SlateDroid.com: ARM-based Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga Running Windows 8 RT May Challenge the Surface

ARM-based Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga Running Windows 8 RT May Challenge the Surface

BY ALEXANDRA BURLACU | AUGUST 12, 2012 12:34 PM EDT




Lenovo has officially announced its Windows 8 ThinkPad Tablet 2 on Wednesday, Aug. 8, the second-generation of its popular tablet, aimed at professionals. Moreover, the company is also preparing Windows 8 products for the consumer side, and these include the IdeaPad Yoga laptop/tablet hybrid Lenovo unveiled earlier this year at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Lenovo's IdeaPad Yoga comes with an exciting and unique design: it looks like a regular laptop, but the screen actually folds backwards turning the device into a tablet. The Wall Street Journal first reported that Lenovo is working on a Windows RT tablet with a "keyboard that flips around," and ABC News later confirmed, citing anonymous sources, that this tablet is the IdeaPad Yoga.


According to ABC News' sources, the device is scheduled to hit the market in October, around the time of the general availability of Microsoft's new Windows 8, which is set to officially launch on Oct. 26. Lenovo is reportedly prepping two versions of the Yoga: one powered by an Intel processor, and the other one based on a lower-powered ARM Nvidia Tegra processor. The ARM version will provide double the battery life of the Intel version, added the publication's sources.

During the ThinkPad Tablet 2 unveiling on Wednesday, Dilip Bhatia, Lenovo's general manager of the ThinkPad business, said the company was also working on a Windows RT product to go along with the Intel-based IdeaPad Yoga, but did not offer additional details. If the ABC News report is to be believed, we should soon see the same exciting hardware with ARM's power-saving technology.

Microsoft has three versions of Windows 8: Windows RT for lower-powered ARM processors, and Windows 8 and Windows 8 Pro for x86 Intel and AMD processors. Windows RT tablets based on ARM technology will not be able to run legacy Windows programs and applications, but devices like the Yoga will have access to all the apps in Microsoft's Store, set to launch in October alongside Windows 8.

It is unclear at this point whether the Windows RT version of the IdeaPad Yoga will ultimately sport the same design. A Lenovo spokesperson told ABC News that the company will have a number of Windows 8 devices, but declined to comment on unannounced products.


Source: Mobile&Apps