ThinkPad Helix looks promising

[Steve B]

What's peculiar is that if you go to the other site I link to, where I say "According to this site", this one here, it lists the specs as such, if I have google translate them--
" Flatbed thickness: 11mm; notebook thickness: 14.5mm"

That puts the total at more like 1" between the two. This is more in line with the other pictures of the Helix I've seen, where the screen is docked. It looks more like the thickness of a Macbook Pro. However, in the picture you reference, it clearly looks thinner than the Thinkpad tablet even when docked with the base (though it might be zoomed out a bit?), and your picture clearly references the thickness of the Helix as 11mm.

However, if the Helix really is iCore, then I doubt it'll be thinner than the Thinkpad 2, which is Atom. Perhaps this would lead one to the double-cpu idea I've seen passed around, where the base is the iCore compatible part, and the top is some sort of Atom cpu??? I dunno.

Or perhaps the measurements are just being reported wrong.... ;P

So, yeah, its confusing right now.

[bloodycape]

I wonder if their is a gen2 of the Helix will the tablet portion be able to work with the dock that would be using the next gen intel cpu. Could be a good/interesting way of doing upgrade methods.

I wonder if the usb port on the tablet portion would be 3.0 or just a standard usb port.

[landofvanilla]

Yes definitely confusing...

Let's compare to the Samsung ATIV Pro 700T which is also a Core-i processor. That tablet is 11.89mm thick, and is considered on the thicker side. Their keyboard is another 10mm, (picture here: http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...L._AA1500_.jpg). Looks bulky. Still 0.86" in total.

So if going by those translated specs, 11mm could be reasonable for the tablet ("Flatbed"), and 14.5mm for the combined keyboard+dock? Sounds plausable.

What's peculiar is that if you go to the other site I link to, where I say "According to this site", this one here, it lists the specs as such, if I have google translate them--
" Flatbed thickness: 11mm; notebook thickness: 14.5mm"

That puts the total at more like 1" between the two. This is more in line with the other pictures of the Helix I've seen, where the screen is docked. It looks more like the thickness of a Macbook Pro. However, in the picture you reference, it clearly looks thinner than the Thinkpad tablet even when docked with the base (though it might be zoomed out a bit?), and your picture clearly references the thickness of the Helix as 11mm.

However, if the Helix really is iCore, then I doubt it'll be thinner than the Thinkpad 2, which is Atom. Perhaps this would lead one to the double-cpu idea I've seen passed around, where the base is the iCore compatible part, and the top is some sort of Atom cpu??? I dunno.

Or perhaps the measurements are just being reported wrong.... ;P

So, yeah, its confusing right now.

[Bronsky]

Helix shows up outside of China. Thinkpad Helix appears on Lenovo's Israeli website, lends hope to a stateside or Euro arrival -- Engadget

[Steve B]

Wow, you're right, the S7H is only .78" thick. That's very thin! If it looks thick in the pic, it's just design. I've seen my wife's Macbook Air upclose many times (while drooling over build quality), and that thing is thin, and it's about the same thickness. Of course, it's also 13", so that makes a difference in how thin it seems.

Still, if the occassionally mentioned issues with balance are an issue, I'd rather have a thicker base if it helped my have a better weighted laptop. I also want a good keyboard. I'm not really interested in sacrificing key travel and ease of typing for .25" of thickness, if you know what I mean. Having read about how well the Touch Cover types though, on the Surface, I'm just sort of blown away. So who knows, right?

You're math is interesting re: the Helix-- the idea of 14.5 being the TOTAL thickness is crazy thin for an iCore with 10 hours of battery life and a keyboard dock..... In the pic you linked to, the Helix seems exceptionally thin, but in many other pics, it looks nothing like that to me. ????

[ctoots]

So it was taken down from the Israeli site... no official sign of this device now. Shame, it ticks all the boxes for me.

[Tams]

It looks fantastic, but 11.6" and 16:9? Bleh! A thin keyboard dock also suggests that they could have made the dock battery bigger, but a sheet battery could sort that out and if the 10 hour run time is accurate, then it shouldn't be an issue. The trackpad looks luxuriously big, but they seem to have removed the physical buttons. =(

[Steve B]

Tams, I don't know why you would complain about 16:9 11.6"-- it's what every single screen for a hybrid has right now. That or smaller. Almost every single one. Sure, I like 16:10 too, but it's not like its a surprise.

[e-schreiber]

The aspect 16:10 may go extinct soon. Right now, I think only the HP ElitePad 900 uses it.

[k0ral]

Do you think this model could be downgradable to win7?
Is win8 suitable for professional use?