Hasta La Gadget!

This week we’ve gotten the opportunity to take a peek at the nearest-to-final builds of Lenovo’s entire Convertible Windows 8 / RT family this week, including the IdeaPad Yoga 13, IdeaPad Yoga 11, ideatab Lynx, ThinkPad Twist, and ThinkPad Tablet 2. Each of these units is unique in its ability to bring Windows 8 or Windows RT to users in their feature sets that include flipping, turning, folding, and straight up sheathing. While we’ve seen all of these devices before, here lies an opportunity to see them up-close and personal right before review unit time.

Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 13

This machine is what Lenovo is proud to claim as one of the world’s first multi-mode Ultrabooks. It’s got a 13.3-inch 1600 x 900 IPS LCD display with Intel HD 4000 graphics and up to Intel Core i7 processors inside. You’ve got the ability to work with up to Windows 8 Pro on this machine, and it ready to rock in several different display modes.

You can place it upright like a notebook, backwards like a tent, bend up and forward – inverted from its notebook mode, and flat like a tablet. The current MSRP for this device is $1099 USD and it’ll be out in stores relatively soon – exact date to be determined.

Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 11

The IdeaPad Yoga 11 is the more compact version of the unique idea the Yoga 13 presents with a 360-degree folding hinge for multiple modes of use. It also has a massively powerful display of 1366 x 768 pixels across an 11.6-inch HD panel and it works with Windows RT. This tablet-based operating system is powered here by the NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core processor we’ve seen many time before, and the whole unit is just 0.61 inches thick. This unit will be coming in at MSRP $799 USD.

We found both of the Yoga units to be surprisingly high quality for how seemingly dangerously exposed they are at first with the hinge innovation. But the actual execution of the hinge, in all its two-part glory, takes Lenovo’s assurance that they put their products through rigorous battle-testing and delivers. These units look really, really high quality.

Lenovo ideatab Lynx

The Lynx is a tablet that’s also a notebook – a Windows 8-toting oddity that’ll have you amazed that this is truly one of the first Windows 8 Atom-based machines on the market. Up front you’ve got an 11.6-inche IPS LCD display at 1366 x 768 pixel resolution – and it gets quite bright: 400 nit bright to be exact. This tablet works with a full detachable Lenovo Accutype keyboard and will be running with Intel Atom dual-core processors – that’s X2760 dual-core 1.8 GHz. The Lynx has a price of MSRP $599 for the tablet and $149 for the base as of this week.

The Lynx is going to be hitting a rather unique crowd, the same way the Twist will. With the Twist we’ve got the whole machine working with that single bar that allows the display to twist – a bit more fragile-seeming than we’d like to really comment on extensively at this point. The Lynx, on the other hand, appears to have the ThinkPad family in mind with its recognizable keyboard and a full Windows 8 experience ready to rock with Atom.

Lenovo ThinkPad Twist

The ThinkPad Twist has a 12.5-inch 12.5-inch IPS LCD display covered with Gorilla Glass, getting up to 350 nit bright and bringing on the HD with Intel Core i3, i5, or i7 to back it up. The full casing on this machine is 0.79-inches thick and it’ll be running full Windows 8 Pro when it hits shelves. The Twist will be appearing for MSRP $849 USD.

Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet 2

This lovely little beast is the ThinkPad Tablet 2, taking everything great about your everyday-awesome hardcore ThinkPad notebook and bringing it up in a tablet form that’s ready to attach to its own keyboard dock, multimedia dock, and lovely carrying case. The case is able to keep both the tablet and the keyboard base safe in itself at once, both the tablet and the base being essentially the same size, and thusly interchangeable on both sides. This unit has a 10.1-inch IPS LCD display, Gorilla Glass over the front, and Intel Atom inside. You’ve also got wi-fi and AT&T 4G LTE versions available in the very near future – the wi-fi version will be MSRP $649 USD.

Stay tuned for more awesome Lenovo action as Windows 8 and Windows RT takes over the world. Stay close to our Microsoft tag and our Windows 8 tag for the full lo-down as it all goes down over the next few weeks and months. The wave is coming in!

Lenovo Windows 8 Convertibles family comes together for hands-on action is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Lenovo was first out of the gate with a form-shifting Windows 8 machine when it unveiled the IdeaPad Yoga at CES. Now the company’s back with a convertible for its business customers, the ThinkPad Edge Twist. In many ways, it’s a convertible in the most conventional sense of the word: unlike the Yoga, whose screen folds all the way back, the Twist has a 12.5-inch display that can swivel all the way around and fold down into tablet mode. As a member of the Edge family, in particular, it blends design elements from Lenovo’s business and consumer lines, with metal accents, rounded edges, an island-style keyboard, a magnesium frame and, of course, that signature soft-touch finish.

