Tablet PC Review

For a Notebook, design wasn’t always such a priority. It used to be that a notebook or a desktop only had to look better than the machine on the shelf next to it. There’s a desktop styled after a glowing jet engine, a leather-bound laptop in tan, white or hot pink, and an ultra-flexible concept computer codenamed, appropriately enough, Yoga. 
Cars have been an inspiration to product designers for some time. Acer’s Ferrari notebooks use the famous badge and team red, and Asus recently hit the road with a Lamborghini VX1 notebook in black or bright yellow duco.

Appealing or not, all are far from the boring beige boxes and bland looks that have typified personal computing for decades. But those dull days are over, according to some PC makers.

A desire to look good is only natural, Dell spokesman Jeff Morris says. Few computer buyers may be matching their handbags or ties just yet, but with cheaper, lighter technology comes a greater focus on fashion - and computer companies are clearly aware of it.
“As machines become more affordable, it’s not just the speeds that people care about,” Mr Morris explains. “They’re looking at the appearance. Notebooks are getting lighter and people are carrying them around, so they want something that looks cool. It used to be cool just to have a laptop. Now people want to differentiate themselves.”

For Dell design wasn’t a problem; its business was built by bypassing shops and selling direct to customers. But times change and computer companies are now desperately looking for ways to compete beyond offering the cheapest or fastest products. Unusual designs give them something else to tempt a customer, an edge that may even revitalise a business and change market perceptions. Dell could certainly use a little of that. It’s been feeling the heat lately, and not just from recent embarrassing headlines about malfunctioning batteries bursting into flame. The world’s largest maker of personal computers is struggling with falling profits in a slowing and saturated market.

Asus notebook’s manager, Emmanuele Silanesu argues that consumers are now thinking differently about technology and says the trend towards more attractive machines is spreading, and he said, ”Beige is dead and buried.”  Asus is just one of the companies exploring design and fashion to catch consumer interest.
“Obviously in large organisations the bottom line still rules, but even that’s starting to change,” he says. “Certainly, small and medium-sized businesses are more conscious of how their machines look.”

Despite their innovation and good looks, sometimes they’re just not practical. As with some concept cars, however, there are computer designs that never make it on to the open road. “We must do more than come up with a look,” Dell’s Mr Morris stresses. “We must encompass usability too. A machine can look good but it must also be functional. It has to be serviced. We try to find that balance. We won’t put something in that our customers won’t pay for. You have to be very honest about what you will spend on industrial design and how much you expect to get back.”

Several concept machines by Lenovo have won international design awards, such as the strikingly flexible Yoga tablet PC. It has a 180-degree adjustable screen, leather stitched hinges and detachable keyboard.

But whether it’s metal or plastic, cool surfaces are not for everyone - at least that’s the argument from Asus, which uses a team of 50 international industrial designers based in Taiwan. The company has chosen leather to give its notebooks a little luxury.
“These days it’s hard to differentiate a product on looks alone,” Mr Silanesu says. “Everybody talks about look and feel. We’ve got the feel. It’s something we’ve set as our motto for the year - a touching design. Everyone loves a leather lounge or to sit in a sports car. Leather is something that people can have a more emotional response to. Plastic is a hard and cool texture that over time wears badly. Leather wears gracefully.”Tags:Asus Asus Lamborghini Lamborghini Luxury Notebook Portable Tablet PC VX2

This entry was posted on Monday, October 16th, 2006 at 6:37 am and is filed under Info & News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.