Lenovo X1 Yoga 2nd Gen Pen

The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga starts at $1,682.10, and is priced at $1,838.99 with a few upgrades like an Intel Core i5-7300U processor and Windows 10 Pro. It's a convertible-hybrid laptop built with carbon fiber, which passes a dozen MIL-STD 810G durability tests. Its multimode hinge gives you unfettered access to the 14-inch touch screen, making it a good choice if you need to give frequent presentations from your laptop to small groups. In addition, it comes with two USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 ports as well as traditional USB 3.0 and HDMI jacks, so it's future proofed without leaving legacy peripherals behind. It's a bit large for a 2-in-1 laptop, but consider it if you need a traditional laptop most of the time, and a part-time touch-screen-optimized PC.

Looks Like a ThinkPad

The X1 Yoga ($1,495.50 at Lenovo) has Lenovo's familiar soft-touch dark-gray finish, which tends to pick up fingerprints easily. You'll need to keep a terry or microfiber cloth handy to wipe finger oils off the exterior and the screen. It's a very corporate look compared with the bright-silver HP EliteBook x360 1030 G2, our latest top pick for business convertibles. The laptop measures 0.69 by 13.1 by 9.0 and weighs 3.09 pounds. It should fit comfortably in a standard laptop case and is light enough to carry around from meeting to meeting. It's larger in every dimension and heavier than the EliteBook x360, but we can attribute that to its larger screen. Last year's lighter ThinkPad X1 Yoga was slightly thicker, but with the same length and width.

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As a 2-in-1 convertible laptop, the ThinkPad X1 Yoga's screen can pivot 360 degrees on its dual hinges, allowing you to use the touch screen in four modes. In addition to Laptop mode, there's Stand mode (which has the screen facing you, and the keyboard facing the table), Tablet mode (in which you fold the keyboard a full 360 degrees away, with the screen facing you), and Tent mode (which has the hinge pointing upward, and the screen angled toward you). One innovation that other convertibles can't match is the X1 Yoga's retractable backlit keyboard, an improvement over the last generation X1 Yoga. The keys retract into the keyboard deck after you tilt the screen beyond 190 degrees, so you can't catch the caps on things and pull them out inadvertently. It also gives your hand a flat surface to grip when the system is in Tablet mode.

The keyboard is every bit as comfortable as we'd expect from a ThinkPad. It's a bit softer than the one on the ThinkPad T470, but the scalloped key caps help keep your fingers comfortable and on track during marathon typing sessions. In contrast, the keyboards on the Apple MacBook Pro 13-inch and Microsoft Surface Book are much less relaxing to type on. The keys are also full size, thanks to the system's relatively large chassis. Contrast this with the 12.5-inch Dell Latitude 5289 2-in-1, which uses a smaller-than-standard keyboard to save space. A TrackPoint pointing stick supplements the responsive one-piece touchpad. It might seem archaic to some younger workers, but ThinkPad veterans won't use a computer without one.

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The X1 Yoga passes 12 military-grade requirements, including durability tests like dust/water intrusion, vibration, and shock. It'll shrug off the occasional spill directly on the keyboard, and survive most commuter and office environments.

The IPS touch screen has a 1,920-by-1,080 full HD resolution, which is plenty for most mainline information workers. Media mavens and spreadsheet ninjas will want to upgrade to a WQHD (2,560-by-1,440) resolution IPS screen for sharper graphics and text, which adds $125 to the purchase price, or $250 extra for a brighter WQHD OLED display. Screen brightness and colors are soothing to the eye, particularly while watching videos or viewing pictures. Viewing the screen at an angle is no problem, a boon for any presentation expert.

You can use the X1 Yoga to create art as well. It comes with an active stylus with 2,048 levels of pressure sensitivity. The ThinkPad Pen Pro stows in a neat cubbyhole on the left side of the laptop. The pen's storage also has contacts to recharge the stylus' internal battery, so you won't have to buy disposable ones. The pen is smaller, thinner, and not quite as comfortable as Microsoft's Surface Pen. Drawing on the screen felt a little slicker than on the Surface Book ($1,495.50 at Lenovo) , as the latter felt more like sketching on paper. In any case, it's perfectly suited to signing documents or filling out business forms in addition to quick sketches and note taking.

