Lenovo’s Yoga series established the convertible as a desirable form factor for a laptop. The versatile design, which allows the device to be used in either tent, stand, laptop or tablet mode is now available in an ultra-thin chassis as the Yoga 900S. The laptop has a stunning display, a full QWERTY keyboard and a unique watchband hinge holding the two together.

Debut @ CES

We got our hands on the device at the recently concluded CES electronics tradeshow in Las Vegas and came away mightily impressed. The MacBook Air has been the gold standard for premium ultraportable laptops for many years now thanks to its sleek design and build quality. The Yoga 900S, which is powered by Intel’s Core m line of processors, can’t quite keep up with the Apple’s performance but it makes up for it with its touchscreen tablet capabilities. Not to mention the uniqueness of the design – a selling point normally reserved for Cupertino’s finest.

Build & Performance

The Yoga 900S that we played with had a 12.5-inch, 2,560-by-1,440 Quad-HD display powered by a Core m7 paired with 8 GB of RAM and 512 GB of flash storage. This is the best possible configuration, which adds a significant premium to the base price. Rated battery capacity is about ten and a half hours.

These innards are packed into a carbon fibre hull that feels sturdy and well put together. The display is beautiful and touch is responsive. It supports the Active Pen technology for sketching and note taking, which Lenovo sells separately.

The keyboard on the 900S is full sized, replete with all the standard keys, but travel is greatly reduced due to the slim design. The trackpad also supports old-fashioned clicking for those who can’t shake off old habits. The deck around the trackpad has a soft texture that feels great to the touch.

And the device packs three USB ports, including one of the USB-C variety, which can be used to charge it. All of this adds up to a package that weighs in at slightly less than a kilogram, making it the perfect device for frequent travelers who prefer to pack light.

Bottom Line

The Yoga 900S doesn’t have the performance of a laptop with Intel’s full powered ‘Core i’ processors. But if the buzz around the 900S at CES is any indicator, a lot of people are perfectly willing to trade in that extra bit of performance for a design that could finally bridge the gap between tablet and laptop while making as few compromises as possible.

The Yoga 900S is expected to be available in India in a few months. It is priced at a little more than $1000 in the United States, which works out to about ₹ 70,000.

Expect taxes and duties to inflate that figure closer to the 1-lakh mark when it hits the Indian market.

Price: ₹1 lakh (estimated)

Love: Slim design, battery life

Hate: Could get pricey, lower processor power

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