Lenovo ThinkPad Twist S230u 12.5-Inch Convertible 2 in 1 Touchscreen Ultrabook (33474HU) Black

This baby is pretty much a hybrid of a tablet, laptop and ultrabook. Its more powerful than a lot of ultrabooks (get the i5 cpu or higher). People complain about all types of things when it comes to electronics and expect a flawless product for the first of its kind. That's not the case with anything that's even remotely complex that is brand new and revolutionary. Yes, there have been tablets that can run windows OSes before but not full fledged versions with this stability. I didn't have any of the issues ppl have mentioned, I guess there was just a few bugs in some of the Twists Lenovo shipped out. Don't expect to play intense video games on here or to run a home music studio out of this thing. It can handle some music production programs (i5) but it takes it about three tries; in other words the music program will freeze 2-3 times before it runs fine. This is not what you want when trying to produce professional sound tracks, video, photos etc. Know what you are buying (the specs) and what they can do for you. The CPU is great and from the best chip maker. The ram, though not upgradeable, is enough to run just about everything. I would avoid streaming more than 5-6 videos at once but only youtube maniacs do that. The sound is ok, tiny little speakers on a tiny computer. The touch screen works great, just tilt it a little farther so it changes orientation when you want it to. The ambient light sensor can be turned off. I figured this out myself. After that, the computer works great. I am even running another Windows system inside of it (Virtual machine). I can play my android games on there too with Bluestacks android emulator :D Make sure you have it on the higher power consuming setting if youre not plugged in to AC to run those goodies. Buy it and enjoy the awesome deal you are getting compared to the Yoga and what Asus is offering!

I've been tracking Windows 8 since the Consumer Preview of 2012. In fact, I installed the CP and the final EOM version on a prior ThinkPad (SL410) shortly after in came out. In a nutshell, Win8 is great once you learn how to mouse to the corners. Why Microsoft felt the need to essentially hide its basic features in corner-spotted contextual menus, I don't know; they have way too much faith in the average user. However, Win8 runs fast, is secure, and the Metro interface is pretty great -- especially for apps like Solitaire, MahJohng, ESPN, Netflix, and KEXP. There's some really cool stuff in the store, much of it that doesn't require a touchscreen. That said, a touchscreen (like the one in the Twist) brings the whole experience alive. Windows 8 is the OS of the future, especially when you see how smoothly you can switch between app-heavy Metro and the traditional desktop experience. Again, I think it takes a bit of an advanced user to understand how to make it all work, but once you do, it's pretty slick. Touching your screen to launch tasks, browse files, and so on, seems so natural that you wonder why it took so long. Combine that with a traditional keyboard (like the Twist) and you've really good a good thing going. So, that's a quick overview of Win8. What about the Twist? Here's a look at the good and bad. The good: * The build quality. The rubberized feel is premium, the screen looks great, the keyboard is amazing, and the whole deal feels nice. It's ThinkPad; you know you're getting quality. * Battery. Others have said it's poor, but I haven't had that experience. Dial down the screen brightness, and you can get a good 4, nearly 5 hours out of this. It's enough for a plane ride; not sure where else you'd go without access to a power cord. Because the screen is so good, you can lower the brightness and still have a good experience. * The hybrid functionality. It's so good! Flipping the screen around and using the Twist as a tablet is a revelation. I use it mostly as a comic book reader, and it's really perfect for that application. (Next step is for Marvel to bring its Marvel Universe app to the Windows Store.) Playing simple games, navigating Metro apps, etc., is really smooth. The weight of the device is such that, for me, it's a pretty good tablet. And when you need to type something long-form, you simply turn the screen around and go at it. It's pretty good. * The weight. Coming from a fivish-pound device, I'm surprised how light this is. Now the not-so-good: * Screen rotation can be iffy. Maybe a driver update can help this out? * Sound is good and loud, but sometimes distorted. Can't tell if this is a source or playback issue. You're not getting premium sound out of this device, to be sure. * The screen is a fingerprint magnet. Nothing that can be done about that, and it's really only noticeable when the screen is off, but there you are. * It'd be nice for a traditional HDMI and more USB ports, but oh well. If you're on the fence, I say go for it. You're not finding a Windows 8 hybrid device anywhere near this price class, and you'll be surprised just how capable this device is. I'm not a gamer, so the 720p and lower specs don't bug me. For what I need to do -- basic browsing, Office, etc. -- this is a really great device.