It’s been a while since I reviewed my last notebook, and now my Sony VAIO is slowly dying. It takes forever to startup sometimes. Basic internet surfing pauses frequently. Black spots have started to appear on my display. It’s time for a replacement, but like last time, it’s so hard to find the perfect one.
I really wanted to love the 2016 Apple Macbook. It was a top contender. But it’s relatively expensive. And there’s no touchscreen. And minimal connectivity.
I also liked the Microsoft Surface Pro 4. The base model was in my price range and the display is beautiful, the best one I’ve seen in this class. I just wasn’t completely sold on the kickstand and typecover arrangement.
The new HP Chromebook 13 is a relative bargain. The Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Tablet also looks very interesting. Neither of these was available when I was buying. So what’s the ideal portable for this blogger, to be used mostly for home office applications, internet publishing and surfing the web?
I had a few requirements:
- Fanless. For quiet rooms or when wife is asleep.
- Laptop. Actually comfortable on a lap when needed.
- Backlit keyboard and/or touchscreen to work in low light.
- Lightweight and portable.
Just these requirements weed out a huge number of systems. Finding one with enough power to avoid slowdowns was tougher, as this eliminated most older and lower priced models like the Surface 3. My VAIO lacks this power, lacks a backlit keyboard, lacks a touchscreen and has a quiet but audible fan. It’s a 13.1″ notebook that weighs about 3 pounds, and that is about the limit I would accept for its replacement. Finding something that checks all the boxes isn’t easy.
Thanks to the miracle of other bloggers, I happened upon the Lenovo Yoga 900S-12ISK. It not only met my requirements, but had a few bonuses, too:
- Just 1/2″ thick, only 2.2 pounds
- 12.5″ QHD Touchscreen (2560×1440)
- 2-level backlit keyboard
- Looks sharp!
- Digitizer pen compatible.
- Intel mobile Skylake CPU + PCIE SSD drive
- Very long battery life for office productivity
- Not too difficult to replace battery or SSD
- USB 3.0 Type-A and Type-C with video connectors that can be used while charging via USB 2.0 charge port
- Perhaps best of all, it’s very flexible: Laptop, stand, tent or tablet mode
On paper, it seemed like a no-brainer. It was more powerful than the entry level Macbook or Surface Pro 4. MSRP is $1299 for the Intel Core m7 Yoga 900S with 8GB RAM and 256GB SSD. That’s $300 less than the Macbook with Core m5, 8GB RAM and 512GB SSD. Unlike Macbooks, the Yoga 900s is often on sale at the Lenovo website for $100 off and I had a 15% email code offer, making it only a little more expensive than the much lower powered fanless Surface Pro 4 (Core m3, 4GB RAM, 128GB SSD) with optional typepad cover. Battery life is claimed to be over 10 hours. In limited use, I find it to be only slightly lower than that, usually 8-10 hours for home office use such as Microsoft Office, YouTube, surfing and blogging.
So great in theory, but how is a retail version in real life? Not a lot if info out there about this new machine when I was buying, so I put some comments and benchmarks into a video:
It was hard to find major drawbacks on paper, but it does lack a few conveniences. There is no SD or MicroSD card slot, but of course you can use a USB to SD adapter. It has a 720p webcam, but because of the clamshell design there is no outside camera/flash like you might find on a true tablet. For those looking for a business class machine, this model lacks Windows 10 Pro, vPro, TPM, fingerprint detection and other business features. The USB-C port does not appear to be ThunderBolt 3 enabled, a shame for a new Skylake design. Finally, you’ll need a USB-C adapter to drive large screen that has VGA, HDMI or DisplayPort.
Some owners posted usability concerns in the Lenovo forums. For example, keyboard is small, flat and has an unusual layout, especially in regard to the right shift key. The keyboard key travel is also shallower than larger notebooks, but similar to other ultra-thin portables. Some comment that the display is not as bright or vibrant as top competitors. Others find the trackpad software is quirky. The biggest drawback to me seemed to be that even though the 900s has been available from Lenovo for some time, none of the biggest computer websites have a review yet, other than previews from January at CES. It would have been nice to see some test results and more expert commentary at the major technology review websites.
I have a couple more weeks to make up my mind, but so far I think it’s a keeper!
So strange that there are still no reviews out by big sites!!! Makes you a little suspicious….
So do you like the keyboard any better after a week? How about fan noise?
I thought in Best Buy that this screen was just as good as the Surface 4, but that was just in the store. Main reason I’d consider this over the 900: this supports Active Pen. Hope you get one, and can try it! (there are a couple on Amazon, but one is better than the other apparently.) Really important for drawing.
This model has no fan, which is great. No noise at all. The keyboard is OK. I don’t use right shift, so that’s not an issue for me as it would be for some. I miss keys a little more than my last notebook, but not too bad for what I do.
I never had the Surface Pro 4 and Yoga 900S side-by-side, so I based that comment on memory. The Surface Pro 4 display put all the other lightweight 12-13″ ultrabooks at Best Buy and Microcenter to shame in my opinion. The 900S wasn’t in stores when I was comparing, but good to hear it is at Best Buy now, too.
