MSI first showed off its Slider S20 Windows 8 convertible tablet with slider hinge at Computex, and now it is making a new showing at this year’s CES. It has updated specifications, a slightly tweaked name, and an official release date later this month. The Slider S20 is now known as the Slidebook S20 and is classified as a convertible ultrabook.
The Tech Report goes hands-on with the Slidebook S20.
The Slidebook S20 is a convertible tablet where the display can slide upwards to reveal a physical keyboard. Then, the display can swivel upwards to act as a notebook. The display is an 11.6” IPS display with a resolution of 1920×1080 and 10 point multi-touch input. It has a single horizontal hinge to attach the display to the keyboard instead of the traditional single-point swivel hinge on tablets like the Dell Latitude XT series. The Slidebook S20 measures .8” thin and is estimated to be around 2.5 lbs.
Internal specifications include an Intel Core i5 Ivy Bridge processor, 8GB of RAM, and a 128GB solid state drive. Further, the system runs the full version of Microsoft’s Windows 8 operating system.
The S20 tablet features a mini HDMI video output, two USB 3.0 ports, a single headphone jack, and a DC input jack on the right side. The left side of the tablet includes an Ethernet jack and the back edge of the tablet includes a volume rocker and orientation switch.
According to MSI, the Slidebook S20 will be available later this month for $1299 with 8GB of RAM. It is a neat form factor and the sliding hinge should make the S20 fairly sturdy. Even so, it does lack a touchpad and the price ended up being higher than the rumored sub-$1000 mark that I was hoping for. I do worry that the S20’s keyboard will suffer the same fate as other smartphones, where the top row of keys will be difficult to hit as the display is positioned right up against them. (At least the number keys are cushioned by the F1-12 keys, so it is less of an issue heh.)
MSI shows off the Slidebook S20.
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