The IdeaPad Yoga 13 was one of the first hybrid Windows 8 systems
that consumers got a look at. Lenovo unveiled a near-finished prototype
at CES nearly a year ago – well before Windows 8 was finished and ready
for prime time. Since that time we’ve learned a great deal about
Lenovo’s flagship touchscreen convertible but perhaps the biggest
question was whether or not a convertible notebook/tablet makes sense at
a time when dedicated tablets are arguably the hottest trend in
consumer electronics.
Despite multiple attempts from manufacturers over the past several
years, hybrids never gained much traction, not necessarily because of
hardware issues but simply because the software to support such an
environment hasn’t existed until just recently. Previous iterations of
Windows did support touch in a limited capacity but the UI was never
built with touch in mind.
Evidently that has all changed with Windows 8
which adds a touch friendly environment front and center (but not
everywhere) and Lenovo looks to capitalize early and often with the
do-it-all Yoga 13. Priced from $999,
this system was one of the first portable systems to launch alongside
Windows 8. I’ve spent the past several weeks learning the ins and outs
of this hybrid Ultrabook and without jumping right to the conclusion
from the get-go, I will let you know that it’s a very capable all-around
system that doesn’t compromise on that it is first and foremost: a
notebook.
Our evaluation unit arrived with a third generation Intel Core
i5-3317U processor clocked at 1.7GHz, 4GB of RAM (systems in this class
now ship with 8GB of memory), Intel HD Graphics 4000 and a 128GB solid
state drive. True to its name, the Yoga 13 utilizes a 13.3-inch HD+ LED
Multitouch display operating at 1,600 x 900 resolution – a bit sharper
than many other 13-inch panels in its class. The price for the system
price as tested here today (with 8GB RAM) is $1,099.
Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 13" - $999
- 13.3" 1600x900 IPS LED multi-touch display
- Intel Core i5-3317U (1.7 - 2.6GHz)
- Intel HD Graphics 4000
- 4GB of DDR3 RAM
- 128GB SSD
- SD/MMC card reader
- 1 USB 3.0, 1 USB 2.0, HDMI, audio jack
- 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0
- 1-megapixel webcam
- Chiclet keyboard
- Glass trackpad with integrated buttons
- 4-cell Li-Polymer battery
- 13.4 x 8.85 x 0.66 inches, 3.4 pounds
Upon first glance there’s no indication that the Yoga 13 is anything
outside of a standard Ultrabook. The outer portion of the lid is coated
with a rubber-like material that’s silver / grey in color. A Lenovo name
plate is affixed in one corner which gives the system an overall modern
and classy look from the exterior.
On the front edge of the Yoga is a backlit power button, battery
indicator and a tiny recessed reset button that admittedly didn’t do
anything when pressed. On the right edge we find a button to lock the
screen rotation when in tablet mode, an SD card reader, a USB 2.0 port
and a unique looking charging port that more resembles another USB port
than anything else.
The back edge of the Yoga is lined with discrete ventilation slots
between the two sturdy screen hinges. On the left side of the Ultrabook
is an HDMI-out port, a USB 3.0 port and a combination headphone /
microphone jack. Closer to the front of the left edge is a volume rocker
and what appears to be a tiny hole for a microphone.
There’s not much to see on the underside of the Yoga 13 aside from
four small rubber feet. Upgrading internal components will take some
work as there are eight tiny six-sided screws that look to hold the
bottom cover in place. You’d certainly need some sort of special
screwdriver to remove them so if you are planning to add more memory to
the system, it might be best to let Lenovo handle that when you place
your order.
Raising the lid reveals a screen that other manufactures would call
an Infinity display. That is, the screen and the bezel are covered with a
single piece of glass to give the illusion that the two flow together
seamlessly. With the display powered on, however, you can see that the
bezel around the screen is a little on the thick side. Normally this
would be frowned upon but given the fact that the Yoga doubles as a
tablet, this actually is good because it gives you some room to hold the
system.
A 720p webcam sits centered atop the display and below it is a
finger-sized button with the Windows logo in it. Pressing this button
performs the same task as pressing the Start button which in Windows 8,
switches you between Metro-style view the traditional Desktop UI. Its
placement is especially handy in when using the system as a tablet.
The island-style keyboard sits slightly lower than the surrounding
area / palm rest. This is done on purpose as to minimize key presses
when using the system in tablet mode (more on that in a bit). The
keyboard itself has a nice overall feel albeit a few of the keys (the
right Shift key and to a lesser extent, the Backspace key) are a bit
shorter than usual. Neither of these bugged me at all as I realized I
never use the right Shift key and the Backspace key wasn’t short enough
to cause any problems.
