News of the Lenovo YOGA tablet just broke the other day, and now at ShowStoppers we’ve got the chance to get up close and personal.

It’s pegged as the world’s first multiposition notebook, the its unusual contorting dual-hinge layout makes it a real eye-grabber. The fact that it’s known for running Windows 8 certainly makes it an impressive piece of kit.

“Touch is dominating our lives,” a Lenovo rep told us. “People want a tablet and they want a PC, and the YOGA is the machine to do it.”

There’s still no official word on availability — that really depends on Windows 8 sees the light of day — but it’s expected to cost potential customers somewhere between $1,000 and $1,200.

Have you ever wanted to break your laptop in half at the hinge? Lenovo’s Yoga 13 lets you do just that – sort of. This laptop has a large touchscreen that bends over the keyboard allowing you to prop up the laptop like a tent or show the display to another person in front of you.

It’s very similar to the old-fashioned convertible laptop except the screen doesn’t quite twist. It runs Windows 8.

When the keyboard is face-down it is disabled and an on-screen keyboard appears. Why you would want to do this is beyond the scope of this post but it looks pretty cool. It will be available in the “second half of 2012″ in limited areas.

Lenovo is serious about ultrabooks. The company just introduced two new ultrabooks that will live alongside the company’s existing model, the ThinkPad X1. These three models put Lenovo in a unique position in the ultrabook game. While other companies are releasing their first ultrabooks, here’s Lenovo, with a relatively large product offering including a high-end model and an attractive entry-level model.

The ThinkPad X1 Hybrid will sit atop Lenovo’s ultrabook product line. As the Hybrid moniker suggests its a variation of the ThinkPad X1. Like original, the ThinkPad X1 Hybrid is available with three Intel Core CPU options (i3, i5, & i7) along with a 13.1-inch Gorilla Glass screen. The main difference between the two models is that the new model features a supplementary Qualcomm dual-core CPU and up to 16GB of memory that runs a custom Linux-based operating system.

Lenovo states this back-up OS is perfect for browsing the Internet, watching movies and other mundane tasks. In this mode the battery is said to last ten hours where it’s only five using the traditional Windows/Intel platform.

The ThinkPad T430u approaches ultrabooks in a slightly different manner than the X1. This is a budget ultrabook. But an good lookin’ one at that. The T430u rocks a 14-inch screen but is still less than .8-inches thick. There’s a choice of Intel Core CPUs and optional Nvidia graphics. Buyers can opt for an SSD instead of a traditional spinning disk drive. The larger ultrabook also has a large battery with a stated life of six hours.

Look for the X1 Hybrid in the second quarter with a starting price of $1,599 (that’s currently $200 more than the standard X1). The T430u will ship in the third quarter for only $849.

Lenovo is reportedly working on a quad-core LePad (ThinkPad in other markets) tablet. This comes from a Digitimes report that credits upstream supply chain partners as the source. The news, if it’s true, is somewhat predictable as tablet makers move to dual-core CPU platforms. Lenovo has seen a fair amount of success in the tablet market thanks to its solid ThinkPad Android tablet. The Digitimes reports states that Lenovo has managed to steal a bit of market share from Apple, which is currently around 8.4% in Lenovo’s home market of China.

The report goes on to state that the upcoming tablet is set to enter mass production after the first of the year. With that timetable, a CES 2012 debut is highly likely. No other details were given including specs or price point.

With several large Android tablet players exiting the game, it creates a bit of breathing room for companies like Lenovo sticking with it. Android tablets will likely always take a back seat to iOS models, but there’s still money to be made and fans to be fulfilled. Lenovo’s first go at an Android tablet was a home run. With a solid feature set including an active digitizer stylus, IPS screen, and a great look and build, the company has solid foundation to build future models upon. I fully expect Lenovo’s next Android tablet to be a similar market leader.

Size matters, folks. Especially in the minds of our beloved electronics makers. Even with the 3.7-inch LePhone and the 7-inch A1 tablet on the market, Lenovo still made plans to fill the 5-inch space. Today those plans have taken shape with a pricing announcement for the 5-inch LePad S2005 Android mini-tab (or giant phone).

GizChina reports that the Android 2.3 Gingerbread-powered LePad is now available across China in Lenovo’s online stores, as well as its Taobao store for just 2699 Yuan (US $415). In terms of specs, you’ll find a 5-inch 800×480 LTPS touch screen, a dual-core 1.2GHz processor, 1GB of RAM and 8GB of internal storage. A 5-megapixel shooter sits around back along with a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera for video chat.

There’s nothing here that really stands out, but all in all it looks like a pretty cheap option if you’re looking to satisfy your phablet craving.

