Review: Lenovo Yoga Book Is a Magic Wand for the Creative Types
This portable Windows PC from Lenovo doubles up as a Wacom tablet for creative users.
Lenovo laptops are good value for money, no matter which price segment they belong to. The company also makes phones, along with its recently acquired Motorola division. But in the latter part of 2016, Lenovo decided to mix things up with the Yoga Book. This is a Windows/Android PC that’s probably the first-ever laptop to come with a touch-centric keyboard they call Halo.
At Rs 49,900, the Yoga Book has a lot more to give than most mid-range laptops. We list the multitude of features on offer, and also tell you if the laptop’s worth giving a shot.
Pros:
- Sleek design and construction
- Touch-centric keyboard called Halo
- Stylus support
- Long battery life
Cons:
- Average performance
- No standard USB ports
- Not suited to all users
- Priced on the higher side
Why Buy It?
The Lenovo Yoga Book is a 2-in-1 Windows PC that doubles as a Wacom design tablet with its stylus input. As far as innovation goes, this tops our list for 2016, stretching up to 2017, before anyone else cracks this segment.
The Yoga Book is a perfect secondary Windows PC, targeted at creative folks who can get the best out of the bundled stylus. Mind you, for Rs 49,990, there are other PC options giving you much better value in terms of the hardware in tow. That said, we like what Lenovo has tried here, and expect things to get better with the v2.0 soon.
What’s Good?
The Lenovo Yoga Book gets a bright and crisp 10.1-inch display with 1920x1080 pixels resolution. Watching movies on this device was a delight, but make sure you’re comfortable with its size.
The Yoga Book weighs less than 700 grammes, and it would be hard to argue against the product’s design language, which is perfectly suited for a portable PC.
Now we come to the touch Halo keyboard. If you don’t mind the adaptation period, this feature is something that other PC makers could improve on in the near future. The bundled pen works in two ways – on the keyboard (switch to pen mode on the Yoga Book), and like a normal pen on the note pad that comes out-of-box.
The pen avatar of the Yoga Book is similar to that of a Wacom tablet, used by creative professionals across the globe. But you also get a full-fledged notebook that can digitise your writing straight to the screen.
The battery life of the Yoga Book doesn’t stretch up to 13 hours, as claimed by Lenovo, but still doesn’t do bad. Backed up by a not-so-powerful Atom processor, the Yoga Book can easily last you for more than 8 hours. Also, it would be fair to mention that Lenovo has added a SIM slot to support on-the-go 4G connectivity for the Yoga Book, which is helpful.
What’s Bad?
The 10.1-inch display is highly reflective and for this price, we would have loved a matte finish panel instead. With an Atom processor, don’t expect the Yoga Book to be a reliable workhorse for multi-tasking. At best, you can get it to do basic PC stuff like browsing and watching movies. Or else, just get doodling.
The Yoga Book doesn’t come with more than 64GB of onboard storage, and even worse is the lack of USB ports. Not cool, Lenovo.
For all its design brilliance, Lenovo’s design team isn’t able to fix the pen somewhere on the Yoga Book. So make sure you don’t lose it.
In conclusion, for Rs 49,990, we find the Yoga Book has many chinks in its armour that ensure that you need another laptop to go along with this one. Not sure how many of you would be keen on splurging for such a device.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)