Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 13 review

Other Windows 8 hybrids have gone crazy with intricate sliding mechanisms and ingenious flipping, rotating screens, but the Lenovo Yoga 13 keeps it simple. Thanks to an ultra-flexible hinge, the Yoga 13’s lid rotates right through 360 degrees, allowing it to flit between laptop and tablet modes with ease.

From a distance, the Yoga 13 looks similar to Lenovo’s Ultrabook, the IdeaPad U300s. There’s the same hardback-book-inspired styling, with the silvery metal of the lid and base sandwiching a matte-black interior. It’s a smart, attractive laptop.

At 1.52kg, it’s also only 200g heavier than its Ultrabook sibling, although the move from a metal keyboard surround to a textured, rubberised plastic leaves the Yoga 13’s base feeling a touch more flexible. It’s immensely solid by the standards of its hybrid peers, however, and the simple, double-jointed hinge feels likely to outlast the more fiddly designs we’ve seen.

The perfect compromise?

Unlike many of its rivals, the simple design means Lenovo hasn’t had to cut back on comfort. In laptop mode there’s precious little, if any, compromise. There’s a large, wide Synaptics buttonless touchpad, and our only complaint about the keyboard concerns key size – we’d prefer them to be larger. Nevertheless, the scooped-out profile of the keys grips the fingers agreeably, and each gives way with a sharp, positive dig of feedback. The wide, rubberised wristrest is comfy too.

Push the display backwards and the Yoga 13 contorts into an array of different positions. In “tent mode” the Yoga 13 stands on a desk like a name place card at a wedding supper. Lay the base flat with the keyboard facing down, and the hinge allows the touchscreen to be tilted back and angled just so. Fold it back completely flat, and it can be used as a straight tablet – in all modes, the keyboard and mouse are automatically disabled just as the screen passes the horizontal.

That means there’s no danger of inadvertently typing random letters as you hold it, but it still makes for a seriously heavy tablet, and there’s no doubt the exposed keyboard and touchpad feel a bit odd. For casual web surfing or video watching, however, the touchscreen and flexible hinge are a winning combination.

Performance

It certainly helps that the Yoga 13’s display is top quality. The 1,600 x 900 resolution lacks a few pixels next to its Full HD-toting counterparts, but at least there’s no need to invoke Windows 8’s DPI scaling to keep text legible.

The image quality is superb. The IPS panel’s wide viewing angles mean it looks great in any position, and while the vivid colour reproduction is a little oversaturated, tending towards the rosy end of the spectrum, it’s more than a match for its peers. The 832:1 contrast ratio imbues images with solidity and depth, and brightness is far from lacking, with the LED backlight reaching an ample 325cd/m2.

Lenovo has outfitted the Yoga 13 with the usual suite of Ultrabook-class componentry. One of Intel’s Ivy Bridge-class low-voltage processors takes the reins: in the case of our review model, this was a 1.7GHz Core i5 CPU; however, retail units will come with the faster 1.9GHz Intel Core i7-3517U. Regardless of which CPU is at the helm, however, the 4GB of memory and 128GB Samsung SSD keep things feeling spritely and responsive, even while multitasking. With the slower Core i5 in place, the Yoga 13 achieved a middling 0.61 in our benchmarks.

The power-hungry touchscreen means battery life isn’t up there with the best Ultrabooks, but there’s enough stamina to put the Lenovo among the front-runners in this month’s Labs. With a result of 6hrs 50mins in our light-usage battery test, and a slim, lightweight power supply that fits easily in a laptop bag, the Yoga 13 is set to last the course.

The Yoga 13’s weakest hand is connectivity. Despite plenty of space around the laptop’s flattened edges, there’s only one USB 2 port, one USB 3 port, an HDMI video output, a single 3.5mm headset jack and an SD card reader. There’s no Ethernet socket, so you’ll have to rely exclusively on wireless connectivity via the single-band 802.11n and Bluetooth 4 wireless radios.

Verdict

Making a usable Windows 8 hybrid is all about compromise, and Lenovo has managed to get the balance just about right. The double-jointed hinge balances flexibility with durability, performance is good and the IPS display is simply glorious.

Rather than making an overweight tablet with crippled laptop features, Lenovo has created a solid, attractive Ultrabook that doubles as an occasional, king-sized 13.3in tablet. It still isn’t perfect, but for £1,000, the Yoga 13 is the first hybrid Windows 8 device worth shelling out for.

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