Lenovo introduced its original Yoga back in late 2012, which we were impressed with its ability to create an ultrabook that is able to have multiple functions, such as its ability to be used as a tablet or a stand. Since then, Lenovo re-introduced its Yoga as the Yoga 2 Pro, which improved on many of the ultrabooks internal specs, such as including Intel’s new 4th-generation Haswell processor, offering a QHD+ 3200 x 1800 display and some other fancy bells and whistles to make this appeal to fans of the original Yoga. We were able to go hands on with the Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro just a few months ago, and after our short time with the tablet, we were left pretty impressed with some of the company’s improvements to the Yoga. With that said, let’s just see how impressed we’re left with the Yoga 2 Pro after we throw it to our hungry review wolves. I’m not sure what that meant. Let’s just get on with your review without the use of wolves, shall we? (more…)
Lenovo announced one of its newest notebooks just last month, the Lenovo Flex 14 and Flex 15, which is yet another portable computer in their stable of devices that is able to offer a not-so traditional experience. We’ve seen the ThinkPad Twist and the Lenovo Yoga, but this time, the Flex series of notebooks only has the capability to extending its display up to 300 degrees. This means its keyboard can be flipped upside down to only allow for the Flex’s screen take center stage, which just so happens to be a touchscreen display.
Lenovo is releasing 14- and 15-inch models of the Flex, and for this review, we’re checking out the Flex 14. The Lenovo Flex 14 weighs in at 4.3 lbs, features a 14-inch 1366 x 768 touch display, a 1.6GHz Intel Core i5 Haswell CPU and 8GB of RAM in addition to its unique way it can be used. With that said, let’s take a closer look at how much of unique experience the Lenovo Flex 14 offers in our review. (more…)
Google’s segment of portable computers loaded with Chrome OS is growing, and among recently announced new models is Acer’s latest offering — the Acer C720, an inexpensive laptop that utilizes Intel Haswell. Like other Chromebooks, the C720 is aimed at those who need a computer for school, for working on the go, or for fun […]
Dell has been manufacturing a number of ultrabooks and tablets over the past couple of years, with its hybrid tablet notebook announced, the XPS 12, this time last year. Several months passed since the Dell XPS 12 was first announced, but the notebook finally launched during this year’s Computex, although it just missed the Haswell bandwagon. Dell knows how important Intel’s Haswell processor is, which is why they refreshed the Dell XPS 12 to now feature it shortly after the notebook was released.
The Dell XPS 12 is the company’s latest hybrid tablet notebook offering as it now features Intel’s 4th generation Core processors, NFC ability as well as an improved battery life. These upgraded features come in addition to its 4GB of RAM, 128GB SSD, a 400-nit 12.5-inch 1920 x 1080 touch display as well as its unique flip-hinge design. The Dell XPS 12 certainly looks like an interesting hybrid on paper, so let’s get down to the business of seeing what this notebook is really made of. (more…)
Samsung announced the next step into its ultrabook line earlier this year with its ATIV brand of products expected to be released in 2013. We were introduced to the ATIV Book 9 Plus earlier this year, but that isn’t the only ATIV product Samsung has up its sleeve as the company released its ATIV Book 7 ultrabook earlier this year.
The ATIV Book 7 has a number of impressive specs as it features an Intel Core i5 1.8GHz processor a 13.3-inch display, 128GB SSD, 4GB DDR3 RAM, and JBL speakers, but will this ultrabook be able to take a step into the spotlight when the ATIV Book 9 Plus was just released over the weekend? There’s only one way to find out and that’s by diving into our review. (more…)
Being touted as a “mini ultrabook” the Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 11S is the latest and greatest to grace the IdeaPad lineup with full-fledged Windows 8 on board. Everything about the Yoga 11 from last year is still present, only we’ve received a huge upgrade to an Intel Core 15 processor (no ARM Tegra 3 here) and dropped Win RT for the full experience. The device is still as portable and impressive as ever, so read on for the rest of our thoughts.
If you’re a fan of the IdeaPad Yoga 11 or Yoga 13, there’s absolutely nothing not to like about the new and improved 11S. It’s faster and better in every way, while keeping true to the original complete with the 360 degrees hinge setup offering multiple viewing modes and usage experiences. Lets take a look.
Hardware
Now before we start on hardware (or anything else for that matter) you’ll want to check out our original Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 11 Review, as it’s the same experience in terms of the general hardware. We’re working with an 11.6-inch 1366×768 resolution HD IPS display, Intel HD Graphics 4000, 8GB of fast DDR3 RAM, 256GB SSD hard drive, and Bluetooth 4.0 on board. Flip it into tablet mode and you’ve got an excellent touch experience, not to mention full out Windows 8.
Just like the original we have Silver Grey, or an epic looking Clementine Orange for color options. Then Lenovo also has two pricing models too. Starting at $749 you get a Core i3 at 1.4 GHz, 4GB of RAM, and 128GB of storage. From there the price bumps to $999 and you get the high-end (although not Haswell) specs mentioned above. Now lets talk about the outside.
