Indeed, the U1′s path to a U.S. launch has been long and slightly vaporous, but now, it’s nearly here. According to Engadget, the U1 has arrived at the FCC for approval — a decent indication that it might graduate from trade shows to retail shelves.

Unlike dual-booting Android-Windows hybrids, such as ViewSonic’s ViewPad 10, the Lenovo U1 has separate processors for its tablet and PC sides. Pull the screen away from the laptop body, and an ARM-based processor fires up Android. Put it back, and an Intel x86 processor runs Windows. In demonstrations, the transition only took a couple seconds. You can even detach the tablet, connect an external monitor to the laptop body and run both halves of the machine at once.

After 18 months in limbo — during which Lenovo switched from its own tablet OS to a modified version of Android — the U1 still seems like a good idea. Although I’m a fan of tablets, when it comes to work they’re still no match for a keyboard, pointing device, desktop software and the familiarities of a PC, such as keyboard shortcuts and a file browser. Inevitably, I travel with both a laptop and a tablet, but consolidation is appealing.

That doesn’t guarantee that the Lenovo IdeaPad U1 will be a great product. It could be outrageously priced. It could have performance issues. But after all this time, it’d be a shame if the U1 never saw daylight.

Lately, computer makers seem to be acknowledging that the line between consumery and businessy design is increasingly blurry. HP’s new ProBook 5330m notebook is a case in point: it’s HP’s first business notebook to come with Beats audio, the sound system endorsed by Dr. Dre. The 5330m also features HP’s “Forge” brushed-aluminum industrial design, whose basically philosphy is “Let’s try to make a business notebook that has a bit of style to it, without getting so splashy that it’ll turn off conservative buyers at big companies.” And it’s got a 13.3″ display and no optical drive, a form factor that was pretty darn scarce among corporate machines until recently.

The 5330m can be custom-configured with built-in 3G broadband, and if you get it you can opt for a new feature I think a lot of folks will like: DataPass, which lets you pay for access to broadband as you need it, rather than signing up for a contract. Options range from $5 for 75MB or five hours, whichever comes first to $30 for 1GB or 30 days. If you use the Internet incessantly (like I do), these choices offer too little capacity to make sense. But if you just need on-the-go access here and there–such as on the occasional business trip–they could be a cost-effective alternative to monthly plans or hotel Wi-Fi.

The new ProBook starts at $799, is available in Intel Core i3 and i5 versions, and is less than an inch thick and weighs 3.9 pounds. It’s available starting today.

High-quality sound on business notebooks, incidentally, seems to be a new trend: Lenovo recently announced new ThinkPads which are the first corporate-aimed laptops from any manufacturer to incorporate Dolby’s Home Theater 4 technology, which improves audio quality and can add a pretty effective virtual surround-sound effect.

Stern expects the device to sport a 10.1-inch display and front and rear facing cameras, and to come in 16, 32, and 64GB versions. Pretty average for today’s tablets. Lenovo also plans to include a stylus for input and offer a folio case with included keyboard (no word on whether that case would include ThinkPad’s famous red pointing stick).

Micro-USB and USB 2.0 will be supported, and HDMI out is included. Even better, a full-sized SD card slot is also planned, as well as 3G and 4G connectivity options.

While Android will power the device, Lenovo seems to be going a route increasingly popular among those using the open-source software in tablet devices these days: It apparently plans to create its own skin. I’m not seeing much of the “Lenovo Family UI” as it’s being called in the slides, but it doesn’t look too much different from Android’s standard interface.

So when is this all going to be available? The slides say July, at a price of $499. If this is true, that would be a competitive price point and could do some damage to Apple in the business sector.

(Image via This Is My Next)

Is it just me, or is this a profoundly lousy idea?

Look, I’m not opposed to the idea of multi-booting different OSes on one machine in all situations. Actually, my primary computer these days is a MacBook Air stocked with OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, Windows 7 and a beta of OS X 10.7 Lion. I also see the virtue of products such as the lightweight, Linux-based Splashtop, which many PC makers pre-install on their systems to let users boot into a browser without being forced to load up Windows in its entirety. And we don’t yet know enough about HP’s intentions with Windows and WebOS to form a definitive opinion about them. (I’d love to discover, once we know what’s up, that the idea is more appealing than it sounds.)

But the operating system sits at the heart of any hardware platform. Providing two them will surely result in an experience that’s not Chitty Chitty Bang Bang magical so much as Pushmi-Pullyu ungainly.

