Lenovo’s success in acquiring IBM’s PC business isn’t something to be overlooked in the computing history, the Chinese based manufacturer last year announced a handful of Think series products shortly after acquiring Big Blue’s x86 business, which instantly raised the company’s ranking in the commercial PC business at the Top 3 position. The ThinkPad 10 Tablet that we have here is the company’s very first Windows 8.1 business tablet, it is also one of the first tablets that we’ve find it worthy to consider as a real work tablet.
Lenovo Thinkpad 10 Tablet Hardware Specifications
Processor: Intel Atom Z3795 1.59GHz Quad-Core, 2MB Cache, Turbo Boost up to 2.39GHz
RAM: 2GB DDR3-1066(4GB RAM available)
Storage: 64GB Sandisk eMMC 4.51 (128GB option available), expandable via MicroSD up to 128GB
Graphics: Intel Gen 7 HD Graphics
Display: 10.1-inch Full HD (1920×1080) IPS, 10-point multi-touch display
Camera: 8-megapixel AF with LED flash (rear), 2-megapixel (Front)
Connectivity: 802.11 b/g/n Dual Band, Bluetooth 4.0, optional 4G LTE support
I/O Ports: 1 x USB 2.0, 1 x MicroHDMI port, 3.5mm audio
Battery: 2-cell 33Wh, up to 10 hours
Serious design that means business
Lenovo hasn’t change IBM’s signature business design language on the Thinkpad 10 Tablet, it doesn’t have a full metal body nor does it have a chrome bezel finishing like any other modern tablets. The tablet itself has a pretty solid and strong polycarbonate body, the tablet’s backcover still attracts fingerprints despite not being a glossy plastic, it weighs 580 grams which isn’t too bad to transport around.
Similar to most tablets in the market, this isn’t a complicated product despite of its serious design, you get protective flaps that covers the tablet’s only USB port and MicroSD card slot. I didn’t actually quite like Lenovo including a proprietary charging port on the tablet since this is a pretty power efficient device, having MicroUSB onboard makes a lot of sense when you can use a power bank to juice it up if you happen to run out of battery, having a USB 2.0 port is certainly a no-brainer when USB 3.0 is so common these days.
We’ve used numerous tablets with Full HD displays and have to conclude that Lenovo has packed a rather bright IPS display with superb viewing angles, which works very well even under direct sunlight, its glossy display also isn’t as reflective as some flagship tablets.
The tablet’s buttons aren’t the nicest to press on as they feel rather shallow, Lenovo does include a keyboard dock connector below the device, which will allow you to use it on a separately purchased keyboard station from the company itself. Otherwise, the ThinkPad 10 tablet isn’t really an attractive tablet for the average consumer, but business users will definitely appeal to the tablet’s low profile, discrete build and design.
Surprisingly speedy performance and superb battery life
If you don’t look closely at the specs sheet, you’d have thought the tablet is powered by some crazily fast processors from Intel, but no, the tablet has an Intel Atom chip alright mated to 2GB RAM on our base configuration model. The Thinkpad 10 has been my work driver for a couple of weeks and since Lenovo hasn’t provide me a dock for it, I use a mobile stand and connected my Logitech K810 keyboard to the device.
To be honest after using some devices for a few weeks they tend to have some little performance glitches here and there, the Thinkpad 10 tablet fortunately passed on that, delivering blazingly fast app launch speeds and reliable performance in full blown Windows programs, it runs Adobe Photoshop that I can simply use it to perform simple image editing, it also plays games like Asphalt 8 without sweating, and yet maintaining a warm comfortable device temperature when actively used.
Since our Thinkpad 10’s configuration only has 2GB of RAM, we didn’t try to multi-task like a champ on it however it will be able to handle multiple browser tabs with background apps running all the time, one thing I have to admit though, the Thinkpad 10tablet is definitely a better work device than an iPad or any Android tablets. Last but not the least, the Thinkpad 10 tabletmanaged to last me around 7.5 hours of mixed usage in a single charge and I only need to charge the device in every 2 days.
The best camera you’ll find on a Windows tablet
We’ve seen manufacturers cramping high megapixel image sensors into tablet form factors and that unfortunately has only happened on Android devices, the Thinkpad 10’s 8-megapixel sensor is currently the highest resolution camera that you can find on a Windows tablet device and it takes pretty decent photos despite not packing any special imaging tech onboard, however don’t expect it to look as good as a flagship smartphone camera, check out the pictures down below
Verdict – An affordable business tablet that offers balance between power and efficiency
If you think business devices are expensive, that’s not always the case with Lenovo’s devices, the ThinkPad 10 tablet starts from $549.99 and up to $749.99 that will come with 4G LTE connectivity and more storage and RAM, if you are looking for a reliable work tablet that will run your PC applications, the Thinkpad 10 Tablet definitely tops our recommended list of productive tablets, it has the efficiency, performance and usability that any will road warrior will appreciate and these combinations alone made it a difference from competing Android tablets and the iPad.
The Good:
+ Reasonably priced
+ Great tablet performance
+ Beautiful and bright display
+ Lightweight aesthetics
+ High resolution main camera
+ Long battery life
The Not so Good:
– Speakers could be better
– No USB 3.0
– Shallow Power Button and Volume Rockers
– Chassis is a fingerprint magnet
We give the Lenovo Thinkpad 10 tablet a score of 7.6/10.