Unlike some other Lenovo systems I have used, the company decided to
place the left Ctrl button in what most would consider the appropriate
location – the bottom left of the keyboard. The Fn button is just beside
where, where most would expect to find it. And speaking of, the
function keys just above the number keys default to their alternate use,
meaning you have to hold down the Fn key to press F5 for a refresh,
etc.
Lenovo elected to use a glass trackpad that integrates both mouse
click buttons. I’m typically not a fan of this implementation, instead
preferring physical buttons like those found on the IdeaPad U260
but I must hand it to Lenovo as they have done a fine job with the
all-in-one trackpad on the Yoga 13. One of my biggest complaints with
similar setups is that clicking the mouse button also moves the cursor.
That didn’t seem to happen very often on this system thankfully. The
overall size of the trackpad seems just right too – there’s plenty of
room to manipulate the cursor yet I still had enough room to type
comfortably without my palms causing the cursor to go haywire.
The wrist rest and the surrounding area around the keyboard appear to
be constructed of a soft leather-like material. The overall look is
extremely classy although as I found out later, this surface is prone to
picking up smudge marks and other debris when it’s lying face down in
tablet orientation.
Software and Performance
The Lenovo Yoga 13 ships with Windows 8 64-bit, making it the first system we have tested to ship with Microsoft’s latest OS.
I’ll stop well short of doing a full-on review of Windows 8 but just
note that if you are totally new to the OS, it will certainly take some
time to get used to. I’ve had a little experience with Windows 8
beforehand but even still, it took a bit to get the hang of things
initially. After a couple of weeks, however, I felt pretty well versed
and even found that there were some things I preferred over the tried
and true Windows 7 I’ve been using for years.
One of those things is how quickly the operating system loads from a
cold boot. I clocked a complete boot at just 11 seconds; faster than any
other system I have tested to date by a significant margin. Windows 8
and the solid state drive can share the credit for this feat.
Upon booting into Windows 8 for the first time, I navigated to the
add / remove programs menu and surprisingly found only half a dozen or
so programs that I would remove from the get-go. This is refreshing as
the last several notebooks I have reviewed shipped with at least a dozen
or more bloatware apps.
Given this new platform, we were forced to modify our benchmarking
procedures slightly. PCMark Vantage refused to give an overall score now
matter how hard I tried. We are also doing away with our “real-world”
web-browsing battery test in favor of the much more standardized
Powermark application. All of our other testing procedures have been
carried over from Windows 7.
Benchmarks Results
| Synthetic Tests | Yoga 13 | Aspire S5 | TimelineU M5 | MacBook Air |
| 3DMark 06 | ||||
| 3DMark Score | 4393 3DMarks | 5263 3DMarks | 11958 3DMarks | 5785 3DMarks |
| PCMark Vantage | ||||
| PCMark Suite | N/A | 13643 PCMarks | 6743 PCMarks | N/A |
| Application Tests | Yoga 13 | Aspire S5 | TimelineU M5 | MacBook Air |
| iTunes Encoding Test | 1 min 25 sec | 1 min 15 sec | 1 min 19 sec | 51 sec |
| File Transfer Test | ||||
| Small files | 24 sec | 10 sec | 1 min 11 sec | 22 sec |
| Large file | 22 sec | 10 sec | 1 min 19 sec | 22 sec |
The iTunes encoding tests consist of converting 14 MP3s (119MB) to
128Kbps ACC files and measuring the operation's duration in seconds. For
file transfers, we measure how long it takes to copy two sets of files
from one location to another on the same hard drive. On the small files
test we transfer 557 MP3s, totaling 2.56GB. For the large file, these
same MP3s were zipped into a single file measuring 2.52GB.
| Gaming Performance | Yoga 13 | Aspire S5 | TimelineU M5 | MacBook Air |
| Far Cry 2 | ||||
| 1024x768, Medium Quality | 23.5 fps | 35.2 fps | 69.0 fps | 37.3 fps |
| Native res, High Quality | 15.3 fps | 21.9 fps | 55.5 fps | 19.3 fps |
| StarCraft 2 | ||||
| 1024x768, Medium Quality | 16.9 fps | 21.8 fps | 39.7 fps | 25.1 fps |
| Native res, High Quality | 10.8 fps | 15.2 fps | 29.9 fps | 16.1 fps |
Lenovo Yoga 13 Specs
- 13.3" 1600x900 IPS LED multi-touch display
- Intel Core i5-3317U (1.7 - 2.6GHz)
- Intel HD Graphics 4000
- 4GB of DDR3 RAM
- 128GB SSD
- Windows 8 64-bit
Acer Aspire S5 Specs
- 13.3" 1366x768 LED-backlit display
- Intel Core i5-3317U (1.7GHz - 2.6GHz)
- 4GB DDR3 RAM
- Intel HD 4000 Graphics
- 2 x 128GB SSD RAID0
- Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Acer TimelineU M5 Specs
- 15.6" 1366x768 LED-backlit display
- Intel Core i5-3317U (1.7GHz - 2.6GHz)
- 6GB DDR3 RAM
- Intel HD 4000 Graphics + GeForce GT 640M LE 1GB
- 20GB SSD + 500GB 5400RPM HDD
- Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
MacBook Air 13" 2012 Specs
- 13.3" 1440x900 LED-backlit display
- Intel Core i5-3427U (1.8GHz - 2.8GHz)
- 4GB DDR3 RAM
- Intel HD 4000 Graphics
- 128GB SSD
- Mac OS X, Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Usage Impressions, Conclusion
As I mentioned earlier, using the Yoga 13 as a notebook is really no
different than any other system in terms of usability. It’s a whole
different story when you transform it to tablet mode, however. The whole
tablet experience is heavily reliant on the operating system and its
touch interface. That aspect of the system works surprisingly well, but
it’s not without fault.
