DailyTech - Lenovo Helix Windows 8 Laptop/Tablet Hybrid Airs a Day Early at CES Unveiled

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Gadgets Lenovo Helix Windows 8 Laptop/Tablet Hybrid Airs a Day Early at CES Unveiled
Jason Mick (Blog) - January 7, 2013 2:00 AM

9 comment(s) - last by LieutenantCrun.. on Jan 7 at 8:50 PM

New Windows 8 tablet packs an i7

At the CES Unveiled event on Sunday, the Lenovo Group, Ltd. (HKG:0992) -- currently the world's second fastest-growing computermaker -- remained bullish regarding Windows 8.

Recent reports indicate that sales and adoption of the new colorful, graphically-rich operating system from Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) may be worse than the much reviled Winodws Vista. Indeed, one employee acknowledged that the Windows Store/Windows 8 app ecosystem needed to build up in order to drive faster adoption. However, the criticisms have done little to stop the Asian OEM from unveiling a plethora of Intel Corp. (INTC)-powered Windows 8 designs.

_{[Image Source: Jason Mick/DailyTech]}

Leading the way was the 11.6-inch Lenovo Helix. The laptop-cum-tablet hybrid design allows the screen (tablet) to be detached and reattached from the laptop base, with the help of anodized zinc-alloy tabs. In total, the device has 4 modes including presentation mode.

_{Scrolling on the Lenovo Helix felt smooth. [Image Source: Jason Mick/DailyTech]}

The screen is full 1080p (1920x1080). That battery life is estimated at 6 hours with the tablet only, but jumps to 10 hours when the base is fully charged and attached. The total weight of the tablet is 1.8 lb -- or roughly a third heavier than the current iPad from Apple, Inc. (AAPL). And the device is a little thicker than the latest full-sized iPad (11 millimeters versus 9.4 millimetrs). With the base, the weight jumps to 4.75 lb.

_{Scrolling on the Lenovo Helix felt smooth. [Image Source: Jason Mick/DailyTech]}

The tablet can carry up to an Intel Core i7 prcoessor (or, more affordably, an i3 or i5), can have up to 8 GB of DRAM, and can have a solid state drive capacity of up to 256 gigabytes. The only big disappointment is that there are no discrete graphics options -- only the integrated Intel HD 4000.

_{The Lenovo Helix (left), pictured next to a Carbon X1 Windows 8 laptop.

[Image Source: DailyTech/Jason Mick]}

The tablet comes preloaded with some other nice extras, like Lenovo's special "Start Button" replacement, which adds a new icon/menu to the Windows 8 Desktop. Lenovo says that this button -- like comparable third party solutions -- should help users by presenting them with a familiar placement of the shutdown option, as well as other missing functionality.

A late February launch is planned for the Lenovo Helix in the U.S. The expected price point is around $1500 USD.

Source: Lenovo

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RE: Integrated graphics

By safcman84 on 1/7/2013 4:57:48 AM , Rating: 2

I am still waiting on a decent external thunderbolt GPU enclosure, similar to what MSI announced (and never delivered?) but able to handle high end desktop GPUs.

i5 or i7 powered tablet with 8gb ram, hooked up to an external monitor and external GPU.

One device to rule them all.

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RE: Integrated graphics

By TakinYourPoints on 1/7/2013 12:14:08 PM , Rating: 2

This would be fantastic, having a light device on the go that you can then plug into a PCI-E video card if you want to game at a desktop on a big monitor.

Even the technical constraints of Thunderbolt (not having full PCI lane speed for external video cards) doesn't put that big a hit on performance, at least not with software at the moment.

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"Google fired a shot heard 'round the world, and now a second American company has answered the call to defend the rights of the Chinese people." -- Rep. Christopher H. Smith (R-N.J.)