The Lenovo Ideapad U1 is HOT

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I’m probably stealing some of Mari’s thunder as our resident netbook reporter and given her plans of a Lenovo briefing. But I just couldn’t wait to get my hands on Lenovo’s goods. And the gentlemen of jkOnTheRun kindly allowed me to crash their private briefing. While many vendors here at CES are betting on 3D technologies, in my circles it’s the Ideapad U1 getting all the attention. The 11″ laptop is actually something more than a laptop. It houses a detachable resistive touchscreen slate computer that undocks like the next generation Starship Enterprise saucer separation. It’s HOT! But since we’re still about six months away from release, I’ve got some tips for Lenovo to make it even better.

Instead of housing a processor in both the laptop chassis and the slate, dump the laptop processor. Jetison Windows 7 as well. If you’re serious about the promising Skylight Linux OS, put your eggs in that basket and keep me from switching OS by mode. That’ll allow us to shave some weight (currently ~3.5lbs total) and expense (currently pegged at ~$1000) off the device, by essentially simplifying the ‘laptop’ into merely a keyboard port replicator. Lastly, I’m going to need some sort of Linux Kindle reader and Amazon VOD.

I also took a quick look at the Skylight smartbook. It’s super-small, sleek, and sexy. This Snapdragon portable is what Palm’s Foleo should have been. But I’m not quite sure how I feel buying it on contract via AT&T.

Click to enlarge:

4 thoughts on “The Lenovo Ideapad U1 is HOT”

  2. When do we get the video review Dave? How hard is it to snap out the tablet and snap it back in? Do you have to shut-down or reboot windows when you remove/return the tablet?

  3. Kevin and James shot a video here:
    http://jkontherun.com/2010/01/06/hands-on-video-with-lenovos-newest-mobile-gear/

    I took a quick click of the UI in action, but I haven’t actually looked at it yet or obviously uploaded it anywhere. The latch was pretty easy to slide, but it looked a bit awkward coming out almost like you could drop it if not careful. When you pull it in/out it toggles from Windows 7 to Skylight (Linux) or back. The goal is for that to happen within 3 seconds without cycling power and it seemed fairly quick considering we’re still six months away from delivery.

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