Long before the iPad, Galaxy Note, or Nook HD, a tablet was usually a Windows device that spent most of its time set up as a traditional clamshell laptop, but could also twist or swivel its display around to form a touch screen slate. Lenovo and HP were two of the only PC makers that kept this style of Windows laptop/tablet convertible aliveduring those fallow pre-iPad years, with systems such as the S10-2 and TX2.
Lenovo ThinkPad Twist
The Good
The Bad
The Bottom Line
In the post-Windows-8 world, however, tablets, hybrids, and convertibles are all over the place, and range from the sliding-screen Sony Vaio Duo, to the flip-screen Dell XPS 12, to the folding Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga. One thing we haven't seen a lot of is that more traditional swiveling laptop screen design, which rotates on a center hinge and folds down into a tablet.
That makes the Lenovo ThinkPad Twist a bit of a throwback, using a center-hinge, swiveling-screen design that will be familiar to anyone who used or shopped for a Windows tablet pre-2010. It's not as slick-looking as the new convertibles from Dell or Toshiba, but it's a design that business users may be more familiar (and feel more comfortable) with. You still get that rock-solid ThinkPad construction, along with an IPS screen, and Lenovo's usual suite of biz-friendly configuration and support software.
For $899 in this Core i5 configuration, it's about as high-quality as you're likely to find in this price range. Consumers more interested in snazzy looks will feel like this is a laptop that dropped through a wormhole from at least a few years ago, but business users who won't settle for anything less than a ThinkPad can get that full experience, plus touch and Windows 8 at the same time.