lenovo helix 2 lcd panel free sample

No more fans. Core-M makes it possible: The new ThinkPad Helix 2 is available without a fan for the first time, but is still supposed to provide sufficient performance for all important applications. Can the versatile convertible meet the high expectations of business customers?

Appreciating the tried and true, however, does not mean ignoring innovation. About eighteen months ago, Lenovo introduced the ThinkPad Helix, which featured many innovations as one of the first truly usable 2-in-1 notebooks for professionals. Despite an overall impressive concept, we noted some drawbacks in our review, from very high temperature development to the very steep pricing.

The new Lenovo ThinkPad Helix 2 is an effort to make everything (even) better. The outdated Ivy Bridge architecture was replaced by the frugal Core-M platform, which finally enables devices with passive cooling and even smaller dimensions. In addition, you get 4 or 8 GB LPDDR3-RAM, an SSD with 128 up to 512 GB, and an optional LTE module. All configurations provide a 11.6-inch display with Full HD resolution and a digitizer pen from Wacom.

The price of our pretty well-equipped review unit (Core M-5Y71, 8 GB RAM, 256 GB SSD, LTE) is around 1,300 Euros/1480 USD without the keyboard dock, which is available for 90 Euros/103 USD (standard keyboard) and 280 Euros/320 USD (Pro keyboard), respectively. This is roughly on par with a similarly configured Microsoft Surface Pro 3.

The chassis of the Helix 2 is completely new, although Lenovo did keep some design features from its predecessor. It is a typical ThinkPad device with matte gray plastic (PC/ABS)and an inner construction reinforced with aluminum. Lenovo uses strong Corning Gorilla Glass to protect the glossy display surface. All of these measures result in a pretty hefty weight of 790 grams with a thickness of just 9.6 millimeters.

The stability and the build quality of our review unit are, unfortunately, not quite on the level that you would expect in this product and price class. Slightly twisting the tablet with moderate force results in some creaking sounds. This, obviously, does not affect usability, but it is not very reassuring, either. There are also some visible gaps between the display and the frame that quickly collect dust. The Helix doesn"t keep up with the competition from Redmond -- Microsoft definitely offers the more sophisticated device.

The ThinkPad is not a really productive device if you do not use a corresponding keyboard dock. Lenovo offers two models: while the more expensive "Ultrabook Pro Keyboard" has an additional 26 Wh battery and adjustable display hinges, the tested "Ultrabook Keyboard" is basically just an attachable keyboard. The angle between the tablet and the dock can hardly be adjusted - you can only use the normal operating mode (opening angle around 120 degrees) or put the tablet flat on the keyboard for transport. Also, the connection between the two parts is not very stable since the tablet is just inserted into an indentation of the dock.

301 mm / 11.9 inch193 mm / 7.6 inch9.6 mm / 0.378 inch1.3 kg2.92 lbs292 mm / 11.5 inch201 mm / 7.91 inch9 mm / 0.3543 inch810 g1.786 lbs279.8 mm / 11 inch176.4 mm / 6.94 inch10.75 mm / 0.4232 inch1.4 kg3.09 lbs297 mm / 11.7 inch210 mm / 8.27 inch1 mm / 0.03937 inch5.7 g0.01257 lbs

Besides the single USB 3.0 port (full size), which is hidden underneath a cover at the right side of the case, the Helix 2 only features the standard headset port, a micro-HDMI port, and a microSD card reader. Users of the additional keyboard dock can enjoy a second USB port; and the Pro version also supplies a mini-Display Port. This means you can hardly use the ThinkPad as a real notebook if you do not have an additional USB hub and several adaptors - but the same is true of the Venue 11 Pro and Surface Pro 3.

Lenovo equips the Helix 2 with pretty much every good (and expensive) communication module out there: the standard wireless adaptor is a high-end model from Intel (Wireless-AC 7265) that supports Bluetooth 4.0 as well as WLAN at IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac standards. The dual-band (2.4 and 5 GHz) and dual-stream (2x2 TX/RX) modem demonstrated a good range and impressive transfer rates. Some configurations are also equipped with a modern WWAN modem (Sierra Wireless EM7345, LTE Cat. 3) that makes it possible to use the Internet on the road.

With 2.0 megapixels, the front camera of the tablet has a slightly higher resolution than many notebooks, and you actually get pictures with much more detail. The 5.0 MP sensor at the back is even better (auto focus, no LED flash), but it cannot compete with current smartphones. The manufacturer deserves praise for the integration of three microphones that ensure perfectly understandable voice recordings.

The security features of the Helix 2 do not have to hide behind other ThinkPads: besides the fingerprint reader at the back, the tablet also has a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) and supports important technologies like Intel vPro and AMT (not in combination with the Core M-5Y10) as well as Anti-Theft/Computrace theft protection. Both the BIOS and the boot sequence can be protected with passwords if necessary.

The security features of the Helix 2 do not have to hide behind other ThinkPads: besides the fingerprint reader at the back, the tablet also has a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) and supports important technologies like Intel vPro and AMT (not in combination with the Core M-5Y10) as well as Anti-Theft/Computrace theft protection. Both the BIOS and the boot sequence can be protected with passwords if necessary.

Lenovo grants a standard warranty period (at least in Germany) of 36 months for the Helix 2. As usual, it is possible to extend this period at additional cost. An upgrade to four years, for example, costs between 55 and 210 Euros depending on the service type (e.g. on-site repair) you require. Service upgrades are also available on the manufacturer"s website after you enter the serial number of your device.

The ultrabook keyboard of the Helix is no featherweight at around 530 grams - but in return, you also get a full-fledged and sturdy input device. Key layout, size and travel hardly differ from standard ThinkPad keyboards, which are among the best solutions on the market. And we can confirm that the firm stroke and the precise feedback make typing very comfortable, with the production of even long texts no problem. The absence of handy background illumination for this keyboard is, however, an unfortunate omission.

We are less euphoric about the corresponding touchpad, primarily because of its small size - the user gets only a 9.0 x 4.5 centimeter surface. This is probably the reason that Lenovo deactivated many multi-touch gestures like pinch-to-zoom. Two-finger scrolling, on the other hand, works pretty well on the smooth surface, and the precision is acceptable as well.

Like all new ThinkPads, the Helix 2 does not have dedicated mouse buttons anymore. Clicks are, instead, triggered by pressure on the corresponding side of the pad. This is, unfortunately, often disrupted by accidental cursor movements, so you can occasionally miss your target. It will require some practice to master these features. Two dedicated buttons definitely would have been the better solution.

Even though the capacitive 10-point touch screen executes all inputs precisely and without delay, it is still pretty tricky to control typical desktop applications. The solution: an active stylus with a fine tip that hits even the smallest icons. The Helix is, therefore, shipped with a Wacom digitizer, which can interpret multiple (256) pressure levels. The pen can be stored in a corresponding slot at the side of the unit if you do not need it, but cannot be tethered to the tablet itself.

