Lenovo ThinkPad 8 now official: brings Intel Bay Trail powered full-on Windows 8.1 with 8-hour battery life

posted by Victor H. / Jan 05, 2014, 6:00 PM

Lenovo ThinkPad 8 now official: brings Intel Bay Trail powered full-on Windows 8.1 with 8-hour battery life

The Lenovo ThinkPad 8 has just made its official debut. An 8.3-inch tablet with full-on Windows 8.1 experience (as opposed to the limited RT edition), a brand new 22nm Intel Bay Trail quad-core chip and 8-hour battery life, the ThinkPad 8 brings an impressive package at a starting price of $399.

The combination of Intel’s newest Atom mobile microarchitecture combined with a full-on Windows 8.1 experience on a tablet with good battery life is definitely the most impressive feat of the ThinkPad 8. You should be able to configure the tablet, but the version Lenovo advertizes comes with the most powerful 2.4GHz Intel Z3770 quad-core chip. Sadly, Intel has gone the way of Qualcomm and others advertizing max turbo clock frequencies rather than average speeds, so that 2.4GHz number is not actually your average. The average speed after the inevitable thermal throttling will likely be around 1.46GHz. Bay Trail comes with Intel’s own HD Graphics solution with support for OpenGL 3.2 and DX11. The ThinkPad 8 also features 2GB of LPDDR3 1067MHz dual-channel RAM.

The tablet will come with a separate Wi-Fi only and cellular data (3G and 4G) models. Both are fairly compact only differing slightly in weight. Both also weigh more than the average 8-inch tablet at nearly 0.95 pounds. All of that fits an 8.8mm thick machine cut aluminum body.

The 8.3-inch screen is very sharp featuring an impressive Nexus 7-like 1920 x 1200 pixel resolution. It is a compact solution, but still not too small to be a limiting factor for Windows 8.1. There are no on-screen buttons, just a single Windows key below the screen.

The ThinkPad 8 comes with an 8-megapixel auto-focus rear camera with a single LED flash, and there is a 2-megapixel shooter up front. Both cameras are capable of recording 1080p full HD video. You can store images and files in general on up to 128GB of internal storage. The tablet also features dual speakers and dual microphones.

The Lenovo ThinkPad 8 will arrive in late January and will be configurable, but you can expect topseller model prices to start at $429.

Lenovo ThinkPad 8

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16 Comments

1. MrKoles

Posts: 368; Member since: Jan 20, 2013

Could somebody explain me what's the point of this machine? Without sarcasm, please.

posted on Jan 05, 2014, 6:28 PM 0

2. Birds

Posts: 1172; Member since: Nov 21, 2011

For 399$ its a broken deal. I rather buy a 14 inch cheap AMD laptop from gateway or something... I wish it was priced around $299 or 349$... 399$ is really pushing it considering the screen size...

posted on Jan 05, 2014, 6:42 PM 1

4. PapaSmurf

Posts: 10457; Member since: May 14, 2012

Battery life will outlast that super cheap AMD. I won't get a computer unless it has a quad i5 or i7 chip on it. Everything below it won't last for me.

posted on Jan 05, 2014, 7:13 PM 0

7. Birds

That wasn't my point. You're talking about at the minimum, an $800+ laptop. I'm looking from the perspective of a high school student with defined needs, and a budget... And a $400 laptop will always be a better deal than a $400 tablet....Especially for the stuff I do...minor Photoshop jobs, long thesis papers, and making audio tracks. I don't care too much for battery life for what I'll be using my device for. But I do see your point. Unfortunately for me, the next time I get a new laptop or tablet will be the end of this semester for college and considering I love in a stone age town where people refuse to order anything online and walmart refuses to order any new laptops with haswell chipsets until they get rid of their cache of laptops with ivy bridge... and since that is a 5 month window of pure hell, I'm s*ht out of luck...LOL.

posted on Jan 05, 2014, 7:29 PM 1

8. PapaSmurf

Amazon? HP? IBM? Apple? Lenovo?

posted on Jan 05, 2014, 8:28 PM 0

11. Birds

Live*.....LOL, and my family thinks every online retailer is a setup for identity theft...So....