Lenovo, taking a page out of the Android history books, just announced the LePad S2005 tabletphone for the Chinese market. This Gingerbread device pushes the recent trend of supersize phones into tablet territory. But that’s been done before. The Dell Streak rocked a 5-inch screen with pride way back in 2010. However, way back then, the EVO 4G stole most of the limelight, leaving the Dell Streak in the background. The LePad, or as it will be branded elsewhere, the IdeaTad S2005 actually has a chance to make it big in today’s roaring Android marketplace.

Inside the S2005 is a Qualcomm dual-core 1.2GHz CPU, 1GB of RAM, and a 480 LTPS display with a 178-degree viewing angle. The phone rocks 2.3.5 and there doesn’t seem to be any talk of Ice Cream Sandwich. A 1,680mAh battery powers the whole contraption. Despite the larger frame, the S2005 only has the standard connectivity ports of a micro-USB port and a micro-HDMI port. The Chinese flavor uses a HSPA+ radio for the China Unicom network but models headed to different markets might have something else.

Lenovo has yet to pricing or the release schedule. Engadget Chinese is stating that the phone will hit their home market in two days. The rest of us are going to have to wait.

What’s that noise about living in a post-PC era? The personal computer market is actually growing per a new preliminary Gartner report. The research company found third quarter PC shipments as a whole are up 3.2% over the same period in 2010, totaling 91.8 million units. This number is slightly less than Gartner’s earlier projections and the Western European market is partly to blame. But save Acer and Dell, computer manufacturers increased shipments from a year ago and Lenovo, thanks to several acquisitions and partnerships, overtook Dell and now trails just HP in the worldwide PC marketshare pie.

Per this report, HP still holds the most worldwide and US marketshare. While Dell was catching up a year ago, the company saw a decrease in shipments while HP managed to ship even more. This comes even as HP previously announced that it was considering spinning-off its PC division.

Lenovo’s marketshare growth is partly attributed to recent deals. The Beijing-based computer manufacturer recently merged with Japan’s NEC and acquired Medion, a growing German consumer electronic company. Plus, Lenovo is aggressively stepping up marketing and releasing products that tend to ride above the industry standard.

Acer had a rough third quarter worldwide where shipments dropped a staggering 23.2% and 25.4% in the US market due to an inventory buildup issue.

Apple is still lagging behind the top five computer manufacturer on the worldwide stage, but it’s growing rapidly in the US where it holds the third largest marketshare. Apple’s third quarter shipments are up 21.5% over Q3 2010, which helped increase its marketshare to 12.9%. HP saw similar growth with a 15.1% shipping increase and now holds 28.9% of the US marketshare while Dell dropped to 21.9% thanks to a shipping decrease of 7.2%.

The US market saw the third straight quarter of year-over-year growth. Gartner notes that inventory buildup wasn’t an issue as industry expectations foresaw weak back-to-school sales. Apple grew the most in the US in part because of the success of MacBook Air.

These numbers are still preliminary. Gartner will soon release the final stats to its PC Quarterly Statistics Worldwide by Region program.

When I was just a wee pupil, an excellent science fair project didn’t get you much. At best, you walked away with a blue ribbon and the satisfaction of knowing your paper mache volcano was better than your friends’. These days, a great science project can win you much more, like the opportunity to attend a rocket launch in Japan. Way cooler, yes?

Thanks to a partnership between Lenovo and YouTube, students from all over the globe will be able to submit an explanation of their experiments through YouTube for a chance to have those experiments conducted in space. The project is called Space Lab and it officially kicks off today.

Here’s how this is going to work:

Students between the ages of 14 and 18 from anywhere in the world can submit projects from now until December 7. During the first week in January, world-renowned judges including Professor Stephen Hawking and JAXA astronaut Akihiko Hoshide of Japan will get together and decide who came up with the best ideas.

Then in March of 2012, both the regional and global winners will be announced. Regional winners will include six contestants from each region from both the 14-16 age bracket and the 17-18 age bracket. That’s 36 regional winners, if my math’s up to snuff. Prizes for regional winners will include a special trip to Washington D.C., the opportunity to experience true weightlessness on a ZERO-G flight, or a Lenovo IdeaPad U300s Ultrabook.

There will only be two global winners selected — one from the 14-16 bracket and another from the 17-18 bracket. The main prize will obviously be the chance to watch a live stream of your very own experiment being conducted on the International Space Station in space. The other facet of the prize package includes either the opportunity to train in Star City, Russia (home to the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center), or get a front row seat to watch your experiment blast off in Japan.

