Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 13 Ultrabook Review

We kicked off benchmarking with SiSoftware SANDRA 2012, PCMark 7, and Cinebench, which provide a look at how the system’s individual components perform as well as how the ultrabook as a whole handles everyday work and multimedia tasks. We compared the Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 13’s scores to similar systems we have tested recently, keeping in mind each system is likely to have different software and low level hardware configurations. We test each system we review in the condition it arrives in from the manufacturer, though we disable security software and sleep settings so they won’t affect the benchmarks.

SiSoft SANDRA Synthetic Benchmarks: CPU & RAM

SiSoftware SANDRA 2012 lets us take a look at the way particular components perform. We ran benchmarks that test the system’s processing power, memory, and storage performance. SANDRA 2012 is the latest version of this benchmark and it is compatible with Windows 8. Each SANDRA benchmark compares the system being tested (the red bar in each graph) to comparable systems.

 

SANDRA Processor Arithmetic and Multimedia Performance

SANDRA Memory Bandwidth Performance

As you can see, the Core i5-3317U in the IdeaPad Yoga 13 earned a mid-range score in comparison to other reference systems in the Processor Arithmetic test. The Processor Multi-Media test wasn't quite as kind to the IdeaPad Yoga 13, but the system still achieved a respectable score. We see more of the same in the Memory Bandwidth test: the IdeaPad Yoga 13 wasn't a chart-topper, but it still achieved a decent performance with 10.5GB/sec aggregate bandwidth.

PCMark 7 General Application and Multimedia Performance

Futuremark’s PCMark 7 is a well-known benchmark tool that runs the system through ordinary tasks, including word processing and multimedia playback and editing. Graphics and processor power figure prominently in this benchmark, but graphics power doesn’t play as big a role here as it does in another Futuremark benchmark, 3DMark (which is designed for testing the system’s gaming capabilities).

 

The IdeaPad Yoga 13 scored exceptionally well in the PCMark 7 test, outscoring all other systems by a decent margin. Part of the IdeaPad Yoga 13's success may be attributed to the system's 128GB SSD though the Core i5-3317U definitely deserves some credit, too. That SSD (along with changes brought with Windows 8) is also why the machine boots as fast as it does as well.

Cinebench R11.5 64-bit 3D Rendering Performance on the CPU

Next, we ran Cinema 4D’s content creation benchmark, Cinebench. This benchmark generates a complex image in the CPU test. The GPU test includes a chase scene involving two cars. The CPU test is measured in points, while the GPU test results are the chase scene’s frames-per-second.

 

In both tests, the IdeaPad Yoga 13 earned a mid-range score. Interestingly enough, the IdeaPad Yoga 13 comes in just a bit behind the Lenovo IdeaPad U310 which features the same Core i5-3317U processor and integrated Intel HD 4000 graphics.