Micromax Canvas Lapbook is first compact PC in India, preinstalled with Windows 10

16th November 2015
Micromax Canvas Lapbook is first compact  PC  in  India, preinstalled with Windows 10

Micromax Canvas Lapbook: Portable pleasure.
We try out the first portable PC off the block in India with Windows 10 preinstalled
From  Anand Parthasarathy, Bangalore, November 16 2015: To be productive on the hoof, presents  a  peculiar challenge:  If you go for  pocket sized, feather weight devices, you  severely limit the applications that you can port.  If you want the full desktop experience on the move, be prepared for some  heavy lifting.  I was  elated, when smart phones and tablets   came with  quad and octa-core chips under the belt and the consequent ability to  do a lot of PC things  -- word processing,  spread sheets, presentations.....
But the euphoria  was premature.  The shrunken keypads challenged my  slow and fat fingers. I longed for a light weight compute device  with enough processing muscle  for a standard  Office suite  and  a standard keyboard -- at a price that is not too  far fromthat of a phone or tablet. 
I have been looking in vain for a  year now -- till, this Diwali,  Micromax answered my prayers   with what  a category they call a LapBook:  a hybrid  of laptop and notebook  that is light enough to carry on tours -- 1.3 kg --  yet with a  11.6 inch  720 p HD screen  and  good  twin speaker sound  for viewing movies  -- with the latest  Windows 10 OS pre installed.
I should mention upfront that  the asking price of the Micromax, Canvas Lapbook L1161 was so attractive -- Rs 13,999 ( with a Rs 2000 cashback for SBI Card payments)  -- that  I did something I rarely do:  ordered  one from Snapdeal   based only on the specs   -- and received it in 72 hours flat.   
The sturdy packaging , decent sized screen and the  standard keyboard  were tops on my wish list -- so no regrets  on that score; but let me level with you on the pluses and minuses after a week's use:  The quad Atom chip is as good as any notebook. The  RAM is 2G -- par for the course; but the  Flash storage is  just 32 GB --effectively 28 GB  out of which 10 GB  has gone in preloaded  software like the Windows OS.  What is left -- 18 GB --is insufficient to load any serious application . I added the max external storage it can take  -- a micro SD card of 64 GB -- and now save all my work on it.  The   5000 mAh battery is good for    about 10 hours.    The front camera  is just  VGA, not even  a megapixel  --  most phones have better MP ratings .
I am thrilled that an Indian maker has stolen a march over so many MNC brands who, three months after the launch of Windows 10 are still palming off Windows  7 machines, leaving the  upgrade  to you.  Microsoft, said at launch that all major outlets and chain electronics shops will do a legal upgrade for free. Forget it; not happening.
The advantage of Win 10 is that  if you are cool with Win 8, it looks  even better; but if like me,  you are used to Win 7, then you can switch to a look and feel  of the classic Windows.
On the downside,  the  Office 365 is only a trial version  and after a few months, you have to subscribe  at Rs 420/month  -- or find an Open Source clone on the web.   With 2 USB ports and a HDMI port, Bluetooth as well as WiFi, you have enough external connection muscle to match any laptop. 
I found  the Windows 10 startup and shutdown incredibly fast compared even to  many Android tablets  -- but you have to keep remembering that that is a device  that has very little  space on board -- everything  you need, you grab from the cloud. That said, the L1161  seems to be very good value for money and a sturdy travel companion to boot.

More info  and link for buying  here