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Lenovo’s message from the 2014 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is this: People no longer need to decide whether to buy a tablet or a laptop, they just need to decide which Lenovo device they would like.
As the Las Vegas event got underway, Lenovo introduced three new devices (or six, if you include variations), each of which stretches beyond the confines of a single formfactor.
Lenovo Miix 2
The Miix 2 is a three-in-one. It can behave as a laptop, with the full Windows 8.1 experience—users can choose a 10- or 11-inch touchscreen. Or, the touchscreen can be popped off and used as a tablet. The final option is to reconnect the screen facing the opposite direction, activating Stand Mode—the ideal way to watch videos in the confines of an airline seat, or really anywhere.
Notably, Lenovo doesn’t call the Miix 2 a laptop with a detachable display, but—and rightly, when you see it—a tablet with a dock. The base of device has a long, rectangular JBL subwoofer (the speaker is on the tablet), which adds to its unusual look. There’s something unexpectedly retro-looking about this future-leaning device.
The 10-inch Miix 2 runs a quad-core Intel Atom processor, while the 11-inch model gets a 4th-generation Intel Core i5 processor. Both displays are full HD with 10-point multi-touch technology, a 178-degree viewing angle and a resolution of 1,920 by 1,200. The 10-inch model has 2GB of memory, while the 11-inch can support up to 8GB.
The smaller tablet is 0.36 inches thin and weighs 1.3 pounds, while its dock weighs 0.97 pounds; the larger Miix 2 is 0.43 inches thin and weighs 1.76 pounds without the dock and an extra 1.21 pounds with it.
The 10-inch Miix 2 will be available in March with a starting price of $499. In April, the 11-inch Miix 2 will follow, starting at $699.
Lenovo Yoga 2
The Yoga 2, like its predecessor, can strike four poses—Laptop, Stand, Tent and Tablet—thanks to its special hinge. (That last pose should really be called convertible tablet. The display, here, twists and turns and can bend back 360 degrees, but it doesn’t detach.) New to the Yoga 2, though, are additional apps in Yoga Picks, a service that suggests apps that a user may want to try, based on the position the device is in.
The more consumer-friendly 11-inch Yoga 2 has a starting price of $529 and is available with up to a quad-core Intel Pentium processor. Its 11.6-inch display has a 10-point functionality, a 178-degree viewing angle and a resolution of 1,366 by 768. Intel HD graphics are on board, along with up to 4GB of RAM, integrated stereo speakers supporting Dolby Home Theater v4 for “immersive surround sound,” and a 1-megapixel webcam.
There are USB 2.0 and 3.0 ports, a 3-in-1 card reader and a Micro HDMI-out slot. It weights 2.9 pounds, gets up to 6 hours of battery life and measures 11.7 by 8.1 by 0.67 inches.
Lenovo calls the 13-inch Yoga 2 a “workhorse.” It can come with up to a 4th-generation Intel Core i5 processor, has a backlit keyboard and a Full HD display with a resolution of 1,920 by 1,080. Storage options scale up to a 500GB hard disc drive or solid-state drive.
The same ports are on board, along with the Dolby technology and webcam. Battery life, though, jumps to 8 hours, its weight to 3.5 pounds and its dimensions to 12.90 by 8.70 by 0.68 inches.
It will be priced starting at $999 and be available from Best Buy, Future Shop and the Lenovo store beginning in February; the 11-inch Yoga 2 will arrive, in the same shops, in late January.
Lenovo Flex 14/15D
The Flex is the least flexible of the lot, able to strike only two poses; it can behave like a mid-tier laptop or lean back 180 degrees for optimal tray-table viewing (which, it warrants repeating, is a very welcome feature).
Options include a 14- or 15.6-inch HD (1366×768) display with 10-point multi-touch technology, up to an AMD Radeon 1GB graphs, 8GB of memory and a 500GB (plus 8GB hybrid) solid-state drive or up to a 1TB hard disk drive with an optional 16GB cache.
Dolby Advanced Audio v2 technology, a 720p HD webcam and OneKey Recovery data backup and recovery software are included.
The Flex 14D weighs 4.4 pounds and Flex 15D 5.07 pounds. Both are now available, starting at $499.
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