LG Plans to Take on the Surface Pro 3

If you’re in the market for a hybrid tablet-PC, you can’t do much better than Microsoft’s Surface Pro 3. However, it sounds as though LG is going to do its damnedest to provide consumers with an alternative.

According to a post on CNET from this week, LG has a new hybrid tablet-PC in the works that will improve on the design of its previous hybrid efforts, the Tab-Book. The unnamed device will reportedly feature a fourth-generation Intel Core processor, along with an SSD and “better battery life.” Insiders at LEG also said that the company “is considering a touchpad system on the keyboard, similar to the Surface Pro 3.”

When the keyboard is attached, the insiders say, it’ll function like a full Windows PC, while detaching the keyboard makes it more of a straight up tablet. There’s no word on when – or really even if – the new device will hit the market, though it stands to reason that it could launch alongside Microsoft’s Windows 10 release sometime in early 2015.

Microsoft has made much hay about the ways that Windows 10 will have a “Continuity” feature, which will change the way users can interact with a touch-capable computer depending on whether or not a keyboard is attached. Obviously, its hardware partners are aware of this feature, and see the buzz and potential that the Surface Pro line has brought – even if sales haven’t been overwhelming. If LG, and other OEMs, make hybrid tablet-PCs that look great and work well in limited quantities, there’s no reason they shouldn’t reap the benefits of power users looking to get versatile devices for work and play.

This is a smart move on LG’s part, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see more reports like this about other device makers coming out as we near the launch of Windows 10. How much would you pay for an LG-made tablet-PC hybrid?

[Source: CNET]