Lenovo’s been teasing us with this IdeaPad U1 convertible laptop/tablet since last year’s CES, but now the company claims it will be releasing the versatile PC by the second half of this year.We were among the crowds gathered around Lenovo’s table at tonight’s “CES Unveiled” in Las Vegas to catch a glimpse of the IdeaPad U1, the tablet that’s nestled inside a laptop, detachable when all the excess weight and size of a full-fledged laptop is just too much.
This Windows laptop is still in the prototype stage, and we were told its price would be “less than $1000″ and would ship “around the June/July timeframe.”
The most unusual characteristic of the IdeaPad is that when you take its tablet out of its crimson confines, its operating system splits personalities, running a strange-looking version of Android
as a tablet.
as a tablet.Given the more than 200,000 Android apps now available, that’s a better idea than last year’s version, which aspired to transform into a Linux
-running tablet. Catch a glimpse of its skinned version of Android in the gallery below.
-running tablet. Catch a glimpse of its skinned version of Android in the gallery below.So many showgoers had pawed this beautiful bauble that it was covered with fingerprints, but when we touched finger to screen, it felt a lot like the near-perfect interface of the iPad. Its simple configuration of aluminum and glass is a nice combo; and even though the tablet by itself weighs a too-hefty 1.58 lb, it was still manageable.
Perhaps by midyear, Lenovo will have reduced its weight. And maybe this time, it can break free of its vaporware reputation and somehow find itself in the hands of consumers.
With our short time with it tonight, we liked it. Similar to Dell’s Inspiron Duo convertible tablet/laptop, this Lenovo innovation offers an important thing to consumers: choice. After all, if you can’t decide between a laptop and a tablet, why not have both?
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