Lenovo Prepares to Ride Windows 8 Wave

NEW YORK (TheStreet) - You knew Lenovo was serious about rolling out its new computers and tablets as soon as you walked into the launch event in Manhattan.

Around the edges of the room were some very affable people showing how they will use Windows 8 devices. The main event, though, was a series of onstage presentations, the splashiest of which was from film director Martin Campbell (Casino Royale, GoldenEye, Green Lantern, The Legend of Zorro, Edge of Darkness, etc.) who has created short "spy/action" videos featuring the new computers.

And those items looked very cool indeed:

IdeaPad Yoga 11: As you might expect, the Yoga 11 has an 11-inch (actually 11.6-inch), 16:9 touchscreen. Lenovo describes it as "a multi-mode laptop PC with a revolutionary hinge allowing the convertible design to move 360 degrees and fold from laptop to tablet in one quick motion." Think in terms of a small laptop where the screen can fold completely flat behind the keyboard - or any position in between.

That said, this is a Microsoft (MSFT)Windows RT device which means it runs on a quad-core, Nvidia (NVDA) Tegra 3 processor. It offers up to 2 GB of RAM and 64 GB of storage on removable eMMC cards. The device weighs-in at just under 3 pounds (and feels even lighter when you hold it).

IdeaPad Yoga 13: Obviously, the Yoga 11's bigger brother. But there's more to it. This model has a 13-inch (also 16:9) touchscreen, your choice of the third-generation Intel (INTC)processor (up to an i7), as much as 8 GB of memory and solid-state hard drive as large as 256 GB. Of course, Intel processors mean this model runs on the genuine, full version of Windows 8.

ThinkPad Twist: First of all, this is labeled a ThinkPad so, from the start, it means it's a top-flight product. Once again, its name tells the whole story. The Twist is a Windows 8 laptop with a 12.5-inch touchscreen that can rotate 360 degrees on its axis. In other words, you can "twist" the screen so a person on the other side can see it (and you can't).

Inside, Intel processors (up to an i7), as much as 8 GB of RAM, your choice of a 320 GB or 500 GB hard drive or 128 GB of solid state storage. Of course, it runs on Windows 8 - either the Standard version or Windows 8 Pro.

I'm not going into great details about all the other features included in these devices, That will have to wait for my full reviews.

Although no prices have yet been announced (for any manufacturer's Windows 8 computers, tablets or smartphones, for that matter) we'll begin to know lots more after Microsoft makes their official announcement, here in New York, on Oct. 25.

--Written by Gary Krakow in New York.

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Gary Krakow is TheStreet's senior technology correspondent.