At 3.4 pounds and 0.67-inches, it makes for one heavy tablet when you
consider dedicated slates weigh a fraction of that (~1.5 pounds for a 10-inch tablet). Furthermore, it’s pretty thick as far as tablets go but given the internal hardware, that is to be expected.
Perhaps the saving grace for the Yoga as a tablet is the number of
different orientations it can be used in. The display can be laid back
flat to act as a true tablet or it can be angled in a tent-like manner
or even flipped upside-down as a stand. Each orientation would of course
have its benefits depending on exactly what you were trying to
accomplish.
It’s also worth mentioning that it’s pretty darn nice to use what is
essentially a 13.3-inch tablet, much for the same reason that people
like the 5.5-inch display on the Galaxy Note II.
Watching videos on the Yoga in tablet mode is much more enjoyable than
on a standard 10-inch screen, especially when you have the system
propped up in stand or tent mode.
With most of the recent laptops we've reviewed using solid state drives (Aspire S5, MacBook Pro Retina,
etc.), I can’t stress enough how important flash memory is, especially
in a notebook where before it was rare to find a speedy storage
solution. While the storage system in the Yoga 13 wasn’t nearly as fast
as the RAID 0 configuration of the S5, not having two drives that could
potentially fail is a bit more reassuring.
There’s also the complaint that there’s only 128GB of storage on tap
and while that’s true, odds are that Lenovo, Microsoft and a host of
other manufacturers are betting that cloud storage will be the next big
thing. Services like SkyDrive can virtually offer all of the storage you’d ever need and it’s accessible from anywhere with a network connection.
I conducted our standard notebook battery tests on the Yoga 13. Our
video playback test consists of looping a 720p rip of the movie
Inception at full screen with max brightness and Wi-Fi disabled. This is
a taxing test that resulted in 5 hours and 4 minutes of battery life.
Our Powermark test consisted of running the application at default
settings under the “Balanced” profile which gives a mixed workload of
web browsing, word processing, gaming and video playback. This test was
also run at max screen brightness and resulted in 3 hours and 21 minutes
of uptime.
Our informal YouTube 4k resolution video test pushed the CPU all the
way up to 99 percent usage at one point. The video never showed any
signs of lag but with the processor pegged so high, one has to wonder
what is going on. If you recall, the same clip on the Acer S5
(running the exact same processor and graphics card) only pushed the
chip to around 60 percent usage. The key difference between the two
systems, however, is the operating system.
The two speakers in the Yoga 13 are positioned out of sight under the
keyboard. I was concerned that this would impede sound quality or noise
levels but that wasn’t really the case, even when the system was used
in tablet mode as a stand with the keyboard laying flat on my desk. As
for audio quality, the speakers sounded just fine albeit they didn’t get
very loud when cranked to 100 percent. Either way, audio remained clear
with zero distortion so that’s a plus.
I used Prime 95 to generate a full CPU load on the Yoga 13 in order
to observe heat output and noise levels. The cooling fan, spinning at
what I assume was full speed, wasn’t very loud at all so don’t expect
any distractions even if you are working in a very quiet environment.
The bottom of the notebook near the exhaust vents did get warm and I
could feel warm air being pushed out of the system but again, it wasn’t
hot by any means and certainly nothing to be concerned with. After all,
the processor only carries a maximum TDP of 17 watts.
Overall, I think Lenovo has shown that a convertible notebook can be a
viable option in today’s market, especially for someone that is still
on the fence about wanting a tablet but still requiring a notebook for
productivity purposes. You can expect to pay a slight premium
considering the hardware that’s included but that’s also expected given
the flexibility and hybrid nature of the system.
85
Pros: The Yoga screen and hinge system
works really well. Great ultrabook overall, excellent quality screen,
good value and decent performance. Nice keyboard and trackpad feel.
Cons: Too bulky for a standalone tablet replacement. Keyboard pressed against table when in tablet mode -- it's not backlit.
