With 10.1-inch 1280 by 800 pixel displays, Android 3.1, 1GHz NvidiaTegra 2, and 1GB of memory, the two models share some basic specs. But from the outside, they couldn’t be more different. The ThinkPad Tablet (starting price $499 for 16GB) ascribes to the standard ThinkPad motif–boxy, in basic black–while the IdeaPad K1 (starting price $499 for 32GB, twice the capacity of the Apple iPad 2 at the same price) has a curved, red back. The IdeaPad starts shipping today, while the ThinkPad Tablet will ship in August.

A Tale of Two Tablets

The IdeaPad K1′s look and feel is designed to fit in with other IdeaPad products. It felt good in-hand, with more inputs than most tablets, but not as many as its sibling ThinkPad tablet. The IdeaPad design favors a landscape orientation, with the micro-HDMI port, headphone jack, and docking port running along the bottom edge; power, volume buttons, screen-rotation lock and microSD card slot running along the left side. There’s one central home button, to the right of the display if it’s held horizontally, and a 2 megapixel front-facing camera and 5-megapixel rear-facing camera.

The IdeaPad weighs 1.65 pounds, which puts it up there among the heaviest Android tablets we’ve seen so far.

By contrast, the ThinkPad Tablet’s optimized for portrait use. The 1.57-pound tablet has four physical navigation buttons running along the bottom bezel when holding the tablet in its natural portrait orientation. Lenovo said the inclusion of these buttons-which duplicate functionality you can achieve directly though the Android OS-was a way of intentionally providing redundancy, to make it easier to do some things. While that may be true, in my brief hands-on time, though, I found the buttons became bothersome and easy to accidentally depress if I was holding the tablet horizontally, in two hands. I’ll report back on well that works in practically once I get to spend more time with the tablet.

Along the right side is a flap, concealing the SD Card slot and docking and microUSB ports. At the bottom edge sits a full-size USB port, which can be used with the impressive keyboard case (more on that in below). The docking station has a portrait orientation; it uses the USB port to connect directly to the tablet. Presumably, the idea here is that business users trying to generate documents will prefer the longer screen of a portrait perspective.

As if full-size SD Card and USB ports-a combination so far only found on the Toshiba Thrive-isn’t enough to sway you, another big differentiator of the Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet is its display’s support for the Ntrig active pen digitizer. An unexpected touch: Lenovo even has a spot on-board to store the pen inside the tablet, a necessary feature if a stylus pen is ever to gain traction.

All About Software

The more I saw of the Lenovo tablets, the more clear two trends became. The first: Tablet makers are actively thinking about how to position a tablet and what goes into making a tablet good for specific audiences. The second trend: Tablet makers are starting to load up tablets with all sorts of software, just as has happened in the PC bloatware universe. Lenovo has taken some positive steps to customize its tablet software for its business and consumer audiences, but one has to wonder if every tablet maker really needs to do a social networking aggregator, for example.

Lenovo’s tablet strategy points to a third trend:The sudden growth of customized stores. The idea isn’t entirely bad-especially when you consider what a mess Google’s own Android Market is for finding tablet-optimized apps, and when you factor businesses’ ability to have their own custom stores for employees. Lenovo’s App Shop, hosted by MobiHand, is customized to showcase tablet apps, and apps that have been scanned for malware; companies can also do custom shops set up on the MobiHand platform for a fee. Cisco’s already announced plans for its Ciusapp store and Toshiba has its own stores preloaded to the Thrive tablet.

The IdeaPadK1 tablet has the Lenovo Launch Zone widget to provide shortcuts to frequently used apps. The apps are customizable and divided into four categories: Watch, e-mail, read, and listen. The Social Touch app was built for Lenovo and integrates Twitter, Facebook, mail, Gmail, and calendar access into a single timeline feed that you can view by contact, date, or time. Other widgets include shortcuts for screen lock, microphone mute, and speaker mute.

The ThinkPad Tablet comes with Documents To Go, Notes Mobile (which supports pen input for writing formulas and diagrams in freehand, as well as for recognizing handwriting) and includes preinstalled business-ready apps like Citrix receiver, Cisco AnyConnectVPN, and a USB copy utility (developed by Lenovo).

Lenovo ThinkPad Keyboard Case

While I’ll need to spend more time with the individual tablets to gauge how the IdeaPad K1 and the ThinkPad Tablet fit into the current pantheon of tablets, the Keyboard Folio for the ThinkPad Tablet takes design a new level. The case has a bonafide ThinkPad keyboard inside, connects to the tablet via USB; and when paired with the tablet, it folds up into a nifty, well-integrated package that’s thinner and lighter than the Asus Eee Pad Transformer TF101 when paired with its keyboard dock.

The Folio’s keyboard felt solid and well-defined. Lenovo notes it’s a modified keyboard from the key height perspective. The keys appear thinner and smaller in terms of finger travel, but they are at least a comfortable distanceapart. My touch-typist fingers flew over the keyboard and they felt very comfy. The keyboard buttons were redesigned to ditch the Microsoft and function keys in favor of adding menu, search, home settings, and screen lock, for example.

I was even more impressed, though, with the change made to Lenovo TrackPoint. Typically, the rubberized nub can, for some, be difficult to maneuver. Here, the Folio case incorporates an optical TrackPoint, using the same optical technology found in cell phone navigation. I found the optical TrackPoint a pleasure to use: My finger glided over it effortlessly, and it was easy to use to navigate the relatively small screen of the tablet. I’m definitely looking forward to using this $100 accessory some more.