Lenovo does not offer different display options for the Helix 2, equipping all configurations with a 11.6-inch, 1920x1080 pixel Full HD panel. The resulting pixel density of 190 ppi is a good compromise, in our opinion, between manufacturing cost, screen real estate, and a sharp picture. For comparison: the higher resolution but also slightly bigger Surface Pro 3 (12-inch, 2160x1440 pixels) has 216 ppi, and the slightly smaller Venue 11 Pro (10.8-inch, 1920x1080 pixels) has 204 ppi.

According to the spec sheet, the display should reach up to 370 nits, but out measurements show that the panel just misses this value. Still, the actual 342 cd/m² brightness is not bad by any means, and is not eclipsed by direct rivals Dell (357 cd/m²) or Microsoft (338 cd/m²), either. You rarely need more than 150 cd/m² indoors, so we recommend dimming the backlight down by around 4 steps (158 cd/m²), or activating the integrated brightness sensor. Also worthy of mention is the very even brightness distribution without the production of annoying screen bleed or other picture errors.

Like the majority of tablets (except for some low-end models), the Helix 2 uses the high-quality IPS panel LG LD116WF1-SPN2. The rich blacks ensure a great contrast value of 1109:1, but the subjective impression is even better thanks to the glossy display surface. Not only pictures and movies benefit from the vivid picture: you will also appreciate the advantages of a high-contrast picture during office tasks.

We unfortunately had to waive the usual calibration of the panel due to software issues, but the out of the box results are already pretty accurate: a decent RGB balance, low grayscale deviations (DeltaE 2.8), decent color accuracy (DeltaE 4.4) - all results that should be sufficient if you do not use Photoshop or similar applications every day; but if you do, you have the option of switching to a better quality external display.

The ThinkPad struggles outdoors because of its glare-producing panel. Even the maximum luminance of the LED backlight is not sufficient to compensate for reflections, so the user mostly sees him-/herself or the environment. This problem, however, is typical for all glass surface touch screens (including the Helix"s rivals). You can live with the issue by opting to work in the shade.

While a typical TN panel only provides a picture without distortions when you are sitting in the right spot, an IPS panel is much less affected by viewing angles from the sides. Those viewing angle issues can hardly be avoided when you use the Helix 2: the tablet can only be used at one angle with the inexpensive keyboard dock. However, picture distortions like color and contrast changes are only a problem when the angle exceeds 70 degrees, so there should not be any problems in typical use.

The Intel Core M-5Y71, with a TDP of just 4.5 watts, is currently the best of the frugal Core-M-series. Thanks to the modern 14 nm manufacturing process, the two Broadwell cores are still able to reach impressive clocks between 1.2 and 2.9 GHz if the chip is not restricted by power consumption or temperature development. Users do not have to waive features like hyper threading (simultaneous execution of up to four threads) or AES-NI (cryptography applications).

All graphics calculations are handled by the integrated HD Graphics 5300. It runs between 300 and 900 MHz (slightly slower than the HD Graphics 5500, a "standard" ULV CPU with a 15 watt TDP), but features the same number of execution units (24), and also supports the current DirectX-11.2 standard.

Considering the Helix"s non-replaceable memory, it might be a good idea to get a configuration with the maximum 8 GB LPDDR3-1600 memory and 256 GB SSD. You can also get a slightly cheaper entry-level model with 4 GB RAM and a 128 GB SSD in some countries, but the limited memory and hard drive capacity could be a problem in the long run.

Like the majority of devices with the Core-M platform, the Helix 2 is equipped with a completely passive cooling solution that dissipates system-generated heat via the front and rear of the device. Full Turbo Boost potential is only available for a couple of seconds before the chip drops to much lower frequencies.

We wanted to evaluate this behavior more closely with the help of Cinebench R11.5. The single-thread test was executed at a processor clock speed of around 2.8 GHz (9.3 watts) at the start before dropping to 2.2 GHz (6.0 watts) after 30 seconds. The CPU behaved the same way in the multi-thread test: 2.6 GHz (13.3 watts) at start-up, then 1.7 GHz (6.0 watts) over the course of the benchmark. It seems that Lenovo raised the TDP of the Core M-5Y71 to 6.0 watts, which explains the comparatively good performance.

The processor is limited to 4.5 watts when you use the Helix 2 without the keyboard dock, which also means that the clock speeds are noticeably lower (1.8 GHz single-thread, 1.4 GHz multi-thread) and the performance is reduced by up to 20 percent. We observed this behavior on both main and battery power.

Our review unit was equipped with a Toshiba 256 GB SSD (HNSFJ256GDNU). We suspect it is the M.2 version of the Toshiba Q Series Pro, which is based on a Marvel controller (88SS9187) and 19 nm MLC-NAND.

The important thing is obviously the performance - and the results were pretty decent. Besides the solid sequential read (474 MB/s) and write performance (216 MB/s), the results (based on multiple simultaneous accesses of small 4K files) were particularly good. All in all, this storage drive is a good solution, but we cannot guarantee that Lenovo will not use SSDs from other manufacturers over the course of the Helix 2"s production cycle.

The frugal Core-M processor of the Helix 2 does not, of course, stand a chance against the performance of the actively cooled 15 watt CPU inside the Surface Pro 3. But we were still surprised by the small differences we noticed in actual usage. Thanks to its high Turbo Boost potential, the ThinkPad can easily cover short peak load just like a much bigger ultrabook. While longer periods of load result in much lower clocks, especially in tablet mode, it"s worth keeping in mind: this device was not designed for complex renderings or simulations.

You should not expect any performance miracles from the integrated HD Graphics 5300 when you consider its limited power consumption. The GPU is actually between the older HD Graphics 4200 (Haswell, 11.5 watts) and HD Graphics 4400 (Haswell, 15 watts) and is, therefore, slower than any dedicated low-end GPU of the last 2-3 years.

Still, the HD 5300 is well-equipped for all relevant tasks. The performance is more than sufficient for a smooth Windows experience and simple 3D tasks, especially since the chip can handle the playback of high-resolution 4K trailers (H.264 codec, 100 Mbps) with minimum CPU load. The best solution for encoding and transcoding of videos is the Quick Sync feature, which Intel has once again improved; other calculations (several Photoshop functions, for example) can be accelerated via Open CL-API.

If you do not want to waive gaming despite the mediocre 3D performance, then you should focus on older or less demanding titles like Dota 2. Popular Action-RTS titles can, at least, be played at low or medium settings most of the time, but modern 3D blockbusters like Assassin"s Creed Unity or Ryse: Son of Rome are hardly playable, even at the lowest details. More gaming benchmarks for the HD Graphics 5300 are available in our database.

Contrary to its predecessor, the Helix 2 does not have a fan and is, therefore, virtually silent. You can actually hear a quiet electrical murmur when you hold the device next to your ear, but this is no problem when you use the tablet at a normal viewing distance of more than 30 centimeters.

