will thinkpad tablets become obsolete?

almost all major pc maker will be releasing tablet this year or next, do you think lenovo thinkpad tablet will lose their customer who will switching to the cheaper and lighter tablet that will be released in the near future?

Will lenovo be releasing thinkpad version of ipad, a tablet without keyboard?

 

Nope. I don't think so, people who buy ThinkPad, buy them for a reason... For the service and the build quality. After going from a tank (the ThinkPad) to a Honda Civic (any other cheap tablet) would not be right. My Latitude may not have as much build quality as the ThinkPad's, but darn it's tough! I will never go to a consumer grade notebook ever again!

I'm guessing Lenovo will release a Slate PC, but all depends on the Market. Actually, Lenovo has sort of released the IdeaPad U1, which has a detachable screen to be able to use it as a slate.
Lenovo IdeaPad U1 Hybrid hands-on and impressions -- Engadget

 

i don't think so, Lenovo is not the only one to produce a professional tablet laptop. Lenovo has also released a cheap netbook based tablet, to serve people whom needs a cheap tablet laptop for more basic needs.

Business laptop has held strong despite the relentless onslaught from the consumer laptop. Obviously the professional tablet market will contract a bit due to the availability of the cheaper tablet, but there are features on the business laptop tablet that is not available on the cheaper consumer laptops, so obviously there will still be demand for the more expensive thinkpad laptop.

Also, Lenovo is not the only company that produces business tablet laptop, HP, Dell are all affected equally in that regard.

So for the future, these will be the possible scenarios:

1. Business tablet will be cheaper, like how business laptop prices dropped when faced by heavy competition from the consumer laptop range.

2. Business tablet laptop will have more features to differentiate it from the consumer tablet laptop, maybe Thinkpad tablet will have more GPU option for a starter.

3. More innovations, which is a given.

All of which is a good thing for consumers, since we will be the winner.

Regard Think 'i' pad, who knows. Apple obviously wants a world where Apple OS and its Machine are the dominant player.... imagine what would happen Microsoft was just a subsidiary of IBM all that many years ago...

personally, i wouldn't mind a 'i' Think-Pad.

 

Almost everything eventually becomes obsolete—then again, not everyone is interested in a rushed-to-market single-tasking crippled keyboard-less (at least until voice recognition obsoletes the keyboard) device that’s locked to one vendor.

 

I don't really understand the iPad. If you're going to carry that thing around with you along with a MiFi (because ATT is not longer offering unlimited bandwidth), then you're going to be carrying it in a briefcase, so why not just carry an X201? The extra 1.5lbs gets you a LOT more functionality.

I think people who buy Thinkpads understand things like matte screen > glossy screen, good keyboard > island keyboard, etc, and so these people will always buy Thinkpads, and everybody else will always buy everything else.

 

lot of people whom purchase an iPad now are just early adopters, they got hooked the hype and potential use for the machine, without thinking through it all too carefully. Basically an emotional purchase.

 

when will the next x-series tablet come out?

 

Given that they're just now able to get the hardware to sell these in the US once again, I'm guessing it's going to be a while.

 

X201t is already out, the next one after that will be at least 1 year away.

 

Nope. An iPad is not a full Windows machine, and neither is an Android tablet. I'm betting that if you bought an X-series tablet, you aren't going to be considering an iPad to replace the X tablet.

X-series tablet is a different market than the iPad and its competitors, the X201t is a combination laptop and tablet, while the iPad runs an embedded OS and seems to emphasize books and media. Thinkpads emphasize productivity.

Nope. They are getting into the tablet business, but they won't be Thinkpad branded except for X series tablets.

 

And that is one awful screen for reading text on for an extended period, so it's funny that they do emphasize books.

 

LCDs aren't a problem for me. But the real problem is in direct sunlight, where a LCD becomes a real deficit in clarity and readability. I'm going to check out the Notion Ink Adam when it's on sale, with its dual e-ink/LCD screen.

 

No, I am not going to replace my X200t with the iPad, but with the future release such as the eee pad, I have doubts whether I will buy another thinkpad tablet to replace my x200t in the future.

 

Actually, I suspect you have it backwards. The Apple iPad targets a different market segment from notebooks.

Today, people shopping for notebook computers don't even think about tablet technologies. The iPad increases tablet visibility growing the entire market. It's not much of a stretch to see the benefits of merging tablet convenience with notebook capabilities. I expect the X-series tablet sales to rise with the tide of tablet sales in general.

 

I'm going to agree with this. A convertible business tablet is a substantially different device that an iPad or derivatives thereof. So while there will be some reduction in demand for convertible tablets, I expect it to be slight. In fact, devices like the iPad could even increase demand for convertible tablets if they decide they like touch so much that they want it on a real computer.

However, I do think the market for high end business slates (e.g. those from Motion Computing) is going to be seriously undercut by devices like an iPad. These are largely used in hospitals, construction, and other industries that have employees on their feet all day. If these companies can satisfy their needs with a much cheaper iPad style device I could easily see them switching en masse. The one thing that will keep people buying Motion slates is the Wacom support. All of these new consumer slates are capacitive touch without an active digitizer and thus a real pain to have to write on (e.g. fill out forms).

 

technology will improve and who knows the iPad could use a wacom tablet in the future. If the laptop tablet are too slow to improve itself, then it will see the iPad type tablet replacing it.

 

The reason I am asking that is because I don't like the keyboard on my x200t at all, I almost never use it. I'd be much happier if my x200t came without a keyboard, but lighter and thinner and I would carry around my happy hacking keyboard pro as external keyboard.

 

well that is not going to happen. But there are companies that can mod the laptop to be a single tablet without keyboard. It has been done for the Macbook Pro, but the cost is not cheap.

Modbook - The first and only tablet Mac computer solution! - Other World Computing

i don't think Lenovo will release a keyboard less Xxxxt .