Seventeen Supersized Windows 8 And Android Tablets - Forbes

As Apple apparently prepares to go small with the iPad Mini, every other tablet maker is going large, bringing out tablets that dwarf the 9.7-inch iPad. All can render web sites, maps and business dashboards gorgeously, without taxing the arm strength of the user (well, in most cases).

Not only are tablet makers going big, but they are also bringing back the convertible tablet-laptop, but under a new name, ‘laptablet’. They hope that technical and weightsaving advances in touchscreens, chips and batteries, along with Windows 8′s mobile-oriented overhaul will finally attract customers â€" especially enterprises overwhelmed by the iOS-led BYOD invasion.

(Speaking of enterprise mobility, the latest issue of the @SAPMobile newsletter is out, chockful of news, views & enterprise mobile resources. Get it here: ow.ly/ecHeY)

Here are 17 of the most interesting tablets available today.

The HP Envy x2 is a 11.6-inch convertible Windows 8 tablet. The aluminum-encased keyboard doubles the Envy’s “all day” battery life and is removable â€" hence, convertible â€" and gives it a near MacBook Pro-like appearance (hence, the envy). The Intel Atom Clover Trail processor (dual-core 1.8 GHz), 2 GB RAM, 8 megapixel rear camera, 64 GB SSD are firmly middle of the range, as is the 1366×768 multi-touch capacitive display. No price yet. Photo: Liliputing.com  

Another Windows 8/Intel Clover Trail convertible with a 11.6-inch, 1366×768 screen, there are a few things that distinguish Vivo Tab from the rest of the pack: a Wacom active digitizer for drawing with a stylus, NFC technology and Asus’ recent success with making bigger hybrid tablets (the Transformer line). The price (sans $199 keyboard/battery) may be $799 (a 10-inch Nvidia Tegra 3 counterpart may be $599).

Having used my share of Dell laptops, I’m instinctively wary, but this XPS Duo 12 laptablet looks awesome. Gizmodo agrees. The flip hinge lets your 12.5-inch, 1920-x1080 display rotate 180 degrees to switch between modes. There’s Corning Gorilla Glass on the screen, and aluminum and carbon fiber on the case. Windows 8 and Intel Core i3/5/7 guts, along with weight that, like the Lenovo X23T, that will be closer to an actual Ultrabook or laptop.  No price yet.

For everyone pining for a larger tablet from Apple, the ModBook Pro is here - a 13.3-inch (1280×800) tablet running Mac OS X.  The mysterious makers of the ModBook seem to convert MacBook Pros by hand â€" every order takes 6-8 weeks, and you can even buy their conversion kits if you feel like doing it yourself. My colleague Tony Kueh jokes that the ModBook Pro, which uses a stylus, not touch, for input, should’ve been “codenamed: Newton.” The specs are powerful â€" 2.5-2.9 GHz Core i5/i7 processor, up to 16 GB of RAM and up to 480 GB of SSD storage. You can also get Windows 7 preinstalled. The prices are commensurate, starting at $3,499 and going up to $4,819. U.S. customers-only starting in mid-November.

How do you offer a tablet with 32% more pixels than the iPad 3′s Retina Display? By offering two 1920×1080 screens (total > 4 million+ pixels) like the Asus Taichi does. Talk about flexible-the Taichi is an ultrabook AND a dual-display tablet in one, with a 13.3-inch screen and a second 11.6-inch one). Why two displays? Asus says this could be for two workers, or to better share slideshows or presentations. The $1,299 price is more than double an iPad 3, but this is a Windows 8 tablet running the a high-end IntelCore i7 chip. Expect your company’s alpha dog salespeople to clamor for the Taichi.

(Next page: The Guinness Book of World Records holder for World’s Largest Tablet.)