The temperatures of the hardware inside the chassis are just as moderate. After a one-hour stress test with Prime95 and FurMark, the CPU leveled off at around 75 °C, which is 20°C under the specified maximum value from Intel (95 °C). The only reason for the CPU (800 MHz) and GPU (300 MHz) throttling is the TDP limitation.

(±) The average temperature for the upper side under maximal load is 35.3 °C / 96 F, compared to the average of 30.2 °C / 86 F for the devices in the class Convertible.

(±) The maximum temperature on the upper side is 42.1 °C / 108 F, compared to the average of 35.3 °C / 96 F, ranging from 19.6 to 55.7 °C for the class Convertible.

Depending on the power profile, the display brightness and the activated wireless modules, the Helix 2 only consumes between 2.0 and 6.6 watts while idling - an impressive improvement compared to its predecessor, which consumed between 7.9 and 11.5 watts under the same conditions. The Core-M platform produced excellent consumption results in general, which is on par with the Dell Venue 11 Pro (2.0-6.2 watts).

Lenovo has slightly decreased the capacity of the integrated lithium polymer battery - you now get only 35 Wh (not the previous 42 Wh). The optional Ultrabook Pro keyboard gives you another 26 Wh, but the non-Pro version that we tested does not have its own battery.

An indicator of more realistic results were our WLAN and H.264 tests, which indicated that users can browse the web or watch videos for around 6 to 7 hours with brightness adjusted (around 150 cd/m²) before the battery runs down.

With the ThinkPad Helix 2, Lenovo improved the basic idea of its first generation tablet and business notebook combined in a single device. This required a lot of hardware compromises, but the overall package is now much better thanks to the new CPU platform.

The frugal Core M-5Y71 impresses not only with its low cooling requirements (the passive cooling solution is sufficient), but also its solid performance, which is more than enough for all office and multimedia applications. The improved power efficiency also has a positive effect on the battery runtimes - even the integrated 35 Wh battery easily manages 6 hours or more. More stamina is available with the optional Ultrabook Pro keyboard, which is almost 200 Euros/240 USD more expensive than the reviewed non-Pro version - but in return, you get a secondary battery, Trackpoint, and flexible display hinges.

This brings us to one of our biggest criticisms: the hefty price. Our review configuration currently weighs in at almost 1,400 Euros/1600 USD, which is pretty steep despite the performance components (8 GB RAM, 256 GB SSD, LTE). This price is even more difficult to accept in a unit whose build quality and chassis stability cannot fully meet Lenovo"s claim to "premium" status. At least the ThinkPad keyboard, which is as great as always, compensates for a few drawbacks.

Last, we have a look at the competition: potential Helix 2 buyers should consider the previously mentioned Dell Venue 11 Pro as well as the Microsoft Surface Pro 3 in particular. Dell"s device is a real price-performance champion depending on the configuration, while the Surface, with its very sophisticated chassis, can sway some users from the Helix.

Computers always had an important place in my life, starting with an Intel 80286 microprocessor in the early 1990s. I became interested in the productive side of technology, especially in campus radio, while studying at TU Chemnitz and during a trainee program in Belfast. Hardware interests led me to manage Notebookjournal.de, which is now a division of Notebooksbilliger, for a few years. I became self-employed in 2010 and took the next logical step in my career by starting to write for Notebookcheck.

The AUR package contains a script located at /usr/bin/helix-toggle-touch that will toggle the capacitive digitizer on and off with a simple command using Xorg"s xinput function. It also installs a desktop file called Toggle Touch that can be used to toggle xinput on and off with the pen.

Another option that also uses Xorg"s xinput is xnohands. This utility disables the touch device in a system when a stylus is detected (either pen or eraser) and re-enables the touchscreen once then stylus is pulled away from the screen. It does this by listening to the digitizer"s "presence" event, which the Helix"s Wacom ISDv4 EC input devices support. You will need to download and extract it. Follow the README for instructions as it outlines how to set it up.

Please note that you can have both the thinkpad-helix-utils Toggle Touch and xnohands installed; but, do not use both at the same time. xnohands will "re-activate" the touchscreen as soon as you pull the pen away from the screen, defeating the purpose of Toggle Touch to keep touch disabled at all times.

If you want to use the bezel buttons (or some other hotkey) to cycle through orientations (or toggle between two specific ones), helix-rotate, also from from AUR, provides an easy-to-bind command that may serve your needs well.

Helpfully, Lenovo now provides bootable ISO images for the purpose of installing BIOS updates. While it is not stated on their site, these bootable images also include updated firmware for the keyboard dock MPU. It is uncertain as to whether the USB hub firmware is also updated via this utility.

There are two keyboard docks for the Lenovo ThinkPad Helix: the Ultrabook Keyboard, which is included with the device by default, and the Ultrabook Pro keyboard. The latter of the two keyboards comes with an integrated battery that delivers four hours of extra life, a movable hinge, and a HDMI out port for easy external display connectivity.

The first point is even more of a concern when you realize the top portion of the docked Helix - the tablet section with all the internal hardware and battery - is much heavier than the keyboard itself, causing it to be top heavy. This means it can be easy to tip the Helix over, causing the tablet to disconnect from the dock due to its weak docking mechanism, potentially leading to damage.

There"s a second docking position for the ThinkPad Helix that can be used for transportation. This "closed" position comes with actual latches that keeps the tablet firmly attached, with the display facing downwards and parallel to the keyboard to prevent scratches. While the Helix is properly latched in place in this position, it"s still easily removable by lifting upwards.

The trackpad is good but not great. Again, like the keyboard, it"s a little small for my liking, though that is due to size constraints with the keyboard base. I found it relatively easy to track and click on this trackpad, whether that"s tap-to-click or using the physical click buttons, but gestures were another story. Pinch-to-zoom doesn"t seem to work at all, and two finger scrolling was somewhat twitchy. A good Windows PC trackpad can be very hard to find, and the one included with the Helix is far from ideal.

Two other items are included with the keyboard, one is a very exciting USB 2.0 port. The other, though, is a stylus that slots into a handy hole on the right side. Said stylus is very responsive and shows the position of the tip even when it"s not in direct contact with the display. There"s also a button along the shaft that acts as right-click when pressed, and another button on the top end that appears not to do anything.

The display included with the Lenovo ThinkPad Helix 2014 is the same as the original model, at least on specifications. It"s an 11.6-inch IPS TFT LCD panel with a resolution of 1920 x 1080, equating to 190 pixels per inch. This sort of resolution is what I expect from a tablet of this size in all except the budget categories, so I"m glad to see Lenovo resiting a downgrade to a cheaper option. While not the highest resolution display going around, it provides enough crispness and clarity for reading text without significant jaggies and viewing images with a good level of detail.

The color quality from the IPS display is quite good, though not as good as I"ve seen from the best professional IPS displays going around. Viewing angles are excellent, as you would expect from an IPS LCD, and the rated 400 nits of brightness allows the display to go very bright. If you"re using this tablet outside, for example, you should have no trouble viewing the panel in a sunny environment.

