ThinkPad 8 does it have a stylus or not?

[xboxonthego3]

This tablet interests me. From what I have read in several articles the Thinkpad 8 doesn't have stylus support. But when I went to Lenevo's webpage under Quick Cover it states "The ThinkPad digitizer pen with onboard storage is great for natural note-taking, signature capture, and document markup." Is that just a bad copy and paste/Typo? It does seem odd that it would talk about a digitizer pen under the "Quick Cover" accessory. What do you guys think? Is there a digitizer pen for the Thinkpad 8 or not?

 

[Allen Salyer]

No not

 

[xboxonthego3]

Hmmm they took down the accessories tab from the webpage for the ThinkPad 8. Must of been wrong for sure. No hope for a stylus.. bummer.

 

[bpmurr]

Just got a ThinkPad 8 in for testing from Lenovo today. There is no stylus option which is unfortunate because at this resolution on a 8.3" tablet you pretty much need one to use the desktop mode effectively. It's a really nice tablet though in terms of build quality.

 

[xboxonthego3]

Oh man. I wish I could get my hands on one. I was using my other windows 8 tablet the other day with Remote Desktop app. I noticed they had a pointer option. Basically it has the pointer on the screen and you use the screen like a trackpad. I wonder if there is a way to do that in windows 8 overall or just maybe the desktop. How bad is the scaling because of resolution? I'm thinking about taking a Bluetooth mouse with me everywhere I go. So I'm not sure if it will be much of an issue. Also how did you get a hold of a Thinkpad 8 to test? Also any ideas on a official release date? They said late January and just found something else from Lenovo that said February 2014.

 

[xboxonthego3]

Alright did some research about the touch mouse pointer. Windows 8 doesn't have anything natively like that. Which is stupid in my opinion but I found the article below that links to a third party solution. I tried it out. It works quite well. And has several different settings and options. Keep in mind this only works in the desktop app from what I can tell. But that will work for me. So I think I have found myself and maybe others a solution for my precision clicking on a smaller windows 8 device. By the way use full screen mode so you don't have that annoying virtual trackpad in your way on the screen.

Show touch mouse pointer & Trackpad on Windows 8 tablet | Microsoft Surface tablet

 

[bpmurr]

Oh man. I wish I could get my hands on one. I was using my other windows 8 tablet the other day with Remote Desktop app. I noticed they had a pointer option. Basically it has the pointer on the screen and you use the screen like a trackpad. I wonder if there is a way to do that in windows 8 overall or just maybe the desktop. How bad is the scaling because of resolution? I'm thinking about taking a Bluetooth mouse with me everywhere I go. So I'm not sure if it will be much of an issue. Also how did you get a hold of a Thinkpad 8 to test? Also any ideas on a official release date? They said late January and just found something else from Lenovo that said February 2014.

Scaling on the Metro side is fine. The traditional desktop is useable but might be a pain for those with fat fingers. I could also see people having problems reading text with bad vision. I'm typing this right now in IE on the device. I haven't got an official date of general release other than early Feb.

 

[David_Ex]

Hi, can i have a Q? Is it possible to charge this tablet when USB 3.0 dock is connected at same time? (charging when working with monitor, keyboard and usb drive connected to usb 3 dock) I cant find this anywhere.

 

[CyclingNut]

The US release shouldn't be too much longer. The device is already available to purchase in Australia. Go to the Lenovo site, change the country to Australia and you'll see it for sale.

 

[xboxonthego3]

Thanks! for finding that. I've been binging thinkpad 8 everyday and finding little bits of additional info. I have been watching the Lenovo's US website. Too bad the ship date is October for Australia though. I know Australian currency is different. But after looking at the prices from Australia my guess would be a $100 difference between 64gb and 128gb here in the US so $399 and $499. And the Quick cover could be around $40 to $50 in US.

 

[xboxonthego3]

Something that I find a little weird on the Australian Lenovo website is that it lists Windows 8.1 and Windows 8.1 Pro under Tech Specs. But when you look at the models they only list Windows 8.1. I choose one of the models and there is no option to choose Windows 8.1 Pro. I hope this is only a typo. Because I thought all models would come with Windows 8.1 Pro.

