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Original URL: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/01/14/lenovo_intel_and_android_convertibles/

Lenovo said to release Intel and ARM Android convertibles

Hmm... which will prove more popular?

By Rik Myslewski in San Francisco

Posted in Laptops, 14th January 2013 19:38 GMT

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Lenovo will reportedly release Android-based convertibles in the first half of this year, and they'll be powered by your choice of either Intel or ARM processors.

Convertibles – clamshell laptops that can be converted to tablets – were one of the most talked about items at last week's CES 2013. Intel, for its part, sees them as the future of mobile computing [1].

But the devices that Intel was most effusive about during its CES 2013 press event were running Microsoft's Windows 8. According to a Monday report [2] by DigiTimes citing those ever-helpful "industry sources", Lenovo – the world's second-largest PC maker [3] – will add convertibles running Android to its stable of mobile PCs.

Or tablets – whichever incarnation of the convertible form factor you choose to emphasize.

According to DigiTimes' sources, Lenovo had planned to release Android-based convertibles in the third quarter of last year, but delayed the roll-out due to the market noise caused by the iPad 4 and iPad mini, Windows 8 and Windows RT tablets, "as well as a proliferation of low-priced Android tablets."

Intel has been talking about Android-on-Intel for quite some time [4], and soon-to-be-ex-CEO [5] Paul Otellini said [6] way back in October 2010 that Chipzilla would "win" in the tablet market.

Hasn't happened – and it's still to early to add "yet" to that observation.

If and when Lenovo releases Android convertibles based on both ARM and Intel chips – which will join its Core i5/i7 IdeaPad Yoga 11S [7] convertible that was announced at CES and is scheduled to ship this June – we'll keep an eye on how the market responds to that choice. ®