony Sony was like we're gonna compete with a MacBook Air and like Brett Sony - they made if you are engineering a hinge for your display that has to support the full weight of the keyboard off the ground but just stop just think about what you're doing like how will this keyboard be more rigid if it's sitting on the table or if it's off the ground okay you should understand that it'll Bend in the middle and like just stuff like that it's like what do people want they want they want to spend over a thousand dollars on these on the people who spend it with us yeah that's what they want they just want them to feel sturdy yeah and if your thing is bending in the middle it doesn't matter if it's made of carbon fiber hypothetically speaking yeah I think flexes away when you type on it it doesn't matter if that means over the long run it will more durable like this this which is the argument that I've been hearing from all the windows people like it's more durable because it's flexible which means it like we're I don't care it feels like job and like that I think that is like just it's so simple it compete with that don't compete with you out yet and we'll get we'll get there I promise you it'll be okay yeah thank you so much go go tell some taking this elbow that he needs to like exchange everything this batwing computer and I'm leaving oh the fans are spending yeah you know it happens and that everyone is our show thank you so much for watching thanks Danny like to tell and all these weird laptops for being here and I stop breaking my computers please I have to say these back it's somebody you're gonna give me trouble anyways thank you for being here and we will be back with lots more next week we have coverage of all these laptops including the full review of the ThinkPad helix at the verge calm and we will see you next week