Porsche Design’s Book One is a sexier Surface Book for $2,500

The rise of two-in-one Windows PCs has resulted in some interesting designs, but none quite match Porsche Design’s Book One unveiled at Mobile World Congress.

The design group has other tech in its product portfolio such as the Huawei Mate 9 and this $3,000 sound bar, but the Book One, which was teased at Computex last year, is its first computer. It’s also the world’s first two-in-one to be both a detachable and a convertible.

Detachables like Microsoft’s Surface Book have removable keyboards that allow the screen to be used as a standalone tablet. In the case of the Book One, it’s a 13.3-inch tablet with a 3,200×1,800-pixel resolution display with support for Windows Ink so you can write and draw on the screen.

What the Surface Book ($800 at Walmart) can’t do is stay attached to its keyboard and rotate up to 360 degrees on its hinges like a convertible such as the Lenovo Yoga line or Dell’s two-in-one XPS 13. The Book One’s clever cog-wheel hinges — a design inspired by the transmission of a sports car — allow the system to be quickly used as a tablet or a clamshell laptop or anything in between. Or you can just detach the screen entirely and use it as a tablet.

Inside is a seventh-generation Intel Core i7-7500U processor, 16GB of RAM, and an Intel 512GB PCIe solid-state drive. Ports include three USB-C ports, one of which is Thunderbolt 3, and two full-size USB 3.0 ports. Plus, there’s an infrared camera that lets you use Windows Hello to log on with facial recognition. There’s even a magnetic holder on the right side of the tablet for its stylus.

Porsche Design’s Book One is both a convertible and detachable 2-in-1 PC

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If you want a Book One, you’ll only have to wait until April, when it will be available from Porsche Design stores and select retailers including NewEgg.com where you can preorder it now. The price is set at $2,495, which roughly converts to £2,000 or AU$3,250.