Acer, Samsung take on Microsoft in 2-in-1 battle

The PC market might be in decline but the race is on for the detachable tablet devices crown.

The Acer Switch Alpha 12.

The PC market might be in decline but detachable tablet devices — better known as two-in-ones — are alive and well. Having accounted for just 8 per cent of the tablet market in 2015, research firm IDC forecasts two-in-ones will make up 30 per cent of all tablets shipped by 2020.

The appeal of a detachable device is that users can connect a tablet and keyboard to substitute for a laptop, or use the tablet separately. Microsoft has blazed the trail in this space with its Surface range and Windows original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) have followed suit in droves. Meanwhile, outside players like Apple have also joined the fray with the iPad Pro.

Of course, two-in-ones have been around for years, but they were always let down by battery-hungry processors and a far from ideal operating system. However, with the arrival of Windows 10 and the evolution of low-powered Intel chips, we are finally starting to see two-in-ones come into their own.

The strongest example of this is the Surface Pro 4 which, while not perfect, set the benchmark for what a two-in-one can be. Of course, it isn’t the only game in town and the Surface Pro 4’s high price tag and ongoing controversy surrounding its battery drain issues has left the door wide open for other vendors to swoop in.

I’ve spent the past week testing out the latest crop of two-in-ones from Acer and Samsung — the Switch Alpha 12 and the Galaxy Tab Pro S respectively. Both devices are positioning themselves as capable alternatives to the Surface Pro 4 while also offering their own take on the two-in-one formula.

At $1399, with the keyboard and pen included, Acer’s Switch Alpha 12 is looking to challenge the Surface Pro 4 squarely on price. The Galaxy Tab Pro S’s thinner and lighter frame on the other hand, makes it the most portable two-in-one going around. The question is do either of them ­deliver on the complete package?

Acer Switch Alpha 12

The Switch Alpha 12 is a well-built unit that goes toe to toe with the Surface Pro 4 on specs. It has a few improvements of its own thrown into the mix as well.

First, the unit comes with everything you need out of the box including a full-size keyboard cover and pen. Unlike other keyboard attachments, the keyboard has spaces in between each key and 1.4mm of travel — a combination that made it the best typing experience we’ve had on a two-in-one to date. It’s worth noting that while Acer’s Active Pen is fine for annotating documents, it isn’t fluid enough for more artistic tasks like the one that comes with the Surface, which boasts 1024 levels of pressure sensitivity.

The Switch also comes with the same port selection found on the SP4 but goes a step further by including a USB type C port, which can be used to drive multiple external displays.

Speaking of displays, the 12-inch 2160 x 1440 resolution IPS panel mightn’t pack as much pixels as the SP4; however, it does boast the same excellent maximum brightness levels, wide viewing angles and vibrant colours.

The Switch Alpha 12 is the first-ever fanless two-in-one to use a sixth-generation Intel Core i7, Core i5 or Core i3 (Skylake) processor. This means that unlike the Surface Pro 4, the Alpha will remain whisper quiet even under heavy load.

The problem is the liquid cooling system used by Acer doesn’t seem to be as effective in managing heat dissipation. We tested the base Core i3 model and found that the back of the unit became hot very quickly while we went about our typical day of usage, which included a mixture of word processing, video and music streaming and the occasional photo edit in Adobe Photoshop. The heat generated seemed to have a direct impact on the battery life, which came in at a little over four hours — well short of the claimed eight-hour run time and well short of other two-in-ones in its class.

Unfortunately, the faster core i5 and core i7 models come with the same 4870mAh battery, so expect to sacrifice even more battery life for faster processors.

The Switch also lacks a fingerprint scanner and the infra-red camera of the SP4 so you won’t be able to take advantage of biometric-based authentication to login to your PC and other compatible Windows Hello apps that are expected to arrive later this year.

Samsung Galaxy
Tab Pro S

Samsung has taken the iPad Pro approach to its Surface Pro 4 competitor with a two-angle form factor that isn’t quite as flexible as the wide-angle kickstand found on the Switch or the Surface. That said, we found the Tab Pro S to be more stable on the lap and the lack of a kickstand meant we could position the device higher on our thighs.

The thinner (6.3mm) and lighter (693 gram) form factor meant we could comfortably use the Tab Pro S as a tablet for extended periods without fatigue — which is something we couldn’t achieve with the heavier Surface and Switch. The stunning 12-inch OLED display also made watching movies an enjoyable experience. And if you desire a two-in-one with 4G connectivity, then the Tab Pro S is currently the only game in town.

The downside is the TabPro has no ports other than a single USB-C connector and a headphone jack, which means you’re going to need to invest in some adaptors. There’s no pen in the box either and no option to upgrade the RAM, storage or CPU so you’re stuck with the Intel M processor, 128GB of storage and 4GB of RAM. The good news is the device seems very well optimised and rarely skipped a beat as we went through a typical work day. We were even able to flawlessly stream XBOX One games at the highest quality setting to the Tab Pro.

The Core M processor provides massive gains when it comes to battery life with the Tab lasting about 7.5 hours of real-world use. However, we noticed that the device does chew through a bit of battery while on standby — in our case we lost almost 15 per cent overnight. Thankfully, the Tab Pro S supports fast charging and we were able to go from dead flat to 100 per cent within 2.5 hours.

Imitation is supposedly the sincerest form of flattery, but both of these two-in-one devices do something different or better than the Surface Pro 4.

The Switch Alpha 12 boasts almost all of the performance of a Surface Pro 4 with everything you need out of the box for almost $200 less. However, it is let down by an abysmal battery life.

The Tab Pro lacks the upgradeability found in the competition, but it does edge out the Surface Pro 4 where it counts with a longer battery life, thinner and lighter form factor, optional 4G connectivity and a slightly cheaper price tag.

Just be prepared to carry around an adaptor or two.