The Lenovo IdeaPad U1 Hybrid – a docking tablet turned notebook

3:34 PM, Jan 4th, 2010 2 Comments

The Lenovo IdeaPad U1 Hybrid - half tablet, half notebook, all pricey

The Lenovo IdeaPad U1 Hybrid - half tablet, half notebook, all pricey

While the docking concept or convertible tablet/netbook isn’t anything new (does Lenovo have a magnetic back like the Always Innovating Touch Book? We think not!), it sure is nice to see larger computer manufacturers coming out with them.

The latest is Lenovo who announced their tablet-turned-netbook IdeaPad U1 Hybrid today. The IdeaPad U1 Hybrid features an 11.6-inch LED display that comes in tablet form and supports touchscreen interface through Skylight Linux. When in slab tablet form, it weighs 1.6 pounds. If you’d like to dock it to its clamshell for more functionality it will bulk it up to 3.8 lbs. The slab runs off a Qualcomm Snapdragon ARM and uses the Linux OS when in tablet but switches to Windows 7 when docked. Those aren’t the only transformations though.

When used as a tablet, the IdeaPad U1 has a 16GB flash drive, runs off 512MB of DDR1 RAM and lasts 8 hours per charge. But when their powers combine the U1 gets 128GB SSD, 4GB of DDR3 RAM, Intel GMA graphics chips and lasts 6 hours a charge. The tablet shares some things with its base, like battery and wireless connection (3G, WiFi and Bluetooth). The base also has 3 USB ports, HDMI, media card 4-in-1 reader (SD, Multi-Media, Memory Stick and Memory Stick Pro), Ethernet and VGA.

Sound pretty cool, but remember this is Lenovo that we’re talking about so expect to pay $999 for starting options when it comes out.

Update: Video hands-on demo by CrunchGear after the break.

Article Source: PCMag

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2 Responses to “The Lenovo IdeaPad U1 Hybrid – a docking tablet turned notebook”

  1. Liberty Newsprint Reply 2:37 PM, Jan 7th, 2010 at 2:37 pm

    Your doing a great job with your reviews. ~Thanks