The live stream will happen sometime during the summer in 2012. Even though that’s a ways off, you really only have about three months to think up your experiment and submit it into Space Lab. In other words, get to work future space geeks.

Chip manufacturer Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) has named Rory P. Read its new president, CEO and board member, effective today. Read joins AMD from PC maker Lenovo, where he worked for five years and most recently served as president and COO.

Thomas Seifert, who served as AMD’s interim CEO since January 2011, will return to his role as SVP, Chief Financial Officer.

Seifert replaced Dirk Meyer, who led the team that designed and developed the Athlon processor and went on to become CEO at AMD until he was ousted in January 2011, following a dispute with the board about AMD’s direction.

The search for a new CEO took AMD, which rivals Intel, took over half a year but has now finally come to an end with the appointment of Read.

At Lenovo, Rory P. Read worked his way up to the role of president and COO in 2009, and helped turn Lenovo into the world’s fastest growing major PC manufacturer. Prior to Lenovo, Read spent 23 years at IBM, where he held a range of management positions.

According to Lenovo’s website, Read was “responsible for driving growth, execution, profitability and performance across a global $16 billion enterprise encompasing (sic) 160+ countries”.

AMD has not brought to market microprocessors designed for modern-day smartphones and few for tablet computers, focusing instead on desktop PCs, laptop, server, game console and graphics chips. We’re curious to see where AMD will be heading under its new leadership.

AMD will host a conference call today at 9:15 AM PST regarding the hire.

AMD shares are up almost 5% on the news in early trading.

Lenovo’s ThinkPad Tablet is meant for business types, but it just might be the best Honeycomb tablet available right now. It was announced late last month alongside the consumer-oriented IdeaPad K1 and the Windows version, the P1. Well, Lenovo is finally ready to take your credit card in exchange for a place in the shipping line. The tablet starts out at $499 for the 16GB, WiFi-only model and climbs to $669 for a 64GB flavor — 3G mobile broadband will not be available until October.

The ThinkPad Tablet comes dressed in appropriate digs; it looks like a ThinkPad tablet should. The lines are streight, the style all business, and there’s even a little red nub on the optional $30 active digitizer stylus. The rest of the tablet is a standard affair and built around a Tegra 2 platform. There’s a full size 3-in-1 SD card reader, full size USB host, micro USB port, mini HDMI, dual cams, and an IPS screen protected with Gorilla Glass.

The only thing missing from the ThinkPad Tablet are the fun apps. Lenovo loaded this tablet with apps suits will like and unlike its little brother, the IdeaPad K1, the ThinkPad Tablet is not Netflix Certified and so it doesn’t come with the streaming app. Still, for $499, you’d be hard pressed to find a better Honeycomb tablet — that is, of course, if you really want a Honeycomb tablet.

Update: My bad. The ThinkPad Tablet does come with Netflix. Bonus!

Lenovo is the fastest growing PC maker in the world. The Chinese computer company outgrew every other PC maker for the past seven quarters and is now the third largest PC maker by volume. There’s no questioning Lenovo is a major player in the desktop and notebook fields — and soon tablets, or so says the CEO, Yang Yuanquing.

Lenovo recently announced three tablets, the Honeycomb ThinkTab and IdeaPad K1 along with the Windows-powered IdeaPad P1. The first two just hit the market with the Windows tab coming this fall. With these three tablets, each with a distinct target demographic, Lenovo hopes to surge to the front of the tablet race. Of course that means going head-to-head with the iPad, a product Lenovo’s CEO sees as a top-tier item and whose $500 price puts it out of reach of those in “the small cities, townships, low salary class, low-income class.” Someone should probably tell Yuanquing that his craptastic IdeaPad is only $50 less.

Let’s look at the full quote, courtesy of the Financial Times:

“Apple only covers the top tier. With a $500 price you cannot go to the small cities, townships, low salary class, low-income class. I don’t want to say we want to significantly lower the price, rather our strategy is to provide more categories, to cover different market segments.”

It’s hard to argue against that strategy. Different consumers want their tablets to do different things and one product cannot cover all the bases. The Lenovo IdeaPad K1 targets consumers with a curvy exterior and Netflix app. The prosumer ThinkPad packs a strong security suite, active digitizer stylus, and enough straight lines to look right in any corner office. The IdeaPad P1 is there for consumers and companies that still need/want Windows on a tablet for some reason.

This multi-demographic approach is widely different from what other companies are doing. But it’s not off to a good start.

