Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 13 review

The Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 13 is perhaps the simplest laptop-tablet hybrid we’ve ever seen. It ditches the fancy sliding mechanisms and double screens found in other convertible Ultrabooks and instead gives you a super-flexible hinge that lets you fold the screen back 360 degrees. It’s incredibly sturdy, so you’ll need both hands to move it, and when closed it stands at a height of just 17mm.

Looks like a pretty typical Ultrabook …

It’s light, too, making it slightly easier to hold than other tablet hybrids, but we still ended up resting it on our lap or up against our work surface if we were using it for any extended period of time. The fan between the screen’s hinges became warm on occasion, but we only noticed this when holding it vertically.

Its bright 13in IPS touchscreen has superb viewing angles, and its glossy display didn’t cause too many problems with reflections either. It’s not quite full HD, but its 1,600×900 resolution looks stunning regardless, with rich and vibrant colours and excellent contrast levels. Its screen rotation is also spot-on, something that can’t be said for the company’s other convertible Ultrabook, the Lenovo Thinkpad Twist, and there’s also a dedicated button to lock the screen orientation on the side of the chassis.

… until it pulls its party trick

When the screen’s fully folded back, the keyboard becomes the underside of the tablet. The Yoga 13 automatically disables the keyboard when it’s in tablet mode so that it has no effect, but it isn’t particularly comfortable having a keyboard on the rear of your tablet.

As with the Lenovo Thinkpad Twist, the Yoga 13 can also be used in Tent mode. We had to use it at a wide angle to type on the screen comfortably, but even vigorous screen-jabs didn’t make the Yoga 13 slip or fall.

In Laptop mode, the keyboard felt a little flimsy, and the keyboard tray often bounced along with the keys while we typed. This didn’t really detract from our overall typing experience, as the keys themselves were well-spaced and provided enough tactile feedback, but it was disconcerting to see so much flex on the keyboard of a laptop at this price.

We weren’t great fans of the all-in-one touchpad either. It has a super smooth finish that provides very little friction, and it sometimes failed to register our clicks. We’d recommend using a mouse instead, but consider using a Bluetooth mouse as the Yoga 13 only has two USB ports.

Indeed, the Yoga 13 has little in the way of connectivity. One of the USB ports is a faster USB3 port, but the other connections include just an SDHC card slot, a HDMI output and a combined microphone and headphone jack.

When it comes to raw processing power, the Yoga 13 is similar to other mid- to high-end Ultrabooks. Our review sample came with a 1.7GHz Intel Core i5-3317U processor that can Turbo Boost to a clock speed of 2.6GHz when it’s within its thermal limits, and 8GB of RAM. It scored 40 overall in our multimedia benchmarks, but it didn’t cope particularly well in our multi-tasking test, scoring 34. Even so, if you’re not planning on using any heavy-duty applications that require multi-threading, the Yoga 13 will be plenty fast enough for many everyday tasks.

Sadly, the Yoga 13 isn’t so good for playing games. Its graphics are provided by its CPU’s built-in Intel HD Graphics 4000 chipset, and it failed to produce 15fps in our Dirt Showdown tests on High Quality settings at 720p. You’ll have to lower quality settings drastically if you plan on playing any modern 3D games, but less-demanding titles on the Windows 8 Store all worked perfectly.

The most impressive part of the Yoga 13 is its long battery life. We managed 7 hours and 32 minutes in our light use tests, so it’ll easily last you a working day if you’re on the move. No other convertible Ultrabook we’ve tested lasts anywhere near as long away from the mains, and its closest competitor is the Dell XPS 12 at 5 hours and 43 minutes.

The Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 13 isn’t perfect, but we like its simple design, even if we’re not so keen on having its keyboard underneath our fingers all the time. Its superior battery life also makes it stand out from other hybrids, and although it’s still quite expensive for what’s otherwise a decent mid-range laptop, it’s easily one of Lenovo’s best products to date.