Right now, Google’s Honeycomb–not yet widely available and not on ViewSonic’s tablet–is the first version of Android that’s suited to tablets. Windows 7 is not truly tablet friendly; Windows 8, due late next year, is the first version that might be. It’s not yet clear whether HP’s WebOS is PC friendly, at least if “PC friendly” involves working well with a keyboard and mouse and running the sorts of programs people want to use on PCs. Various combinations of iffy OSes won’t add up to one good experience. They could add up to an experience that’s less satisfactory than if the same computer made do with one inadequate OS.

As with a lot of things about tablets and other newfangled computing devices, one piece of advice still seems sensible in many cases: Wait! I usually address that sentiment at consumers who can’t decide whether to buy now or bide their time. But in this case, I’m talking to the hardware manufacturers who are cobbling together Frankencomputers rather than holding off until they can put one well-rounded, capable, appropriate operating system on their devices.

Of course, I could be wrong. If any of the Windows/Android tablets turns into a certifiable hit, I’ll admit i misjudged the situation–and I’ll eat a ViewPad by way of apology.

Lenovo has rolled out new ThinkPad Tablet PC and ultraportable laptop PC models based on Intel’s new second generation vPro Core processor, hot on the heels of Intel’s announcement on Monday of the speedier and more secure new chipset.

The new 12.5-inch X220T convertible tablet and X220 laptop will be available with second generation Intel Core and vPro Core chips. All i7 models will also offer USB 3.0 for faster data transfer, but the i5 and i3 models will be limited to USB 2.0, said Ross Compton, a Lenovo product manager, in an interview.

Aside from new processors, the new ThinkPads will also feature a revamped design revolving around changes to the display, touchpad, and latch.

Intel on Monday helped set the stage for Lenovo’s announcement by stating that its second gen vPro Core processors will show up in “new laptop, convertible-tablet, desktop and all-in-one PCs for businesses” from PC makers that include Lenovo, Dell, HP and Fujitsu.

In the ThinkPad X230 and X230T, which replace the earlier X201 and X201T, Lenovo is also expanding the size of the touchpad by some 45 percent, removing buttons, and modifying the latch mechanism to give users more room to work, Compton said. The latch still clamps down securely, though, even under “mil spec” (military specification) stress testing, according to the product manager.

Set for shipment in April, the X230 and X230T will introduce screens made of Corning’s Gorilla Glass, for durability and scratch-resistance.

The second gen vPro chipsets to be available for the new ThinkPads are designed to raise data speeds by about 80 percent and encryption speeds by around 300 percent, while also adding Intel’s TurboBoost 2.0, HD Graphics, Anti-Theft Technology (AT) 3.0, and Identify Protection Technology (IPT). IPT is meant to block access to secure sites by generating a new six-digit random password every 30-seconds.

Lenovo first announced support for TurboBoost 2.0 with the Edge ThinkPads for SMBs unveiled on the eve of CES in January. The Intel technology is aimed at reducing power to “non-essential hardware” such as SD cards, for example, during intensive apps like videoconferencing and data analysis.

Intel’s vPro chips, which use a variant of Intel’s Sandy Bridge architecture, were originally affected by a SATA port bug in the “Cougar Point” chipset, but Intel has since redone Cougar Point.

Moving forward, Lenovo plans to offer i7 processors as an option for all ThinkPad models, according to Compton. “We now have the battery power to support that,” he elaborated.

Compton conceded that the new tablet and ULPC won’t supply as much battery power as the larger T and W series ThinkPad laptops launched in February (although like the T and W notebooks, they will include Instant Resume for maintaining WiFi connectivity when the laptop is in sleep mode).

Lenovo has touted the high-end T420 model, for example, as providing up to 30 hours of life without recharging when its standard 9-cell battery is combined with an optional snap-on nine-cell battery.

For its part, however, the X220 ultraportable PC will run for up to 15 hours without recharging with a nine-cell battery, and up to 23 hours with a brand new external battery pack, Compton told me.

Like the T and W notebooks, too, Lenovo’s ThinkPad 220 and 220T will include front- and rear-facing HD cameras, dual-mode videoconferencing, and Lenovo’s new RapidBoot technology for quicker bootup times.

