Can a convertible avoid compromise? Not on this evidence
Lenovo’s Yoga laptop-tablet range has almost as many models as the eponymous spiritual discipline has followers. This full-size hybrid (not to be confused with the Yoga Pro 3) takes the opposite approach to Microsoft’s Surface Pro 3. The Surface is a tablet that tries to be a laptop (by adding a keyboard). The Yoga is a laptop that you can also use as a tablet. Either way, you’re still carrying a keyboard around with you.
But if you’re coming to this with traditional ideas of a tablet in your head, you’re going to be somewhat disappointed, because the Yoga is a lot bulkier than your average tablet. It’s really a touchscreen ultrabook with a fancy hinge. The screen can sit at the standard laptop angle, with the keyboard folded under it at the back rather than out front. Or you can turn the whole thing over so it stands like a tent (pictured below). You could also stand it up sideways like a book, but that might be getting a bit silly.
None of this does the Yoga’s aesthetics any favours. Mobile devices have a back and a front that look equally good, because whatever side you’re not looking at, everyone else will be. PCs, by contrast, sit on a desk, so the underneath (unless it’s made by Apple) is typically a mess of grilles, labels and lids. The Yoga’s keyboard section is like that. When it’s folded out where you can see it, it feels as if there’s been some mistake.
Try to ignore that bog-standard silver plastic panel, though, and the rest of the Yoga 3 looks pretty good, whether you buy it in black, white or orange (yes, orange). A proper keyboard with a stiff hinge makes working more comfortable than on most tablets, as does running Windows 8.1 (upgradable free of charge to Windows 10) on a laptop-sized display.
However, the screen itself isn’t great. You can view it wide angles, as long as you don’t mind the reflections from the high-gloss finish. But colours are relatively dull and the brightness levels aren’t enough to compensate. In darker film scenes, for example, we couldn’t see what was going on.
£800 is quite a lot to pay for a laptop, so you might wonder where the money’s gone. Lenovo has spent it on a high-end Intel Core i7 processor, 8GB of memory and a fast solid-state drive (SSD). If you’d settle for less power, there’s a £650 version with half the memory, a decent Core i5 processor and a standard hard drive.
In our tests, the extra £150 didn’t pay off as much as it should have. The SSD uses the new M.2 interface, but that didn’t result in particularly high speeds. And the processor took about 25 per cent longer to complete tasks than other systems with similar specifications. Even so, this is a capable mid-range laptop, better than cheaper models that can’t do much beyond web browsing and word processing.
At eight hours 20 minutes of video viewing, battery life is also more than adequate, and the latest 802.11ac Wi-Fi standard is supported for good connections. There’s a basic set of ports, including HDMI for an external monitor. While the keyboard feels fine, its slightly unusual layout kept tripping us up, and the trackpad, as so often on touchscreen machines, didn’t always work smoothly.
Compared to a tablet, the Yoga could improve your muscle tone, but a ZenBook might do more for your mental wellbeing.
SPECIFICATIONS
2.4GHz Intel Core i7 5500U processor • 8GB memory • 256GB SSD • 14in 1920x1080-pixel screen 2x USB 3 • 1x USB 2 • Micro HDMI • SD card reader • 802.11ac Wi-Fi • Windows 8.1 • 18.3x335x230mm (HxWxD) • 1.6kg • One-year warranty
VERDICT
As an attempt at a bigger, better hybrid, the Yoga 3 is undeniably bigger but not better.