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Lenovo plans hybrid Android ThinkPad X1 laptop, $800 Ultrabook, and quad-core tablet

lenovo-thinkpad-x1-slide
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Lenovo news and rumors are spilling today. A private presentation is available online which details Lenovo’s plans in the United States for the next few months including a new Ultrabook laptop and a hybrid laptop which has an “Instant Media Mode” that doubles battery life. Finally, another rumor points to the introduction of a quad-core Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) tablet in December.

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X1 Hybrid: The Lenovo presentation says that this Windows business laptop is coming in November and is “2 notebooks in 1.” It can switch from Windows 7 to “Instant Media Mode,” which doubles the battery life. Funny thing is, this Media Mode looks suspiciously like Lenovo’s Android media widget, leading us to wonder if it’s not dual-booting a modified version of Android. Lenovo has previously tried to accomplish this concept on the U1 without using Android, but it didn’t take off.  

$800 Ultrabook coming in May: The presentation also says that Lenovo will begin shipping its commercial Ultrabooks in May or June 2012–whenever the Intel Chief River/Ivy Bridge platform arrives. These Ultrabooks will “meet or beat” Ultrabook specs and the 14-inch version will cost $800 and up.

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Quad-core Tegra 3 tablet: Engadget has heard “from a little birdie” that Lenovo will ship a 10.1-inch tablet with some impressive specs this year. According to the anonymous source, it will run Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) and be powered by a quad-core Nvidia Tegra 3 processor. 2GB of DDR3 RAM, a rear camera, a fingerprint scanner that doubles as a joystick, and a “Special Fusion-Skin Body” will also be included. From the pictures, it looks like a real Lenovo tablet to us, though the images are a bit too perfectly zoomed in and unrevealing. It’s almost as if Lenovo leaked this themselves. Hmm…

Jeffrey Van Camp
As DT's Deputy Editor, Jeff helps oversee editorial operations at Digital Trends. Previously, he ran the site's…
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