While brief, taking Dell's XPS Duo 12 for a spin was definitely fun. The Duo combines tablet and laptop by using a rotating screen which flips over. Unlike most tablets, however, inside are the internals of a normal laptop. 

The result of this is a quick and refined Windows experience, helped massively by  Windows 8 performing as well with a cursor as it does with touch. The i5 chip as standard definitely kept the thing snappy, but this can be upgraded to an i7 should you desire.

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Dell irritatingly is keeping the connections side of things on the Duo 12 under wraps for now, so we simply can't tell you. What we can say though is that there is plenty to choose from and nothing you would find on a normal laptop is missing.

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The screen is extremely bright for a tablet and responded well to our touch input. It also rotates nicely and uses what looks like magnets to lock itself in in both positions. The carbon fibre back on the Duo 12 keeps it very light, while the aluminium wrap ensures it feels like a premium product. In fact this is up there with the rest of Dell's XPS range, albeit with a rotating screen.

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Keyboard was good as was trackpad, both being decent for activities like web browsing and standard computer interaction. We really need to spend more time with it to make certain its isn't without issue though.

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In fact we need to play with the XPS Duo 12 for a while to make any judgements on it. Having Windows 8 on board puts it in an entirely different league from the previous model, making it responsive to touch and a nice thing to use with your fingers. It might look weird, but the XPS Duo 12 sort of makes sense. 

What do you think of it? Let us know in the comments below ...