Top 10 Surface Pro 4 and iPad Pro alternatives
Our pick of the laptop replacements if you don't want to go with Microsoft or Apple
The Surface Pro 4 and the iPad Pro launched last week, and the two rival productivity tablets are battling for business users' attention.
It's certainly an interesting situation: enterprise veteran Microsoft going up against an unproven but already popular Apple product. Still, these are just two of the many, many work-ready convertibles that have hit the market in the past few months, so we've glanced away from the big new releases long enough to compile a list of 10 great alternatives for those after a laptop replacement.
10. Lenovo ThinkPad 10
Few firms can claim the enterprise pedigree of Lenovo, which is fully on show with the ThinkPad 10. The 1080p front-facing webcam is designed for video conferencing, the 10-hour battery will last a day in the office, and the optional 'Ultrabook keyboard' dock is an attractively typist-friendly piece of kit, with chunky keys and a wide glass trackpad.
Another accessory, the ThinkPad Tablet dock, essentially allows the ThinkPad 10 to transform into a desktop by providing two USB 2.0 ports for a mouse and keyboard as well HDMI and Ethernet connectors. The tablet already features a full-size USB 2.0 port, so it will be able to take thumb drives or a USB mouse even without the dock.
Visual and technical performance, meanwhile, are handled by a 10.1in, FHD IPS display and a quad-core Intel Atom Z3795 processor - plenty of power for most tasks.
Top 10 Surface Pro 4 and iPad Pro alternatives
Our pick of the laptop replacements if you don't want to go with Microsoft or Apple
9. HP Inc Elite x2 1011 G1
Like the Surface Pro 4, this 2-in-1 doesn't come cheap; it starts at £1,457 and gets even pricier with better processors or bigger SSDs. Nonetheless, it's superbly secure. A fingerprint scanner works together with HP Client Security software to thoroughly lock down and encrypt sensitive data.
The hardware's not bad, either. An 11.6in screen set at 1920x1080 offers plenty of space and sharpness, and a hefty 8GB of RAM option ensures consistent speediness in tasks like photo editing or working with large spreadsheets. The HP Inc Elite x2 1011 G1 lasted an impressive nine hours and 47 minutes in our battery burn tests, thanks to the keyboard dock's secondary battery.
Top 10 Surface Pro 4 and iPad Pro alternatives
Our pick of the laptop replacements if you don't want to go with Microsoft or Apple
8. Acer Aspire Switch 10 E
Windows-powered convertibles don't have to be expensive. Take the £230 Acer Aspire Switch 10 E, which has a 1920x1200 IPS display, full Windows 8.1 upgradeable for free to Windows 10 Home, and the same Intel Atom Z3795 processor as the £670 Lenovo ThinkPad 10.
There are drawbacks, such as the small 32GB of internal storage and the relatively meagre 2GB of RAM, both of which might limit the Aspire Switch 10 E to basic office or study work rather than intensive editing and designing. A microSD slot for up to 128GB cards does help with the lack of capacity, though, and the reversible magnetic hinge allows flexible configurations far beyond those of similarly-specced laptops.
A one-year subscription to Office 365 Personal is thrown in, granting access to top-notch productivity software like Microsoft Word and Excel, as well as a bonus 20GB of OneDrive cloud storage.
Top 10 Surface Pro 4 and iPad Pro alternatives
Our pick of the laptop replacements if you don't want to go with Microsoft or Apple
7. Surface Pro 3
Yes, there's something slightly uncool about picking up last year's model, but the previous-generation Surface Pro 3 still packs a lot of power for considerably less cash than the Surface Pro 4. For instance, the Surface Pro 3 model with an Intel Core i5 processor, 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage costs a full £150 less than the equivalent Surface Pro 4 on Microsoft's own site.
There'll be compromises, such as the lower resolution display, slightly chunkier form factor and a less secure magnetic clip for the Surface Pen, but much of what makes the Surface Pro 4 great is also present in its predecessor. This includes pre-installed Windows 10 Pro, a full-size USB 3.0 port and a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) chip for extra hardware security.
The Surface Pro 3 is also compatible with the new, redesigned Surface Pen and Type Cover accessories.
Top 10 Surface Pro 4 and iPad Pro alternatives
Our pick of the laptop replacements if you don't want to go with Microsoft or Apple
6. VAIO Z Canvas Signature Edition
Remember VAIO? We haven't heard much from the former Sony subsidiary since it was sold off in 2014, but the Japanese firm is back with a high-powered 2-in-1 aimed at tempting designers and content creator types away from the MacBook Air.
It comes with a muscular quad-core Intel Core i7-4770HQ processor, Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200, up to 16GB of RAM, a 12.3in, 2560x1704 IPS touchscreen, two USB 3.0 ports and up to 1TB of SSD space.
