The Lenovo Yoga 900 is like a Transformer wearing an Armani suit and a Rolex. This superthin premium convertible ( $1, 199 to start, $1, 399 as reviewed) features a slick, understated design on the outside and a pixel-packed quad-HD+ 13.3-inch screen and a powerful 6th-gen Intel CPU on the inside. Lenovo’s innovative watchband hinge holds the whole package together, making it easy to switch among multiple modes. Other laptop-tablet hybrids last longer on a charge, but the Yoga 900 is easily one of the best 2-in-1s money can buy.
Specs
CPU 2.5 GHz Intel Core i7-6500U
Operating System Windows 10
RAM 16GB
Hard Drive Size 512GB
Hard Drive Type SSD Drive
Display Size 13.3
Native Resolution 3200 x 1800
Optical Drive None
Graphics Card Intel HD Graphics 520
Video Memory Shared
Wi-Fi 802.11ac
Wi-Fi Model WiFi 2 x 2 802.11 a/c, Bluetooth 4.0
Bluetooth Bluetooth 4.0
Touchpad Size 3.5 x 2.5
Ports ( excluding USB) USB-C
Ports ( excluding USB) Headphone/Mic
Ports ( excluding USB) USB 2.0
Ports ( excluding USB) USB 3.0
USB Ports 4
Card Slots SD memory reader
Warranty/Support standard one-year warranty
Size 12.75 x 8.86 x 0.59
Weight 2.8 pounds
Design
The Lenovo Yoga 900 is a vision of 2-in-1 sleekness. Never mind that it’s a tenth of an inch thicker than last year’s Yoga 3 Pro; the 900 features lovely magnesium panels on the top and bottom, and a new luxurious, faux-leather plastic on its deck and palm rest. But as with its predecessor, the standout feature is the sparkling watchband hinge that’s made of 813 individual pieces, ensuring the screen is always secure no matter what mode the 2-in-1 is in.
A closer look at the base of the hinge reveals some clever cooling vents that help keep temps down in this superthin hybrid, and new for this year is the Lenovo’s ability to match the hinge’s paint with whichever color you choose for the system ( options include clementine orange, champagne gold or platinum silver) .
At 12.75 x 8.86 x 0.59 inches and 2.8 pounds, the Yoga 900 is ever-so-slightly smaller, and noticeably lighter, than other 13-inch convertibles, including the HP Spectre x360 ( 12.79 x 8.6 x 0.6 inches and 3.26 pounds) , the Dell Inspiron 13 7000 SE ( 13 x 8.7 x 0.75 inches and 3.63 pounds) and Microsoft’s Surface Book ( 12.30 x 9.14 x 0.51-0.9 inches and 3.34 pounds) . Even the 13-inch MacBook Air, which is often thought of as the leading thin-and-light laptop design, is a touch larger and heavier, at 12.8 x 8.9 x 0.11-0.68 inches and 2.96 pounds, and it’s not even a convertible.
Keyboard and Touchpad
Like most Lenovo laptops, the Yoga 900 features the company’s scallop-shaped keys, along with two levels of backlighting. The 900 retains the frustrating half-size right Shift key from last year’s Yoga 3 Pro, but to help make amends, this year’s flagship hybrid has a new set of slim Function keys above the number row. These keys give you dedicated buttons for controlling things such as brightness and audio. ( The Yoga 900 lacks a volume rocker, which some other 2-in-1s do have.) Just be careful about accidentally hitting the Close Window button that doubles as the F4 key.
The keys have a short travel distance of just 1.1 millimeters, but the relatively springy response and 58-gram actuation weight help combat any sense of deadness when bottoming out. This allowed me to hit 81 words per minute on my first run through 10fastfingers.com’s typing test, which is actually slightly higher than my typical 75- to 80-wpm range. Users with sensitive wrists will find that the soft-touch deck makes their hands feel more comfortable while typing.
