Lenovo is jumping head-first into the small tablet market with the Miix2, an 8-inch slate with an attractive feature set and a solid price to match. It’s powered by an Intel Bay Trail-T quad-core processor alongside 2GB of LP-DDR3 memory and your choice of 32GB or 64GB of flash storage.
The Windows 8.1 device – which includes Microsoft Office Home and Student 2013 – weighs just 0.77 pounds and measures 8.35mm thick which is slightly beefier than the 7.2mm iPad mini at 0.68 pounds. The 8-inch display features a 16:10 aspect ratio and operates at a resolution of 1,280 x 800. It’ll run Windows 8.1 and comes with integrated Bluetooth 4.0, 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi and 3G-GPS3 connectivity. There’s also a 5-megapixel camera on the rear and a 2-megapixel front-facing unit for video chat and the like.
Battery life is rated at just seven hours which is a bit disappointing given the new Intel processor. Elsewhere, Lenovo is offering an optional $20 bundle that includes a smart cover similar to the one Apple sells for the iPad and a stylus / pen. The latter accessory is capacitive and does not use an active digitizer, we’re told.
The Lenovo Mixx2 will be available by the end of the month starting at $299 for the 32GB model. Expect to pay $349 for the higher-capacity 64GB model directly through Lenovo and at select retailers. Either way you slice it, that’s an attractive price given the hardware and included software and could be the small Windows 8 tablet to beat this holiday season.
