CES 2014: Lenovo’s MIIX 2 a ‘3-Mode’ Notebook: Supports Stand, Tablet & Laptop Orientations

As we expected, convertibles are all the rage at CES 2014, but because it’s impossible to cover them all, I’ll just talk about the ones that end up making the biggest impression. We’ve talked already about ASUS’ latest Transformer, the Book Duet TD300, and overall, it’s impressive (an understatement, in fact). Lenovo manages to impress with its MIIX 2 as well though, but its overall design and target audience is quite a bit different from that of ASUS’ offering.

Unlike Lenovo’s hottest convertible at the moment, YOGA 2, the MIIX 2 only features a three-mode design – it lacks by not being able to pitch a tent. As the title of this post suggests, MIIX 2 can be used just like a normal laptop, as a tablet, and as a “stand”, where the screen is closest to you. Overall, this flexibility has been appreciated by consumers, and for good reason.

The MIIX 2 will be available in two variants; a 10-inch, and an 11-inch. You might not think that a single inch would change much, and in terms of overall size, it doesn’t, but in this particular case, what’s under the hood changes a lot.

The 10-inch model will ship with a quad-core Intel Atom, 2GB of LP-DDR3 memory, and up to 128GB of eMMC storage. The 11-inch, by contrast, will include a quad-core Intel Core i5, up to 8GB of DDR3L memory, and up to 256GB of SSD storage. Because of the use of an x86 processor, even the Atom-based MIIX 2 will run the full version of Windows 8.1 (not the stripped-down RT variant).

Both MIIX 2 models will include 802.11 a/b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, a mini-HDMI port, a 2MP front and 5MP rear cameras, up to 8-hours of battery-life, and integrated JBL stereo speakers (tablet) and added subwoofer (when connected to the keyboard).

The 10-inch MIIX 2 is set to retail for $499, and will be available in March, whereas the 11-inch model will debut for $699 and become available in April.