Lenovo is preparing to launch an 8 inch tablet aimed at the business and enterprise markets. An unannounced device called the Lenovo ThinkPad 8 showed up this week at the FCC, and the name suggests we’re looking at a tablet with an 8 inch display.

Unfortunately, we don’t know much more at the moment.

Lenovo ThinkPad 8
FCC

The FCC documents tell us that the ThinkPad 8 supports WiFi networks and the ThinkPad name tells us that this device will be sold by Lenovo’s business division.

What we don’t know is whether it will have an ARM or x86 processor or even if it’ll run Android or Windows software. Lenovo has released tablets with both types of chips and both architectures.

The company did launch its first consumer-oriented 8 inch Windows tablet this summer, so it’s certainly possible that the ThinkPad 8 could be a business-focused alternative to the Intel Bay Trail-powered Lenovo Miix 2. But it could also be a smaller version of last year’s ThinkPad Tablet 2.

What would you like to see in an 8 inch ThinkPad tablet?

via Wireless Goodness

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19 replies on “Lenovo ThinkPad 8 tablet on the way”

  1. I WOULD BE HAPPY IF IT HAD RT, ESPECIALLY AT 8 INCHES

  2. The dell venue pro has no hdmi out, if this won’t either it will be laughing stock.

    On 8″ tablet the desktop is near useless, unless you have HDMI out or mircast and can output to external screen.

  3. If this had a core i5 and 4GB of ram that would be awesome. And a full hd screen and optional keyboard dock with full sized usb 3.0 port would be good.

  4. My list is simple. Take the Thinkpad Tablet 2, downsize the screen to 8 inches and upsize the CPU to Bay Trail. Assuming the weight is reduced with the screen size, the tablet retains the TPT2 Wacom digitizer and other specs, and the price is no more than the $600 and change I paid for my TPT2; I’ll preorder as soon as that option is available.

    I’d consider anything above those specs a bonus. Improvements I wouldn’t mind would be:

    more RAM
    SSD instead of eMMC
    SDXC instead of SDHC

    a trade-in for my TPT2

    While many of the things on George’s list aren’t important to me (and a number of the are available on the TPT2), I wouldn’t mind them. However, the one thing I’d disagree with is the replaceable battery. While I’ve owned tablets with replaceable batteries, it was primarily useful when your battery life was a few hours. Putting them in this (imagined) tablet would add complexity and weight to a device that already has a long battery life and wouldn’t do much more than a large external battery.

    1. I’ve had enough batteries that lose capacity to always want replaceable ones. You never know when the capacity of your battery will drop. It could be due to device usage styles, time since the battery was manufactured and/or just plain defective.

      1. The battery doesn’t have to be super easy to change, just easy enough for the average technophile to be able to do without buggering up the tablet (ie NO GLUE).

        1. Wouldn’t that likely void your warranty if the battery isn’t supposed to be replaced by the user. I bet the battery isn’t likely to be easily purchased either unless you don’t mind buying from eBay where you have no idea if it’s fake or not even when it works. Otherwise, you’d have to get an official tech to replace which means downtime.

          1. I wouldn’t care since it’s likely that I’d be swapping the battery after at least two years.

      2. I’d agree with you for that kind of replaceable. I was thinking of the pop-out, pop-in replaceable batteries that some tablets and laptops had.

      1. Actually, it IS a Wacom digitizer in the ThinkPad 2 – for the pen. The Atmel digitizer is for the touch screen capability.

        1. True. I was only concerned with the stylus. I can use my old, full sized, Penabled stylus on my TPT2 without any issues.

  5. Tablet wish list
    – replaceable/removable battery
    – SDXC card slot, accomodating up to 128 GB or higher capacity SDXC
    – matte multi-touch capacitive screen with active digitizer

    – active digitzer stylus with silo
    – 1 full size USB 3.0 port
    – 1 micro USB 2.0 port (also usable for slow charging)

    – 1 full size HDMI port
    – DC in port (for fast charging)

    – dual level tilt stand

    – SSD bay

    – proprietary expansion port
    – front facing stereo speakers
    – rear camera with flash

    – ThinkPad keyboard dock (connects to proprietary expansion port) with full size USB 3.0 port,
    removeable/replaceable battery, SSD bay, active digitzer stylus silo, Trackpoint, SDXC card
    slot, DC in port (for fast charging), gigabit Ethernet port, USB 2.0/eSATA port, microUSB 2.0
    port

    The reason I include a DC in port is because the early ThinkPad Android Tablets, after a while,
    could not charge through the device’s microUSB port. While the ThinkPads could still be charged
    via the dock, which took a standard ThinkPad laptop AC adapter, the Tablet was not chargeable
    without the dock and laptop AC adapter.

    1. That’s probably going to cost over a $1000. I’d pay that for those features though.

      I’d like UEFI firmware that can boot 64-bit Linux distros if this gets released before official
      64-bit driver support for Bay Trail on Windows 8 comes out (ie. when OEMs add the ability to boot 64-bit boot loaders).

      Based on your reasoning for the DC port, shouldn’t you be requesting for better build quality of the micro-USB charging port? Although I’d like the max charging rate per the USB Battery Charging
      specification (7.5 W or more just because they can) on the micro-USB and even faster on the DC port. While on the USB, I hope the full size USB port goes beyond the max output power specification when providing power to devices. I know the TP2 USB port outputs a max 500 mA. While that’s USB compliant, the many USB mechanical HDDs and optical drives out there actually use up more than 500 mA which the TP2 failed to power.

    2. These are my musts
      I’d like to see a Thinkpad tablet 3 with a wacom digitizer for $500 or less If the Asus T100 could be made for >$400 with the dock then I think this it definitely doable without the dock.

      This is my wish list:
      I’d also like to see Insyde bios technology in all Thinkpad tablets. Seamless switching between android and windows for a tablet of this size would be a solid win. Replaceable battery would be nice too. Other than that my needs are few.

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