Dell XPS 12
Convertible laptops, or 2-in-1s, gained mainstream appeal years ago, but they continue to evolve to this day, as is evident by the Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio, whose screen detaches at the hinge and flips around. Between Windows 8—the doomed OS that championed these hybrid devices—and today, there have been “bend-back” 2-in-1, detachables, and laptops whose screens can slide forward, but none of these attempts at making an uncompromised laptop/tablet hybrid is as ambitious as the Dell XPS 12.
Dell’s solution to the 2-in-1 problem was to have the screen attach to the frame at a horizontal axis so the panel could flip around and face outward when the lid was closed. Having used this device, I found the swiveling screen to work quite well, and it allowed for full tablet and full laptop mode while protecting the keyboard when it wasn’t in use. But Dell was the one to kill display bezels when it introduced its InfinityEdge display to the XPS 13, and now the display frame required for this type of 2-in-1 is too chunky for today’s standards.
