LENOVO THINKPAD 8

One of these days, Lenovo will be mentioned immediately among the Apples and Samsungs out there when we start talking tablets. The company’s latest, the ThinkPad 8 hybrid should certainly get closer to that discussion with Samsung-level screen quality and Apple-level performance.

Touted particularly for business use, the Lenovo ThinkPad 8 consists of an 8” Windows-based tablet plus a nice sturdy keyboard dock. Both pieces pack some solidity – which is to say “weight” – but at under 0.9 pounds per, the entire set is still less than half a pound heavier than an old iPad 2 or 3. At about 5.2” by 8.3”, this ThinkPad’s dimensions are also a bit larger than the standard. Simply put, this tablet is *long*.

Said length results in a seriously dense (if, again, not exactly mainstream) 1920 x 1200-pixel resolution. Tablet aficionados may note by the numbers alone that the ThinkPad 8 is instantly comparable to just about any 8” device’s screen short of Apple’s “Retina” display series. Rarely has Windows 8 looked so good on an 8” tablet.

In terms of performance, the 2 GHz Intel Atom Z3770 processor with 2 MB cache is lightning quick, and the 64 GB *standard* memory is a real plus. A micro SD card slot is included should more memory be needed (really?), as is a USB 3.0 port.

Beyond the keyboard dock – as noted earlier, good and sturdy, though as always use of a full QWERTY keyboard trimmed down for use with an 8” tablet can be problematic for those with larger (i.e. average-sized) hands – the real selling point of the Lenovo ThinkPad 8 is the price. The starting $400 bests those tablets on the higher end of the price scale easily; and though quite a few 8” devices can be had for $300 or less, we’d say the extra cash is well worth a top-quality screen, excellent performance and lots of memory space.