The
Tablet 2 is one of the most attractive Windows 8 tabs yet, standing out from
identikit slates with a black, blocky build and a curved left-hand edge to hide
the digitizer. At 580g, it’s lighter than the iPad 4, and with all of your
ports on the tablet part you can get along just fine without the
keyboard/cover.
Well,
unless you’re doing any typing that is. The keyboard is a mixed bag; it slots
together with the Tablet part, but only connects via Bluetooth, and it lacks
the flexibility of the likes of the Acer Iconia W510's hinged keyboard dock.
There’s also no track pad – just an optical track point – but that at least
leaves space for roomy keys that are a pleasure to type on. 
The
ThinkPad’s 10 mm border is fitted with the usual ports and sockets: a full-sized
USB 2 port, a 3.5 mm headphone output and a mini-HDMI output, and a proprietary
docking connector along the base. There’s a slot for a microSD card, but it’s
not SDXC compatible so can only accept an extra 32 GB of memory.
The
move to a more mobile form factor has involved compromise – the Tablet 2 can’t
match the best ThinkPad laptops for build quality because of a little give in
the rear panel. It’s not a big issue, though, and the Tablet 2 is still in the
top tier when it comes to strength; this is a device that’ll withstand the
rigours of the working day.
The
x86-based ThinkPad Tablet 2 runs (32-bit) Windows 8, with the mobile broadband
model getting Windows 8 Pro.
The
processor is the same dual-core 1.8GHz Intel Atom Z2760 Dual-Core found in other Atom-based Windows 8
tablets like the Asus VivoTab and Dell Latitude 10. You get 2GB of RAM and 64GB
of internal storage, with storage expansion available via a microSD card slot.
Dual-band
Wi-Fi (802.11a/b/g/n) and Bluetooth (4.0) are both present, while the top-end
model, as already noted, supports mobile broadband (HSPA+). The ThinkPad Tablet
2 also supports Near Field Communications (NFC) and includes a GPS receiver.
