While the Microsoft Surface is perhaps the best 2-in-1 tablet with a removable keyboard, there’s good reason to argue that the Lenovo Yoga 900 is probably the best 2-in-1 tablet with a non-removable keyboard.
It’s certainly a very nicely-designed convertible – both from a looks standpoint and in terms of usability.
We recently got this premium convertible tablet for review and we must say, we’re impressed.
Strangely enough, the Yoga 900 we got for review is unfortunately not available in this country in this exact configuration – while the CPU and RAM are the same, the SSD available for Malaysian units is 256GB and not the 512GB version that we had in our review unit.
It’s all about presentation
When you take it out of its very nice box, you’ll immediately be struck by how premium it feels – both the top and bottom covers are metal and there’s a bit of weight to it that gives it a bit of heft without being overly heavy.
However, it’s the hinge that makes the Yoga 900 stand out from the crowd – reportedly made up of some 813 pieces of stainless steel, this hinge looks more like a watch bracelet than a notebook hinge.
The funky hinge has a practical purpose too – it allows the screen to be rotated all the way to the back to convert it into full tablet mode and still keep the hinge rounded in this mode.
Apart from tablet mode and regular laptop mode, the hinge also provides enough resistance that you can rotate the screen in relation to the keyboard in a number of different ways – for example, you can use the Yoga 900 in a so-called “tent” mode where you stand it up in an “A” for movie watching.
Of course, the Yoga 900 will automatically disable the keyboard whenever you flip the screen around so that you won’t accidentally activate the keys when it’s facing away from you.
Since this is a tablet, the screen is touch-sensitive and at 3,200 x 1,800 pixels, it looks really good.
Thoughtful touches
One thing that I really like about the Yoga 900 is that the palm rest is covered in a leather-like material – I don’t know about you, but I wear a metal watch and I hate having to take it off every time I type to avoid scratching the metal palm rests on other notebooks.
With the leatherette, I can now confidently type without worrying that my watch will scratch the surface of the palm rest.
Interestingly, the non-slip finish of the palm rest also has another side benefit – it prevents the Yoga 900 from slipping when the keyboard is flipped around to sit on the table.
As far as the actual keyboard goes, it’s actually quite pleasant to type with – the keys are well-spaced and full-sized and the touchpad is smooth and in use, just about as responsive as the trackpad on Apple MacBooks.
Two minor niggles – key travel is a little short and a row of function keys on the far right side (Home, End, PgUp, PgDn) next to the Enter and Backspace keys means that I would occasionally hit the End or Page Up keys when trying to hit Enter.
One other feature that I really, really like about the Yoga 900 is that it comes with a good number of USB ports – two USB 3.0 ports, one USB 3.0 Type C port and a special orange coloured USB 2.0 port.
What’s special about this port is that it does double duty – the Yoga 900’s charger is essentially a USB charger with a cable that terminates in a connector that only fits into this orange port tocharge the device.
However, when you aren’t charging the Yoga 900, you can utilise this orange port like a regular USB 2.0 port and fit USB drives or other USB devices to it.
Even the AC adapter can do double duty – when it’s not being used to charge the Yoga 900, you can unplug the special cable and plug in any USB cable to it to charge your other devices.
That’s a really nifty idea and helps to reduce the number of chargers you need to carry with you when travelling.
In use
Overall, the Yoga 900 has pretty good performance – it functions very well for video editing on Adobe Premiere Pro CC and photo editing on Adobe Photoshop CC, but as far as gaming goes, you’d only be able to play some less graphic-intensive games.
In terms of battery life, we only got about four to five hours of use on the Yoga 900 – which is about standard for a notebook, but pretty short if you consider it a tablet.
Also notable are the speakers – audio from the built-in speakers is loud and clear thanks to the JBL speakers with Dolby DS technology.
Though sound can be a bit muffled because the speaker ports are facing downwards at the edge of the palm rest, this is easily fixed when you’re watching movies by having the Yoga 900 in tent mode, where the speakers will be facing forwards.
So yes, I like the Yoga 900 – it offers good performance and the attention to detail makes all the difference when it comes to day-to-day usability.
I’m calling out the leatherette palm rest and the combo USB charging port especially – it shows that the designers have thought about the problems we have as users and set out to address them.
Pros: Very nice looks; good performance; a good complement of USB ports; nice leatherette palm rest.
Cons: Battery life could be better; keyboard layout can take some getting used to.
Yoga 900
(Lenovo)
Processor: Intel Core i7-6500U 2.5GHz
Memory: 16GB
Display: 13.3in QHD (3,200 x 1,800-pixels) IPS LCD
Graphics: Intel HD Graphics
Storage: 512GB SSD
Connectivity: WiFi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 4.0
Ports/Slots: 2x USB 3.0 Type A, 1x USB 3.0 Type C, Hybrid DC input with USB 2.0 functionality, 4-in-1 card reader, audio combo port
Battery: 4 cell lithium-ion battery
Operating System: Windows 10 Home
Dimensions (W x D x H): 324 X 225 X 14.9mm
Weight: 1.29kg
Website: www.lenovo.com
Price: RM4,999 (with Core i5), RM5,599 (with Core i7)
Rating: Four and a half stars
Review unit courtesy of Lenovo 1-800-88-7148.
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