Four years ago, the Chinese smartphone manufacturer OnePlus took the world by storm. New entrants into the smartphone market, the company disrupted it by providing phones as good as flagships by other well-known companies at a price point that resonated with most average smartphone buyers. Exceptional build-quality, top-notch specification, smooth software at a price-point that undercut all of its competitors, however, came at a price; and that price was subdued marketing strategies, smart inventory control and a refined production cycle. But regardless of all of these company compromises, the users always benefitted as a result. This was also part of how a small smartphone company operating out of Shenzhen, China, created a market for itself all over the world.

Ever since Microsoft got into the game of hardware, they have tried to make devices that stand out. From tablets that come with a kick-stand to hybrids with detachable displays, the software giant has tried (and in most cases, failed) to create a completely new experience when interacting with a computer. While these R&D experiments have brought up some really nice proof-of-concepts, they have hardly been adopted by the mass market. Even a device as innovative as the Surface Studio is limited to creatives with a huge budget. And thus, understanding Microsoft’s chops at developing exceptional hardware, many Windows fans have been hoping for a simple laptop from the company.

The PC versus Mac is been an age-old debate that doesn’t have a definitive resolution. People would defend their preferences with the utmost enthusiasm and most of this is fueled by the history of both of these companies. Microsoft and Apple have been in the computer industry for a long time now, and while Macs started out as an operating system for personal use, Microsoft’s Windows started out as a competitor to IBM in the field of professional office related tasks. It is evident today that these roles have been reversed with Microsoft’s Windows touting a more versatile personal computer identity whereas Apple’s computers have started fostering a more professional identity. Even today, creative professional stand by Apple products arguing for the systems stability, design, and ease-of-use.

Back in 2010, tablet computers were in full bloom. Apple had announced their iPad and Samsung was working on their Galaxy Tab line of tablet computers. Initially, a lot of hype was also created around the tablets, and what got people interested in these devices were the bigger screen real-estate as well as the maneuverability of the devices. Back in those days, people still preferred smartphones with a smaller screen and tablets took up the mantle of providing a bigger screen for activities like content-consumption and digital reading. Back in those days, the tablets filled these aspects of digital life really well and thus, the tablet market boomed with many hardware manufactures banking on tablet sales.

When Apple announced the iPod in 2001, its successes was largely tired to the iTunes store as well. Before such mass digitalization of music, people used to carry around bulky cassette players or compact disk players to satiate their portable music needs. While the iPod worked with digitalized music files that people used to rip off of musical compact disks, Apple made it even simpler by providing digital music files directly from the record companies themselves. This led to a revolution in the way digital musical content was being consumed, people started buying music directly from the iTunes store and transferring them to their iPods.

The ubiquity of computers has gained unprecedented momentum in today’s digitalized world. While personal computers have made work easy for individuals, they have also made cataloguing and data processing easier for big companies and government bodies. This has led to a digitalization of information at such a massive scale that all important information today resides on magnetic disks. This information consists of critical data such as health records, citizenship information and criminal records, accessed through systems that aren’t any different from the ones that we use at home. Almost all of these systems are powered with Microsoft Windows connected via a central network that helps disseminate data across different computer terminals connected to the network.