ThinkPad 2 for $799 w/keyboard?
Last night we popped by PepCom, a little tech event that happens every few months here in New York City. We were curious if Samsung would be there with their ATIV lineup (answer: no) and we were hoping to maybe spot some interesting tidbits for you folks. We're not too heavily focused on tablets here, but sometimes we find out things.
For instance, we managed to get our mitts on the upcoming Lenovo Thinkpad 2, sporting Windows 8 Pro and a 10.1” 1,366 x 768 IPS display. Impressions? It’s very nice and we’re kind of itching to get one, especially with its reported 10 hour battery life, 2MP/8MP camera, AT&T LTE, NFC, USB ports and even a stylus.
Surprisingly, Lenovo told us straight up the price tag when we asked: $799 and yes, it will launch October 26th (presumably at 12:01am).
Up until now, the price of the ThinkPad Tablet 2 was only rumored to be between $600 and $700, making this on the higher end of that spectrum. The good news is that does include the full keyboard and the full Office 2013 suite, but we're not too sure about the optional dock, which has an Ethernet port, three USB ports and HDMI out.
Presumably, we could easily be looking at much less were you to buy it without the keyboard, bringing it back down to that $600 range or slightly higher if you add more options (like a fingerprint scanner).
The ThinkPad 2 is geared for enterprise over consumers, so the higher price tag may make more sense as this includes just about everything you can imagine, especially when compared to the iPad (although the latter admittedly has a much nicer display).
Assuming that $799 price tag sticks for the full Pro version and keyboard, what are your thoughts? It’s a bit pricey but you are getting what seems like a no-compromise Windows 8 Tablet. That price can only mean RT tabs and Pro tabs with less specs will be $600 or less, with RT quite possibly hitting that $299 mark.
Update: For those asking about the CPU, the speed has yet to be confirmed by Lenovo. It is rumored to be Intel's Clover Trail at 1.8GHz.