Lenovo likes to say that the U1 has “two brains.” Underneath the keyboard, there’s an Intel ultra-low voltage processor powering Windows 7. The screen is actually a removable 10-inch tablet (known as the “LePad” on its own) with an ARM-based Snapdragon processor that switches to a customized version of Android when removed from the base. While the tablet is removed, you can still use Windows by plugging the base into an external monitor.

The switch to Android from a custom operating system is the biggest change since last year and the main reason the tablet was delayed, and it’s a sensible thing to do given Android’s massive app marketplace. Still, this U1 maintains the old one’s vibe, with a home screen divided into panels for common apps, photos, music and books. I liked how you could scroll through each panel individually, for instance to browse photos without leaving the home screen.

Lenovo also messed with the typical Android layout of home, back, menu and search buttons. Instead, there’s just one physical home button, but it’s touch sensitive, so the user can swipe downwards to go back, or swipe upwards to access the menu. Presumably, this allows Lenovo to cut down on the tablet’s bezel. I also noticed that the tablet is thinner than last year, coming closer in shape to Apple’s iPad.

Lenovo plans to launch the IdeaPad U1 in China in March or April, with the United States to follow, but while China’s U1 will only get Android 2.2, there’s hope for Honeycomb stateside. Product Specialist Matthew Kohat said the IdeaPad U1 is “likely” to use the tablet-friendly version of Google’s OS in the United States. At the very least, he said, Lenovo will wait until Honeycomb launches before bringing over the hybrid.

The IdeaCentre A320

While it would take five hands to count Lenovo’s 23 new mobile PCs for consumers, home office and small- and medium-sized businesses can count the new IdeaCentres on just one. The new all-in-one PCs range from the A320, touted by Lenovo as “the industry’s slimmest AIO” to the Nvidia 3D Vision-enabled B520, for combined gaming and family entertainment; to the B320, billed as “the computer that’s also a TV.” On tap, too, is the entry-level Lenovo C205, an HD (high-definition)-enabled desktop which also adheres to an AIO design.

By way of  contrast, Lenovo will inundate the mobile PC space with a quintet of models for small- and medium-sized businesses–the ThinkPad E420s, E220s, E420 and E520, plus a refreshed x120e — along with a dozen-and-a-half new consumer and small office/home office notebooks.

More specifically, the consumer laptops will include the S100 and S205 ultaportables; the high performance Y570d, Y570, and Y470, sporting Intel Core processors up to i7, Turbo Boost Technology 2.0 and Nvidia GT 550M 1GB switchable graphics; and the IdeaPad Z570, Z470, and Z370, for “fashionable” consumers who care about such things as “futuristic designs” with transparent colors in “pop colors” like sky blue and fuschia.

Lenovo also plans to unveil five new “mainstream affordable notebooks” in its G Series; two new Intel Core i5-enabled B Series laptops for small office/home office users; and three new members of its V Series, for “looking sharp at the office and relaxing at home,” said Nick Reynolds, director of global marketing for Lenovo’s Product Group, in a press briefing.

Lenovo IdeaPad V570

Yet while far outnumbered by the notebooks, Lenovo’s new desktop PCs also stick out as significant. Although Lenovo is a relative newcomer to the consumer arena, the vendor is pouring some major engineering resources into a PC segment viewed by analysts as growing much more slowly than laptops, if at all.

With its latest ThinkPads for small- and medium-sized businesses now taking on some consumer-oriented characteristics, Lenovo is applying the same crossover approach to its consumer and SOHO notebooks, too.  In fact, the new V, G, and B series consumer models should offer even faster boot-up times than the ThinkPads, since they will include not just Lenovo Enhanced Experience (EE) 2.0 for Windows 7, also introduced with the ThinkPads, but Lenovo’s new RapidBoot option, which will use SSDs (solid state drives) to further boost boot-up in hybrid configurations.

The V Series, for example, will also come with business-oriented features such as a fingerprint reader; Lenovo’s OneKey Rescue System, for quick back-up and recovery; a USB port locker, for preventing unauthorized access to USB ports; and Lenovo Security Suite.

Lenovo’s new desktop PCs, on the other hand, are all about home entertainment of various sorts. The new notebook PCs aren’t any slouches in this department, either. The Y and Z series, for instance, each offer OneKey Theatre II, for automatically maximizing AV settings, along with advanced audio systems (Dolby Advanced Audio for the Z models, and SRS Premium Sound with JBL-designed speakers for the Ys). New members of the Z Series are also outfitted with HD 16:9 format widescreens, available in 13.3-, 14-, and 15.6-inch sizes. The consumer laptops are slated for availability on various release dates from March through May, at starting prices ranging from $329.99 (for the S models) to $899.99 (for the Ys).

