A Quick Roundup of Some New PCs Announced at MWC

A Quick Roundup of Some New PCs Announced at MWC

True to its name, Mobile World Congress (MWC) is mostly about smartphones and tablets. But device makers announced a handful of Windows PCs as well.

To be clear, none of this is earth-shattering, though the Samsung device mentioned up front has gotten a curious amount of hype for what amounts to the company’s second stab at a Surface Pro clone. I can’t explain that. But then I did write separately about a business-focused HP 2-in-1 that was also timed to MWC, so who am I to point fingers?

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Here’s what’s new.

Samsung Galaxy Book. This premium 2-in-1 design is, yes, yet another Surface Pro clone. It is aimed at enterprise customers, features a 12-inch touch- and pen-enabled display, and provides 10 hours of battery life. The Book includes an S Pen and offers cross-platform device sync (with Samsung phones) courtesy of Samsung Flow.

Lenovo Miix 320. This detachable 2-in-1 offers a 10.1-inch Full HD display, up to 10 hours of battery life, and a smallish hardware keyboard (which is included). Prices start at $199.99 for the Wi-Fi only model, and the device will be available in April.

Lenovo Yoga 720 and 520. These convertible laptops each come in 13-, 14- and 15-inch variants, with the larger version offering discrete graphics and up to 9 hours of battery. Each includes optional active pen support, and a fingerprint reader is standard on the 720 (and optional on the 520). Prices start at $599.99 for the 520 and $1,099.99 for the 720, with availability in April.

Panasonic Toughbook CF-33 2-in-1. This new ruggedized 2-in-1 features a touch-enabled 12-inch display (QHD, or 2160 x 1440) with a 3:2 aspect ratio and can be purchased in tablet-only or detachable laptop models. 4G LTE is optional, and prices start at $3500/$4099.

Exciting, right?

 

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Conversation 14 comments

  • rameshthanikodi

    27 February, 2017 - 9:41 am

    <p>"Exciting, right?"</p><p>Actually, yes! The Lenovo 720 and 520 are a nice surprise. The 15" version of the 720 even sports a GTX 1050.</p>

  • jimchamplin

    Premium Member
    27 February, 2017 - 9:58 am

    <p>I love how Lenovo uses a standard keyboard layout on the Miix, but on the Flex, they crammed the right Shift key over past the uselessly large arrow keys. Only thing I don't like about the machine.</p>

  • wshwe

    27 February, 2017 - 10:07 am

    <p>The Lenovo 720 is thick and heavy. I wouldn't want to use it as a tablet. </p>

  • Waethorn

    27 February, 2017 - 10:13 am

    <p>I realize the market for Toughbooks isn't concerned with this, but GAWD is that thing fugly!</p>

    • Narg

      27 February, 2017 - 12:05 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#85400"><em>In reply to Waethorn:</em></a></blockquote><p>Yeah, in a cute kind of way though :)</p>

    • mike moller

      27 February, 2017 - 1:37 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#85400"><em>In reply to Waethorn:</em></a><em> </em><em style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">yep – and just look how ugly is expensive as well </em></blockquote><p><br></p>

  • beckerrt

    Premium Member
    27 February, 2017 - 10:15 am

    <p>Pretty excited about that Galaxy Book, actually. I passed over last year's Tab Pro S, so I may give this one a look. Hopefully the price is similar to last year's effort as well. </p>

  • RobertJasiek

    27 February, 2017 - 10:23 am

    <p>I wish Panasonic would also offer its outdoor-friendly displays for surface- or iPad-like tablets or 2-in-1s at their prices plus, say, €500 premium for the then better displays. The current ruggedised models are heavy, thick and clumsy, with €3500+ very expensive and thus only interesting for industry, military, field scientists or survival tours.</p><p><br></p><p>Samsung Galaxy Book is advertised for enterprise customers but fails due to its strongly mirroring display, which is the reason I won't buy it.</p>

  • Narg

    27 February, 2017 - 12:05 pm

    <p>Considering the number of new Windows 10 tablets, especially from Samsung and Lenovo, I'd say that Microsoft hit a grand slam with their Surface books, both with their popularity and in also making Windows 10 a viable OS for the tablet market.&nbsp; Their popularity has pushed all the top tablet OEMs into making Windows 10 based tablets now.&nbsp; I personally though I'd never see a Windows 10 tablet from Samsung.</p>

    • Chris_Kez

      Premium Member
      27 February, 2017 - 12:47 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#85560">In reply to Narg:</a></em></blockquote><p>Now we just need to see consumers buy them in decent numbers; and use Windows Store apps; and have Microsoft improve the tablet experience, which still remains a step down from Windows 8.</p>

      • wolters

        Premium Member
        27 February, 2017 - 1:49 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#85605">In reply to Chris_Kez:</a></em></blockquote><p>Excellent reply. I've used "tablet mode" less in Windows 10 than I did with Windows 8. </p>

      • skane2600

        27 February, 2017 - 1:52 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#85605">In reply to Chris_Kez:</a></em></blockquote><blockquote>I think they are just up against the reality that tablets and non-tablets have different needs. Windows 8 had some ideas that made sense on tablets but not on other PCs. But to maintain their dubious desire to make the two worlds the same, they had to sacrifice the needs of their tiny tablet market to the needs of their core conventional Windows customers. </blockquote><p><br></p>

    • Chris Blair

      27 February, 2017 - 8:43 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#85560"><em>In reply to Narg:</em></a>&nbsp;I select the tablet mode on my Surface Pro 3&nbsp;when using a pen for note taking or&nbsp;idea sketching in OneNote, and for reading e-books or&nbsp;browsing. But I normally return to the desktop mode&nbsp;when I'm using an Office app (Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook, etc.). So while Win 10&nbsp;may not be as tablet-optimized as Win&nbsp;8, it still is&nbsp;by far the&nbsp;best (the only?) option for anyone who wants to use both modes on a single device. &nbsp;</blockquote><p><br></p>

  • Stoicjim

    Premium Member
    27 February, 2017 - 6:18 pm

    <p>I also see the Porsche Design Book One was also announced. That is a primium designed and configured system. </p>

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