Review: Lenovo ThinkPad 8
Lenovo ThinkPad 8 would easily standout the market among its competitors of Windows tablets. You will find many 8-inch Windows tablets carrying the similar specs that it is very tough to make up your mind for purchasing one. Lenovo ThinkPad 8 would surpass all these Windows tablets in terms of its features. It carries the full HD screen with 128 GB storage option. The elegant aluminum casing provides great attraction for users. It carries optional 4G also. The prices are on the higher side as compared to the competitors. The price of ThinkPad 8 starts at $429. However, it carries worth for its every penny.
Hardware
It contains the Gorilla Glass screen and aluminum back. These are both delicate materials that could get damaged even by the house keys. It is thinner and lighter as compared to the Acer Iconia W4 and Toshiba Encore. Like in other tablets, the power and the volume buttons are present on the upper right side. The charging port works with a big chunky connector, and the headphone can be connected on the lower portrait edge.
Display
It is only 8 inch but carries the full HD display, 1920×1200 size. The display is pretty good and crisp. It is the main advantage of this tablet over its competitors. You could easily watch the movies and other videos equally well from nearly all angles. Gorilla Glass Panel reflects less light that makes viewing angle clear even from the sides. It doesn’t support Pen though that would require purchasing bigger version of the ThinkPad tablet.
Software
The company mostly keeps the tablets clean in terms of software. The software contained in the tablet are Kindle, Evernote Touch, Skitch Touch, AccuWeather.com, Hightail, Zinio, and the music streaming service rara.com. You will also find the trial version of the Norton Internet Security and complete version of Microsoft Office. You can also download Windows 8.1 update that is launched for keyboard and mouse devices mainly.
Performance and Battery Life
It carries an Intel Atom Processor, 2GB RAM and 64GB or 128GB flash storage. It contains Z3770 chip that contains slightly higher clock speed 1.46 GHz as compared to the usual 1.33 GHz. Indeed, faster clock speeds don’t yield any improvements in most of the tasks such as graphics benchmarks and gaming.
The battery capacity is a bit on the lower side that discharges in 8 hours according to the official marketing materials of the Lenovo. Practically speaking, it lasts for only 6 hours. However, battery timing depends on the tasks running on the tablet.
Configuration Options and Competition
You can choose ThinkPad 8 in two different flavors: 64GB and 128GB. The prices start from $429 and may go as high as $569. Adding 4G will boost the price even higher. The prices are higher than the competitors like Acer Iconia W4 costs around $300 only with similar specs.
Wrap-Up
It is clearly a standout tablet in terms of its display and performance, but a little costly.