The device has Windows 10 Pro pre-installed, granting the various mobile device management and security benefits of Microsoft's business-grade OS, such as BitLocker encryption.
The specs do come at a steep price, though. The VAIO Z Canvas Signature Edition starts at £1,999 and goes up to a titanic £2,749 for the 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD model.
Top 10 Surface Pro 4 and iPad Pro alternatives
Our pick of the laptop replacements if you don't want to go with Microsoft or Apple
5. Toshiba Portégé Z20t
The Portégé Z20t is a little more laptop-focused than most of the devices on this list, evident in how most of its ports, including two full-size USB 2.0, HDMI and VGA connectors and Ethernet, are located on the keyboard dock.
Still, it's a great little convertible for enterprise, featuring Toshiba's EasyGuard security software and a TPM chip attached to the Intel Core M-5Y51 processor. It has the older Windows 8.1 Pro operating system pre-installed, but this is upgradeable to Windows 10 Pro, which will be free until July next year.
Since the keyboard dock includes a secondary battery, using the tablet and the keyboard together will give a lengthy battery life of around 10 hours.
The fact that the Core M-5Y51 is a mere 1.1GHz dual-core chip sounds concerning for a business machine, but the clock speed can be upped with relative ease to 2.6GHz via Intel's Turbo Boost feature. Either way, it offers plenty of power for general office tasks like word processing and spreadsheets.
Top 10 Surface Pro 4 and iPad Pro alternatives
Our pick of the laptop replacements if you don't want to go with Microsoft or Apple
4. Lenovo IdeaPad Miix 700
Lenovo updated its IdeaPad devices at IFA in September, aimed at those looking to upgrade to Windows 10 systems in time for the holiday season. One of these was the Miix 700, an Intel Skylake-powered tablet that looks suspiciously like the Microsoft Surface Pro.
The IdeaPad Miix 700 offers a portable form factor with RealSense camera functionality. The device comes with a stylus holstered on the side of the screen and an integrated kickstand that works in exactly the same way and has a similar 'full friction' feature as the Surface Pro. This allows the tablet to sit in almost any position.
There is an optional keyboard cover and the same watchband hinges as seen on the Yoga 3 Pro, of which we are fans.
The IdeaPad Miix 700 offers some very similar features as the Surface Pro 4, but at a much lower starting price of around £500.
Top 10 Surface Pro 4 and iPad Pro alternatives
Our pick of the laptop replacements if you don't want to go with Microsoft or Apple
3. HP Spectre x2
HP has completely reworked the Spectre x2 convertible, unveiling the new model last month as something that could easily be mistaken for a slimmed-down Surface device. Gone is the ‘detachable clamshell' configuration and in comes a sleek metallic kickstand and an 8mm tablet design.
The device has an Intel Core m3 processor from the latest 6th-generation Skylake family, plus up to 8GB of RAM and 128GB, 256GB or 512GB of SSD storage. The IPS display measures 12in diagonally and is set at 1920x1080, while physical connectivity is handled by two USB-C ports. A USB-C to USB-A adapter is included in the box.
HP claimed that the Spectre x2's battery will last up for 10 hours. Manufacturer estimates should be taken with a few fistfuls of salt, but even if it's a couple of hours off in practice that would make it very suitable for enterprise deployment.
Top 10 Surface Pro 4 and iPad Pro alternatives
Our pick of the laptop replacements if you don't want to go with Microsoft or Apple
2. Asus Transformer Book Chi T300
Again, this is a device that works much better as a laptop than as a tablet, but it offers excellent value as far as convertibles go. The £799 Transformer Book Chi T300's benchmark scores outclass even the HP Elite x2 1011 G1, and it achieved a comparable Sunspider score to a Surface Pro 4 model that costs £1,079.
An aluminium unibody, large 12.5in display in QHD or FHD resolutions and a spacious, comfortable keyboard are among the other fine reasons to consider the Transformer Book Chi T300.
There's no full size USB port and the included OS is the older Windows 8.1, but these can be solved with an adapter and a free upgrade to Windows 10, which better suits 2-in-1 devices like this with its adaptive Continuum interface and enhanced touch controls.
Top 10 Surface Pro 4 and iPad Pro alternatives
Our pick of the laptop replacements if you don't want to go with Microsoft or Apple
1. Dell XPS 12
Dell's recently refreshed range of XPS devices included the XPS 12, the first detachable 2-in-1 with a full 4K display.
It's got some other tricks too, like a Thunderbolt 3-ready USB-C port and an optional RealSense front-facing camera. This enables the face recognition features of Windows Hello, a new series of authentication tools in Windows 10, and means that the XPS 12 can be unlocked simply by sitting in front of it. Intel Skylake Core m5 processors and 8GB of RAM provide the horsepower for most tasks.
The only bad news is that the XPS 12 won't be available in the UK until January 2016, unless imported from the US, but the high-end hardware could make it a machine worth holding out for.