 

[CyclingNut]

Thanks! for finding that. I've been binging thinkpad 8 everyday and finding little bits of additional info. I have been watching the Lenovo's US website. Too bad the ship date is October for Australia though. I know Australian currency is different. But after looking at the prices from Australia my guess would be a $100 difference between 64gb and 128gb here in the US so $399 and $499. And the Quick cover could be around $40 to $50 in US.

The ship date is Feb 10th. 10/02/14 = Feb. 10th in a lot of countries.

 

[xboxonthego3]

HAHA. I should of known that. Us Americans are the odd ones when it comes to date. Then it should be really soon in the US. Hopefully this week.

 

[CyclingNut]

HAHA. I should of known that. Us Americans are the odd ones when it comes to date. Then it should be really soon in the US. Hopefully this week.

It's interesting to see the reason of the delay in shipping if you click the ? mark... Chinese New Year vacation for people working at their Beijing warehouse. Total speculation on my part, but that could be why US is still waiting also.
I'm debating if I want to buy this device or wait for a bit. I just sold my launch day Surface RT because the battery life was quickly getting progressively worse. I also want full Windows. RT is just too limited, even for tablets. I couldn't even plug in my Garmin bike computer to upload to Strava because you can't even install browser add ons.

 

[xboxonthego3]

Yeah I bet you're right. If that is one of their major warehouses that makes sense. Hmm. Yeah I had a Surface Rt and sold it because I needed full windows 8 as well. I think this will be a good device. And I'm looking forward to it. I have a solution for everything I originally had issues with. It is missing a keyboard, doesn't have a full size USB 3.0 port and doesn't have a stylus or fine pointing device. I found a solution for each. A nice Bluetooth portable keyboard from Logitech that has a case that double's as a stand. I bought a adapter to convert the Micro USB 3.0 to USB 3.0. And I found a third party software that allows you to treat your screen like a trackpad so you can use a cursor to click more precisely. I think this tablet will meet all my needs. I think this device has 8 hours of full day use. I'm not sure if that would be a problem for you or not.

 

[CyclingNut]

Well, it finally showed up on the US website. Disappointing the price is $429 when everyone at CES said it would start at $399.

 

[xboxonthego3]

Yeah. I was a little disappointed to find out that to get Windows 8 Pro I had to pay an extra $50. Then from 64gb to 128gb is $140. Luckily when I was looking around 11:00pm central last night Lenovo offered me a 10% off coupon on my next order if I signed up for emails notifications. I ended up saving $65 on my Thinkpad 8.

 

[CyclingNut]

Yeah. I was a little disappointed to find out that to get Windows 8 Pro I had to pay an extra $50. Then from 64gb to 128gb is $140. Luckily when I was looking around 11:00pm central last night Lenovo offered me a 10% off coupon on my next order if I signed up for emails notifications. I ended up saving $65 on my Thinkpad 8.

Just curious, how did you get the 10% off coupon? Do they send it to you after signing up for email communications. They are offering the device for $407.55 through my work's corporate discount site. If I can combine that with the 10% off i might buy now.

 

[scsgoal]

Yeah. I was a little disappointed to find out that to get Windows 8 Pro I had to pay an extra $50. Then from 64gb to 128gb is $140. Luckily when I was looking around 11:00pm central last night Lenovo offered me a 10% off coupon on my next order if I signed up for emails notifications. I ended up saving $65 on my Thinkpad 8.

You also won't get Office Home & Student if you choose Win Pro.

 

[xboxonthego3]

Just curious, how did you get the 10% off coupon? Do they send it to you after signing up for email communications. They are offering the device for $407.55 through my work's corporate discount site. If I can combine that with the 10% off i might buy now.

A popup on Lenovo's website came on my screen offering the 10% off coupon if I signed up for email notifications. The coupon itself said it could not be used with any other coupon offer. I'm not sure if your work's corporate discount is considered a coupon if it isn't you would be getting a really sweet deal.