211
people found this helpful, as of 2023
ranked #148,240 most helpful
out of 571,544,897 reviews
★★★★★
Great laptop/ultrabook.
I got this after a real Odyssey searching for a new ultrabook. I owned the Samsung series 9, np900x3c, and my girlfriend has a Macbook Air (MBA), so I can also compare them to the Yoga.
At this price, the Yoga is a great product if:
- you want a great quality ultrabook (parts are solid and well made and it is not as fragile as the Samsung 9).
It is not as light as others but unless you really need an ultraportable (like the Samsung 9) then the Yoga fares well as it weights just 0.3 lbs more than the MBA although it is a little bigger.
About the latter, it is sturdier in some sense than both the MBA and Samsung. The MBA actually delivers a good solid feeling (the Series 9 not much so, I felt like you can break it easily, especially the hinges of the screen) but I feel like I could drop the Yoga without having to say goodbye to it. I believe this is in Lenovo spirit, their laptop are renowned to be sturdy and long-lasting.
- good quality control (my first the Samsung 9 came with a dead pixel, the second one had a crappy trackpad which selects things at random while you move the cursor and statics from the speakers and audio output!).
- a great touchscreen, also in terms of quality of the LCD display (IPS with decent resolution). Notice that touchscreens reduce battery performance. The Samsung 9 has a brighter screen and more battery life, especially compared if you use the screen at the same level of brightness. That was a drawback for the Yoga to me, because I don't care about the touchscreen. However, overall, considering features and design, quality control, and price (!!) the Yoga wins easily.
- a good keyboard. It is not as good as the X1 Carbon, but it definitely beats the MBA (which has a decent keyboard but shallower than the Yoga) and wins hands down the Series 9 (stiff, shallow and noisy).
IT IS RELLY A GREAT ULTRABOOK FOR THE PRICE with the competition out there at the moment.
You can also upgrade the RAM and SSD easily enough (especially the RAM, it's trivial).
What I would like to see improved in the future, in order of importance, are:
- battery life! If you use 80-85% brightness and use it constantly (I mostly browse, type quite a bit -- coding for example -- and listening to some music) you might even wipe it in just 4 hours. That's not awesome. The Series 9 would last 1 hour longer. However, the battery is decent, don't let yourself down because of this. The OS and features drains the battery, the MBA would last 3 hours if it had a touchscreen like this and was running Win 8!
- more brightness and bigger screen (the MBA has a slightly bigger screen but worse resolution and quality, that's for sure).
- An even better keyboard, like the X1 Carbon thinkpad (with the nipple please!)
- I would prefer a metal case in terms of design. It would make it just awesome.
- Back-lit keyboard.
NOTE: I don't use the touchscreen much but the factor forms are really useful. Many times you are in a vehicle, or on the plane, or in a situation where you need to bend the laptop and use it with the screen closer to you, taking up less space and such. It is really useful! I love to use it on the couch and bed as tablet (otherwise a little heavy). Even if you don't love the touchscreen and would rather have a better battery life and lighter product (like I do), the Yoga still wins to such product like MBA and Samsung 9 because of its features and quality, for that competitive price!
February 2013 · Electronics