Lenovo IdeaTab Lynx Review

Last Updated on March 29, 2020

Since the introduction of Windows 8, it seems that every manufacturer has thrown its hat into the ring of entry-level touch tablets. While the wide variety has benefited consumers, it’s awfully difficult for new products to stand out in comparison to tablets with mostly similar specifications.

Judging by the IdeaTab Lynx, it appears some companies have stopped trying. After delivering the well-regarded ThinkPad Tablet 2, Lenovo’s IdeaPad Lynx is an effort that, while solid in most regards, ultimately offers little to justify its existence.

First Impression

The IdeaTab Lynx is not a pretty tablet. Compared to tablets such as the Acer Iconia W510, or even the buttoned-up Dell Latitude 10, the Lynx looks dated by a few decades. Its 11.8-by-7.4-by-0.37 inch frame is mostly square, featuring a semi-glossy black front and a dull, textured gray backing.

The back does offer a satisfyingly grippy feel, but overall the tablet seems cheap and shoddily built. It weighs in at 1.41 pounds, which is slightly less than the Latitude 10 but a fair bit heftier than the VivoTab Smart or Iconia W510.

Tablet Exterior

Atop the Lynx is the standard power button and a covered microSD slot. Heading around to the right side, there’s a headphone jack, a micro-HDMI slot and one of the device’s two speakers. The bottom contains a micro-USB port and dock connectors, while the left edge sports the rotation lock, volume rocker and the other speaker.

This is a rather strange speaker arrangement, and it’s not difficult to imagine it causing some problems with hand placement. Just below the display in the front of the device is the physical Windows 8 button.

About Tablet Display

Being an Atom-based tablet, the Lynx features an 11.6-inch IPS display running at 1,366-by-768 pixels. As such, it suffers from the same occasional lack of sharpness that plagues other Atom tablets.

Overall, however, the display produces a quality picture with vivid color and enough brightness for most conditions. As with other IPS panels, viewing angles are superb and there’s little washout even when viewing from the far left or right.

Tablet Performance

In terms of performance, the story is similar to the display. All Atom-based Windows 8 tablets run the same 1.8-gigahertz Intel Atom Z2760 processor and two gigabytes of RAM. As you’d expect, there’s very little difference between devices when comparing tablet performance.

The Lynx will handle basic tasks with no problem the majority of the time, but don’t even bother with hardware-intensive applications. In terms of battery life, the Lynx is marginal at best.

The secondary battery in the keyboard dock provides some additional longevity, but even the combined efforts of both batteries can barely outlast the Dell Latitude 10 on tablet power alone.

Lynx Compared to Similar Tablets

The Lenovo IdeaTab Lynx finds itself in a strange place. Aside from battery life, there’s little about the device that is particularly offensive. On the other hand, it also doesn’t do anything especially well compared to tablets with which it’s competing.

It doesn’t feel as sturdy as the Latitude 10 or the VivoTab Smart, and its design is even more forgettable. It’s a decent tablet that can deliver a solid Windows 8 experience at a fair price, but the poor battery life, outdated aesthetics and across the board mediocrity make it hard to recommend.

Quite simply, there are better experiences to be had for a similar price.