For business travelers, every pound carried and every inch of bag space matters. Hence, the increasing popularity of 2-in-1 devices, such as Lenovo"s ThinkPad Helix 2. This 11-inch hybrid features a display that detaches from its keyboard, letting you use it as a tablet or laptop. With an Intel Core-M processor, 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD, the Helix 2 also has the kind of power that business users are looking for. Priced at $1,644 as configured (starting at $794), the Helix 2 is a premium hybrid, but its comfort, endurance and handy pen input make it a strong choice for mobile pros.

The original Lenovo Thinkpad Helix was the first Windows 8 hybrid to use a detachable tablet design; the Helix 2 hews closely to its predecessor"s look, complete with an all-black chassis, a great keyboard and the red TrackPoint.

The outer shell of the Helix 2 has a soft-touch matte finish that carries over to the keyboard"s wrist rest and underside. At the upper right corner of the back of the tablet is a ThinkPad emblem with a red light over the "I" that serves as a system status indicator. In the upper left corner is a 5-megapixel camera, and below that is a fingerprint reader.

The front of the Helix 2 houses a 2-megapixel camera above the screen and a touch-sensitive Windows button on the bottom bezel. The Windows button gives a slight vibration whenever it"s pressed, a nice way to confirm that it was activated.

The Helix 2 is made in such a way so that the screen can face the keyboard, but also the other way around. This way, you can use the Helix in what Lenovo calls "Stand" mode (good for presentations), or just fold it flush with the keyboard for "Tablet+" mode. The + in Tablet+ stands for the keyboard dock"s built-in battery, a feature also found in the Portege Z20t and the Venue 11 Pro.

Without its keyboard, the Helix 2 weighs a svelte 1.7 pounds, which is lighter than the original Helix (1.8 pounds) and the Surface Pro 3 (1.76 pounds), but heavier than the Dell Venue 11 Pro 7000 and the Portege Z20t (both are 1.6 pounds). Once you connect the keyboard, however, the Helix 2"s weight increases to 3.65 pounds. That"s lighter than the original Helix (3.8 pounds), but heavier than the Portege Z20t (3.2 pounds), the Surface Pro 3 (2.4 pounds) and the Venue 11 Pro (3.6 pounds).

Somewhat thinner than the original, the Helix 2"s tablet measures 11.85 x 7.57 x 0.37 inches, and 11.85 x 8.39 x 0.79 inches when docked. The Helix 2 is also thinner than the Portege Z20t (12.2 x 8.5 x 0.83 inches), but thicker than the Type Cover-padded Surface Pro 3 (11.45 x 7.8 x 0.56 inches).

At 306 nits, the Helix 2"s display is brighter than the ultraportable average (277 nits), the Portege Z30t (288 nits) and the Surface Pro 3 (298 nits), but was outshone by the Venue 11 Pro (341 nits). The Helix 2"s display also offered excellent viewing angles. I could see the action clearly even at 90-degree angles.

However, the Helix 2"s display performed poorly in our color gamut test; it produced only 69 percent of the sRGB color gamut. That"s better than the Portege Z20t (66.6), but well short of the category average (79 percent), the Surface Pro 3 (97 percent) and the Venue 11 Pro (101.7 percent).

The Helix 2"s shell is made of a mix of aluminum and ABS plastic, which has a very tough and secure feel to it. The keyboard deck and base are also made of ABS, while the strong, hard flap that protects the docking connectors is magnesium aluminide. Also, the Helix 2 has a durable, scratch-resistant Gorilla Glass 3 display, and can withstand drops of water.

Targeted at business customers, the Helix 2 has security features to warrant trusting it with sensitive company data. The fingerprint reader on the back of the tablet is tied to the Helix 2"s Trusted Platform Module (TMP 1.2 compliant), which also stores encryption keys, passwords and certificates. Its placement is awkward, but keeping it there allows for use in both tablet and laptop modes. Also, the Core-M Y571 processor has vPro technology for management by IT departments.

The Helix 2 has two pairs of speakers -- one on the rear the tablet and the other on the undercarriage of the keyboard base -- and switches between each depending on whether the tablet is docked or not. In both positions the Helix 2 has enough audio power to fill a small room. Listening to Beyoncé"s "Love on Top," the synths and bass on the low end of the spectrum were sturdy, and her vocals were juicy. However, the higher end sounded muddled.

With highly accurate touch sensors, the Helix 2 responded quickly to 10-finger gestures (such as pinch, zoom and swipe) during our testing. However, the high resolution display on the Helix 2 made small icons (anything in Chrome, for example) difficult to target in desktop mode.

I was impressed with the Helix 2"s ability to capture my handwriting using the included Digitizer Pen. Testing it with the pre-installed Microsoft OneNote, the pen was highly accurate, and switching between drawing and selecting was very intuitive. The Helix 2 also did a great job at ignoring my palm resting on the display as I drew. I only wish there was a place to stow the stylus on the tablet.

Typing on the Helix 2"s keyboard in my lap didn"t feel as comfortable as typing on a hard surface. Because the Helix is top-heavy, its display tipped backward whenever my wrists were not resting on the keyboard base.

Like the rest of its ThinkPad line, the Helix 2"s keyboard has the familiar red TrackPoint between the G, H and B keys, a mouse alternative that continues to be highly accurate. Left-click, right-click and scroll buttons lie along the top of the touchpad.

Measuring 2.5 x 1.5-inches, the touchpad is not that large - it"s 64 percent smaller than the touchpad on the original Helix - but it is still very functional. I found it easy to perform such multi-touch gestures as pinch-to-zoom and rotate, and the touchpad provided ample tactile feedback when clicked. The Helix 2 also supports Windows 8"s touch-based gestures, such as swiping in to switch between apps.

The keyboard includes a USB 3.0 port, a mini DisplayPort, a security lock slot and the Helix 2"s second proprietary power connector, all along the back edge. I would have liked to see the keyboard dock contain an Ethernet port, a useful feature for business users.

Equipped with a 1.2-GHz Intel Core M-5Y71 processor, 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD, the Helix 2 offers more than enough performance for most business needs. The Helix 2 handled my daily rigors (a few dozen Chrome tabs, streaming audio or video, text editing, and the Evernote, Kindle and Weather Channel apps) without lag. Apps opened and closed quickly, even while Windows Defender was scanning all system files.

On the Geekbench 3 benchmark, which measures a system"s overall performance, the Helix 2 scored 3,517, falling below the 4,567 ultraportable category average. The Helix 2"s score was also below that of the Core i5-powered Surface Pro 3 (5,665), as well as the Core M-powered Portege Z20t (4,341) and the Venue 11 Pro (5,999).

The Helix 2"s SSD duplicated 4.97GB of multimedia files at a rate of 188.5 MBps, which is faster than the category average (181.6), the Venue 11 Pro (130.5 MBps) and the Surface Pro 3 (145.5 MBps). It"s only slower than the Portege Z30t (212 MBps).

