Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga Hands-On: Notebook Backflips Into a Windows 8 Tablet
January 9th, 2012 by Avram Piltch, LAPTOP Online Editorial Director 
LAS VEGAS — When Windows 8 ships later this year, its new Metro UI will work well on traditional notebooks, but you’ll want a tablet to really take advantage of some of its touch-friendly features. Due to ship at the Windows 8 launch, Lenovo’s groundbreaking IdeaPad Yoga notebook gives you the best of both worlds as its 13.3-inch clamshell design has a flexible lid that folds back 360 degrees, allowing you to use its touchscreen as a slate tablet or even a home Internet appliance.
We had a chance to go hands-on with the the IdeaPad Yoga this morning and came away impressed with its amazing hinge design, thin chassis, and super-bright high-res screen. On the outside, the notebook looks a lot like other ultraportable IdeaPads , with an attractive gray aluminum lid, sides, and bottom. The sides of the notebook measure just .67-inches while the entire system weighs just 3.1 pounds, making the Yoga officially an Ultrabook. Inside, the Yoga has the same, comfy faux leather palm rest we’ve seen on the U300 and the same island-style keyboard. Component-wise, the IdeaPad Yoga will sport an Ivy Bridge CPU, up to a 256GB CPU, and up to 8GB of RAM.
However, the Yoga’s bright touchscreen and 360-degree folding lid are the real stars of this show. The 400-nit screen sports a generous 1600 x 900 resolution and supports 10-finger touch. Using a drawing app in Windows 8, we were able to draw lines with several fingers at once. We were also able to hit a number of different keys on a virtual piano application by putting a whole hand down.
To fully take advantage of this screen, the IdeaPad Yoga’s lid bends backward like Jane Fonda doing a downward dog pose. You can rotate the screen half way and turn the Yoga into a tent-shaped device where the screen is propped up.
You can also prop it up so the screen is facing you while the deck sits behind it as a base. In this shape you could use the device like a touchscreen Internet appliance, launching recipes or videos in the kitchen. You can even use it like an all-in-one PC, if you attach a keyboard and monitor in this pose.
Of course, the most popular pose is likely to be the tablet pose where the screen is flipped around a full 360 degrees so the entire device turns into a slate. We’ve seen many convertible tablets that swivel their notebooks into this pose over the years, but the Yoga’s method of bending back the screen seems much sturdier and more elegant.
We can’t wait to play with a final production Yoga when the device ships sometime in the latter half of 2012. At this point, pricing is up in the air, though a Lenovo rep told us the company would like to come in below $1,000 though $1,000 to $1,200 is very possible.
Our Related Content
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From Other Sites
- Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga flexible Windows 8 tablet priced at $1900 in UK (Liliputing)
- Will Lenovo Release the First Windows 8 Tablet? (GottaBeMobile)
- Best of CES 2012 (Notebooks.com)
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January 10th, 2012 at 11:31 pm
Amazing laptop!
January 11th, 2012 at 12:52 am
Yoga is very good
January 11th, 2012 at 12:53 am
Yoga is a wondeful computer, I like it
January 11th, 2012 at 2:15 am
so amazing
January 11th, 2012 at 2:41 am
it’s fashion,cool,inovation.
January 11th, 2012 at 2:44 am
good
January 11th, 2012 at 3:15 am
I love Yoga.
January 11th, 2012 at 3:22 am
I hope IdeaPad Yoga have a achievement
January 11th, 2012 at 3:24 am
Another outstanding product from Lenovo
January 11th, 2012 at 3:27 am
perfect yoga, tablet or NB depanding on you.
January 11th, 2012 at 3:45 am
Very good product.
January 11th, 2012 at 4:48 am
Great! I can not wait to have one.
January 11th, 2012 at 5:37 am
That’s very good, I like it!
January 11th, 2012 at 7:17 am
It’s really a amazing product
January 11th, 2012 at 8:00 am
awsome ID design and I want to get it right now!!
January 11th, 2012 at 8:37 am
Wonderful product ! I like it.
January 11th, 2012 at 8:42 am
Love it! I already have a think tablet from Lenovo and it’s amazing! I will buy this one for my husband!
January 11th, 2012 at 10:03 am
Great machine from an innovated company
January 11th, 2012 at 3:05 pm
Very clever idea, but as an X-61 convertible owner, I wonder what happens to the exposed keys and touchpad when the unit is flexed into a tablet. The X-61 has a swivel hinge so the keys and mouse are covered in tablet mode…
January 11th, 2012 at 8:52 pm
Wow !!, it is a wonderful laptop from Lenovo
January 11th, 2012 at 8:54 pm
Amazing products, I love it !!!!
January 11th, 2012 at 9:01 pm
WOW!
January 11th, 2012 at 9:20 pm
So cool!
January 11th, 2012 at 9:26 pm
good
January 11th, 2012 at 9:40 pm
Very good
January 11th, 2012 at 9:47 pm
good product
January 11th, 2012 at 9:54 pm
I like it
January 11th, 2012 at 9:54 pm
It’s really cool. I m thinking about to upgrade my old Thinkpad to this.
January 11th, 2012 at 10:04 pm
so wonderful,support
January 11th, 2012 at 10:17 pm
Nice machine!!
January 11th, 2012 at 10:31 pm
Wonderful product
January 11th, 2012 at 10:50 pm
Lenovo Yoga machine brilliant and beautiful, great.!
January 11th, 2012 at 10:56 pm
SO cool!
January 11th, 2012 at 11:07 pm
Great product, I love it.
January 11th, 2012 at 11:14 pm
Lenovo i an innovated, Great company. Love Lenovo, Love Yoga.
January 11th, 2012 at 11:31 pm
amzing product, I hope I will not wait for long to try it.
January 12th, 2012 at 12:30 am
Fabulas!~ Amazing!~ wish could buy it soon
January 12th, 2012 at 12:34 am
I cant stand for getting it. When will it be published?
January 12th, 2012 at 1:30 am
Really exciting!
January 12th, 2012 at 1:46 am
Great product.
January 12th, 2012 at 2:16 am
very good
January 12th, 2012 at 3:13 am
very good
January 12th, 2012 at 3:57 am
Wonderful product !
January 12th, 2012 at 4:48 am
Amazing ! I BADLY WANT TO HAVE ONE !! xD
January 12th, 2012 at 5:20 am
Wonderful！I like it！
January 12th, 2012 at 8:34 am
AMAZING LIKE IT WISH I COULD GET ONE
January 12th, 2012 at 11:22 am
YOGA! Amazing!
January 12th, 2012 at 1:24 pm
Full of innnovation, very creative and coooooooool! A must have digital product.
January 12th, 2012 at 8:39 pm
How brilliant! That’s exactly what I need!
January 12th, 2012 at 8:58 pm
Yoga! I like! I hope I will not wait for long to try it.
January 12th, 2012 at 9:11 pm
“256GB CPU”. I don’t think you know what that word means.
January 14th, 2012 at 2:51 pm
IMHO – the best choise for enduser, doesn’t matter – for home or business purposes. Lenovo – ahead!
January 16th, 2012 at 7:59 am
amazing product
May 23rd, 2012 at 11:29 pm
…annnnnnnnnnnd it’s too expensive. Hopefully there will be lower-end models. This spring there will be 7″ models for Android that will be $250 or less and will have Tegra-3 processor.