Lenovo’s ThinkPad Tablet manages to bring a few different things to the party, and this pleases me greatly, as seen in this video.
[yframe url=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGBt8q4uhaQ’]
The ThinkPad Tablet may not be the thinnest or most eye-catching tablet out there. It has some real heft to it compared to the Galaxy Tab or iPad 2. I’d say it feels about the same as my HP TouchPad. However, it also has a full-on USB port, as well as HDMI and Mini HDMI. The understated black styling and basic rectangular slab shape much screams “ThinkPad!” The insides start with that stalwart of 2011 Tablet specs — the Tegra 2 processor. Add in a 10″ screen and you have the backbone of almost every tablet this year, plus up to 64 GB storage and a stylus pen.
Lenovo has piled on the pre-loaded software, with apps like a Citirx receiver or Documents to Go showing that this is aimed for their traditional, businessman on the go market.
The most impressive feature of the whole thing may be the keyboard dock arrangement, complete with traditional ThinkPad nubbin mouse. Yes, there are third party keyboard folio’s available for almost every tablet. The difference here is that it’s not a third party, and the manufacturer is one that absolutely knows keyboards. ThinkPad laptops have consistently had some of the best keyboards in the industry. The keyboard/case attachment takes that knack and moves it to the tablet pretty well. We only had a few minutes, but key travel was satisfactory and it just felt right under my hands.
Price, sadly, is where we lose some of our enthusiasm. With the 16 GB model at $499, the 32 GB at $569, and the 64 GB at $669, this tablet is hardly an impulse buy. Keep in mind that those prices are before we look at the keyboard, which is my personal selling point. Even with the added ports, that’s a bit of a heavy price. If you don’t absolutely need them, I might suggest the IdeaPad line instead.
Comments are closed.