First Impressions of the Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

Lenovo's embraced Windows 8 with the dexterous IdeaPad Yoga. A 13-inch Ultrabook that literally bends over backwards to turn into a rather large and heavy 13-inch tablet. Hit jump for a demo video and some first impressions.

At first glance, the IdeaPad Yoga, which we almost a year ago in CES 2012, looks and feels like a very robust and solid Ultrabook. It has the backlit island style chiclet keyboard that's popular among Ultrabooks, a reasonably thin and light profile and rugged rubber finish on the wristpad.

A large and responsive one piece trackpad makes mousing and navigating quite easy. Of course, the Yoga has a touchscreen that is optimized for Windows 8 use, no tiny ThinkPad trackpoint here, sorry.

While this is a consumer-focused IdeaPad, it feels just as well built as the pro-level ThinkPads. The Yoga is well appointed with USB 3.0 and 2.0 ports, HDMI and an SDCard reader. While a bit thicker and heavier than most Ultrabooks we've seen, the IdeaPad Yoga feels reassuringly rugged and ideal for students.

The innovation that enables the Yoga to go from notebook to tablet is the hinge mechanism that allows the display to swing all the way backwards. The hinge feels secure and rigid.

The appeal here is for users who want a full featured 3.4 pound Ultrabook with a superb keyboard and a touchscreen but who also foresee the use of a multi-touch tablet. Use cases are for propping up the screen, for presentations and for using Windows 8 as a full 13-inch tablet.

In tablet form, the Yoga feels a bit awkward and rather heavy to use. It does work nicely to watch video, surf the Internet or triage e-mail but I would avoid using it as an eBook reader unless it is propped up.

The keyboard is cleverly deactivated once the display is moved back to avoid unintentional key presses and that grippy rubber wristpad area becomes a textured rear case for the tablet.

Of all the convertible Ultrabooks I've seen so far, including models from Dell and Sony, the Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga feels the most rugged and the one whose hinge mechanism will stand up to the most use and abuse.

The Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga starts at $1099 for the Intel Core i3 model and 128GB SSD. Being a Lenovo product, there are various upgrades and factory installed add-ons that users can configure online. Lenovo seems sold on the Yoga's design and has even released a $800  11-inch IdeaPad Yoga  which has an ARM processor and runs Windows RT. The smaller Yoga is only available in the US.