A small laptop that's also a big tablet
We’ve mentioned before that Lenovo makes rather a lot of different laptop tablet hybrids with becomingly similar names. This year it seems to have called them all the 700. This particular one is the Yoga 700 - not to be confused with the Yoga 700. That’s the one with a 14.1in screen. This one is 11.6in. Still following?
As befits a convertible, the Lenovo Yoga 700 (11 inch) has a special hinge that bends all the way round so you can fold the keyboard back and ignore it. Well, you can’t literally ignore it, unless you undergo some sort of hypnosis, because you’re still carrying it around. But the whole thing weighs a modest 1.1kg, so you can just about pretend. At 15.8mm, though, the folded-up Yoga 700 (11 inch) is a pretty chunky kind of iPad.
Unlike an iPad, it runs Windows 10. Thanks to an efficient Intel Core M processor, it doesn’t need an untablet like fan inside, and with 8GB of memory it copes well with everyday tasks such as word processing and web browsing. It’s not ideal for more ambitious purposes.
The Full HD (1920x1080-pixel) display looks quite sharp, but is let down by dull colours and poor contrast. And the lid section in which it resides flexes a bit too much for our liking. Apart from that the machine feels well built, with a soft finish that’s easy to grip and a hinge stiff enough to stay in position while you prod the touchscreen.
The keyboard's tilestyle keys have very little travel, so we didn’t get distinct enough feedback to type as quickly and accurately as usual. The half height Enter key and narrow left Shift key don’t help. Such compromises are inevitable in devices with smaller screens, because the keyboards get shrunk to fit.
The touchpad - which still feels more natural to use than the touchscreen in office apps - is quite small and not the most responsive. In our test it handled most of Windows' multi touch gestures, but would occasionally miss an input or two, which was frustrating.
Storage comes in the form of a 128GB SSD, which doesn’t give you a lot of space after what's already used up by Windows 10. More impressive was the battery life, which lasted us around seven hours of light use.
The Yoga 700 (11 inch) is officially priced £560, but at the time of writing Lenovo was knocking £60 off That’s not bad value, but considering the poor screen and average build quality, we’ll have to keep looking for the ideal mid-priced hybrid.
VERDICT
Touchscreen operation is a bonus, but it doesn’t turn this so-so laptop into a must buy.
SPECIFICATIONS
Intel Core M3-6Y30 processor • 8GB memory • 128GB SSD • 11.6in 1920x1080-pixel screen • 1x USB 3.0 • 2x USB 2.0 • Micro HDMI • SD card reader • 802.11ac Wi-Fi • Windows 10 Home • 15.8x290x197mm (HxWxD) • 1.1kg • One-year warranty