Lenovo Yoga Tab 3 8 Review: A Budget-Friendly Android Slate

Name: Lenovo Yoga Tab 3
Brand: Lenovo

by Joshua Gulick — Tuesday, October 27, 2015, 10:55 AM EDT

Lenovo designed the Yoga Tab 3 8 for entertainment consumption, but is clearly better suited to video streaming versus gaming. As we saw in our system tests, the tablet’s graphics hardware isn’t going to crush today’s games the way better-equipped tablets might. Still, it’s a given that the tablet you buy for streaming Netflix and thumbing through your photos is also the tablet you’re going to occasionally game with, so we checked out the Yoga Tab 3 8’s graphics capabilities as well.

GFXBench and 3DMark Ice Storm

Android Gaming Benchmarks

GFXBench has an array of tests, including two that we particularly like, because they run off-screen, rendering V-Sync and resolution differences moot. We also like that it is a cross-platform benchmark.

The Lenovo Yoga Tab 3 8 couldn’t keep up with systems that sported higher performing GPUs, understandably, but we were disappointed to see just how far it trailed the pack.

Futuremark’s 3DMark benchmark suite is probably one of the best-known performance tests on the market. The cross-platform app breaks its tests down by system type, and includes a test called Ice Storm for mobile devices. We use the Ice Storm Unlimited version, which ensures V-Sync and resolution differences don’t affect the scores.

The Yoga Tab 3 8 handled 3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited a little better, but it’s clearly not cut out for serious graphics workloads. Of course, at this price range, you’re not expecting it to offer particularly strong graphics performance, either.

Tags: Lenovo, Dolby, Qualcomm, tablet, Yoga, Adreno

Joshua Gulick

Josh cut his teeth (and hands) on his first PC upgrade in 2000 and was instantly hooked on all things tech. He took a degree in English and tech writing with him to Computer Power User Magazine and spent years reviewing high-end workstations and gaming systems, processors, motherboards, memory and video cards. His enthusiasm for PC hardware also made him a natural fit for covering the burgeoning modding community, and he wrote CPU’s “Mad Reader Mod” cover stories from the series’ inception until becoming the publication editor for Smart Computing Magazine. A few years ago, he returned to his first love, reviewing smoking-hot PCs and components, for HotHardware. When he’s not agonizing over benchmark scores, Josh is either running (very slowly) or spending time with family.