The Lenovo Yoga 920 is follow-up to the implausible Yoga 910 and options USB-C ports, an improved webcam location, a greater keyboard and boosted battery life, whereas retaining the 360-degree hinge that is a trademark of the Yoga vary.

Nonetheless, 2017 has been an exemplary 12 months for convertible laptops, with gadgets such because the recently-released Microsoft Surface Book 2 actually pushing the boundaries of what we should always count on from the shape issue. 

Which means the Yoga 920 has its work reduce out if it is to essentially stand out from the gang. Can it succeed? Learn on to seek out out.

Value and availability

As with different 2-in-1 gadgets, the Lenovo Yoga 920 is available in a few totally different configurations. Fortunately Lenovo hasn’t gone overboard by providing a complicated array of choices.

The primary mannequin comes with an Intel Core i7-8550U processor, 512GB SSD, 8GB RAM, a 13.9-inch UHD touchscreen and an Energetic Pen stylus, and prices AED 6,699.

A second mannequin comes with the identical CPU as above, however options extra RAM at 16GB and a bigger 1TB SDD. This prices AED 7,699, although on the time of this evaluate it was listed at 8,398 on souq.com.

Whereas these are hefty sums to be parting with, they’re across the value we usually see high-end and premium laptops and ultrabooks promote for, they usually’re nonetheless a good bit cheaper than the Surface Book 2 (13.5-inch), the smaller model of Microsoft’s 2-in-1, which is akin to the Yoga 910 when it comes to dimension and energy. 

It is price noting that not one of the Lenovo 920 configurations include a devoted graphics card. As an alternative they arrive with much less highly effective built-in playing cards which might deal with most duties completely high quality, however will undergo with regards to gaming and video-editing.

General, although, we really feel the costs are good for the assorted Yoga 920 configurations, and whereas they’re definitely not low cost, these aren’t ludicrous asking costs for the standard of system you’re getting.

Design

If you’re paying a premium value you need a system that appears – and feels – premium as nicely, and Lenovo has carried out a superb job of that with the Yoga 920. It has a skinny but sturdy really feel to it, weighing 1.37kg and measuring simply 323 x 223.5 x 13.95mm.

This implies it has a pleasant heft, with out feeling heavy or cumbersome. It additionally has a metallic end which provides to the premium really feel, though after just a few hours of use the metallic grew to become a veritable haven for fingerprints, so you could wish to preserve a small fabric helpful to maintain it smudge-free.

It’s a small value to pay, nonetheless, for such a handsome 2-in-1. The hinges alongside the again of the Yoga 920 are additionally eye-catching – we’ve fluctuated between pondering they’re trendy and discovering them a bit gaudy. There’s no doubting the energy and construct high quality of the hinge although, which is crucial for a convertible laptop computer as that hinge is prone to see loads of motion as you flip the display orientation, so that you don’t need it to be a degree of failure.

Just like the hinge on the Floor Ebook 2, it’s sturdy sufficient to angle the display with out the physique tipping up, whereas the display stays held in place. In contrast to the Floor Ebook 2, nonetheless, the design of this hinge doesn’t stick out fairly as a lot, and, after all, it may possibly flip the display a full 180 levels.

2-in-1 convertibles that flip their screens to show right into a tablet-like system wrestle to offer fairly nearly as good a pill expertise as 2-in-1s on which the display detaches from the keyboard, as you’re nonetheless left with a barely cumbersome system with a again that seems like a keyboard (as a result of it’s one).

Lenovo has managed to handle a minimum of one in every of these factors due to the thinness of the design – even with the display flipped all the way in which again that is nonetheless a skinny system, although not fairly as slim as normal tablets. That keyboard again stays, and whereas it doesn’t really feel that good (in comparison with the graceful, flat again of a traditional pill), it is a minimum of intelligent sufficient to show off the buttons, in order that they don’t intervene when in pill mode.

Due to this we’d suggest the Yoga 920 as a laptop computer that may often flip right into a pill, slightly than vice versa. If you happen to’re searching for one thing that you simply’ll use principally as a pill, however need it to additionally flip right into a laptop-like system for typing on, we’d suggest one thing just like the Floor Ebook 2, or maybe a pill that comes with a bodily Bluetooth keyboard.

The bezel across the display is affordable skinny apart from the underside the place it does look a bit chunky. On the Yoga 910 the webcam was housed within the backside bezel, which led to some unflattering photographs, and on the whole folks weren’t too pleased with that placement. Fortunately Lenovo has moved it to the highest of the display with out making the highest bezel any bigger.

Given the thinness of the design, it’s in all probability no shock that ports-wise there aren’t an enormous variety of connectivity choices. On the left-hand facet there’s a headphone/mic jack and two USB-C ports (one in every of which can be used as the ability provide), and on the correct is a full-size USB three.zero port. This isn’t essentially the most beneficiant providing, however it’s greater than the MacBook’s single USB-C port.

To be sincere, we did not discover the variety of ports restrictive, and it’s an affordable trade-off for the svelte design. When you’ve got numerous USB gadgets that you simply wish to connect you’ll want an adapter, although the Yoga 920 additionally has built-in Bluetooth assist.

The truth that it nonetheless options one full-size USB port means there’s some flexibility right here for utilizing legacy gadgets, in addition to reminiscence sticks.

Stylus professionals and cons

One factor we complained about with the Floor Ebook 2 gadgets was that regardless of their excessive costs the Floor Pen stylus wasn’t included, necessitating an additional outlay on high of an already costly buy.

Fortunately Lenovo hasn’t adopted go well with, and has included its Energetic Pen stylus as a part of the package deal. This battery-powered stylus has a pleasant design, and the Yoga 920 responds nicely to it due to its display with the ability to detect four,096 ranges of strain. Mild presses and laborious presses have been registered precisely within the artwork apps we tried, and the 920 saved up with even essentially the most frantic scribbles.

In contrast to the Floor Pen, which has a nifty function the place you need to use the opposite finish of the stylus as an eraser, you might want to maintain down one (of two) buttons on the stylus to interact erase mode. General, although, we have been happy with the Energetic Pen, and we’re more than happy that Lenovo noticed match to incorporate it with the Yoga 920 as normal.

Nonetheless, it isn’t all excellent news. Lenovo needed to discover a strategy to simply retailer the stylus inside such a slim design. Microsoft’s answer with the Floor Pen and its Floor gadgets is to magnetically connect the stylus to the physique of the principle system; it is a good function that’s helpful, although not utterly safe, and it helps to provide these gadgets a premium really feel.

Nonetheless, for the Yoga 920 Lenovo has selected a plastic holder that slots into the full-size USB port and holds the stylus there. This finally ends up feeling a bit low cost and cheesy, and it additionally means you’re shedding entry to a USB port when you’re utilizing it. It’s a disgrace, as so many different parts of the Yoga 920’s design really feel premium, and this simply seems like a fudge.