The Helix 2 performed nearly as well on the LAPTOP OpenOffice Spreadsheet test, matching 20,000 names to their addresses in 5 minutes and 57 seconds. That"s much faster than the category average (8:31), and just beats out the Portege Z20t (6:01). Still, the Venue 11 Pro (5:05) and the Surface Pro 3 (4:43) finished faster.

With Intel HD Graphics 5300 integrated graphics, the Helix 2 is good for casual gaming, but not for anything more strenuous. On the 3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited benchmark, this hybrid scored 35,486. That"s below the Venue 11 Pro (48,938) as well as the category average (39,146), but higher than the Portege Z20t (31,388) and the Surface Pro 3 (33,614).

The Helix 2"s score on the 3DMark test didn"t translate to a strong real-world gaming performance. While playing World of Warcraft with the graphics set to auto and the resolution at 1920 x 1080, the Helix 2 scraped out an unplayable 24 frames per second. That"s slower than the Surface Pro 3 (36 fps), as well as the category average (also an unplayable 26.8 fps), but faster than the Portege Z20t (17 fps).

Like some other notebook-tablet hybrids, the Helix 2 includes batteries in both its tablet body and keyboard dock. On the Laptop Mag Battery Test (continuous Web browsing over Wi-Fi at 100 nits of brightness), the tablet"s 35Wh lithium polymer battery and the keyboard dock"s 26Wh lithium polymer battery combined to last for 10 hours. That"s longer than the ultraportable notebook category average battery life (8:17), but well short of the times recorded by the Venue 11 Pro (13:33) and the Portege Z20t (14:37).

The Helix 2"s tablet portion lasted just 7 hours and 6 minutes. That"s shorter than the tablet-only times of the Venue 11 Pro (8:00), the Portege Z20t (7:29) and the Surface Pro 3 (7:27).

After streaming a 15-minute Hulu video, the notebook"s touchpad reached just 73 degrees Fahrenheit, while the G and H keys were 75 degrees. The hottest the Helix 2 got was on the back of the tablet, where it reached only 89 degrees. All of these temperatures are well below what we consider to be too warm (95 degrees), as well as the original Helix, which hit 102 degrees under the same conditions.

Solution Center helps users back up their system, enable virus protection, perform system checkups and more. Lenovo PC Experience provides access to the Helix" system and hardware settings, user guide, system updates and more.

Our $1,644 review unit is the top-of-the-line Helix 2, sporting a 1.2 GHz Intel Core M5Y71-processor, 8GB of RAM, a 256GB SSD, the digital pen, the Ultrabook Pro keyboard and a 1080p display.

The starting model also comes with the Ultrabook keyboard dock, which does not feature the secondary battery or TrackPoint, as found in in the Ultrabook Pro keyboard dock. However, it does have a slot for the stylus. If you"re looking to upgrade, the Ultrabook Pro keyboard costs $320 (which is pretty pricey), versus $129 for the Ultrabook keyboard.

With its strong productivity performance, long battery life and useful digital pen, the Lenovo ThinkPad Helix 2 provides much of what business users need. This being Lenovo, the Helix 2 also has one of the best keyboards we"ve used in a tablet hybrid.

Dell"s Venue 11 Pro 7000 has a more colorful display and even longer battery life, but it has a slower SSD and it runs hotter. We give a slight edge to the Toshiba Portege Z20t for its excellent endurance and easier-to-use magnetic latch, but the Helix 2 has a better keyboard. Overall, the Helix 2 should be a great addition to the bag of execs on the go who would like the added bonus of a tablet when they"re travelling, but do not want to sacrifice the experience -- and keyboard -- of a traditional ThinkPad notebook.

There are now high expectations of battery life to be met too. Yet for some manufacturers, these details won"t be troubling them just yet if they stick to Ivy Bridge for now. Lenovo"s ThinkPad Helix is a case in point, but it"s no slouch and designed for the long haul too.

The ThinkPad Helix is another one of those convertible tablet-cum-keyboard affairs. Lenovo’s Yoga remained a notebook but its bend-over-backwards hinge allowed it to behave like a tablet. The Helix goes for full separation but at first glance you’d be forgiven for assuming it to be notebook-only.

Equipped with a 2GHz Intel Core i7-3667U vPro CPU, the tablet aspect is a tad lardy at 11.6mm thick and 835g but it does sport an 11.6in full HD display that relies on the Intel HD 4000 integrated GPU. It also has 8GB of DDR3L 1333MHz SDRAM and the review sample has 256GB Toshiba SSD stuffed into it.

The keyboard unit packs an extra battery too and, effectively, doubles the thickness and weight of this clamshell combo to 1.67kg and 20.4mm respectively. All told, it"s certainly not the lightest Ultrabook I’ve ever handled.

That said, this additional 4-cell power pack enables the Lenovo Helix to clock up those hours and earn the Ultrabook and ultra pricey credentials. Yup, it’s £1,861 for this full spec model with Win8 Pro. Sure it’s a Core i7, but just how badly do you need a convertible with an 11in screen? For £1,600 you can have a 128GB SSD and Win8 or an equivalent 1.8GHz Intel Core i5-3427U CPU model for £1,340. Tempted?

Before we get into tablet mode, the base also features two USB 3.0 ports and a mini DisplayPort connector. Apart from the power input, that"s it. Alas, the keyboard isn"t backlit but the spacing is great and Lenovo slots in a row of function keys that double up with dedicated shortcuts to various settings on Windows 8 – very handy.

Regarding presentations, I wondered if the pen – that"s neatly squirrelled away in a corner on the tablet – would be an improvement. Acting on this idea was the moment when I found out the digitiser didn"t work. For some reason all the Touch-related control panels didn"t include access to any pen options.

After a good nose around Lenovo’s drivers and support pages, I mentioned this issue to Lenovo’s PR in the hope of a solution. I was sent another Helix and all was well with the pen. It aligns fairly accurately – better than the Sony Vaio Duo – making it easier to navigate control panel checkboxes and suchlike on the full HD display.

Before the replacement ThinkPad Helix appeared, I’d started on testing its 3G SIM connectivity. There’s a full-size SIM card in the box enabling access to Lenovo’s mobile broadband service. Annoyingly, registering for this didn’t work. Instead, a message reporting that the “Provided device ID does not match” appeared.

Various emails have thus far appeared one asking me to verify I exist and the other promising the problem is being worked on. Apparently I’m activated now, but on this blighted Helix, it doesn’t want to play.

I have to say that for all the faffing about with the Helix in other areas, getting it to run on Linux is hands down the easiest experience I’ve had on a Windows 8 machine. As usual, go to the Settings > General > Advanced Start and following I reboot I chose the Boot Menu option.

Bear in mind, there’s no touch option at the Ubuntu instal level and, as a tablet, there’s just one USB 2.0 port which you’ll need for the installer drive.

In the dock, Ubuntu 13.0.4 performed admirably, with touchscreen control and access to all the various networking options – Lenovo thoughtfully provides a USB 2.0 10/100 Ethernet adapter and a DisplayPort to VGA adapter too.

