Lenovo continues to explore the strange crossover land of Windows tablets that think they’re small laptops, and has announced the ThinkPad Tablet 10. The company says it’ll satisfy users both in the office and at home, regardless of whether you’re tapping away on the keyboard dock, or on the tablet’s touchscreen.
The tablet has Windows 8.1 installed, pitching it against rivals like Microsoft’s Surface Pro 2, rather than the 8.1 RT-equipped Surface 2. Lenovo has chosen a quad-core Intel Z3795 Atom processor to power the new ThinkPad 10, and equipped it with either 2GB or 4GB of RAM, and your choice of 64GB or 128GB internal storage space.
A 1920 x 1200 pixel, 10.1-inch LCD display covered in Gorilla Glass dominates the front panel, and is encased in an 8.9mm thick aluminum body shell. The standard Wi-Fi model weighs 598 grams. For comparison, the Surface 2 is heavier at 675 grams, but it does have a slightly larger display, and manages to share exactly the same thickness.
The feature list continues with an 8-megapixel rear camera and a 2-megapixel front camera, the option of selecting 4G LTE rather than only Wi-Fi, a pair of USB 2.0 ports, a Micro HDMI, and a MicroSD card slot. Lenovo promises a battery which will last for 10 hours.
Digital Trends Deputy Editor Jeffrey Van Camp spent a few brief moments with the device, which appears to operate just fine. Like the ThinkPad 8, the power and volume buttons blend in so much that they are a little hard to find in the dark, and the screen does appear to retain fingerprints more than we’d like. Still, the range of accessories is impressive. Lenovo has learned a lot since the original ThinkPad Tablet and the ThinkPad Tablet 2.
The company is also releasing a selection of accessories for the ThinkPad Tablet 10:
- $60 Quickshot cover, where the corner can be folded back to reveal the camera lens
- $120 Tablet Dock
- $130 Ultrabook Keyboard accessory
- $70 rugged case
- $120 Surface-style keyboard touch case
Lenovo has confirmed a digitizer pen, a finger-print reader, and a smart card reader will be sold, but hasn’t confirmed any other details.
Although the final release date has yet to be confirmed, it’ll be sometime in June, and prices for the ThinkPad Tablet 10 will start at $600.