Stealing the show is that 12.5-inch, 350-nit, Gorilla Glass-coated display, which uses IPS technology for wider angles. On the inside, the Twist runs your choice of a Core i5 or i7 processor, with up to 8GB of RAM and either a 128GB SSD or a 7,200RPM hard drive (320GB or 500GB). Battery life, meanwhile, is rated at up to seven hours. At 3.48 pounds, it’s heavier than some larger-screened Ultrabooks, but at least that 0.79-inch frame makes room for a full-sized Ethernet jack. (It also has a memory card reader, two USB 3.0 ports, mini-HDMI output and a mini-DisplayPort.) As for business-friendly features, the laptop offers TPM and can be configured with an optional 3G radio. Look for it on October 26th, starting at $849. Until then, enjoy those hands-on shots below.

Continue reading Lenovo announces ThinkPad Edge Twist, a business-oriented convertible coming this month for $849

Filed under: Laptops, Lenovo

Lenovo announces ThinkPad Edge Twist, a business-oriented convertible coming this month for $849 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Oct 2012 19:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The ThinkPad is a legendary machine—it’s been in space, it’s displayed in the Museum of Modern Art, and as of today, the classic computer is 20 years old. Happy birthday, old guy. More »

In the land of tweets and tell-alls, keeping privileged information on the down-low is next to impossible. Oddly enough, pricing and release details for the ThinkPad 2 didn’t require much espionage. At last night’s PepCom event, Lenovo reps told WP Central that the Windows 8-powered slab will be available on October 26th for $799. This price point might be a tad on the high side for some, but it does include the tablet’s optional keyboard. As a refresher, the ThinkPad 2 sports a 10.1-inch IPS display, an Intel Atom processor and NFC, all powered by an alleged 10 hour battery. For the data gluttons out there, AT&T’s LTE is on the menu stateside. Whether or not this pricing and release information holds true, we’ll still have to see what else surfaces before making a final decision this holiday season.

Filed under: Tablets

Lenovo ThinkPad 2 pegged for October 26th release, with a $799 price tag originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 Sep 2012 20:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Lenovo ThinkPad series is currently celebrating its 20th birthday, and today we have their new ThinkPad X1 Carbon on the chopping blocks. After all these years still producing some of the best business and casual laptops available the X1 Carbon looks to improve on its older sibling, while staying at the top of the Ultrabook lineup. Being touted as “the world’s lightest 14″ business-class ultra book” with a sleek body and powerful dual-core power all under 3 lbs lets take a peek.

The brand new ThinkPad X1 Carbon might not be 20 years in the making, but it almost feels that way. Cramming all the top end specs possibly available into a super lightweight laptop that fits the “Ultrabook” standard, while still being similar to last years original X1. This is certainly an evolution of last years model only better in every way. It’s thinner, lighter, and faster yet still comes with a bigger display and more options. Take a peek at our unboxing video to get yourself started and acquainted, then we’ll dig in.

Hardware and Chassis

At first glance there will be no doubt in your mind this is a ThinkPad. With the original simplistic and minimal design, squared off edges, and flat matte black color scheme. Other than a few needed vents for breathing and speakers this is as simple as it gets, in its most elegant form. The ThinkPad line has always been catered for professionals that don’t want a loud and cluttered laptop, and this is no different. We don’t have crazy lights, bright colors, or odd speakers. Everything is clean — ThinkPad clean.

As far as hardware specs there’s multiple versions available. Today we’ll be looking at one of Lenovo’s highest options. We’ll go over the different models below but what we have here is their high-end Intel Ivy Bridge 3rd Gen Core-i7 dual-core version. All X1 Carbon’s come complete with a 14-inch LED display, with a matte finish to reduce glare, 2 USB ports (right side is 3.0), display port, 3.5 mm headphone jack that doubles for the microphone, and a 3G sim slot around back for 3G connectivity. Starting at $1,249 our model will run you $1,579 — and under the hood however is what’s important.

Our X1 Carbon comes complete with the Intel Core i7-3667U 1.8 GHz dual-core Ivy Bridge processor, 4GB of DDR3 666 MHz RAM, and a 128GB SSD. Other options include a 1.7 GHz Ivy Bridge, and even a lower i5. They’ve even got a 256GB SSD selection for those with extra cash and need the storage. As well as 8GB RAM models for the editing heavy user. Packing all of this into something only 2.99 lbs makes this the lightest ThinkPad ever.