Considering this machine comes from the same folk that created the Yoga, the restricted, almost upright screen/tablet positioning seems a remarkable gaffe. While writing on Word 2013 was aided by the spaciousness of the 1920 x 1080-pixels resolution, in close proximity I was inclined to push the Helix away from me slightly to get a better view, which was less than ideal.

Another niggle is the power button, located on the side of the tablet edge. This is too recessed and stiff for my liking. I could never be sure if the Helix was about to fire up or if I’d not pressed it hard enough.

Yet talking of starting up, the Helix takes around eight seconds to boot from cold to the login screen and manages a Windows Experience Index figure of 5.5. From sleep it"s awake as soon as the lid tablet hinge is upright.

With the PCMark 7 benchmark it notched up a score of 4792 in balanced mode and a fairly meagre increase to 4842 in high performance mode. Running PowerMark to test battery life for the complete combo went some distance, clocking up five hours 36 minutes under load, such is the endurance of a dual battery pack and seems in line with Lenovo’s claims of eking 10 hours out of it with some energy-saving tricks.

As a tablet, the Helix is flattened off on one edge to facilitate the docking along with access to the USB 2.0 port, SIM card slot and DisplayPort connector. It’s a design not too far removed from the Atom-powered Lenovo ThinkPad 2, which also featured a rather more basic Bluetooth keyboard stand.

There are ducts and speakers along the base too, but alas, no SD card slot and for some, the lack of HDMI will come as a disappointment That said, mini DisplayPort can handle audio on some Apple devices. It’s unclear if the Helix can do the same but with an HDMI adapter you might get lucky.

Either way, if you want audio you’ll not be too thrilled with the speakers on offer, which are a bit weedy but thankfully not too brittle. The Dolby Theatre v4 control panel makes some improvements but you’ll need to be running VLC Player and take advantage of its audio output level boosting to get a decent volume out of the Helix. Still, there’s the mic/headphone combo jack socket option if you’re keen on personal listening.

The Helix has two cameras, a 2Mp webcam and a 5Mp snapper on the back. It will even record 1080p video to match the screen, but playback on VLC revealed it was captured at 12fps.

As on the ThinkPad 2, the Helix has Sugarsync pre-installed for alternative Cloud coverage, although I’d guess most logging in with a Microsoft account would have, until recently, relied on SkyDrive.

There’s the usual crop of Lenovo apps too, including System Update which takes care of all the various machine-specific extras. This comes in handy if you do a System Refresh which erases just about all the non-MS apps. I had to resort to this with the sickly Helix one as I couldn’t get Office 365 to install. I got there in the end, but on Helix no.2 it installed on first try.

Admittedly, having spent so much time battling with what can only be described as a faulty PC, my Helix experience was somewhat soured, but I certainly got to know it. Again, the lefty issue of an off-centre trackpad plagued my usage with accidental right-clicks. Having no physical click-area divisions here, it was more of a problem than usual.

Still, it seems like Lenovo has the right idea with this combo and a more laid-back revision with a Haswell processor would be hard to ignore. One thing that can"t be overlooked, though, is the price. And with last year"s chip in there, even though it is a Core i7, and a BTO Sony Vaio Duo 11 with identical spec for £500 less, the cost of the Helix seems like a big ask. ®

11.6" 1920 x 1080 AUO VibrantView (glossy) IPS 170° wide-view 1080p 350 nits (used to said 400-nit) 800:1 IPS 10 finger multitouch Corning® Gorilla® glass display (some models have digitizer LCD, support pen input) "One Glass Solution"? x-rite i1profiler said it is B116HAT03_2, not listed, i assume still WLED backlit, probably similar to B116HAN03 http://www.auo.com/?sn=149&lang=en-US&c=34 -> http://www.auo.com/?sn=149&lang=en-US&c=34&n=293 or B116HAT01.0 http://www.panelook.com/sizmodlist.php?order=panel_id&by=desc&pagesize=30&sizes[]=11.6&brand_family=AUO&resolution_pixels=19201080 unless it is custom panel just for this machine

, http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/architecture-and-technology/turbo-boost/turbo-boost-technology.html, http://www.intel.com/support/processors/sb/CS-029908.htm

Lenovo has owned the ThinkPad name since acquiring it from IBM in 2005. Its maintained the brand"s reputation with excellent laptops like the ThinkPad X1 Carbon, but its forays into hybrid machines have been more mixed.

While the ThinkPad Helix improves on the design of devices like the ThinkPad Tablet 2, it"s not a Windows 8 dream machine. Lenovo has made some questionable design choices with the Helix, including an overhaul of the ThinkPad"s signature trackpad that could dismay its most dedicated fans.

It"s also priced the Helix into the upper echelons of the ultrabook market, with configurations starting at $1,649. That"s a heavy asking price for a machine packing Ivy Bridge, not Haswell, the new Intel chip that"s providing a dozen hours of battery life for the new MacBook Air.

When we first saw the ThinkPad Helix at CES 2013, our interest was piqued. Lenovo machines are famous for sound construction, and if there was ever a design that needed some love, it"s the convertible ultrabook. But that was months ago, and the Helix might be too late to the game.

So should you go all in with the Lenovo ThinkPad Helix? Or keep letting your shoulder suffer with a separate tablet and laptop? Note that either option is cheaper than those obscene first class ticket prices.

Lenovo knows how to make a laptop for the suit and briefcase crowd, and that seems to be the target audience for the ThinkPad Helix. The machine has a matte black finish with a couple of red highlights. It makes for a look that"s subdued if not terribly attractive. It has a rubbery feel that makes it easy to grip and pleasant to hold.

The Helix dock has two hooks that slide into the tablet and hold it in place, and a switch to the left to release it. It can be somewhat finicky to line it up right, but you can rest assured that it"s a secure connection. That"s one of the biggest advantages the Helix has over the ThinkPad Tablet 2: it can"t tumble out of its dock, and it can fold up clamshell style like a true laptop. It"s the more portable device of the two.

The cost of this is ugly fans hidden behind an odd plastic flap. It"s one of many complaints we have about the Helix"s overall design. Like all convertibles, it"s top heavy. This isn"t a problem when you"re using it at a desk, but on your lap or the couch, it"s prone to toppling backwards.

It"s also hard to open the Helix with one hand. There"s no groove to grab it by, and if you just lift up the screen without holding onto the base, the two don"t separate.

We"re also not crazy about the tiny, sunken on/off and volume switches on the tablet. They"re you need a fingernail to press them. When you"re using the Helix as a tablet, it"s ridiculous you can"t use the easy to press, prominently placed Windows button to wake the device.

Like a Surface Pro and a lot of Windows 8 slates, the tablet has a wide form factor. It"s awkward to type on the Helix tablet while holding it; unless you have thumbs like an orangutan you"ll want to opt for the split onscreen keyboard.