IdeaPad P1 reviews started popping up. I turned down a review sample; all Honeycomb tablets are essentially the same right now. Engadget gave it a 6/10 while Joanna Stern over at ThisIsMyNext awarded it a more honest 4.5/10. The only notable feature on the consumer-oriented Honeycomb tablet is the Netflix app but is effectively countered by Honeycomb itself and a cheap build. The IdeaPad P1 will likely make a few owners happy but it’s a hard sell at $449 when the iPad is only $50 more. It’s hard to see how Lenovo views their tablet hitting the lower-income demographic when there’s only a $50 price difference.

Lenovo is hitting the tablet market running but it’s still unclear if it will pay off. The IdeaPad K1 is just another stale Honeycomb tab while the remaining two-thirds of Lenovo’s tablet offering targets businesses with tablets that replicate notebook functionality. If Lenovo wants to set their tablets apart from the iPad – and they should – the Android tablets should first prove how they increase productivity and fit in business world – that’s a trick even the iPad hasn’t pulled off.

Lenovo reported results for the first quarter of the fiscal year today, and in a nutshell, things are looking pretty good for the Chinese powerhouse. Quarterly sales soared 15% year-on-year to US$5.9 billion, while net income even ballooned from $54.9 to $108.8 million in the same time frame.

Lenovo says that it grew faster than any other PC maker in the global top 5 (Dell, ASUS, HP, Acer) for the seventh quarter in a row, having shipped 23.1% more PCs worldwide than in the first quarter of last year. The company was especially successful in China, Latin America, India, ASEAN, but also reports historic high market shares in North America (7%) and Western Europe (5.9%).

According to IDC, Lenovo currently controls 12.2% of the market for computers, making it the third largest vendor globally (behind HP and Dell).

In recent months, Lenovo made headlines in the business world by acquiring Germany-based PC maker Medion (the deal instantly made Lenovo the No. 2 computer vendor in that country) and forming an alliance with NEC in Japan.

I like this trend. The Lenovo IdeaPad K1 is the latest non-iPad tablet to find deep discounts as soon as it’s announced. Similar cuts were made to the TouchPad and other Honeycomb tablets shortly after launch.

This affilate deal comes by way of LogicBuy.com who is offering a clean $100 off the MSRP of the just-announced 64GB Lenovo K1 tablet. That brings the 64GB flavor down to the price of the 32GB model. Both models of course stream Netflix and have all the goodies normally associated with Android 3.x.

Honeycomb tablets might soon go the way of the PC notebook with retailers selling the products under the manufacturer’s suggested retail price. Simply put, the MSRPs are generally too high and not competitive against the iPad. More times than not, consumers will opt for the iPad over Honeycomb tabs if the price and feature set is nearly identical. If retailers (and makers) want to move Honeycomb tabs, they need to be priced right.

Last week I tuned into a press preview of today’s Lenovo announcement. It was an online presentation so, you know, I went on and did other things while half listening. I was nearly ready to close the tab after listening to 20 minutes of some product manager explaining every little detail about the consumer-oriented IdeaPad K1 Honeycomb tablet. All he really had to say was, “We made a Honeycomb tablet. It’s the same as the rest besides it ships with Netflix. It has 32GB of storage and ships in August for $499.” That’s all I need to report as well.

But then the presentation went to the ThinkPad tablet and I woke right up. This is the Android tablet the niche market has wanted all along.

The ThinkPad tablet is like a legitimate dream tablet. It has nearly everything a person would want in a Honeycomb tab: an affordable digitizer pen, 2GB of cloud storage, a ton of built-in 3rd party apps, and a 1280×800, 16:10 IPS screen covered with Gorilla Glass. There’s an SD card slot, dual cameras, mini HDMI out, USB 2.0 host, micro USB port, and a SIM card slot. Lenovo states the Tegra 2-powered tab can run with WiFi enabled for 8 hours.

The ThinkPad Tablet is built for enterprise and so security and encryption are throughout the whole system including SD card encryption, lost device disablement and anti-theft software. The tablet ships with McAfee and features layered data security. All this amounts to a tablet with proper data protection whether the owner needs it or not.

Lenovo seemingly built this tablet differently from other Honeycomb tablets. It’s not a closed device with limited connectivity options. There are multiple ways to get files onto the tablet. Each ThinkPad tablet has 2GB of cloud storage and there’s a built-in Windows 7 file copy and syncing tool. Then there’s of course the full size USB host and SD card slot.

The only major missing feature is the Netflix app found in the consumer IdeaPad. Still, the ThinkPad is loaded with a long list of included apps including but not limited to: Facebook, Twitter, AccuWeather, Kindle, Documents to Go, Zinio E-Mag, a ton of games, and of course, the whole Android 3.1 suite.

