CES 2010: Lenovo IdeaPad U1 Hybrid laptop in action; first impressions [video]

I had a chance to play with Lenovo's brand new detachable IdeaPad U1 Hybrid laptop this week at the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show, and it's no doubt an impressive and innovative piece of kit.

To remind you of this week's announcement, the IdeaPad U1 is a 3.8-lb. Windows 7 system that has an Intel Core 2 Duo processor in the main body and, in the detachable tablet-style display, a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor running a Linux environment.

My impression? Lenovo has really focused on style this year. It's a good looking, good feeling system (not quite luxurious, but not budget, either). It's easy to snap the display in and out of its shell, and it's very quick to switch between the two computing environments. The only downside? I found the display in tablet mode rather sluggish -- but I'm hoping this can be ironed out before the system ships.

Here's a short 35-second video introduction to the system that I taped at an event here in Las Vegas:

Is it worth buying? Perhaps if you need the functionality of a detachable tablet. The way I see it, Lenovo's IdeaPad U1 serves as a nice safety net for those who'd like to consider a tablet device but aren't sure they want to make a complete jump.

With this detachable form factor, you can always turn it back into a fully functional standard laptop if the tablet isn't to your liking.