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Toshiba unveils a ‘shape-shifting’ 5-in-1 concept PC

Toshiba unveils a ‘shape-shifting’ 5-in-1 concept PC

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Gallery Photo: Toshiba 5-in-1 concept PC
Gallery Photo: Toshiba 5-in-1 concept PC

We’ve seen plenty of crazy Windows 8 PCs since the operating system’s debut over a year ago. Acer’s R7 combines a desktop, laptop, and tablet in one package, and Sony offers its own magnetic flipping PC as a Windows 8 hybrid. It seems like every PC maker is trying to build the best all-in-one laptop hybrid, but there’s no perfect solution yet. Toshiba is the latest PC maker that’s trying to offer yet another solution.

At the Consumer Electronics Show, Toshiba has a 5-in-1 concept on display. It’s behind glass and it’s certainly not something that will debut this year, but it’s the company’s effort to create a flexible Windows PC. The "shape-shifting concept PC" has a laptop mode that includes the traditional clamshell design, and a convertible tablet mode that’s very similar to Lenovo’s Yoga line. The real difference here is that Toshiba has added additional modes thanks to a sturdy detachable keyboard. Tablet mode works by detaching the keyboard and folding the base back into place. Unlike the Yoga, it removes the keys from the rear to make for a better tablet.

There’s also a presentation mode where you can rotate the base and detach the keyboard to create a screen for viewing. A final mode, dubbed canvas, lets you flip the keyboard base 270 degrees and use the built-in stylus for drawing or editing. It’s a solid concept, but until we see something similar in operation it’s hard to say whether this is any better than the many previous attempts at conquering the Windows 8 hybrid.

Toshiba 5-in-1 concept PC

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