I’m not sure if I’d use the pen at all, so I may not buy it, sorry!
Thanks, Darren.
I should clarify – it was only the 900 in BB when I was there, but I was very impressed. (although I think that’s bigger than the Surface 4, so…)
However, I see BB has the s now, but it’s not in stock! I’ll have to go see if they have a sample in the store.
great!
Thank you so much for the review! Im looking to replace an older Macbook and very frustrated with Apple removing features and rasing prices.
Thank you for the quick review, it is surprising that it has been out for a couple months and there is not much out there. I am really interested in getting this for school, but was a little nervous about the m7. How does is handle multitasking? Normally I’ll have a VPN running, several tabs open on Chrome, TeamViewer open, and uploading some movies. Have you notice any noticeable slowdown with the m7 vs an i5? Thanks.
Hi Darren, I think I got your questions on Youtube, but if I didn’t address something, feel free to ask.
One thing to add after another week. Battery life is usually around 8 hours plus or minus, with screen at 2/3 brightness. At max brightness, it seems closer to 6 hours. At half brightness, closer to 10.
No other problems so far. The keyboard really is the only drawback, but it’s not all that bad for me with my typing style. The light, thin design with the superb hinge is sturdy and frankly, pretty amazing. My only other complaint is that the resolution of the screen is perhaps too high. I can compensate with large text and zoom in Chrome, but stuff is still pretty tiny. I don’t think I’d return it for this, but I can see the value in opting for the FHD version for light office use.
Thanks for posting this interesting review & video as I’m considering the Lenovo 900S in the same configuration+silver color ( http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/yoga/900-series/yoga-900s ) Vs HP’s EliteBook Folio G1 at http://store.hp.com/us/en/mdp/business-solutions/elitebook-folio-356501–1 .
After your review however I may be leaning more toward HP’s EliteBook Folio G1 (although it only does a 180 vs near 360 degree rotation) because it’s available in not just a photo friendly 4K 400 nits display but a 1080p FHD touchscreen (more scale appropriate at this 12.5″), an aluminum construction, point of sale 512 GB SSD (only the 256GB SSD is PCI however-also a different 256 GB self encrypting SSD option) choice of installed WinPro & security features like BIOS protect. This HP’s EliteBook Folio G1 is however more expensive so I’m curious about this Lenovo 900S (I’ve only seen in person the Lenovo 900 in BestBuy which was surprisingly thin but questionable materials-colors, 900S seems to have more stylish color design but plastic materials are likely not as premium feeling in the hands).
Lenovo really should offer a 1080p option with 8GB RAM but they don’t only with 4GB RAM, 8GB RAM is a minimum for me, I’m also considering HP’s Spectre x360 because it offers 16GB RAM but it’s not fanless & once you own-use a fanless system full time (like SSD-I have a customized 13.3″ HP Split x2 with the at the time 4GB RAM max & 11.6″ HP Envy x2 with the at the time 2GB RAM max) it’s hard to go back. I recently bought my dad http://www.amazon.com/HP-Pavilion-13-s128nr-13-3-Inch-Full-HD/dp/B014X4UAUI which is a great value but the convertible is not fanless so ideally I’d rather not use such a system full time (it also could be brighter as my full time systems tend to be ~400 nits even if I turn brightness down often). While I like 360 degree hinge options, I found myself mostly wanting to use 180 degrees when I’m not detaching my screens entirely from their normal sized keyboard bases (trend now seems to be 360 degree hinges on thinnest possible models over detachable screens with pc components inside which I’d prefer or frankly both a 180-360 hinge+detachability would offer the most options but obviously could not be as thin).
Refurbished detachable screen models are available on Amazon like my 13.3″ HP Split x2 at http://www.amazon.com/HP-Split-13-g210dx-Blluetooth-Refurbished/dp/B00N26UO6E although I have the HP.com upgraded FHD 1080p 300-400 nits brighter display option with AC wireless or more recent thicker screened 13.3 x2 model at http://www.amazon.com/HP-ENVY-x2-13-j002dx-Touchscreen/dp/B00RAEI1IW with 8GB RAM & 256 GB SSD if older CPU refurbished models aren’t dealbreakers.
So how are you liking the Lenovo 900S so far & what do you think of the screen brightness, speaker quality, typing experience, do you think the plastic construction materials will hold up?
Had you considered the HP’s EliteBook Folio G1 at http://store.hp.com/us/en/mdp/business-solutions/elitebook-folio-356501–1 ?
https://www.youtube.com/results?q=HP+Folio+G1
Vs.
https://www.youtube.com/results?q=Lenovo+900s
I did consider the EliteBook Folio. I decided to try the Yoga since I got a much better price. I am really liking everything about the 900S so far, except that the keyboard is not as accurate as I would like. If I was doing a lot of word processing exclusively from the 900S, it would be a problem. Since I mostly only use it on the go, the Yoga flexibility does come in handy. Durability seems fine, but as you say, it doesn’t have a metal feel, but seems sturdy enough otherwise. The brightness is fine, but likely not as bright as some others. The speakers aren’t great, but no worse than anything else I’ve seen at this size.