Comparing the roughly half-dozen Intel Atom Windows 8 tablets that we've seen to date is relatively easy. Nearly all of them, from the HP Envy X2 to the Dell Latitude 10, are built around essentially identical hardware platforms, starting with an Intel Atom CPU, 2GB of RAM, and a 64GB SSD, along with either a 10- or 11-inch 1,366x768-pixel screen.
Lenovo IdeaTab Lynx
The Good
The Bad
The Bottom Line
The real differentiators are price, available accessories, and the design and construction of the tablet (plastic versus metal, for example). For Lenovo, in particular, this is a tale of two tablets, the 10-inch ThinkPad Tablet 2 and the 11-inch IdeaTab Lynx, also known as the IdeaTab K3011.
On paper, at least, these two products are remarkably similar. Both stick to the guidelines outlined above, and have a 1.8GHz Intel 2760 processor, 2GB of RAM, 64GB of solid-state storage, and both cost about the same, with the ThinkPad Tablet 2 starting at $679 and the Lynx at $649.
But there are differences beyond the $30 price break, and they don't always favor the allegedly more consumer-friendly Lynx. The ThinkPad version has a full USB 2.0 built in, offers wireless broadband and NFC options, and has dual Webcams. The IdeaTab version has a bigger screen, 11 inches versus 10 inches, and its keyboard dock includes a second battery for longer overall battery life.
Like the HP Envy X2 or Acer W510, the Lynx feels more like an ultraportable laptop when plugged into its clamshell-like keyboard base, but it doesn't stack up to even inexpensive ultrabooks in terms of hands-on utility and usability. Annoyingly, Lenovo's Web site doesn't seem to have the $129 keyboard dock for sale as of this writing, but I've seen it from Amazon, Staples, and others, for as much as $20 above the list price.
As a standalone tablet, the Lynx benefits from its bigger screen, but also feels less substantial, with a plastic back instead of the metal back panel of the ThinkPad Tablet 2. Side by side, unless you really need an 11-inch screen over a 10-inch one, or just can't spare the $30, it's hard to see this as the better of Lenovo's two Windows 8 tablet choices.