Why doesn't Lenovo offer Win8 yet on the X230T?

[barrywohl]

I bought my X230T in early August. I ran Windows 8 x64 Release Preview until October and then loaded Windows 8 x64 on October 26th. So far, everything is working great except my WWAN card. I'm waiting to trouble-shoot that until I will need WWAN and an account from AT&T for the laptop.

This week I started browsing the Lenovo Direct site again. I'm surprised to see that Lenovo only offers Windows 7. I wonder why.

Also, Windows 8 identifies my "Pen And Limited Touch Support with Two Touch Points." I was wondering if this is as good as it gets on an X230T, or if there are drivers I should update.

[emeraldgirl08]

I have heard that the X230T is going to be the last tablet for the X-series. IIRC the upcoming Helix would be an official replacement for the X-series tablets which is why there is no option for W8 on the X230T. Again I heard that from forum sources and I am not sure how much is just wild theories or if it is true. Glad to see you have it working for your tablet though. No suggestions for your WWAN however. I have no experience with that technology.

[ducky2802]

I think the X tablets only offer up to 2 finger touch inputs since the X200T. I guess they never updated it.

[emeraldgirl08]

Lenovo does offer a multi-touch option X20x series tablets however it appears the OP does not have multi-touch. It appears OP has the two-point type.

[bill bolton]

This week I started browsing the Lenovo Direct site again. I'm surprised to see that Lenovo only offers Windows 7. I wonder why.

There is something about an X230T which does not comply with Microsoft's branding requirements to carry an Win 8 sticker, so Lenovo is not able to sell it as a "Win 8 laptop".

That doesn't mean it won't work with Win 8, just that they can't sell it as such.

Cheers,

Bill B.

[erotavlas]

I have heard that the X230T is going to be the last tablet for the X-series. IIRC the upcoming Helix would be an official replacement for the X-series tablets which is why there is no option for W8 on the X230T. Again I heard that from forum sources and I am not sure how much is just wild theories or if it is true. Glad to see you have it working for your tablet though. No suggestions for your WWAN however. I have no experience with that technology.

This is speculation and rumor. I would not believe this (at least not at this stage) and yet people keep posting this everywhere.

This is what I heard instead...
Lenovo sales rep recently tells me they are refreshing their ThinkPad line including the x230T to Windows 8 later this year (in 2013). They already started doing so with other ThinkPad's. I was told that the current x230T does not currently come with Windows 8 option because the hardware was not designed to work with windows 8 (which is true - i.e. only two touch points on display, no windows start button on the screen in tablet mode, etc) and installing Windows 8 on it (current x230T) while it will work fine, would not give you a full fluid and seamless Windows 8 experience. I would certainly hold out until later in the 2013 year to see if Lenovo really does refresh the x230T with Windows 8 OS and compatible hardware.

I certainly hope the Helix is not an x230t replacement, but if it is true that would be disappointing since the Helix cuts the screen size by almost 1 inch making it 11.6 and would (for me anyway) make it harder to do real work on it. 12.5 inches is small enough IMO.

[bill bolton]

This is speculation and rumor.

No, its cold hard fact, straight from Lenovo product management

[lead_org]

According to Microsoft, for a Win 8 touch enabled laptop/tablet, the screen must at least support 5 finger touch, and X230t only have 2 finger touch, which is the major reason why X230t won't be shipped with windows 8.

[syrahnose]

here we are late 2013 and no new word on outcome of any of this? At this stage some here must know where the above issues are headed?

I just sold my twist hoping to use win 8 on an x230t. Should I wait or go with 2 finger limitations of x230t or wait and see what new twist looks like? I too don't like smallness of Helix, nor upgradeability of carbon x1.

I liked the form of the twist with option for tablet mode to read magazines. Hated lack of Ram/battery upgrade, which were strengths of my x60s and x200.

Ideally I wanted the option to swipe tiles and scroll without cursor in win 8. Use pen to take notes for handwriting recognition, and something with old upgrade-ability of x series, red button precision and full keyboard.

Is x230t still considered a dead end? Best to buy now while still available.

[Ibthink]

Yes, the X230 Tablet is a dead end and the End-of-life point for the X-Series Tablet line. It is replaced with the ThinkPad Yoga (the models with vPro, FHD and Pen replace the X230t). The Yoga also replaces the ThinkPad Twist (the lower end non-vPro HD models).

The X230 Tablet will never be officially supported by Windows 8.x.

[barrywohl]

My X230T has never seen a version of Windows below Win8 Release Preview x64. I ran that from August, 2012 until Win 8 was released and I upgraded to Win 8.1 on October 18th, 2013.

No regrets.

[syrahnose]

Has anyone been able to use a pen on the twist that functions as well as on x series tablets? Shame about Yoga replacing anything, I see having a keyboard facing my lap or table surface a solution to anything.