Lenovo laptops are known for having great keyboards, and that reputation comes through for the ThinkPad Helix in spades. A lot of convertible keyboards, like the one on the Acer Iconia W510 and ThinkPad Tablet 2, are either cramped or lack keypress depth. That"s not the case with typing on the Helix.

There"s no backlight on this keyboard, which is a pity, and keys like caps lock don"t glow when engaged. Instead Lenovo has built in on screen cues to let you know when they"re active.

Minor quibbles aside, the overall typing experience on the ThinkPad Helix is very good. We"d say this is the best keyboard we"ve used on a hybrid machine. The keys are slightly curved and evenly spaced, with enough depth to the press that they"re completely functional. For our money it easily bests the type cover on the Microsoft Surface.

The touchpad, however, is a different story. Lenovo has done away with the dedicated click buttons found on past ThinkPads and instead made the touchpad itself clickable. You can click by pressing down, or with a quick tap, anywhere on the pad. It also has multi-touch recognition, so a two finger tap is a right click, and sliding with two fingers is a scroll.

The gestures are great, but the touchpad has been divided into different zones that overcomplicate things. If you scroll with two fingers to the top of the pad, the Helix starts to scroll until you pick your fingers up. It"s too easy to trigger on accident and blow past what you want to see.

The Helix also comes equipped with a stylus, which you"ll find useful if you plan to use a note taking app. Otherwise it"s a good way to navigate the desktop when you"re in tablet mode. It offers precision that you need to hit little things like a YouTube pause button or the X to close a window.

Those are the specs for our review unti, which retails for $1,679. Right off the bat, it"s a real pity that the ThinkPad Helix is not a Haswell machine. While Intel"s new fourth generation chip doesn"t provide a lot of extra processing power, it"s designed to provide extended battery life. That would"ve been perfect for this machine.

For ports, the Helix tablet has USB 2.0, a mini displayport, a full size SIM card slot (making it 3G and 4G LTE capable) and a headphone jack. It should be noted that all of these ports and slots, with the exception of the headphone jack, are on the bottom of the tablet and become inaccessible once the tablet has been docked.

A 1.8 GHz processor and 4GB of RAM may seem small on paper, but in practice the ThinkPad Helix is a surprisingly capable machine. Both the Windows 8 tiled interface and desktop ran smoothly on our review unit.

The performance enhancement is noticeable, and the fans generate minimal noise. This is by no means a gaming machine, but we were able to play some Half Life 2: Episode 2 with an acceptable framerate.

The stand also provides additional battery life. With its help, we generally got 7 to 8 hours of web surfing and word processing. As just a tablet, the Helix got between 5 and 6 hours. That"s not bad at all, certainly better than a Surface Pro, but one can"t help but think of what Haswell could"ve done for this machine.

When we first saw the Lenovo ThinkPad Helix at CES 2013, it had us really excited. We thought Lenovo had finally cracked the convertible ultrabook, a design we"ve never been totally sold on.

But that was months ago, in a pre-Haswell, 12-hour MacBook Air world. The ThinkPad Helix is better late than never, but its $1,679 price point makes it tough to recommend. Why? Let us break it down for you.

The ThinkPad Helix"s keyboard is the best we"ve seen on a convertible machine. In our opinion, it"s as small as you can go without getting cramped and awkward, and it still offers key presses that will satisfy typists used to banging away on a normal laptop keyboard.

The trademark ThinkPad matte black finish with spots of red comes through for the Helix. It"s a subdued, classy and conservative design that will please the business crowd it"s designed for.

Again, it"s really a shame that this is not a Haswell machine. Intel"s new chip could"ve bolstered the Helix"s already strong battery performance to a phenomenal degree.

The touchpad on the Helix is going to prove divisive. We liked the Windows 8 gestures, but the autoscroll zone got in the way more often than not. There are some thoughtful concepts here, but it"s unintuitive overall.

The ThinkPad Helix is also very expensive, $500 more than a Surface Pro. We hate to keep harping about the MacBook Air, but consider this: you could get the base model of Apple"s new ultrabook and a retina iPad for this price. That makes the ThinkPad Helix a very questionable value, handy convertible design or not.

In terms of functionality, the ThinkPad Helix is one of the best convertible ultrabooks out there. It"s decently powerful, has capable battery life and a keyboard that can actually get some typing done. It also has a 1080p display that"s perfect for unwinding with Netflix.

But as far as design goes, the Helix stumbles big time. When docked, it feels like Dr. Frankenstein"s hybrid PC/tablet, thanks to that goofy flap in the back and a top heavy construction.

If you truly want a Windows 8 convertible ultrabook that"s more functional than a Surface Pro, then the ThinkPad Helix is the way to go. However, we think you and your wallet would be better served by Microsoft"s tablet or two separate machines. Save the money and put it towards a chiropractor; settle for two devices until Lenovo or someone else perfects this design and gets the price right.Lenovo Thinkpad Helix: Price Comparison

A 32-bit operating system can only support up to 4GB of RAM. 64-bit allows more than 4GB, giving increased performance. It also allows you to run 64-bit apps.

Slow-motion is an artistic video effect that makes time seem to go slower. It is achieved by recording a video at a higher frame-rate than the standard playback rate of 24fps or 30fps. Depending on camera capabilities, frame rates for slow-motion videos vary between 60fps and 960fps.

aptx Adaptive is an audio codec for Bluetooth devices that is developed by Qualcomm. It has a variable bit rate (between 279kbps and 420kbps), which means it can adjust the bit rate for different scenarios, such as listening to HD audio or reducing interference from other devices.

Lenovo’s ThinkPad Helix is nothing if not versatile. This 11.6-inch Windows 8 Pro touchscreen tablet can operate as such, dock to a razor-thin keyboard to become a dual-battery notebook PC, and then flip with acrobatic ease to become a desktop presenter.

The Helix also boasts a 128GB solid-state drive, which boosts its performance on tasks involving data transfers between storage and memory (boot, return from sleep, and application launches, for example). The presence of the SSD played no small part in the Helix’s respectable Notebook WorldBench 8.1 score of 285, which was nearly three times better than that of our reference system (an Asus VivoBook S550CA, which augments its mechanical hard drive with a 24GB SSD cache). The Helix also earned an outstanding PCMark 7 storage test score of 5308, one of the best results we’ve seen. (WorldBench 8.1 consists of a suite of synthetic and real-world benchmarks, of which PCMark 7 is one element.)

In configurations that use both the tablet and the keyboard, we saw impressive battery life of 6.5 hours thanks to the presence of a battery in each component. The Helix’s longevity dropped to just 2 hours when operating as a tablet with a single battery.

In most tasks less dependent on hard-disk access, the Helix still performed solidly, if not as brilliantly. Outfitted with an Intel Core i5-3337U mobile CPU (based on 2012’s Ivy Bridge architecture) and 4GB of DDR3/1333 memory that it must share with the Intel HD 4000 integrated graphics hardware, our review unit suffered most in gaming tests.