The all-in-ones, however, step further in a multimedia direction, with larger HD widescreens across the line-up. And surely, since there are far fewer desktop than notebook models, the four AIOs are easier to tell apart from each other.

Lenovo certainly isn’t the first to try to rethink the desktop PC as a home entertainment center. To cite one example, Sony started taking that course at least as early as five years ago. In mid-2010, MSI intro’d the Wind Top AE2280, the first AIO to come with THX’s TruStudio Pro high-end audio.

Lenovo’s new AIO desktop PCs, though, are each forward-thinking in their own respective ways.  The new A32 AIO, just 18.5mm deep at its thinnest point, will feature a 21.5-inch display; an Intel Core i5 processor; Intel Turbo Boost Technology; HDMI in and out; and an integrated card reader. Pricing starts at $699.

The B520 gaming and family entertainment PC, priced starting at $899. will qualify as “the world’s first frameless multitouch AIO,” according to Reynolds. In another claim to fame, it 23-inch HD display will use Project Capacitive Touch (PCT) for a multitouch experience geared to better comfort and accuracy. Aside from Nvidia’s 3D Vision, other features will include an Intel Core i7 processor; SRS Premium Sound; and an optional 3-in-one-mouse with air-mouse and motion-drive gaming functionality.

Another multitouch system, the B320, will offer an HWTV (Hardware TV) technology option, for combined use as a PC and a regular 1080p HDTV, with switching between those two modes at the touch of the proverbial button. Equipped with an Intel Core i5 processor and a 21-5-inch screen, the B320 is priced at $699.

The entry-level C205, priced beginning at $449, is the only AMD-enabled AIO in Lenovo’s new lot. Features include an 18.5-inch screen; an optional single-touch touchscreen panel; a Webcam, microphone, and built-in speakers; an AMD Dual Core Processor E-350 with AMD Radeon HD 6310 Discrete-Class Graphics; and a ATI Radeon HD 6000 Series 1G graphics processor for 720p HD video support.

The B520 and B320 are slated to ship in June. Lenovo hasn’t yet set the dates for the A320 and C205. The new AIOs and notebooks will be available mainly online. However, some models will be sold at Best Buy stores. Lenovo might also announce partnerships with other US retailers later in 2011, Reynolds noted.

The ThinkPad E220s

Lenovo’s new Edge E420s and E220s laptops will be outfitted with “Enhanced Experience (EE) 2.0” capabilities that boost boot-up times by about 30 percent, said Luis Hernandez, executive director for Lenovo’s ThinkPad Transactional Business, at a press briefing.The two latest notebooks PCs will be geared to people who work for companies with anywhere between ten and 499 employees, an audience Lenovo first started targeting with the Edge line up a year ago at CES 2010.

Other features of the 14.1-inch E420s and 12.5-inch E220s will include HDMI for TV connectivity; TV-like “infinity” screens; Dolby Home Theater Audio; and enhanced videoconferencing features such as 1080p high definition (HD) webcams, advanced white-balancing settings, and noise-canceling keyboards for screening out typing sounds in the background.

Lenovo’s new Edge notebooks will also be available with several advanced security features: self-encrypting hard drives; BIOS port lock settings; a fingerprint reader usable for powering on the PC, and, for larger businesses, a hardware password manager for deploying authentication security across fleets of PCs. A slim slot-loading DVD burner is another option for the E420s.

Small- and medium-sized businesses are the biggest and fastest growing “commercial segment” in the PC market, projected to account for 67 percent by 2014, Hernandez contended, citing statistics from the IDC analyst group.

Lenovo plans to straddle all aspects of the mobile PC space for these companies, from sub-$400 entry-level units to “premium” notebooks at $800 and up.

Accordingly, also at CES, the company will introduce new E420 and E520 midrange notebooks and updates to its existing x120e entry ultraportable.

In a new edition that will roll out for under $400 in February, the x120e will be equipped with an HDMI port for projecting digital content and AMD Fusion technology for faster graphics performance and longer battery life.

The new E420 and E520, also follow-ons to earlier Edge models, will get EE 2.0 for quicker boot-ups, along with AMD Radeon graphics in some markets. The E520 will sport a numeric keypad.

