Lenovo's $199 Miix 320: Better Screen, Better Touchpad

At last year's Mobile World Congress, Lenovo introduced the Miix 310, a 2-in-1 that promised 10 hours of battery life in a low-priced portable. Lenovo's back this year, with a new version of the Miix that ups some of the specs on the detachable Windows 10 hybrid while keeping the price tag at a minuscule size.

Lenovo's Miix 320 arrives this April starting at $199. With this latest version, Lenovo says it's upped the overall quality of the 2-in-1, including improvements to the 10.1-inch display and the addition of a precision touchpad to the device's docking keyboard.

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The Miix 320 now features a 1920 x 1200 Full HD display, an improvement over the 1280 x 800 resolution on last year's model. One of our complaints when we reviewed that version of the Miix was that the screen was too reflective so we're eager to see if the improved resolution addresses that issue.

Lenovo also offers more RAM and storage space: you can get up to 4GB of DDR3 memory and 128GB of storage on the Miix 320. The 2-in-1 runs on an Intel Atom X5 processor with Intel HD graphics.

The detachable tablet on the Miix 320 features a USB Type-C port as well an HDMI port. You'll find two USB 2.0 ports on the keyboard, and the Miix 320 also offers optional LTE connectivity to go with its built-in Wi-Fi.

Even with the spec changes, nothing's really changed with the idea behind by the Miix detachable: provide a very portable device that gets users through the day on a single charge. Like its predecessor, the Miix 320 promises 10 hours of battery life, and we found the Miix 310's long-lasting battery to be one of its better features when we reviewed the 2-in-1 last year.

When the Miix 320 tablet is connected to the keyboard, the entire package weighs  roughly 2.24 pounds — a little bit lighter than the Miix 310. Detach the screen from the keyboard, and you're toting around a 1.2-pound tablet.

We look forward to getting our hands on the Miix 320 when it arrives this spring. A version offering Active Pen support and a year's subscription to Microsoft Office 365 will follow in July in select markets.

Photo credits: Sam Rutherford/Laptop