So many 2-in-1 choices... what would you recommend?

anon(10542844)

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There are so many choices in 2-in-1s these days. After all my research these are the top 6 I've narrowed it down to but what would you recommend?

  1. Surface Go (10 inch tablet/laptop $399 + $99 standard type cover = $498) – Budget friendly Surface branded tablet, a 3:2 Aspect ratio, Alcantera backlit keyboard, and Windows Hello facial recognition.
  2. HP Envy x2 with LTE (12.3 inch tablet/laptop - $799) – Outstanding all-day battery life running on an ARM 835 processor, with LTE!
  3. HP Spectre Folio 13 (13 inch laptop/tablet $1499 with LTE) – A premium laptop/tablet combination with an 8th gen Intel i5 processor, all day battery life, and made out of leather!
  4. Asus Transformer T103HA (10.1 inch tablet/laptop - $379) – Budget friendly device in a Surface Pro form factor.
  5. Lenovo Miix 630 (12.3 inch tablet/laptop - $699) – Outstanding all-day battery life running on an ARM 835 processor, with LTE!
  6. Surface Pro 6 with i5 (12 inch tablet/laptop with i5 processor $899 + Alcantera type cover $159 = $1059) - Great performance, great battery life, lightweight.
 

Old_Mil

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The fundamental problem with 2 in 1 devices is that anything bigger than about 10.5 inches is a little on the inconvenient side to detach and use as a laptop.
 

ochhanz

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There are so many choices in 2-in-1s these days. After all my research these are the top 6 I've narrowed it down to but what would you recommend?

  1. Surface Go (10 inch tablet/laptop $399 + $99 standard type cover = $498) – Budget friendly Surface branded tablet, a 3:2 Aspect ratio, Alcantera backlit keyboard, and Windows Hello facial recognition.
  2. HP Envy x2 with LTE (12.3 inch tablet/laptop - $799) – Outstanding all-day battery life running on an ARM 835 processor, with LTE!
  3. HP Spectre Folio 13 (13 inch laptop/tablet $1499 with LTE) – A premium laptop/tablet combination with an 8th gen Intel i5 processor, all day battery life, and made out of leather!
  4. Asus Transformer T103HA (10.1 inch tablet/laptop - $379) – Budget friendly device in a Surface Pro form factor.
  5. Lenovo Miix 630 (12.3 inch tablet/laptop - $699) – Outstanding all-day battery life running on an ARM 835 processor, with LTE!
  6. Surface Pro 6 with i5 (12 inch tablet/laptop with i5 processor $899 + Alcantera type cover $159 = $1059) - Great performance, great battery life, lightweight.
, hi, what are your use cases? What size would you prefer?

The Surface Go and the Asus Transforme are very compact/light (especially the Go) and can be used perfectly as a tablet for longer times (that is if you scale Windows 10 enough to your liking, possibly switch to tablet mode and possibly install GestureSign). The onscreen keyboard might also be something to try out in general with Windows 10 2-1's/tablets, I believe with older devices there are some driver issues or something like in that the onscreen keyboard does not always popping up when selecting a textbox. Anyway, the Go is nice if you don't need to run heavy programs etc (it is good enough for Office, browsing etc). The gpu in the Go is actually pretty decent for an igpu so you can play older or indie games on it. If you will multitask a lot you should get the version with 8gb memory. If you want to save money, you could buy the tablet without the keyboard and get a cheap bluetooth keyboard or get a chinese keyboard cover if you only rarely will type on it.
The transformer is outdated with its Atom proc.

The HP Envy x2 is a nice premium tablet device if you mostly/only use UWP/Store apps (because legacy/.exe programs on them get a performance loss). I personally think the Snapdragon in it is a bit weak for the price, but if you can get the device on a good sale than I think it could a good purchase.

The HP folio is more a convertible laptop (keyboard can not be detached), hence it is somewhat heavy to use as a tablet. It seems like a nice device if you quickly find to make notes during your (desk/laptop) work since you can easily move the screen forwards/backwards. The price is pretty ok too for a premium looking device.

Mixx, same as Envy can be interesting to get on a sale (probably a bit less good body/build-quality than the Envy but also cheaper of course). Also note that Samsung has a snapdragon 850 Windows tablet, probably more snapdragon 850 devices will follow so the 835 is a bit outdated now.

Surface Pro 6, probably the best detachable 2-1 now. Quadcore proc and still solid battery life. Get this if you want a pro-like Windows tablet that can run about everything (except for programs/games that require a good gpu of course). It weakest link is probably its ports selection, but than again about every tablet/detachable 2-1 has not that many ports as a normal laptop or convertible laptop.
 

kaktus1389

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I personally would not yet consider anything that has anything below Core i3 processor. It really depends on how do you plan to use it and how much you're willing to spend for it. For example, HP Spectre x360 does not have a detachable screen, but you can rotate it for 360° so it can also function as a tablet (yeah that's a convertible not a 2-in-1, but it's still very powerful).
I strongly advise to try to avoid budget devices, because I had a very bad experience with an Intel Atom powered Asus convertible and frankly I also found out that for me, Windows is not a very competent tablet OS.
 

Old_Mil

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Sorry, I should have said detach and use as a tablet. So I would go with the 10 inch offerings you cite. The Lenovo Tab 10 may also be worth considering.

I have a Lenovo Helix 2 with an 11.6 inch screen that I almost never detach and an Acer W4 that I almost always use as a tablet (8 inch screen).

That's how I came to the conclusion that the 10 inch screen is the ideal form factor for a 2 in 1
 

anon(10409867)

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I think a 10" tablet with a matte display, core m processor, 32 GB ROM & 4000 mAH battery will be sufficient to be used as a e book reader. This is the only practical use I can think of about Windows tablets. Anything else makes no sense at all to me.
 

ochhanz

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I personally would not yet consider anything that has anything below Core i3 processor. It really depends on how do you plan to use it and how much you're willing to spend for it. For example, HP Spectre x360 does not have a detachable screen, but you can rotate it for 360° so it can also function as a tablet (yeah that's a convertible not a 2-in-1, but it's still very powerful).
I strongly advise to try to avoid budget devices, because I had a very bad experience with an Intel Atom powered Asus convertible and frankly I also found out that for me, Windows is not a very competent tablet OS.
, just to add to this, also often you will want to have a i5 instead of a i7 because of increased throttling with i7 u procs in thin 2-1's/laptops. A quad-core (e.g. i5-8250u or AMD 5 2500u) is also recommended for work/study or even if only it is for future-proofing (unless it is a good sale or a budget device like the Surface Go). Also iirc the Atom won't even get future support of Windows 10 so avoid it.
 

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