I’m a little bit behind the curve on reviewing the Lenovo Yoga 13 but given the amount of interest that we’ve had on the Yoga 13 over the last year (yes it was a year ago I had my first hands-on) it’s worth spending some time on a detailed review. Before that though, here’s my first impressions after 4-5 days usage.
Now we know why Lenovo didn’t release an 11” Yoga with Core inside…they were waiting for cooler CPUs which confirms our suspicions yesterday.
The new Lenovo Yoga 11S seen at CES yesterday has been confirmed to have a Core i3-3229Y CPU running at 1.4Ghz. That’s the same clock and CPU power as the early Core i3 Sandy Bridge Ultrabooks in 2011 and just about half of the max performance you can get out of a Core i5 which can Turbo for short periods to 2.7/2.8Ghz.
I’m testing the Lenovo Yoga 13 right now. It’s a great Ultrabook but not such a great tablet. Maybe that’s why Lenovo have just launched the Ideapad Yoga 11S with a “new low power lineup from Intel”. Could this be one of the new low-power Core CPUs?
Update: Yes. See this article.
The Yoga wasn’t my favorite Ultrabook of 2012 but it was incredibly popular when we wrote about it. Over on YouTube it was our most-watched video of 2012. We got hands-on with the Lenovo Yoga at CES 2012 and exactly one year later it’s in our hands for review. [Follow closely for teasers of 3rd generation Ultrabooks next week as we cover CES 2013.] Here’s a quick unboxing video just to prove it’s here in the studio. We’ll produce a first impressions, detailed review and for those on the cusp of buying one, a live review session where you can ask your own questions. Feel free to start listing those below.
There’s a lot of interest in the Lenovo Yoga. It has a few issues that will limit its use as a tablet but the starting price isn’t bad considering the design, the touch capability, Windows 8 and the fact that it’s the first Ivy Bridge Ultrabook pricing we’ve seen so far.
Although I missed the first showing of the Lenovo Yoga Ultrabook at CES today I bumped into it at a press event this evening. It’s an efficient implementation of an Ultrabook that converts into a tablet and with a 1600×900 IPS screen, it looked great. Pricing could be on the high-side of course but if Lenovo do managed to bring this to market with Windows 8 and Ivy Bridge in Q3/Q4 2012 it will be one amazingly unique Ultrabook. Lenovo think they can reach 7 hours of true battery life.
Images and video below.
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