With universities shut down for the winter break, I asked a college instructor friend if he would be willing to swap 2-in-1 portables for a couple of days.My machine is a Microsoft Surface Book. with the optional NVidia graphics processors, his is a brand new Lenovo Yoga 900. I’ve been anxious to test the yoga 900 since they became widely available through retail late last month. I like the Lenovo’s yoga 900 $1,199 basic configuration: An 2.5 GHz Intel Core i5 processor a 256GB SSD, 13.3- inch screen, 8GB of RAM in a rugged 2.8 pound package.
Yoga may have the best port expansion of any Windows 1, 2-in-1 portable.it has two USB Type A sockets, One USB Type C for video out, one USB 2.0 DC Power socket plus a card reader and audio combo jack I believe that,along with battery life, screen resolution is critical to the usability of any 2-in-1 hybrid notebook. the yoga’s QHD 3.200 by 1,800 pixel screen delivers bright colorful displays that can be viewed easily from different angles. I honestly prefer the Microsoft Surface Book’s 3,200 by 2,000 pixel screen which is a better fit for me when I use topographic or aerial maps as I trek through historic sites in CA’s Gold Country, or the gold fields in the Angeles National Forest here in Southern California. Battery life is very good,I routinely used the yogga 900 for about 8.5 hours between charges. Yoga’s battery life is one of its biggest selling points. In tablet mode,I had more than enough battery life to watch extended feature length movies, compared to about 3 hours of battery life for my Surface book in tablet mode. The yoga 900’s fit and finish is top shelf. to use Yoda in it tablet mode, you fold the screen over the system case. I have no concerns about the hinge used on this device, it’s very sturdy and smoothly transitions the screen from notebook to tablet mode. The compact case of this portable is very rugged.
i’ve always like Lenovo’s keyboards and was a first hand witness around 1995 through 2001 into how much research and usability testing this company puts into keyboard design.Yoga 900’s keyboard is slightly different than ones used on the company’s ThinkPad and other lines. It’s keys have a layer on their tops. Although I made numerous typos on this notebook, i’m handicapped and blame myself for the errors, not the Yoga’s keyboard. With pricing of $1,199, Yoga 900 costs half as much as a comparably configured Microsoft Surface book. The newest member of Lenovo’s Yoga family is built like a tank, has exceptional performance and is versatile enough to rise to any of the challenges 2-in-1 portables face in corporate deployment, academia or specialized uses away from office settings.--Jim Forbes on 1/25/2015
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