Modern and Legacy Ports

The X1 Yoga features two USB-C ports with Thunderbolt 3 technology on the left side of the laptop, giving you one port free while using the included USB-C AC adapter. It's also compatible with third-party chargers; for example, we were able to use the one from the Apple MacBook Pro ($1,495.50 at Lenovo) . It can also support dual external displays with up to 4K resolution. In addition to the USB-C connectivity, there are two USB 3.0 ports on the left side, ready for legacy peripherals like older hard drives and the charger for your phone. On the right are a headset jack, an HDMI port, a jack for the included mini Ethernet dongle, a Kensington lock port, and a third USB 3.0 port. 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.1 handle wireless networks. Under a door on the back panel is a microSD card slot and a SIM slot for the optional WWAN modem. Unfortunately, we didn't have one on our tester.

The 720p HD webcam is centrally located above the display, and it automatically focuses on your face for web conferences and the like. The speakers are embedded in the bottom panel, aimed to the left and right. Voices came through loud and clear during our hands-on testing, and though there wasn't a lot of bass, music and sound effects from movie trailers were clearly audible. A fingerprint reader is on the right side palm rest, and it works with Windows Hello for one-touch login.

The base model of the X1 Yoga comes with 8GB of RAM, a 256GB SSD, Windows 10 Home, and an Intel Core i5-7200U processor. Our $1,838.99 tester is upgraded with Windows 10 Pro and an Intel Core i5-7300U processor. Other options include an Intel Core i7-7600U processor, the screen upgrades mentioned above, 16GB of RAM, and up to 1TB of SSD storage. The system comes with a one-year warranty.

Good Speed, 11-Hour Battery

Thanks to its Intel Core i5-7300U processor with Intel HD 620 graphics, the X1 Yoga was speedy on our benchmark tests. It scored 3,155 points on the PCMark 8 Work Conventional test, which measures tasks like editing office documents, web browsing, and video conferencing. It soundly beat last year's Core-i7-equipped iteration (which also came with an OLED screen) (2,718), as well as the Microsoft Surface Book (2,734), and the VAIO Z Flip ($1,495.50 at Lenovo) (3,011), but was a bit behind the HP EliteBook x360 (3,296). Likewise, on the multimedia tests like Handbrake (2:11), Cinebench (336 points), and Photoshop (2:06), it was above average. 3D tests were good among systems with Intel HD Graphics, but it lagged laptops with Iris Plus graphics (the Apple MacBook Pro and the VAIO Z Flip) as well as the Surface Book, which has discrete Nvidia GTX graphics.

Battery life is strong, if a bit short for this long-lasting group of competitors. The X1 Yoga lasted 11 hours, 17 minutes on our battery-rundown test. That's almost three hours more stamina than the first-generation OLED-equipped model. Unfortunately, both X1 Yoga models lagged other 2-in-1s like the VAIO Z Flip (12:11), the HP EliteBook x360 ($1,495.50 at Lenovo) (14:03), the Dell Latitude 5289 2-in-1 ($1,495.50 at Lenovo) (14:35), and the Surface Book (19:16). 11 hours is still nothing to discount, as it's enough for most cross-country flights, including jaunts from the East Coast to Hawaii.

A Decent Pick, but Capable Choices Abound

The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga is a bit larger than its competitors with 13.3-inch screens, but its extra bulk pays off in comfort. The larger 14-inch screen is easy on the eyes, and the comfy keyboard pampers your fingertips. It has enough power for a day's work and is a good choice if you need to draw on the screen, since it stows its pen in a handy cubby. That said, it's bested by our top pick, the HP EliteBook x360 on features including a 4K screen option, an IR camera, many more hours of battery life, and a smaller chassis. Other excellent alternatives include the Lenovo ThinkPad T470 ($1,495.50 at Lenovo) , if you don't need the convertible hinge, or the Microsoft Surface Book, if you want stronger performance and more than 19 hours of battery life.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga (2nd Gen)

The Bottom Line

The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga is a convertible-hybrid laptop with a sturdy chassis, plenty of ports, and a handy stylus. It's a solid choice for its slightly larger than average screen, but the competition in this realm is fierce.

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Lenovo X1 Yoga 2nd Gen Pen

Source: https://www.pcmag.com/reviews/lenovo-thinkpad-x1-yoga-2nd-gen

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