As far as hardware the latch-free lid is easy to close, but wasn’t quite as easy to open for us. This you’ll simply just get use to so we can’t really complain. We also found the square charging port to be odd since most have adopted the easy to use round male pin. I actually tried inserting my USB drive into it once, but that’s another story. As usual with Lenovo the ThinkPad has a very durable construction. It feels great in the hand with the soft-touch matte finish, and being lightweight also makes it a breeze to carry.

The screen is 14-inches as mentioned above, but only offers 300 nits of brightness. Using this outdoors wasn’t the most ideal situation, but we’ve certainly seen and used worse. Overall the screen is rather impressive being 1600 x 900, although outdoors the grainy effect was more present.

Keyboard and Trackpad

Just like the X1, the Carbon has replaced the wide keys for Lenovo’s version of the chicklet style, and it works wonderfully. The keys are evenly spaced, comfortable, and have good feedback and response. The slight curve makes them instantly comfortable to use, you’ll just have to get used to the spacing if you’ve owned previous ThinkPads.

As mentioned in the video, the keys are backlit only the button the side toggles radios, not the keyboard lights. Simply press Fn and tap spacebar to scroll through the 3 brightness options. While we’d love additional brightness options 3 is better than most. So we’ll take it. Then in the usual ThinkPad fashion you can use the trackpad, or enjoy the pointing stick mouse dressed up in the familiar red. I personally only use this, but the trackpad is also exceptional for those times you need it. While we’d still like the smooth surface that MacBook’s offer, Lenovo did a great job with their smooth, resistance free trackpad.

Ports

As mentioned above Lenovo outfitted this Ultrabook with only two USB ports, one of which is USB 3.0, or as they call it — Superspeed. You’d never know it but a small barely visible SS logo is near the right side USB port (see above image). The right side also contains the Kensington lock, display port, 3.5mm headphone/microphone, and the full size SD. Around to the left is the charging port, vents, and the regular USB location followed by a Bluetooth and WiFi radio toggle switch.

Performance and Sound

Now Lenovo offers multiple versions of the X1 Carbon, ours however has the Intel Core i7-3667U Processor (4M Cache, up to 3.20 GHz) running at 1.7 GHz. There is two additional i5 options for a lower price as well. Using Intel’s Ivy Bridge and the integrated HD-4000 this isn’t quite up to 3D and gaming performance par, but everything else was exceptional.

Running on Windows 7 64 bit Professional performance was butter smooth as always, and we ran a few Geekbench tests as we always do. After the third run there was a decent amount of heat coming out of the small vents, but the X1 Carbon stayed relatively quiet. Here’s the results:

Obviously the SSD was extremely fast, blowing away any regular HD option available, but sadly this price range only offers the 128GB choice. Overall the results weren’t chart topping but for the price, size, and specs this is a beast of a business-class machine.

Next up we wanted to talk about the speakers and sound quality. There’s no fancy Beats Audio here, but that’s a good thing. Whatever Lenovo did they did well. The speaker ports are located on the bottom sides near the front, and bounce off the desk giving users excellent sound quality. This machine was much louder than the recently reviewed HP ENVY 4, and sounded better in all categories too. While using this on my lap the sound gets aimed the wrong direction and wasn’t as loud or crisp, but desktop usage was perfect.

Battery Life

Now the battery life can be a bit personal, based on user needs and usage, but we found decent results. With continuous usage throughout an entire evening it lasted almost 6 hours straight — and that’s with multiple video clips and web browsing. Using the rapid charge technology detailed in our video we didn’t get 5 hours on a short charge, but was enough to get a job done in a bind. We’ve seen many Ultrabook’s last well past the 7 hour mark, so we’ll chalk this one up for average at best.

Wrap-Up

As far as business-class Ultrabooks the X1 Carbon doesn’t have too much competition. This thing is almost as good as it gets — if an Ultrabook is what you want. If you don’t need the Ultrabook lightweight design for roughly the same price the HP Spectre 14 [see our review] is another solid option. All in all the X1 Carbon is a massive step up over the original, and beats out anything from Lenovo’s past in this size range. Yes the display, battery life, and RAM options could all be better or higher, but in general this machine will be king of the office.

Add in the fact that it manages to be extremely thin, weigh less than 3 lbs, and still manages to have a 720p front camera (image sample below), and integrated HSPA+ 3G connectivity it sure is a great overall package. It might not be the cheapest around but this user friendly machine will be excellent for average users, and the business man. This portable Ultrabook should make you plenty happy, and keep you busy. Have a peek at previous reviews and all our images below, then decide if this is the Ultrabook for your business bag.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Ultrabook Review is written by Cory Gunther & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.