The one-piece touchpad measures 3.5 x 2.5 inches and features a soft-touch finish across its top. Using two fingers to scroll through Web pages was supersmooth, and the system never confused left or right mouse clicks during normal use ( unlike the Surface Book) . Ideally, Lenovo would have made the touchpad a little wider, because a little more mousing real estate would have been nice, and the silky coating is so seductive I just want more of it to touch.
Display
Featuring a pixel-dense 3200 x 1800 13.3-inch display, the Yoga 900’s screen is supersharp and does a wonderful job of showcasing photos and movies, no matter which mode it’s in. Images remained bright and colorful even at very wide angles. When I watched the trailer for Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight, the rich, goldenrod lapels on Samuel L Jackson’s jacket provided a great contrast to his dark winter coat.
The biggest weakness of the Yoga 900’s display is its brightness, which is slightly below average. We measured the Lenovo at 284 nits, which makes the Surface Book and the HP Spectre x360 13 significantly brighter, at 387 nits and 339 nits, respectively. The Dell Inspiron 13 7000 was only slighter more luminous, at 316 nits.
The Yoga 900’s color range was a tad short of covering the entire sRGB color spectrum, scoring 93.2 percent. That puts it ahead of the Dell Inspiron 13 7000 ( 88.6) , but behind the Spectre x360 ( 103.2 percent) and the Surface Book ( 98.5 percent) .
The Yoga 900’s color accuracy was similarly strong, but not at the head of the pack - it earned a Delta-E rating of 2.77 ( closer to 0 is better) . The Surface Book scored a superb 0.57, while the Dell Inspiron and the Spectre x360 were also better, at 1.16 and 1.25, respectively.
Audio
The Yoga 900’s stereo JBL speakers are positioned behind two grilles and feature Dolby DS 10.0 Home Theater Certification. Unfortunately, even after playing around with the included Dolby Audio app, I found the bass was lacking. However, when I listened to Drake’s Hotline Bling, I liked the crisp sound of the staccato percussion and richness in the mids and vocals.
Performance
Featuring an Intel Core i7-6500U CPU, 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD, our review configuration of the Yoga 900 is more than capable of handling the needs of a demanding home or business user. With multiple video streams, more than 20 browser tabs and Photoshop open in the background, Lenovo’s well-equipped hybrid didn’t miss a beat.
When we used the 512GB SSD to duplicate 4.97GB of mixed media files, the Yoga 900 finished in 28 seconds, for a transfer rate of 181.76 MBps. Once again, that’s fast enough to beat the Spectre x360 ( 141.4 MBps) , the Inspiron 13 7000 ( 127.23 MBps) and the ultraportable average ( 154 MBps) , but slower than the Surface Book’s superfast 318 MBps SSD.
Graphics
The Yoga 900 is far from being a gaming machine, but with its Intel HD Graphics 520, it’s still possible to enjoy a game or two. Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft ran like a dream at max resolution and medium settings. World of Warcraft ran at a not-too-shabby 49 frames per second on auto settings and 1920 x 1080 pixels. Dell’s Inspiron 13 7000 and HP’s Spectre x360 managed just 27 fps and 26 fps, respectively, at the same settings, although the Surface Book with integrated graphics wasn’t too far behind, at 43 fps.
In 3DMark’s Fire Strike graphics test, the Yoga 900 scored 840. That’s ahead of the 710 from the HP Spectre x360 and the 630 from the Dell Inspiron 13 7000, but slightly behind the 854 from the Surface Book with integrated Intel graphics. The ultraportable average is a good deal behind, at 665.
Battery Life
With a runtime of 7 hours and 57 minutes, the Yoga 900’s battery life is just shy of the ultraportable laptop average ( 8: 07) and almost 2 hours longer than last year’s Yoga 3 Pro ( 6: 05) . Unfortunately, 7: 57 is still short of times put up by similar 13-inch convertibles, such as the HP Spectre x360 ( 9: 28) and the Dell Inspiron 13 7000 SE ( 8: 26) . And let’s not forget the Surface Book - Microsoft’s premium laptop managed an impressive runtime of 12: 29.