monsignor winfield: Lenovo's IdeaPad Yoga convertible tablet runs Windows 8, is set to arrive later this year for 'around $1,000'

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Lenovo's IdeaPad Yoga convertible tablet runs Windows 8, is set to arrive later this year for 'around $1,000'

If CES is the place where companies can demo products they don't intend to sell for another six months, what better place for PC makers to tease their first Windows 8 tablets? Though the OS isn't expected to reach its final stage until later this year, Lenovo is already showing off the IdeaPad Yoga, a convertible tablet with a screen that flips over, like a cover on a spiral-bound book. If you like, you can bend it partway so that the keyboard functions as a stand when you're in the mood to watch a movie.

Based on our conversations with Lenovo reps, it's clear the company sees this as a laptop first, and tablet second. The proof is in the specs, really. It weighs "less than 1.5kg," or 3.3 pounds, making it heavier than some Ultrabooks. Not only is its display IPS, but it boasts 1600 x 900 resolution -- an unheard of pixel count for tablets, let alone most 13-inch laptops. And when this hits, it'll pack "next-generation" (read: Ivy Bridge) Intel Core processors -- albeit, of the ULV variety. Accordingly, it has a laptop price: around $1,000, when it eventually ships, sometime later this year after Windows 8 gets finalized.

Fortunately, the battery life is worthy of a tablet: Lenovo says the 54Wh juicepack can last up to eight hours.

If you only have five minutes, we highly suggest you meet us past the break for some hands-on impressions and not one, but two videos. Seriously, folks, even next to all the Android tablets, chubby Ultrabooks and baby scales that have been announced at CES, this is by far the most memorable thing we've seen. Do it. You know you're curious.

Gallery: Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga