ThinkPad Helix looks promising

[Mhotep]

January should be a good month.

Looks like the Thinkpad Helix has hit the FCC. Maybe it will make it to North America after all? Looks like AT&T only if you want the LTE version.

Thinkpad Helix Swings Through the FCC

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[JoeS]

I wonder why that part on the keyboard is so elaborate?

I think it's like that to make a thin hidden hinge. When closed the whole mechanism basically disappears. This thing will look beautiful when not in use, see these previously posted pics:

http://image20.it168.com/picshow/900...6371902300.jpg

http://image20.it168.com/picshow/900...6372493100.jpg

[e-schreiber]

I think the clue about the connecting part is the ability to do this:

Great picture, mate! Where did you find it? A manual?

Funny how the attaching part is so elaborate.... The back plate must be purely for aesthetic purposes, as it streamlines the design when the slate is attached. But why does it need so many connectors?!?! There are 4 connectors in total! The white ones are pretty big and appear to be sophisticated enough to require their own cooling. The silver ones, while smaller, still look abnormally complex to me. Is it possible that there's more to this keyboard-dock than meets the eyes? At first I thought its beefed up engineering was there to support a dozen I/O ports, however, after a careful inspection, I found no ports at all in the keyboard!

I'm guessing that this overly sophisticated keyboard-dock will hold extra computing elements.... Maybe an extra CPU, or extra RAM, or extra SSD.... CES can't start soon enough.

[rzp2003]

humm, very interesting.

[Zeelobby]

At first I thought its beefed up engineering was there to support a dozen I/O ports, however, after a careful inspection, I found no ports at all in the keyboard!

I'm pretty sure in the instruction manual posted on page 11 it has a video port 2 USB 3 ports and a couple others on the back of the hinge. Honestly I'm just concerned with how top heavy this device will be. Hopefully the keyboard is one giant sheet battery.

[czm2000]

I had thought the same. But the top half is supposed to be under two pounds and the bottom looks fairly hefty and includes a battery. So while it probably won't be balanced as good as a traditional laptop/ultrabook, I still think it will be balanced quite well amd of no concern. IMHO of course.

Sent from my Galaxy Note II

[e-schreiber]

I'm pretty sure in the instruction manual posted on page 11 [...]

Ohhh. I missed that post! Thanks for pointing it out! I just went back there and repped the poster for the great info. Now I know where ibmthink got his picture from. Hmmm, so that explains why the keyboard-dock looks so sophisticated. It has 2 USB3 ports, 1 miniDisplayPort and 1 28Wh battery slice! How cool! The device offers 3 SSD sizes! Neat! I'd be fine with the i3 model! Hopefully Lenovo will develop Win7 drivers for it and price it below 1 Grand.


Edit: The icing on the cake would be the recently announced 10-Watt Ivy Bridge CPU.

[Steve S]

Helix at the FCC:

Lenovo ThinkPad Helix swings through the FCC with AT&T-native LTE

(Courtesy of Engadget)

[czm2000]

This was already posted here earlier this morning.
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[Zeelobby]

It has 2 USB3 ports, 1 miniDisplayPort and 1 28Wh battery slice! How cool! The device offers 3 SSD sizes! Neat! I'd be fine with the i3 model! Hopefully Lenovo will develop Win7 drivers for it and price it below 1 Grand.

Yea. Well people have been assuming that it will at least come with Intel's new haswell chips. So we should expect better battery life. The real deal breaker for me will be if the RAM is upgradeable. So far based on other tablet devices, that is probably not the case. I'd really like this to have a haswell i5/i7 2GB soldered RAM and an upgradable RAM slot for up to 10GB total. Either way. I have a feeling the base version will be well over a grand considering how expensive other Windows 8 convertibles are with half the functionality of this thing.