The ThinkPad Tablet, being part of Lenovo’s business-oriented line, is it’s dressed as such. It carries many of the design cues found on the ThinkPad notebooks like a satin black casing, clean lines and a no-frills design. The digitizer pen even has a little red cap just like the ThinkPad’s trademark mouse nub.

The ThinkPad Tablet will ship within the US next month with pre-ordering starting on August 2. The 16GB WiFi model is priced at $479 sans digitizer pen and $509 with it. The 32GB model runs $589 and ships with the digitizer pen. 3G models are on tap, but Lenovo didn’t announce the prices or release dates.

Lenovo clearly concocted the ThinkPad Tablet from a different formula. It’s priced right, has compelling features, and is a solid step in the right direction. Hopefully the ThinkPad doesn’t disappoint in real life because the specs read like a dream.

What’s interesting is that NEC and Lenovo hint at broadening the partnership at some point in the future, both with regard to products and target markets. NEC president Takasu says the two companies “will continue to discuss and assess new opportunities with this global partnership”, while Lenovo CEO Yuanqing is “determined to expand this strategic alliance beyond the PC business”.

Lenovo has reportedly paid NEC $175 million in company shares to get a foothold in Japan, the third biggest market for computer hardware in the world.

It’s got to be coming soon, though, as Lenovo’s Jaison Patrocinio had one in hand at a recent event in Brazil. Like so many coy directors of product, though, he kept it under wraps except for one quick peek.

Any new info? Not really. We know it’s going to ship with Honeycomb and support pen input, and the hardware doesn’t seem to have changed. The translated article reads “the first tablet with capacitive screen stylus,” but earlier specs mentioned a digitizer, so I’m guessing it’s the latter; it wouldn’t be the first (that would be the Flyer) but it might do it better. I see a camera on the back, too… I think.

The tablet will initially be enterprise-oriented; as for the consumer version, Patrocinio said it was coming, but would only ship “when he is chubby. The only data they gave is that they would like him to be in stores until the time of birth.” Thanks, Google! I think it’s idiomatic Portuguese, meaning it’ll ship when it’s ready and they don’t want to put it out prematurely.

USB 3.0 devices have been available since late 2009. I tested several first-gen USB 3.0 external hard drives in early 2010 and the spec hit several laptop platforms a bit after that. Still, even though it’s nearly halfway through 2011 now, USB 3.0-equipped computers are rare. One Lenovo product manager expects the spec to hit the big time next year.

“In 2012 USB 3.0 will be a mainstream technology,” Jason Parrish, worldwide product manager for Lenovo ThinkPad, told Cnet. “And we see 2011 as the transition year for USB 3.0 as it starts to come into more and more products,”

Of course USB 3.0 is going up against Intel’s baby, Thunderbolt, but the use cases are a bit different. Sure, Thunderbolt kicks the pants off USB 3.0 in speed, platform support. (the sweet name doesn’t hurt, either) But it seems more PC makers are opting for the faster USB spec for mainstream product lines where Thunderbolt will likely hit niche performance models. As Jason points out, space is limited on today’s slim notebooks so not many OEMs will waste space on a spec with a nonexistent product base.

So will USB 3.0 hit the big time next year? Yep.

The only thing left at this point is for Lenovo to come out and say, “HEY GUYS! Heard about the X1? Yes? Hear about its IPS screen that’s covered with Gorilla Glass? Oh really? How about the standard USB 3.0 ports or optional fingerprint reader? You have? How about the US price and release date? No? GREAT!”

Lenovo’s offering is set to come with a keyboard docking station and a custom interface dubbed Lenovo Family UI. Plus, the tablet sports an IPS screen, a 3-in-1 SD card slot, and supports a pen and digitizer. Both the keyboard “booklet” and pen are optional according to the PowerPoint obtained by ThisIsMyNext so the total package price could be well above competitors.

In a few ways this tablet is just more of the same. Lenovo however excels at modern industry design and this tablet will likely challenge even the iPad in build quality. You know the keyboard will be one of the best available because that’s just how Lenovo rolls. ThisIsMyNext notes that the slides are a few months old so things are likely to change. It wouldn’t be that surprising to see this tablet hit the retail market at the now seemingly standard $449 Android tablet price point, both undercutting the iPad and keeping pace with the rest of the Honeycomb slates. Guess we’ll have to wait until June — or sooner thanks to leaks.

Ray Gorman, executive director of Lenovo communications, said via ZDNet:

“As you know, it is usually not Lenovo’s practice to talk about unannounced products, but in this case I will tell you that we have no plans to introduce a 23-inch tablet.”