Lenovo is having a busy time of it at CES this year, rolling out a slew of new laptops, tablets, and combinations of the two at the trade show in Las Vegas on Monday.
CES is often a place to show off gadgets that are more experimental than anything, but this year, Lenovo took a more serious approach with its hardware. The Chinese electronics company unveiled the latest additions to its Yoga line of convertible laptop-tablet hybrids with the Yoga Tablet 2, the ThinkPad Yoga convertible, and two new Yoga 3 convertibles (in 11-inch and 14-inch models).
Let’s start with the eight-inch Yoga Tablet 2. Out of all of the devices Lenovo brought to this year’s show, this was one of the most interesting, thanks to new technology the company is branding as “AnyPen.” This new feature allows users to write on the Yoga Tablet 2’s surface – but not with a stylus. Instead, they can use whatever pen or pencil happens to be at hand, with Lenovo saying this provides the same effect as “writing on paper.” The device will run Windows 8.1, and it comes with an Intel atom quad-core processor, a full HD IPS display, and its battery life can last up to 15 hours, according to Lenovo.
Then there’s the ThinkPad Yoga, a laptop-tablet hybrid which comes in three different sizes – 12-inches, 14-inches, and 15-inches. Running with 5th generation Intel Core i7 processors and Windows 8.1, the device was designed for small business employees, students, and consumers.
It allows users to switch between using it in tablet mode when they want to take notes by hand using Lenovo’s new ActivePen stylus, or using it in laptop mode when they want to type. It also comes with what Lenovo has termed the “Lift n’Lock” keyboard, allowing users to easily switch back and forth between laptop and tablet modes without getting the keys stuck.
What’s also interesting about the ThinkPad Yoga is that it comes with a built-in Intel 3D camera. Lenovo is touting it as a handy feature for the 15-inch model of this device, saying it could make for better video conferencing and for scanning objects in preparation for 3D printing, but it remains to be seen whether this is a gimmick more than anything else.
Continuing on in the laptop-tablet hybrid vein, Lenovo has also announced the Yoga 3. Customers can choose from an 11-inch model or a 14-inch model, which are among the lightest devices in Lenovo’s Yoga lineup of devices. Like some of the other Yoga devices, they also come with a two-hinge design allowing users to rotate the devices by 360 degrees, or to make the screen lie flat at an 180 degree angle. They also run on 5th generation Intel Core i7 processors and Windows 8.1.
Pricing for the Yoga Tablet 2 starts at $299, and it will become available at BestBuy and via Lenovo’s online store in January. The Yoga 3 will start at $799 for the 11-inch version, or $979 for the 14-inch model starting in March, while the ThinkPad Yoga laptop starts at $999 for the 12-inch and $1,199 for the 15-inch. It should become available starting in February. The 14-inch model won’t come out until May, starting at around $1,199.
