The Dell XPS 11 was announced as the newest Windows 8 laptop-tablet hybrid today, striking a pose very similar to that of Lenovo’s backward-bending IdeaPad Yoga.
The 11.6-inch screen of this Dell convertible has a similar hinged keyboard that’s always attached to its impressive 2,560 x 1,440 IPS display, according to Engadget.
However, the match-up between it and Yoga is incomplete. Dell has yet to finalize the specs for its holiday-bound convertible laptop.
Only a prototype of the Dell XPS 11 was available at Computex 2013 with the new power-saving Core i5 Haswell processor.
Dell XPS 11 touch keyboard
While Dell is piecing together the final specs of the XPS 11, the company is taking a risk by including a touch keyboard similar to that of the Microsoft Surface tablet.
But the Touch Cover-like keyboard has its benefits. Chiefly, the flat surface avoids the Yoga’s “odd sensation,” as Engadget put it, of pressing on powered-down keys when in the folded tablet mode.
The non-tactile touch keyboard will also make for a thinner profile in its final form, which Dell estimates to be 15mm thick and 2.5 pounds.
The Dell XPS 11 should also include a backlit keyboard and digitizer pen by the time it launches this holiday season.
Between now and then, we will see if the established Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga line stretches its specs to meet Dell’s newest post-PC machine.
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