What a difference a year can make. Now that Intel's Skylake processors are widely available, desktop, tablets, and hybrid convertibles are all being refreshed with the latest hardware. Lenovo, for example, recently introduced its
Yoga 900. Though the nomenclature has changed a bit, this machine is effectively a revised
Yoga 3 Pro. The unique watchband hinge should all but give it away; it's the token feature on a potent, high-powered machine that acts first and foremost as a laptop, and secondarily as a slate.
That's something we've also seen recently from Microsoft with its
Surface Book and a few other machines. Rather than crafting a tablet and hoping that it could take the place of someone's laptop, machines such as these hope to accomplish the same thing in a more "laptop first" approach. In essence, the Yoga 900 can replace two devices: a laptop and a tablet. But, rather than marketing it as a beefed-up tablet that can also replace a laptop, it's a highly portable laptop that removes the need to also spring for a tablet. Different message, same result.
The other defining component of
the Yoga 900 lies within the system. Intel's 6th Generation Skylake Core processors are available in the Yoga 900, which provide better performance than the Core M chips that were commonly found in ultra thin machines in the past twelve months. And Skylake is a huge upgrade. We were able to give this machine a
quick spin earlier in the month, and now we're anxious to put it through a more lengthy set of tests. First up, let's look at the specs...
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Lenovo Yoga 900 |
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Specifications & Features
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| Processor |
Up to 6th Gen. Intel Core i7 (i7-6500U and i5-6200U) |
| Operating System |
Windows 10 Home |
| Display |
QHD+ (3200x1800) IPS with 10-point Multitouch (300 NIT) |
| Video Graphics |
Intel HD graphics |
| Storage |
Up to 512GB SSD (256 and 512 GB) |
| Memory |
Up to 16GB LP-DDR3 (8GB and 16GB) |
| Audio Support |
JBL stereo speakers with Dolby Home Theater certification |
| Camera |
720p |
| Integrated Communications |
Intel 802.11 A/C 2x2 |
| System Weight |
2.84 lbs. (1.29 kg.) |
| System Dimension |
324 x 225 x 14.9 mm / 12.75" x 8.86" x 0.59" inches |
| Li-Ion Battery Life |
66Whr (Up to 9 hours of local video playback*) |
| Slots/Ports |
2 x USB Type A 3.0, 1 x USB Type C 3.0 w/ video out, 1 x DC-in with USB 2.0 function, 4-in-1 card reader (SD, MMC, SDXC, SDHC), Audio Combo Jack |
| Price: |
$1400, as configured and tested |
The Yoga 900 starts at $1,099, which is quite reasonable in our opinion considering that hardware that inside. Even that baseline model ships with a 256GB SSD, 8GB of DDR3L memory, Windows 10 Home (64-bit), and Intel's 6th Generation Core i7-6500U processor. The model we received for testing has a larger SSD and a QHD+ screen, which is very nice.