Lenovo also announce a third tablet, the IdeaPad Tablet P1, due out this winter. This 10.1-inch model will run Windows 7 and use a 1.5-GHz Intel process

Lenovo ThinkPad Edge 14 is a business laptop that we have talked some time ago. Presented at the last Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas with the ThinkPad Edge 15, this notebook form factor 14-inch Intel Core i7 won the 620m by 2.66-GHz to be added to the models already available (Core i3 / i5). Compared to the basic version, you must provide an additional outlay of about $ 350.

The final configuration, thus reaching a high calculation capacity, also includes an allocation of memory and 3 GB hard disk with a cut up to 500 GB. Lenovo ThinkPad Edge 14 is equipped with a DVD recorder with an integrated lithium ion battery. The latter is available in 6 and 9 cells. Based on the operating system Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit version (alternatively you can always choose the Professional version 64-bit), this device is sold in conjunction with a wireless module integrated WiFi and a Gigabit Ethernet.

Bluetooth is only as an optional module for connections to 3G and 4G. Being a business-oriented notebooks, ThinkPad Edge 14 is equipped with fingerprint reader to provide a barrier against unauthorized access to the system. There is also a spill-resistant keyboard. Other technical specifications related to the presence of a multiformat memory card reader, VGA and HDMI video outputs for connecting to external displays, in HD, and a touchpad with multitouch functionality.

At a price of about $ 679 you can purchase a configuration consists of Intel Core i3-330M (2.13GHz, 3MB L3, 1066MHz FSB), 2GB DDR3, Vibrant View Display 14-inch Black Glossy, Intel integrated graphics, 250 GB hard drive, SuperMulti burner, battery Lithium Ion 6-cell, integrated webcam, WiFi and fingerprint. The manufacturer’s website you can make any changes necessary by choosing from a number of discrete components in order to make the system compliant with their needs and expectations.

For months now running on a Web rumor that Lenovo is planning to launch a new 10-inch netbook. But rumors continue to animate discussion forums and news after the release of Lenovo ThinkPad X100e Facility, a 11.6 inches with a resolution of 1366×768 pixels. According to an Australian user in fact, the Chinese company had planned to launch a smaller version of ThinkPad X100e, 10 inches. His name will probably Lenovo ThinkPad Mini 10 and represent a netbook for the education of students in schools.

The rumors are confirmed by some documents of the FCC, which has watched in recent days the new device is likely we will see shortly on the American market. ThinkPad Mini-10, unlike the older brother AMD-based, will have probably Intel platform Pine Trail, Intel Atom N450 processor and integrated Intel GMA X3150 graphics chip. Except for this difference, the model with 10-inch ThinkPad x100e will share the same chassis, keyboard and trackpad to island.

The overall look is rugged and durable, precisely suited to the classroom. From the first information disseminated on the Net, Lenovo ThinkPad Mini 10 has already been intercepted in a school in Australia, New South Wales, probably in place of IdeaPad S10-2. For more details and information on some technical configuration we need to wait for the next few days.

Made official earlier this year, the ultraportable Lenovo ThinkPad x100e by 11.6 inches is newly available on the European market. Until today announced the AMD platform, the notebook Chinese company could be available with Intel platform Pine Trail. This is what can be deduced from a document discovered by our German colleagues on the Lenovo website, which contains in addition to an AMD Athlon Neo MV at 1.6GHz, even an Intel Atom N450.

In other words, Lenovo is preparing to launch a new variation of its ThinkPad platform with Intel x100e Pine Trail. Addition to a different architecture, this model could also make a different format of the display, compared to the current 11.6-inch Lenovo ThinkPad x100e with AMD Neo MV. The Chinese company indicates in fact a 10.1 inch screen + SD LED backlight with a resolution of 1280 × 720pixel. This would provide a display surface higher than the classical WSVGA 1024 × 600 pixels and would be more convenient than the HD WXGA resolution of 1366 × 768 pixels.

Consequently, we expect to see in the coming months a new Lenovo ThinkPad X100e with Atom N450 and screen 10.1-inch WXGA 1280 × 720 pixels. At the moment we do not know the price and launch date of this release and especially if it will be marketed in Italy.

Addition, T410i mounts a traditional 250GB hard drive (or 320GB) and 5.400rpm while T401si can be equipped with a solid state drive 80 GB. Of note the important possibility for T410si to be equipped with a panel with multitouch features, but not provided opportunities for the other model. The allocation of ports and interfaces are quite similar and include some USB 2.0 ports, a multi format card reader, a VGA video output, one FireWire port and network card. The fund sees players connective-in Wi-Fi and optional Bluetooth.

The keyboard has 89 keys, resistant to liquids, with multimedia keys to run and control the playback of titles and combined with a comfortable trackpad. Of note is the presence of a fingerprint reader as a first barrier against unauthorized access. The model T510i essentially shares, practically all the components mentioned so far with the difference in the size of the display, which has a diagonal of 15.6 inches and operates at a resolution 1.366×768 pixels.

The new Lenovo ThinkPad are sold in combination with a copy of the operating system Windows 7 at Microsoft. In fact, Lenovo ThinkPad T410i and T510i are also equipped with Windows XP. The aesthetics of these devices is in line with the series ThinkPad has always demonstrate a degree of robustness and practicality. Just think about the thickness of the structures from a minimum of 25.9 millimeters for the model T410si until you get to 35.8 mm for the model T510i. Obviously these parameters are also affected by the planned final configuration, but give an idea of the solidity of the chassis. Not currently known details about the sale price and availability which, however, promises to be imminent.