Bendy laptop becomes big-screen
tablet
Yoga by name and by nature, this is a
touchscreen laptop that doubles as a 13-inch tablet. The Yoga moniker comes
from the lid’s ability to bend backwards on itself, so that the traditional laptop
design transforms to become a tablet. This makes it better suited to watching
videos or using apps, while losing none of the standard laptop usability.
Lenovo
Ideapad Yoga
Under the hood is a generous spec that
offers plenty of power. There’s a low-voltage third-generation Intel Core i7
processor clocked at 1.8GHz with 4GB of RAM, which will crunch through most
tasks. HD video rendering is best left to beefier machines, but playback,
picture editing and casual gaming are all well within its remit.
The IdeaPad Yoga comes in two colours: a
bright orange and a corporate-looking grey. We much prefer the former, which
will turn heads for its stylish design as well as its contortionist tendencies.
The inside is plain black, with a spacious keyboard, but it sorely lacks
backlighting for use in dim conditions.
As the Yoga doubles as a tablet, the
13-inch touchscreen is especially important. Unfortunately, unlike other
hybrids like the Samsung ATIV smart PC and Asus Taichi, the screen isn’t full
1080p HD. Instead, Lenovo has plumped for a 1,600 x 900 display. That’s still
high, but Windows 8 heralds a new generation of quality and we feel slightly
let down. That’s not to say that the screen is poor, though. The IPS panel
isn’t as reflective as many of its competitors, colours are deep and vibrant, and
movies look fantastic on it.
Elsewhere, the Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga enjoys a
128GB SSD, two USB sockets, HDMI and an SD card reader. That’s standard for
ultraportable laptops, but obvious omissions include an Ethernet socket and an
optical drive.
Lack of comfort
As a laptop, the IdeaPad Yoga performs
well. Windows 8 is a joy to use; we actually turned off the trackpad and moved
to using our fingers, which was genuinely liberating, but nowhere near as
pleasurable as flipping the screen back to browse the web in tablet mode. At
1.4kg it’s too heavy to walk about with, but when sitting back on a sofa or
train, the ability to bend back the Yoga and stand it up on its haunches meant
we could enjoy it all the more.
There are a few bugbears with the Yoga
though. There’s a little flex in the plastic base of the keyboard, so the keys
bounce slightly when typing.
What’s more, when used in tablet mode, the
keys sit exactly where your hands rest. The keyboard is disabled, thankfully,
but you have no choice but to grasp it, mashing the keys as your fingers search
for grip, which is annoying and feels disconcerting. As a result, we rarely
held the Yoga as a flat tablet device.
While it’s not the perfect laptop, the
range of movement and use offered by the Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga won us over. The
more we embraced its range of movements, the more the real-life benefits of a
touchscreen display became apparent. If you’re looking for a great Windows 8
laptop that offers something extra, the Yoga is well worth the cash.
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Vital
Statistics
- Price: $1499
- Manufacturer: Lenovo
- Web: www.lenovo.com
- CPU: Intel Core i7
- RAM: 4GB
- Screen size: 13-inch (1,600 x 900)
- Storage: 128GB SSD
·
Weight: 1.4kg
Verdict
- Features: 8/10
- Performance: 7/10
·
Value: 7/10
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