Hands-on: Lenovo’s foldable W8 ultrabook with ips touchscreen
Lenovo showed a product at CES that we can expect when Windows 8 is on the market. The Yoga is an ultrabook with a 13.3″ IPS touchscreen that can be folded all the way back thanks to special hinges.
Windows 8’s Metro interface for touchscreens, combined with Intel’s ultrabook concept, is expected to create a new product category: a cross between thin, rugged laptops and tablets. Intel itself already showed a number of concepts at CES, but Lenovo showed that it had thought carefully about the possibilities.
At first glance, the Yoga looks like a nice, thin ultrabook with a large touchpad and flat keyboard. The glossy screen is equipped with a glass plate and it gives a surprisingly good image. It turns out to be an IPS panel and the viewing angles and color reproduction are therefore excellent. The resolution of 1600×900 pixels on a 13.3″ screen also makes the Yoga pleasant to work with.
The screen is also very flat. The advantage is that the Yoga is still very thin when closed: 16.9 mm. Lenovo will equip the convertible with a maximum of 8GB of memory and a 256GB SSD. Compared to the current generation of tablets, the device is still large and relatively heavy, 1.47 kilos, but compared to the convertible tablet PCs we’ve seen so far, it’s a big improvement. Lenovo’s concept could register ten finger touches at once, providing the necessary capabilities for gaming, drawing and multi-touch gestures on Windows 8.
What has also been improved compared to the current convertibles is the mechanism for switching from laptop mode to tablet mode. The pivot points in the middle, to rotate and tilt the screen, often felt vulnerable and clumsy, while the tiltable screen of the Dell Inspiron Duo, for example, also has its drawbacks. With the hinges of the Yoga, the screen can be folded completely. The hinges work properly and feel sturdy, although it’s questionable how long they’ll last. According to Lenovo, they should have a lifespan of at least 30,000 full flips.
The disadvantage is that when the touch ultrabook is on the table in tablet mode, the device rests on the keyboard. Lenovo claims that the keys are extra sturdy and that the letters, for example, do not wear out, but it is clear that the keyboard is vulnerable in this way. The touchscreen can also be rotated in half, so that it can be used upright. Hopefully, over time, the hinges won’t become so weak that the screen falls back. The concept model did not yet support rotation of the Metro interface, but this should be added, both automatically and with a hardware button. Finally, the Yoga can be used in ‘tent position’, where it stands on the sides of the body and the screen. A raised edge must then protect the interfaces.
Lenovo has created an interesting and extremely workable combination between an ultrabook and a tablet. Compared to all swivels, convertibles and other hybrids that we will definitely see from the end of this year, this seems like an elegant solution.