ThinkPad Tablet 2

In order to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the ThinkPad, Lenovo held a large party in New York where it announced several products, including the Tablet 2.

[2] The Tablet 2 uses the Intel Atom Z2760 SoC "Clover Trail" (System on a chip) platform at 1.8 GHz and has 2 cores with 1 Mb of cache.

[3] In a review, CNET wrote, "Windows 8 looked readable and functional, both in Metro and standard Windows-based interfaces."

It's also the best Atom-powered device I've tried, beating the HP Envy X2, the Acer Iconia W510, and others on battery life, performance, and especially build quality — but they do have trackpads, so choose your tradeoffs wisely."

Mark Taormino wrote in a review for Examiner.com, "Windows 8 has been designed to operate on a tablet, and leverage existing Microsoft applications such as Word and Excel.

Student complaints abound that the current tablets do not support Word or Excel, so are of limited value in education settings.

In a review for IT PRO Khidr Suleman wrote, "During our hands-on, we found the stylus glided across the surface of the display smoothly.

The accuracy of the handwriting recognition software was also reasonable and it converted our scribbles into text in the blink of an eye."

The ThinkPad Tablet 2 targets an audience that wants more productivity options that what an iPad or Windows 7 netbook offer.

However, with the machine's limited Intel Atom processor and integrated graphics, the device struggles to take full advantage of everything Windows 8 has to offer.

Additionally, users who do not opt for the $120 keyboard dock will find the device's productivity greatly hindered.