Remember a few years ago when there were a bunch of crowdfunding campaigns for laptop-like devices that essentially let you use your phone like a notebook computer? Some of them finally started shipping this year (to less-than-stellar reviews), while others have yet to come hit the streets. But that hasn’t stopped new models from popping […]
Hacker turns old MacBook into a Samsung DeX Lapdock
Samsung’s latest high-end smartphones have a feature called DeX that lets you connect the phone to a docking station, hook up a keyboard, mouse, and display and use the phone as if it were a desktop PC. But what if you’d rather use it like a laptop? You could try to find an old Motorola […]
Superbook laptop dock for smartphones raises over $2.6 million, runs out of stretch goals
The Superbook is a device that looks like a laptop, but which is really more of a portable screen, keyboard, and battery for your smartphone. Plug a phone into the Superbook and you can run your Android apps on a bigger display with a desktop-style user interface complete with a taskbar and multi-window support. Andromium […]
Acer Liquid Extend is a laptop dock for Acer’s Windows 10 phone
Acer’s first Windows 10 smartphone with support for Windows 10 Continuum starts shipping today (in some parts of the world — it’s coming to the US, but isn’t available here yet). You can connect the Acer Liquid Jade Primo to a docking station, connect an external mouse, keyboard, and display and use the phone like […]
Superbook is a $99 laptop shell for Android smartphones
The $149 NexDock isn’t the only device designed to let you use an Android smartphone like a laptop. A new team has just unveiled a $99 option called the Superbook. It looks like a laptop, but it’s basically a keyboard, touchpad and 11.6 inch display. It has no memory, storage, or processor. Instead, you can […]
Motorola Lapdock turns $5 Raspberry Pi Zero into a laptop
The Raspberry Pi Zero is a $5 single-board computer that you could use as a low-power desktop if you hook up a keyboard, mouse, and external display. But what if you want to the tiny computer as the brains of a laptop? You could try to piece the components together yourself… or you could just […]
Acer Extend turns your smartphone into a notebook
Was the Motorola Lapdock ahead of its time (like the Palm Foleo before it)? Asus and Acer sure seem to think so. While Motorola never sold as many of its smartphone accessories that let you use your phones as the brains of a laptop as the company may have liked, that hasn’t stopped Asus from […]
MK802 notebook: Connecting a $74 PC to a Motorola Lapdock
The Raspberry Pi isn’t the only mini computer that you can turn into a cheap laptop by connecting a Motorola Lapdock. Motorola’s laptop docking station may have been designed for select Android smartphones, but with the proper adapters you can also use the Lapdock as a keyboard, touchpad, display, and power supply for the MK802 […]
Turn a Raspberry Pi into laptop with a $70 Motorola Lapdock
The Raspberry Pi is a tiny, low power computer which sells for just $35. If you want to use the little guy you’ll need to add a keyboard, mouse, and display — which drives up the cost. Or you can just pick up a cheap Motorola Lapdock. Motorola’s Lapdock is designed to be a laptop […]
Deals of the Day (XOOM for $320, Motorola Atrix 4G Lapdock for $50)
The Motorola Atrix 4G is a smartphone that turned a lot of heads earlier this year thanks to the optional Lapdock accessory which lets you use the phone like a laptop. Motorola showed off the system at CES in January, demonstrating how you can use the Atrix as a normal, Android-powered phone, or connect to […]
Motorola Lapdock 100 turns (a few) phones into laptops
Motorola has introduced a new laptop-style docking station that lets you use your phone as if it were a notebook computer. The Lapdock 100 looks like a thin and light laptop, but it doesn’t work as a standalone device — there’s no operating system or processor to speak of. Instead, you connect a supported Android […]
ClamCase concept turns an iPad into a laptop
While analysts try to decide whether the Apple iPad is eating into netbook sales, there’s on sure way to make their job a bit tougher — turn an iPad into a netbook. We’ve seen plenty of hackers take perfectly good netbooks over the years and turn them into tablets by adding a touchscreen display and […]