Lenovo has quite a few different offerings available with the new Windows 8 operating system and I agree with most of the reviewers out there that believe that Windows 8 is best when being used in conjunction with touch technology. So if you are looking for a Notebook and want to have the newest a greatest make this one of your must have options on the new notebook. I recently posted information on the Lenovo Yoga that is one interesting design, The ThinkPad Twist is reusing a traditional convertible PC design with the center post allowing the screen to swivel the screen to fold back onto the keyboard to give you a 12 inch fat tablet configuration. Priced from $829 to $1,129 with the primary difference in processors and the amount of RAM.
Weighing in at 3.48 pounds the Twist can easily be cradled in the crook of your arm or handled single handedly. The from factor lends itself well towards presentations which is probably why you would be considering this type of notebook in the first place. However, it is not as easy to handle as a true tablet would be which is characteristic of all 11.6 – 13.6 inch Windows 8 convertibles. The touchscreen is made of Gorilla Glass using HD IPS (in-plane switching) display for wide angle views, again great for presentations. It has a 1,366 x 768 pixel count which is below the Yoga’s 1,600 x 900 display. I would liked to seen a little better resolution but it isn’t there. The shell construction is of Magnesium Alloy that provides extra durability and keeps it light and thin.
As with most of Lenovo’s laptops this one also has their ThinkVantage Active Protection System (APS) that uses an accelerometer to detect movement and stops the drive when a fall or similar event is detected. Rubber mounts are used for the hard disk drive to provide a little more protection. Other specs include a real Ethernet jack, two USB 3.0 ports, a mini-DisplayPort, a 3.5mm headphone jack and a mini-HDMI connector. There is a memory card reader that is often left off of the smaller notebook systems.
Save for a few small modifications, this is more or less the same six-row, island-style keyboard Lenovo used on the X230 and some other recent systems. At this point, it's been at least six months since the company unveiled its latest keyboard design. The important thing to know is that the keys have about 30 percent more surface area than they used to. Meanwhile, the page up / down buttons have moved to the lower right area, so that they're clustered in with the arrow keys, arranged side by side instead of stacked on top of one another. It's also spill-resistant, like other ThinkPad keyboards before it. As for ergonomics, Lenovo has maintained that even though it's moved from a traditional spread to a chiclet arrangement, the keys should still offer about the same amount of pitch.
So what's new? Lenovo has added four Windows 8 hotkeys to the Function row up top. These include buttons for searching, settings, the app list and toggling between open apps. With regards to that last one, you'll see a row of thumbnails stretch across the screen, with each one representing an open program. You can click on them with your mouse or finger, of course, but you can also use the left, right and Enter keys to select the one you want. As I earlier suggested I prefer using Windows 8 with some sort of touch input device, but it's still nice to see Lenovo adding an extra option for people who prefer keyboard shortcuts. One missing feature is that the keyboard is not backlit which is something that I would have liked to seen.
Battery life is a little poor as well. Lenovo rates it at 7 hours but in battery tests using WiFi and streaming video only about 4 hours was the mean time of support. I have included a table from engadget showing some comparable system’s battery test times as well to compare their results. Other than this poor result from the battery life, a real road warrior may find this feature one that would prevent them from purchasing it. However, if long battery life is not an issue for you. then the other features add up to a very nice device.