In an effort to inject some pizazz and new life into a tech market where consumer interest is dominated by mobile devices like tablets, laptop manufacturers came up with the convertible design. Such examples include the Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro and the Dell XPS 12, models which look like typical laptops at first glance, but sport unconventional functionality that allows the user to spin the display around and use it the way you would as if it were a typical slate. While intriguing, the convertible design was a bit of a gamble, and it appears as if notebook makers are concerned about the design and its ability to attract consumer interest heading into 2014.
Despite the fact that Intel has predicted “10-fold growth” for convertible laptops next year, this year, such devices only made up less than 10 percent of the market in mobile gear. Companies that make chassis for 2-in-1 notebooks have reportedly seen an increase in the development of such notebooks, which seems to suggest that the new year will bring a brand new group of convertibles. However, that won’t necessarily translate into consumer interest and sales, which concerns every product maker that has a stake in this issue, like keyboard manufacturers. Keyboards manufactured for convertible notebooks are specifically made for those devices. So if the notebooks don’t sell, the keyboard makers also get left out in the cold, and left with piles of unused keyboards meant for convertibles on top of that.
It’ll be interesting to see what 2014 holds for convertibles. What do you think of them? Would you ever get a convertible notebook? Why or why not? Sound off in the comments below.
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