0
Video: Lenovo ThinkPad X1: A tablet PC with a killer keyboard grows up
If Apple’s keynotes represent the tech world according to one company, CES often represents the rest of the world’s reaction to them. After the launch of the iPad in 2009, the following CES events were awash in so many tablets that you couldn’t elbow your way around an aisle corner without bumping into one.
At CES 2018, top-tier corporate PC makers HP, Lenovo, and Dell all announced new PC models. But while their output provides no shortage of highly mobile computing devices, you won’t find any slates in the mold of the unadorned iPad.
In one respect, the big three PC makers’ move away from slates is unsurprising given that two of the three have entirely dropped devices using Android, the default operating system for such products.
But it also reflects how business people in particular have largely clung to the advantages of the clamshell despite a multi-year assault on the benefits of touch and the optimization of computing for it. Even Samsung, the most successful Android tablet maker, particularly for businesses, showed at CES how it’s shifting more of its pen-enabled functionality into its notebooks.