Toshiba DynaPad Windows 10 convertible ‘reinvents pen and paper’

It wouldn’t be wrong to suggest that (practically) everyone’s copying Microsoft’s Surface convertible tablet, because we can now also add Toshiba to that list.

The new Toshiba DynaPad isn’t going toe to toe with the Surface in terms of horsepower, but Toshiba suggests that the tablet’s about as close to a paper notebook as one can get.

That’s primarily thanks to its clever screen technology, which uses a wired mesh of sensors behind the 1920×1280 screen’s surface and a Wacom Active Electrostatics TruPen with over 2000 levels of sensitivity. Even the size of the screen — at 12-inches — is aimed to mimic the size of a standard notebook.

Internally, there’s not much to shout home about though.

There’s an Intel Atom processor running at 1.44GHz while 4GB of RAM should run Windows 10 swiftly and smoothly. But the internals aren’t this convertible’s selling point.

Toshiba’s calling it the thinnest and lightest 12-inch convertible laptop available at the moment, and it’s probably right. It weighs in at just over 550g and could easily slot into a fairly comfortable handbag without much of an issue.

Pricing is a bit of a problem though. At around US$1100 (after a direct Yen-to-Dollar conversion), it’s not the cheapest notebook on the planet even if it is one of the lightest.

It will be available in Japan from December but will likely only reach the United States and European markets in early 2016. There’s currently no word on South African pricing or availability either.