The Windows 8 hardware flood gates are about to open up wide now that Lenovo has played the first card. The company was busy readying a ThinkPad based Windows 8 tablet from early this year. We've seen the device first at Computex, but never again after that. Now Lenovo has officially announced what amounts to the Lenovo Thinkpad Tablet 2, and while it is not the powerhouse one might expect, it's good enough for the low end section of the market.

Here's what we know so far about the Lenovo Thinkpad Tablet 2. It is Windows 8 based, on the inside lies an Intel Atom processor, a 10-inch 1366x768 IPS display, 3G/4G LTE on the AT&T network, 10hr battery life, which if you ask us is pretty astounding for a Windows 8 tablet. Windows is not known for being too pleasant on the battery, so if this device can keep up when a million things are running in the background, Lenovo could have a winner on its hands here.

Other specs include a 2-megapixel camera on the front for video calling, 8-megapixel on the back for taking photos. There's also a NFC radio packed in, micro HDMI, and a fingerprint reader. No USB ports on this baby. However, if you should find out that you need USB, thou can always consider the docking station that comes equipped with not only three USB ports, but a HDMI port along with an Ethernet jack.

Lenovo says the tablet will be available in October. However, the company failed to mention the price. Since this Thinkpad Tablet is rocking an Atom CPU, the asking price shouldn't be expensive, unless 3G/4G radios bump the price up a little bit.