Intel 2-in-1s: Getting The Best of A Tablet And Laptop All-In-One Device

The argument over which is better the laptop or the tablet is a never ending one. Each has their own merits with neither necessarily being a "winner," only a preference based on your specific needs. However, when choosing out latest geek gadget we asked ourselves, why choose between either? Why not get the best of both and get something that will offer the extremely convenient and portable features of a tablet, with all the powerful features a laptop has to offer?

When looking for the latest addition to our gadget family we took many factors into consideration. First, and foremost we had to think about what tasks we would need the device to handle on a daily basis and what we thought would be imperative for the device to perform. For example, for us a keyboard or the ability to use a keyboard is essential. Try typing out several long blog posts on a touchscreen and you will soon see why! We also needed something that offered a great deal of portability. I like to travel light and carry as little as possible.

Filling all of our needs has always been a bit tricky. Being tech junkies, of course we also have impeccable taste, so whatever devices we decide to grace the office with have to meet the highest standards. Given this, we decide to add our second #Intel2in1 device.

Meet our new Dell Venue 11 Pro! She came to us fully loaded and ready to tackle any of the geekiest tasks we could toss her way. Under the hood is an Intel Core i5 4210Y processor (3MB Cache, 1.5 GHz Dual-Core) processor, Windows 8.1, 4GBs of RAM and 128GB internal storage. To keep productivity up we added on Dell Tablet Keyboard with a built-in rechargeable battery that Dell says will increases our Dell Venue 11 Pro tablet's battery life by 50 percent.

As a stand alone tablet the Venue 11 Pro offers a 10.8 inch IPS Display with FHD (1920 x 1080) resolution with 10-pt capacitive touch. Which paired with Windows 8.1 gives you a fairly good tablet experience. Multi-touch is really response, the screen is bright and clear and videos really pop. Coupled with the keyboard and wireless Logitech mouse however, is where we really see her shine. The Core i5 and 4GBs of RAM means she purrs like a kitten, especially when compared to our other tablets and even our Samsung ATIV 2-in-1 that features an Intel Atom CPU. Multi-tasking with even some of the most demanding tasks we needed to accomplish was flawless.

Battery life was one area we were really concerned. We have not had the best of luck with out laptops nor our tablets. We are heavy users that like to have a full bright screen while running multiple programs. Both of which eat through battery life quickly. Both tablets and 2-in-1s should have great battery life. Tablets are built around a comparatively lower-powered processor, which typically gives tablets better battery life versus a 2-in-1 and considerable better life compared to laptops.

Here we were extremely surprised. Under fairly heavy usage our Core i7 based Samsung laptop gets a few hours at most battery time. Our tablets usually fair pretty well, but they aren't used nearly as much. When using the Dell Tablet Keyboard the battery on our Dell Venue 11 Pro was still running strong after 3+ hours, with 60-65% battery life left. That means we could have easily made it through a full work day on a single charge. Something we just can't do with most of our other devices.

The ability to seamlessly switch from a powerful tablet to an equally powerful, fully productive, laptop that really made us decide on an #Intel2in1 device. When on the go we can unplug and slim down with just the tablet, yet still have full access to all our Windows apps and content. Then when we need to ramp-up the power usage we can plug in our accessories like a keyboard, mouse or even external HDD and have more than enough juice to keep up with all our need.

For more details on the Dell Venue 11 Pro be sure to check back for our full review, which should be available shortly. If you need more details on selecting the best device for you checkout these suggestions from Intel!

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