In the spirit of Lenovo’s history of ThinkPad innovation, EE 2.0 will speed boot-ups through “proprietary optimizations” to the bios, as well as to how and when software such as drivers and OS and network services are loaded, said Nick Reynolds, director of global marketing, Product Group.

But Lenovo isn’t looking at small- and medium-sized companies as its sole ace in the hole. Also over the year ahead, the company will introduce large numbers of new AMD- and Intel-enabled desktop and mobile PCs for consumers, gamers, and enterprise users, including a new slate tablet also to be unveiled at CES, the Lenovo execs said.

Some Lenovo notebooks will also be available with a new Rapid SSD (solid state drive) option for even faster boot-up times of 10 seconds of less.

Starting today, Lenovo will outfit three models of T Series laptops with Optimus, a technology aimed at automatically switching between a built-in discrete graphics chipset — for games and other apps that demand high performance graphics — and an integrated graphics chipset, for faster PC performance and longer battery life.

While technologies generally tend to trickle down from the high-end, the new availability of Optimus seems to represent the reverse. Lenovo has already been offering Optimus on its consumer-oriented IdeaPad laptops.

“But business users need Optimus, too,” Bhatia told me, adding that as far as he knows, Lenovo’s T Series are the first enterprise-class laptops to be outfitted with Optimus.

Lenovo had previously announced Optimus as a feature for its T 410s model. Optimus will be now offered as an option on new purchases across the ThinkPad T Series, at notebook pricing that will start at $1,200 for the T410 and $1,849 for the T500 model.

Lenovo’s T series models are available to both enterprise customers and SMBs, although Lenovo’s newer Edge series is directly targeted at smaller businesses.

IBM initially launched ThinkPad back in 1992, before selling its personal computer division to Chinese PC giant Lenovo in 2005. Bhatia ticked off a long list of “industry first” for ThinkPad in both its IBM- and Lenovo-owned days. ThinkPads were the first laptops to be equipped with spill-resistant keyboards, and the first to come with built-in wireless, finger-print readers, and CD-ROM and DVD-ROM drives, for instance.

In IDC’s latest numbers on the global notebook market, Lenovo ranked fourth behind HP, Acer and Dell in numbers of units shipped worldwide for the second quarter of 2010. However,  Lenovo and seventh-ranked Apple turned out to be the only two vendors shipping more laptops than for the same quarter the year before. Lenovo’s numbers rose by 18.6 percent, and Apple’s by 37.6 percent.

Future ThinkPads: “personal assistants”

“To continue to get more market share worldwide, we’ll keep innovating. But we don’t want to innovate just for innovation’s sake. We want to innovate with things that customers really need,” Bhatia told me.

Essentially, Lenovo’s long-term strategy calls for turning ThinkPads into “personal assistants,” as opposed to just personal computers, Bhatia said..

“We’re looking at technologies where the PCs knows where you are. You won’t have to tell it where you are. It will adjust automatically,” he told me.

“We also want to have the best battery life, and to run cooler and more reliably. Customers are very interested in voice over IP, and we’re working on technologies to make VoIP more user-friendly. You can expect to see announcements in areas like these in the future, so stay tuned,” according to Bhatia.

Like Kinect, the Ebox operates without a controller, instead using a camera that beams out infrared light to detect body shapes. “We are the world’s second company to produce a controller-free game console, behind only Microsoft,” Jack Luo, president of Lenovo’s spin-off gaming company eedoo Technology, told China Daily.

Lenovo plans to debut the Ebox in China this November, but the launch could get pushed to next year. Games for the console will have elements of Chinese culture, intended to appease a government that prohibits the sale of game consoles for fear that they physically and mentally harm the nation’s children. At launch, 30 games will be available, and 16 global game developers have reportedly signed on.

So, what are the odds that the Ebox becomes available stateside? IDG News reports that the console will launch throughout Asia sometime after the debut in China, with other overseas markets to follow, but I’m guessing those plans hinge on whether the Ebox is a success in its home country. The reported support from game developers is encouraging, but so far the lack of photo or video of actual games being played raises some skepticism.

Anyway, let’s see how Microsoft’s Kinect performs first, as it remains to be seen whether controller-free play is the future of gaming or just a passing fad. If Kinect somehow becomes an industry-changing force on par with Nintendo’s Wii, Lenovo’s Ebox won’t be the only clone to watch out for.