Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 11S review

The Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 11S is one of the most keenly awaited Windows 8 hybrids in recent memory, but you’d be forgiven for thinking you’ve seen it somewhere before: we reviewed its Windows RT-based doppelgänger, the IdeaPad Yoga 11, several months ago. Finally, Lenovo has taken the body of the Yoga 11 and swapped Windows RT for Windows 8, to create the Yoga 11S.

Physically, little has changed since we saw the original Yoga 11. There’s the same classy, book-like design – the Yoga 11S’ smoothly curved flanks sandwiching a matte black interior – and although a subtle, silvery grey model is offered, the bold shade of orange is surprisingly attractive in the flesh. Weight-wise, the device has put on a few grams, now weighing in at a relatively portly 1.37kg (the Yoga 11 weighed 1.19kg), and while there’s still a little flex in the base and lid, there’s no cause for concern – this still feels like a solid, well-put-together bit of kit.

Compared to rival hybrid designs, the Yoga 11S’ key attraction is its simplicity. The double-jointed hinge arrangement allows the display to move through 360 degrees, so you can angle it upwards like a regular laptop screen, fold it flat against the base to use as a tablet, or stop anywhere in between. It’s ingeniously flexible.

It’s also far sturdier than many hybrid designs we’ve encountered. Compared to some of its rivals, the Yoga 11S feels reassuringly robust, with no danger of someone accidentally snapping the hinge by bending or sliding it in the wrong direction – this is a hybrid design which requires no explanation.

Though the design is familiar, on the inside, it’s all change, as within that orange exterior there now beats the heart of an Ultrabook. Disappointingly, Lenovo hasn’t managed to fit in a Haswell processor, but it’s softened the blow by opting for ultra-low-voltage Y-class Ivy Bridge chips, with a thermal design power rating of 13W. For comparison, most Ultrabooks and hybrids use 17W U-series processors, so it’s a power-efficient choice that bodes well for battery life.

The precise model of processor is up to you: the Yoga 11S is available in a range of specifications, including Core i3 and Core i5 models. Our review unit boasted the top-end specification, which partners a 1.5GHz Core i7-3689Y processor with 8GB of DDR3L RAM and a 256GB Samsung SSD.

The Samsung SSD plays its part in keeping Windows 8 feeling snappy and responsive. In our tests, it delivered sequential read speeds of 511MB/sec and write speeds of 246MB/sec, so there’s no waiting around for applications to load. The power-efficient CPU has an impact on desktop performance, though: the Yoga 11S’ score of 0.61 in our Real World Benchmarks is usable but unremarkable.

What’s more, the Yoga 11S contains a modest 42Wh battery, so despite the low-power processor, it’s left struggling a little in the battery-life stakes. In our light-usage test, the Lenovo lasted 7hrs 10mins; and with brightness cranked to maximum, and the CPU working flat out, it survived for 2hrs 13mins. That’s acceptable, but not quite up with the best Ivy Bridge Ultrabooks – and a long way behind the Haswell-equipped competition, such as Sony’s VAIO Duo 13.

Despite these compromises, the Yoga 11S’ user-friendliness shines through. Where many of its rivals see usability suffer in laptop mode, there’s no such issue here. The Scrabble-tile keys have shrunk a little to squeeze into the 11.6in chassis, typing remains perfectly comfortable, and despite their tiny travel, a firm dig of feedback with every keypress makes leaves you in no doubt as to whether you’ve pressed a key or not. The only annoyance is Lenovo’s decision to put the Page Up and Page Down keys immediately above the left and right cursor keys, where they’re easy to dab by accident.

Elsewhere, there’s little to complain about. The buttonless touchpad generally works well: it depresses with a muffled click, and responds consistently to pinch and zoom gestures, as well as two-fingered dabs. Edge-swipe gestures aren’t quite so slickly implemented – the lip around the touchpad’s edge occasionally gets in the way – but since there’s a responsive touchscreen mere centimetres away, it’s no big deal.

Indeed, after a few days with the Yoga 11S, we found ourselves using the touchscreen without even thinking about it. Flicking through webpages and selecting on-screen items is easy with a tap of the finger, and the display’s 1,366 x 768 resolution means that interface elements are big enough to tap reliably. There’s no pressure-sensitivity, though, so you’ll have to use a bog-standard capacitive stylus to take advantage of Windows 8’s excellent handwriting recognition.

The Yoga 11S’ touchscreen also delivers excellent image quality. The IPS panel’s viewing angles are impressively wide, with colours remaining true from almost any angle, and the backlight cranks right up to 394cd/m[sup]2[/sup]. Like several of its peers, the Yoga 11S struggles to reproduce the entire sRGB gamut – the most intense shades of red and blue end up looking a little undersaturated – but a contrast ratio of 1,034:1 is superb and makes for wonderfully solid, vibrant images.

If we’ve a criticism, it’s that connectivity isn’t one of the Yoga 11S’ strong points. There’s a full-sized HDMI output, but only one USB 3 port on the left flank, and one USB 2 port on the right. That aside, there’s an SD card reader and a 3.5mm headset input. Wireless networking is a little disappointing, too – Bluetooth 4 is present and correct, but there’s only single-band 802.11n Wi-Fi.

There are plenty of reasons to love Lenovo’s IdeaPad Yoga 11S: it’s compact and gorgeous, and the design is both flexible and practical. We sadly can’t recommend this Core i7 model, simply because the price is so steep – but the entry-level Core i3 model, coming in at a mere £699 inc VAT, is a great choice for anyone who doesn’t mind sacrificing a little more horsepower. The only thing which could make the IdeaPad Yoga 11S substantially better is a battery-extending Haswell processor. If you’re desperate to buy now, you won’t be disappointed, but we’ll be keeping our credit card on standby for the time being.

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