LG launches new Android tablet/netbook hybrid with 4GB of RAM, 128GB SSD and an Intel Core i5
Add one more to the list of ridiculous Android tablets. LG has revealed a variant of their Tab Book, a netbook/tablet hybrid that folds down into a tablet while you're on the go and slides …
Context & Ripple Effects
LG's Tab Book line began as Windows hardware — the company showed Tab-Book 2 sliders among its Windows 8 PCs at the end of 2013 — and this new variant keeps the sliding hinge but swaps the OS for Android running on an Intel Core i5 with 4GB of RAM and a 128GB SSD. Phandroid's framing ('ridiculous') captures why it turns heads: full desktop-class x86 silicon under a phone operating system is an unusual pairing for mid-2014.
The launch lands during a strong stretch for LG's mobile business: the unit turned profitable in Q2 on record shipments of 14.5 million smartphones, the G Watch reached early adopters earlier in July, and reviewers had just called the G3 near-perfect despite display-driven battery trade-offs. The pickup was broad — eight outlets including 9to5Google, TechRadar and Android Police ran the story within a day — suggesting genuine curiosity about whether LG can make Android work above the tablet price ceiling.
First-order effects
- LG now fields the same sliding Tab Book chassis in two OS camps — Windows 8 from late 2013 and Android from today — forcing its own product line to compete against itself for hybrid buyers.
- Buyers get a rare configuration: Android on Core i5-class Intel silicon with 128GB of SSD storage, well above the spec floor of typical Android tablets.
Second-order effects
- Intel picks up another Android-on-x86 design win at a moment when its tablet push depends on convincing Android makers to build around its chips rather than ARM alternatives.
- LG's Android hybrid competes directly with the Windows slider half of its own PC lineup, pressuring pricing and positioning decisions inside LG's own PC division.
Third-order effects
- If Android-on-x86 hybrids find buyers, the tablet/netbook boundary erodes further and OS choice becomes a per-device decision rather than a category definition — though whether Android's app ecosystem, built phone-first, can justify laptop-class hardware remains the open question this launch tests.
The trend: Device makers are increasingly crossing OS-form-factor boundaries — putting phone operating systems on laptop-class hardware — as the tablet and PC categories converge.