All this power and versatility doesn’t come cheap. Our review unit, the least expensive of the available configurations on Lenovo’s website, carried a $1679 price tag ($1427 after an instant rebate) as of August 5, 2013. Conventional touchscreen Windows 8 laptops are widely available for less than $1000.

In usability, the Helix generally lives up to Lenovo’s reputation for well-built portables. The black soft-touch case feels good when you’re handling the tablet, and the keyboard boasts Lenovo’s signature, pleasing contours and snappy action. For pointing, you get to choose among a responsive touchpad with multitouch support, a red eraserhead joystick button, and of course the digitizing touchscreen. Separating the keyboard takes only a second or two and doesn’t require a reboot. In our tests the touchscreen responded well to swipes.

The integrated high-def webcam produced smooth-looking video on Skype calls, and its low-light technology worked well. The integrated microphone picked up my voice well, but the Helix’s audio is very disappointing. Even when I turned it all the way up, I could barely hear the voice of Skype callers, and music on YouTube videos was positively faint. This problem could be a deal-breaker for someone who needs to make presentations on the road.

I have a few other quibbles as well: Although the Helix maintains the sub-0.75-inch thickness appropriate for an ultraportable, the machine is heavy for its display size, weighing a full 3.6 pounds with the keyboard and 1.8 pounds without it.

Lenovo provides a plastic stylus that slides into a slot on the tablet, but I didn’t enjoy using it because it was imprecise—a real issue on the 1920-by-1080-pixel widescreen IPS display. That resolution on an 11.6-inch display made for good-looking videos on YouTube and Skype, but it also resulted in very tiny type on many websites, including a few that use Flash or other technologies that don’t support pinch and zoom. I sometimes found myself squinting, and using the stylus to select radio buttons (fingertips being too blunt an instrument) was generally a hit-or-miss affair.

In tablet mode, you get one Mini DisplayPort connection, one USB 2.0 port, a SIM-card slot for optional mobile broadband, and a combo headphone/microphone jack. The keyboard dock adds a pair of USB 3.0 ports and a Mini DisplayPort connection. But I missed having an SD Card reader, and depending on a USB dongle for ethernet connections is a bit of drag (the Helix does support both 2.4GHz and 5GHz 802.11n Wi-Fi).

The ThinkPad Helix deserves kudos for its innovative design, and a business user in search of a laptop-tablet convertible with good performance might find the high price tag palatable. (And if money is no object, you can upgrade to a faster processor, add more solid-state storage capacity, and tack on on the aforementioned mobile-broadband feature.)

If a high-performance tablet is all you need, note that Microsoft recently slashed the price of its 128GB Surface Pro to $899. But that tablet’s screen is an inch smaller, and you’ll need to add $130 to get the Type Cover keyboard (which, in addition to being inferior to the Helix’s, lacks a trackpad).

The X1 Carbon is part of Lenovo’s Thinkpad series. These are normally aimed at businesses, due to their military-spec testing. Consumer models of Lenovo laptops are still of high quality, but don’t have the same stringent testing and guarantees. Thinkpads have been around since 1990 – then they were owned by IBM, but Lenovo bought out IBM’s personal computer business in 2005 and continued with the name.

Originally, the Lenovo X1 Carbon Gen1 launched in 2012. It was the successor to the Thinkpad X1, and was quite popular when it hit the market, but there were a few major drawbacks. No touchscreen, and a 14″ 1600 x 900 res screen were still good, but not in the realm of amazing. This was partly resolved about 4 months later at the start of 2013, when a touchscreen variant, inventively called the Lenovo X1 Carbon Touch. This still had the lower resolution though, while the Lenovo Helix released at the same time had a much smaller 12″ screen yet ran at 1920 x 1080.

Then in early 2014, the Lenovo X1 Carbon Gen 2 launched. For the CPU, Lenovo had moved to the 4th Generation of Intel CPUs. Screen wise, the base model was still the 1600 x 900 res, but there was also upgrades available – a massive 2560 x 1440 resolution with an additional touchscreen optional.

Several new design changes were made, and not all were seen as improvements. The biggest was a new feature called the ‘Adaptive Keyboard Row’ which was a long LCD panel at the top of the keyboard. Instead of actual buttons for function keys, it was now a cycling set of images that let you toggle to the keys you wanted – standard function keys, or 3 other screens of laptop shortcuts. Software could be installed to auto detect the most likely keyboard option you’d need, but personally I’d almost always want the function keys. It was also possible to always default to the one you wanted which made it more usable. Personally, I’d rather just have keys and a function button.

Despite these changes, the laptop was still solid overall. For it’s weight, it was 200 grams lighter than it’s predecessor at 1.34kg. The graphics had been updated to Intel HD 4400/5000, and battery life was ‘a bit longer’ at around 9 hours.

The laptop was also thinner, and sported more ports than the Gen 1. Between then Gen 1 and Gen 2, each had it’s pros and cons. If only they could mash them together to make the perfect laptop…

Enter the Lenovo X1 Carbon Gen3 in early 2015. A 5th Generation Intel CPU would be inside each laptop, along with another updated Intel HD 5500 graphics chip. The base level resolution had been bumped up to 1920 x 1080, with the standard 2560 x 1440 high res option available, along with a touch variant.

Almost perfect, except they put the function key back in the bottom left hand corner. For people used to finding the Ctrl button there, it’s a bit of a change to get used to (and Gen 1 had the key in the same spot). Really, it should be one key over – such as Lenovo’s Yoga 2 Pro has.

2016 brought in the X1 Carbon Gen 4 and along with it, a similar new X1 Yoga which I reviewed. The touchscreen which had been standard for the last three models had now gone, which to me made the Yoga a better buy. Again, an updated Intel CPU was used – 6th generation i Series. The onboard graphics, (the 520) gets a bit of a bump too. This laptop also had OneLink+ support for the dock, which meant a new dock if you’d invested in the original OneLink.

Battery life was slightly improved, with a now 11 hour claim. It also dropped some weight, down to 1.18kg which was a decent jump down. The fingerprint reader has been upgraded to a press sensor, rather than the swipe style – This newer style is quicker to use, so a welcome change. This one also came in a bit thinner at 16.5mm, where the last model depending on screen specs, was between 17 and 20mm.

As we’ve now grown to expect, 2017 brought in the X1 Carbon Gen 5. Another CPU upgrade too, the 7th gen Intel CPU (which is also the first to not support anything less than Windows 10). This model is so far the most radically different from previous years. Battery life is now up to 15.5 hours, and the entire laptop itself is much smaller. Check out the pictures further down to see the difference, as Lenovo have slimmed out the bezel around the display, making the entire unit more compact. It’s slightly thinner at just under 16mm. This has lead to only a slight weigh increase, now down to 1.14kg. I was surprised at how light this laptop feels when carrying it.

The other drastic changes on this laptop are the ports. The old rectangle plug is gone, in favour of a standard USB-C connection. Actually, they’re Thunderbolt 3 ports. Confused? So is everyone else, but both types of devices/cables will work here. USB-C and Thunderbolt seem to be the new standard that pretty much all the