posted on Jan 05, 2014, 9:34 PM 0

12. kaikuheadhunterz

Posts: 1157; Member since: Jul 18, 2013

I bought a Windows 7 laptop at $200. Just saying...

posted on Jan 05, 2014, 11:11 PM 0

16. ZeroCide

Posts: 813; Member since: Jan 09, 2013

I think the 399 price stems from the 128 GB drive and the HD screen that it comes with at least that is what in saw on the specs here on PA. the dell venue pro 8 is $299 with 32GB and $349 with 64GB so 128 GB for $399 seems to be a decent price point.

posted on Jan 06, 2014, 12:15 PM 0

3. fouadqr

Posts: 326; Member since: Nov 21, 2012

it's " REALLY " a small PC with full W8 ! .. u can do everything using it ..what u want more than that!

posted on Jan 05, 2014, 7:01 PM 5

5. greyhulk

Posts: 184; Member since: Jun 30, 2010

I own the Dell Venue 8 Pro. It's actually a wonderful tablet with the power to install and do anything you can do with full Windows. But I also only paid $250 for it. The screen on this tablet makes it very interesting to me, but at that price...I don't know how I could justify it. Don't knock the Windows 8 tablet experience until you've tried it. I used to scoff at it, but then I bought one and honesty, I like it much better than Android or iOS right now. Watch a few reviews on Youtube of the Venue 8 Pro or the HP Omni 10. I think you'd be surprised at how good it is as a tablet.

posted on Jan 05, 2014, 7:21 PM 2

6. rodneyej1

Posts: 3576; Member since: Jul 06, 2013

If you need someone to explain it to you then you should probably just stick to featuretablets... This is a smartablet❕

posted on Jan 05, 2014, 7:21 PM 0

9. suavemezie

Posts: 95; Member since: Jun 21, 2012

At a little under one pound, the Think Pad 8 matches the Google Nexus (2013) in depth -- 0.34 inches -- and features a sleek machine-cut aluminum back. The rear 10-megapixel camera, which includes a flash, is accented with a red trim, and the 2-megapixel front-facing camera blends in with the tablet's all-black front facade. Ensuring productivity on-the-go, the ThinkPad 8 will be available in a 4G LTE/3G version, in addition to a Wi-Fi only model. The tablet also includes stereo speakers with audio enhancing Dolby Home Theater. The first 8-inch business tablet not bad at all with the spec, tiny full windows machine with mobile capability, More productive than ipad mini which costs as much

posted on Jan 05, 2014, 8:35 PM 2

10. rodneyej1

In other words.. This is literally the best 8" tablet that money can buy...

posted on Jan 05, 2014, 9:20 PM 1

13. 7thspaceman

Posts: 1597; Member since: Feb 14, 2011

This folks is a top of the line 8 inch Windows 8.1 tablet. but I did read that it has an mini HDMI port? If it doe not have a Mini HDMI port then the Toshiba Encore beats it for use versatility but the HD Plus screen on this Windows 8.1 - 8 inch tablet makes it the one to have if you to like watch video's or read e-bookl or surf the web on.. this is a Business Pro's Tablet - 9

posted on Jan 06, 2014, 2:32 AM 1

14. ianbbaa

Posts: 332; Member since: Mar 20, 2013

Toshiba Encore 8 does not have microSD slot which is pity, but has hdmi... This new ThinkPad 8 has microHDMI - which ideaTab Mix 8 lacks, but i was in hope to see this ThinkPad to have PEN input which is i think needed for W8 tablets when you want to use also desktop apps. And 1080p 8" display on desktop mode will be completely uselles to handle via finger only. I want to switch from NOTE 8 to 8" W8 tablet but PEN is a must. I working mainly via RDP on my NOTE 8 to Windows session and the Spen is best think to handle desktop UI. DELL Venue 8 does offer PEN, but not Wacom - Synaptics which i read not good reviews about. So what to buy??? Hopes go for ASUS 8" W8 tablet: HDMI, PEN - these are must!!!

posted on Jan 06, 2014, 5:29 AM 0

15. pookiewood

Posts: 631; Member since: Mar 05, 2012

I was thinking the ASUS as well since it has Wacom but the no-HDMI out kills it for me. I want HDMI out in a an 8" frame!! Let's hope they announce something with this during their showing!