Lenovo is starting to show off a new line of Windows 8 tablets with Intel Atom Z2760 Clover Trail processors. The company brought a demo unit of the Lenovo MIIX 10 with a 10 inch screen to Computex this week, but Pocket Lint reports that an 8 inch version is also in the works.

Lenovo MIIX

The 10 inch tablet has a 1366 x 768 pixel IPS display, a micro HDMI port, SD card slot, and USB 2.0 port. It features 2GB of RAM and a 64GB solid state drive, and runs Windows 8 software.

Lenovo says the tablet will feature a 1.3Mp camera and come with a folio case that acts both as a cover for the tablet and as a physical keyboard. The Lenovo MiiX 10 should get up to 8 hours of battery life.

miix_01

It’s expected to sell for around $600 when it hits the streets in July, although some stores are already listing it for closer to $530.

Since we probably won’t see Windows 8 tablet with Intel’s upcoming “Bay Trail” processors until closer to the holiday season, that gives the Lenovo MIIX a little time to find its footing before similarly-priced tablets offering twice the performance start to hit the streets.

Lenovo is apparently planning to wait until Windows 8.1 is released later this summer before introducing the smaller, 8 inch MIIX tablet.

Update: But as The Verge reports, the Lenovo MIIX 8 inch model did make a brief appearance at a Microsoft event covered by Win8China.

Lenovo MIIX 8

via Mobile Geeks

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6 replies on “Lenovo unveils MIIX Windows 8 tablets with Clover Trail chips”

  1. I fail to understand the purpose of a 10 inch screen. 7″, maybe 8″, is portable. But 10″ really isn’t. At the same time 10″ isn’t really large enough for use at home. So what’s the point?

    Is there a rule that Intel won’t allow larger devices to use Atom CPUs? Some folks don’t need core i power, but they do need the larger screens, and would prefer the fanless operation that the Atom SoC allows. Not 10″ or 11.6″, but somewhere around 14″ would be ideal.

    1. The actual view is that devices up to 10.1″ can all be considered mobile, it just breaks up into three categories of how mobile…

      The up to just below 5″ size is the fully mobile range for devices like phones.

      Then the 5″-7″ covers the mid range for devices that cross the usability between mobile devices like phones and larger tablets. Thus why Smart phones in that size range are called phablets.

      Leaving the larger than 7″ to 10.1″ for the full size mobile tablets that can more easily be used as tablets but can still be mobile while being used.

      The crossing point to portable, such as laptops, larger tablets, etc is 11.6″ and larger.

      MS specifically chose 10.6″ for Surface as a mid point between mobile and portable ranges because they wanted to push it as a in-between solution.

      Mind that weight is also a factor besides just the size, and going larger also means heavier and tablets aren’t very useful past a certain weight as then you might as well just switch to a laptop that you’d keep layed down anyway.

      So that’s how the market is actually set up for screen sizes…

      As to a rule for the ATOM… Sort of because the present ATOM SoCs are limited to using internal displays of only up to 1366×768 resolution, which wouldn’t be great for tablet usage on systems larger than 11.6″…

      Though, the HDMI of course supports full 1080P and you can just connect a larger monitor/TV and they could also opt for DP or even eDP as the GMA supports that as well…

      Next gen Bay Trail, though, supports up to 2560×1600 resolution and thus can support much larger screens as well as higher PPI small screens.

      While, you can see larger tablets offered for hybrids (2 in 1 systems as Intel put it)…

  2. I’m interested in the 8 inch model. Hopefully it as the following:

    -Chargeable through a microUSB port at 10 W or more. It would be nice if lower power charges would still work when in the standby or off state without damaging the charger with some sort of current sensing and limiting. I have a Dell Latitude 10 and it only draws 2.5 W through its microUSB port so it only charges when in standby or off.

    -A full USB port that can power more than just flash drives. The Thinkpad Tablet 2 can’t power most devices beyond flash drives. Sometimes it’s better to design things to provide more than what the spec requires. My Latitude 10 powers all my power hungry USB devices.

    -An integrated mouse in the bezel. I would find a mouse pointer to be much more useful than an active stylus since I’m neither an artist nor an inker.

    -If it has an active stylus, make it an optional upgrade assuming there’s an embedded mouse in the bezel. Also, provide a silo for it. Not some sort of side attachment that can get ripped off like the the Surface Pro or Vaio Duo 13.

    1. Full USB port power is less likely in the smaller tablets sizes… Micro/Mini USB doesn’t really support it and smaller tablets have to deal with smaller batteries but still consume about the same power… So have to conserve more to get the same kinds of battery life as the larger tablets…

      While higher power output for USB port will likely not happen until Bay Trail, and they switch to USB 3.0 ports…

      1. I’m not understanding what you’re trying to say. Are you saying full USB power output (500 mA) isn’t likely because micro/mini USB OTG ports don’t support it? That’s not true if that’s what you’re saying.

        Also, as already said, higher power (more than 500 mA) can be provided out of USB 2.0 ports by existing tablets (also notebooks as well). That’s how many USB 2.0 external optical and magnetic drives can be used without a secondary power source on several tablets and notebooks.

        Anyway, I definitely want to be able to power all my USB peripherals while sacrifing battery life during such scenarios. Charging the tablet itself through the microUSB is also nice. I think 7.5 W is the max for dedicated charging but many go up to 10 W (ie. ThinkPad Tablet 2).

        1. “Are you saying full USB power output (500 mA) isn’t likely because micro/mini USB OTG ports don’t support it?”

          No, I’m simply saying that for most mobile devices it’s not provided!

          This is by design because mobile devices aren’t intended to run other devices and the design priorities is to maximize the device’s own battery life!

          It’s also why many OTG cables have a second connector to connect to another power source to help power a peripheral connected to the host device.

          While, the option to choose higher power outputs to charge devices is easier to access and provide with USB 3.0 than 2.0… So it should become a more common option then!

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