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Lenovo Yoga 900 review: Price and release date UK
Announced today, we’ve been told that the Yoga 900 laptop will be available shortly in the market – ‘second half of October’. An exact release date is unknown but we can tell you that the starting price for the Yoga 900 will be £1,199. That’s the starting price as there will be a few different models available with different processors, storage capacities and amounts of RAM. PC Advisor is told the entry-level model will feature a Core i5 chip, 8GB of memory and a 256GB hard drive.
Lenovo Yoga 900 review: Design and build
If you’ve been following the Yoga story, you’ll know that the concept was initially dreamt up way back in 2005. The Pocket Yoga was a device which never came to market then in 2012 Lenovo’s first multi-mode device hit stores. We were impressed with the Lenovo Yoga 3 Pro and at first glance, the Yoga 900 doesn’t look any different – especially the Platinum Silver model. However, there are some changes to be aware of and not just that the Lenovo logo on the lid has been replaced by a Yoga one. Purely for style, the existing watchband hinge (made from 813 pieces of aluminium and steel) is now colour matched to the colour of the laptop; hence, why it’s difficult to see much of a difference with the silver model. We took a look at the Champagne Gold option but the Yoga 900 will also come in Clementine Orange if you like a splash of bold colour. Lenovo says it has tweaked how the hinge works in terms of tension to ensure two things. The first is that it doesn’t suddenly drop when closing the lid and this is the case. The other is that you can open it one-handed but we just didn’t find this to true on the samples we saw. Open it up and a more obvious change is a sixth row on the keyboard so common functions like screen brightness are doubled up on F-keys. There’s also a new real leather finish around the keyboard and trackpad, which is larger than previously. A less obvious design change is on the cooling side. The main fan uses a 32 percent larger metal-alloy which is 66 percent less dense. Vents in the hinge ensure heat is directed away from the user and Lenovo says the Yoga 900 offers 15 percent better air flow and 30 percent better cooling. We’ll have to take its word on this but we can say it was very quiet during our hands-on time. Despite these changes, the Yoga 900 is still very thin and light. It’s just 14.9mm and 1.29kg – similar to the old model but it now has a 66Wh battery instead of 44Wh a whopping 50 percent larger. Lenovo says it’s ‘the world’s thinnest Intel Core i convertible laptop’ – a typically specific claim.
Lenovo Yoga 900 review: Hardware and specs
We’ve already mentioned quite a few specs but to expand, that battery will mean the Yoga 900 will last up to nine hours, according to Lenovo. That’s with local video playback. The Yoga 3 Pro used a Core M processor but Lenovo has gone for 6th-generation Intel Skylake with the Yoga 900. As mentioned, you’ll find a Core i5 inside the cheapest model but you can get a Core i7 if you want more power. 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage is a good place to start, but you’ll be able to get up to 16GB and 512GB if you like. The display has not changed, but that’s hardly a bad thing. The 13.3in uses an IPS panel for decent viewing angles and a crisp QHD+ resolution (3200×1800). It’s touchscreen so you can make use of this with Windows 10 which is pre-installed. The Yoga 900 features JBL speakers mounted on the underside and the micro-HDMI port has been dropped and replaced by USB Type-C. There’s still an SD card reader and up to three USB ports – two are USB 3.0 and the power input, seen above in orange doubles as a USB 2.0 port. Tech Advisor’s Reviews Editor, Chris has been reviewing all kinds of tech for over 10 years and specialises in audio. He also covers a range of topics including home entertainment, phones, laptops, tablets and more.
