Summary: Lenovo has announced a lineup
of Windows 8 hybrids designed to work as both laptops and tablets.
Rather than choosing one convertible design, the company will offer
several models including two versions of the flexible Yoga.
Lenovo Yoga 13 in Laptop Mode
The Yoga 13 has a 13-inch (1600x900) display and uses Intel's
third-generation Core processors, up to 8GB of memory and either a 128-
or 256GB solid-state drive (SSD). It measures 0.7 inches thick and
weighs 3.4 pounds.
The Yoga 13 has a dual-hinge that folds backwards 360 degrees to switch between laptop and tablet modes.
In addition to the tablet and laptop modes, the Yoga 13 can be
used in a "stand" mode that is good for watching movies or Web browsing.
The Yoga 13's "tent" mode is a good option for viewing content in cramped spaces such as an airline tray table.
The smaller version of the Yoga is based on Nvidia's Tegra 3 and
has an 11.6-display (1366x768), up to 2GB of memory and either 32- or
64GB of storage. It is 0.6 inches thick and weighs only 2.8 pounds, yet
Lenovo says it will get up to 13 hours of battery life.
Like the 13-inch model, the Yoga 11 has a dual-hinge display that folds backwards up to 360 degrees.
In addition to the tablet and laptop modes, the Yoga 11 can also
be used in a "stand" mode that is good for watching movies or Web
browsing.
The Yoga 11's "tent" mode is a good option for viewing content in cramped spaces such as an airline tray table.
The Lynx has an 11.6 inch (1366 x 768) display that detaches
from a keyboard dock to switch to tablet mode. Like competing models
from Acer, Asus, HP and Samsung, the Lynx is based on Intel's
recently-announced Atom Z2760 (Clover Trail) dual-core processor.
The Lynx tablet is 0.4 inches thick and weighs 1.4 pounds. The
keyboard adds another 1.5 pounds to the system weight, but it has an
extra battery that stretches the battery life to 16 hours, according to
Lenovo.
The Twist looks like a conventional ThinkPad with a 12.5-inch
(1366x768) display, third-generation Core processors, up to 8GB of
memory and either a hard drive or 128GB SSD. At 0.8 inches thick and 3.5
pounds it is small enough to qualify as an Intel Ultrabook.
The Twist's 12.5-inch display rotates 180 degrees and folds
flat. Lenovo has been making Windows convertibles using this design for
years and I use one of them, the ThinkPad X Series convertible, every
day.
Like the Yoga, the Twist works in a "stand" mode for watching movies or browsing the Web.
Finally the
"tent" mode--as with the Yoga designs--is a good option for content
consumption in cramped spaces such as an airline tray table.
