Lenovo planning hybrid dual-mode Windows & Android laptop

By Tom Warren, on 13th Nov 11 9:57 pm with 29 Comments

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 hybrid

Lenovo is planning a new hybrid Windows and Android laptop, according to reports.

The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Hybrid will feature an Android and Windows mode according to The Verge who unearthed details of the new hybrid laptop on Sunday. The Verge posted information on the ThinkPad X1 Hybrid which the site claims is coming “later this month.” The device will feature an instant media mode that will load into an Android interface and provide double battery life and easy access to the Internet and multimedia files. The Verge reports that the battery life in the Android mode will be around 10 hours of web browsing.

Windows users who want to run Android apps have another choice though that does not require new hardware. The BlueStacks App Player for Windows PC is a free piece of software that allows Android users to run their favorite apps on any Windows PC. The applications can run full screen on a desktop PC using a new type of virtualization. The virtualization allows Windows users to run 10 pre-loaded applications straight out of the box. An early alpha copy of the software is available to download now.

The ThinkPad X1 hybrid will likely feature Lenovo’s trademark black design and pointing stick. Existing Lenovo X1 laptops feature Intel Core i5 processors, 160GB SSD, 8GB RAM and 13.3-inch displays. The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 hybrid is expected to go on sale at the end of the month.

Image Credit: The Verge

  • http://twitter.com/dontbecreepy Dat Nguyen

    It would be cool if we saw a windows phones version also.

  • Anonymous

    Ah nice, they’re offering an Android option for those folks who like instant crashing and instant viruses. What a great choice!

    • Rm

      lol@people passing on window’s virus and crash reputation unto android

    • Guest

      That was the best you could come up with, shill?

    • Anonymous

      LOL! 10 years of using Windows and I’ve experienced 1 crash, and that was of Explorer, not the full OS.

      Android sucks. Who the hell in their right mind would even want Android on their laptop when you’ve got Windows? If I was Microsoft, I’d tell them to keep that shit away from our OS.

    • http://twitter.com/revontuli3 Michal Gurník

      if you’d do that, you’d be sued by some random company for being anticompetitive… :-)

    • Sniperboy

      Crash reputation? Which Windows OS are you referring to Sir?  I can only see one reason to put Android on a laptop is the apps.  Personally, I don’t need the apps.

    • Anonymous

      For Apps? Gawd, I really hope people aren’t that stupid. Most mobile apps just duplicate the power of a real web browser.
      News apps, weather apps, Youtube apps, Facebook apps, Twitter apps, and the like are just bookmarks to a real OS. Half the mobile games are nothing more than flash games people used to play in a desktop browsers, accept now they are flashy and finger
      friendly and developers give us the privilege of paying for them on a mobile device.

      Instead of selling ringtones, now they sell bookmarks. lol

  • aSpicyTaco

    I don’t get it. Can’t Windows do the same things as android? Why would you need both? I think a laptop the dual boots HoneyComb and ChromeOS would make more sense.

    • Jinge

      Just because of battery life. If you just need internet you can use android for twice longer, otherwise use windows. at the end i guess it is only to have the choice.

    • Guest

      Honeycomb is touch and COS (Cult of Scientology) is buggy. Better off with Haiku, since it was once a commercial operating system it is designed correctly from the ground-up user interface-wise, and none of Google’s products are. Boots fast, lower power consumption & battery life than COS.

  • http://twitter.com/calimike1 JAG

    I heard virus eat android too. I’m stick to Windows 8.

    • Anonymous

      so if your a moron your in a no win situation.  

    • Sniperboy

      …and how good is Android’s virus protection?

  • trashoner

    is lenovo gonna have to pay twice for OSes in this notebook? that if they don’t have to pay MS for patents and intelectual property found in Android? just a thought.

  • http://www.about.me/AngeloGopaul Eingoluq

    Pointless dual boot is pointless.

  • http://twitter.com/GoeyGuitar Tony

    For some odd reason when I read this the first thing I thought of was a parasite feeding off the host…

  • Anonymous

    I’d rather put Windows 8 Dev.Pre and eventually move to BETA & Retail version. . .

  • http://www.mainstreetchatham.com/ JimmyFal

    Google needs to self destruct, if only so Leo Laporte’s head starts to spin around like in The Excorcist.

    • Guest

      Not going to happen. Better pray the DOJ or EUC decide to slap a monopoly rap on them.

    • Guest

      I dunno, they have had a lot of cruft showing up lately (last few years), made big mistakes (like screwing partners, ex-partners and users and non-users) and infighting (inequality with class system and fighting between designers and engineers).

    • Anonymous

      I don’t know about self destructing, but Google does seem rather fond of risky behavior that will do extreme damage to itself down the line.

      Android, and its obvious theft of IP from Microsoft, Apple, and Oracle, is but one example. Things will not turn out well for Android.

      Google Wallet is another example where they hired key people from PayPal while negotiating with them. One of the two people even copied loads of internal documents and took those off to Google.

      Perhaps not self destruction, but more like Cancer.

  • http://adamhaider.com Adam Haider

    This is counterintuitive and will be a “here today gone tomorrow” product.

    Web and multimedia, double battery-life and instant-on, Windows 8 is built upon bringing all those features when it RTMs next year. The only reason you would want to run Android is to get access to the ecosystem of apps but why? The UX and UI of most apps are generic and poorly built, compare them to beautifully designed Windows Phone or Metro apps and it’s no competition. Also, there is a major difference between the Android marketplace and the Windows Store in how it works and is managed.

    • Jinge

      What is the problem? They test the android potential on laptop, that’s all, why not?
      And W8 is still not there, and won’t be before at least 8 months, so releasing the product today is not so stupid. When W8 will be out, depending on the success, just an upgrade or a reset will be necessary.
      They have nothing to loose here…

  • Anonymous

    Lol MSFT will make money twice on one piece of hardware

    • Anonymous

      Lenavo doesn’t have the $15 android contract with microsoft. 

    • Anonymous

      That won’t last very long, by the end of 2012 I’m sure they will be collecting from all OEMs

  • Anonymous

    I hope Microsoft doest allow these sort of things with windows 8.. No parasites here lol

  • Simplycani

    Crazy Lenovo