Again, nothing’s changed here. We have the same soft to the touch durable materials on the outside and magnesium aluminum frame, followed by a sleek build and chicklet keyboard under the hood. The entire wrist rest area is almost a soft to the touch fabric as well, which has us worried about longevity. On the outside is the power button on front, USB 2.0 on the right and 3.0 on the left (in blue), followed by HDMI out and a 3.5mm headphone jack. Back to the right edge we have a screen orientation lock, SD for expanding on the 256 GB of storage, and the proprietary charging port. Don’t forget your cable or you’ll be sorry out of luck.
Just like our original review, what’s not to love. It’s thin and portable being only 11.73″ x 8.03″ x 0.67″ in size and barely over 3 lbs. We get a solid 6 hours of battery life, and even a 720p front webcam for Skyping with friends and family. It really is the best form factor for a laptop/tablet on Windows 8. The ThinkPad Helix was neat, but a mess to use in real life. The IdeaPad Yoga 11S is more manageable, and more comfortable.
In closing, we absolutely love the hardware. It’s as portable as ever (save for maybe the MacBook Air) lightweight, durable, comfortable, and extremely adaptable to your needs. Being a Lenovo you know the build quality is awesome, as will be the support should you have issues. Our only hardware complaint would be that both USB ports aren’t 3.0, and the keyboard isn’t backlit. That should be standard these days, even at this price point. Oh and one other thing, the display is a bit glossy. We’d love a matte anti-glare option in the future. That aside, we love the Yoga 11S.
Display
As mentioned above, we’re working with an 11.6inch HD display that’s also an IPS panel. That means wide 178 degree viewing angles and excellent color reproduction. Viewing angles were great, colors were vibrant, and blacks were inky black. The overall bezel could be smaller, but then again this form factor is nearly perfect if you ask me.
The touchscreen was smooth, stable, and responsive. Flipping through Windows 8 was easy and extremely accurate, although of course Win 8 could still use a little work in the touch department. Brightness was never a problem outdoors, and our only complaint again would be the glare from this glossy (but beautiful) display.
Software
We really had one complaint when we reviewed the original Yoga 11, and that was obviously the fact that we were stuck with Windows 8 RT and an ARM chip under the hood. No steam games, no latest Win 8 apps, nothing. The watered down experience was a bummer, but Lenovo fixed all that here. While we still are stuck with a slightly outdated Core i5 processor (instead of Haswell) we get full on Windows 8. Perfect!
Unlike the Yoga 11, the 11S is a full Win 8 machine so we were able to run some Steam games, although obviously the integrated Intel 4000 HD graphics can only take you so far. A little Starcraft 2, some old school Counter-strike, and I even played Angry Birds in the Chrome browser while using the 11S in tablet mode.
Lastly, we ran a few GeekBench tests just to check the performance, for those curious. Again, there’s no i7 under the hood, nor do we have an Intel Haswell processor. So the 1.5 GHz Intel Core i5-3339Y Processor did just about as expected. Check em out below for those interested.
Benchmark Score – LENOVO 20246
Section
Description
Score
Total Score
Windows x86 (64-bit) – Microsoft Windows 8 (64-bit)
Integer
Processor integer performance
4001
5321
Floating Point
Processor floating point performance
7016
Memory
Memory performance
5141
Stream
Memory bandwidth performance
4371
System – LENOVO 20246
Manufacturer
Lenovo
Product Type
Notebook
Operating System
Microsoft Windows 8 (64-bit)
Motherboard
LENOVO Yoga2
Processor
Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-3339Y CPU @ 1.50GHz
Processor ID
GenuineIntel Family 6 Model 58 Stepping 9
Processor Frequency
1.50 GHz
Processors
1
Threads
4
Cores
2
L1 Instruction Cache
32.0 KB
L1 Data Cache
32.0 KB
L2 Cache
256 KB
L3 Cache
3.00 MB
Memory
8.00 GB DDR3 SDRAM 799MHz
FSB
99.8 MHz
BIOS
LENOVO 77CN16WW
Overall the i5 handles the full Windows 8 experience just fine. Lenovo’s Yoga 11S is the perfect blend between the bigger Yoga 13, and the underpowered original 11. If you’ve been on the fence, this should help you out.
Battery Life
Now battery life is always a mixed bag here, especially considering the user, his usage, and other variables. As usual we tried to get the estimated 6 hours of battery that Lenovo quotes, but never quite made it. A few times once fully charged the battery lasted under 5 hours, but we did manage a solid 5 hours and 12 minutes with intermittent games, browsing, downloading apps, and watching some Dark Knight Rises.
With the screen turned down to about 40% we managed a solid 5+ hours no matter the usage (except for gaming of course) and felt it was quite decent. Then again, this is where Haswell would really come in handy.
Competition
The options available are pretty open at this point in Windows 8′s life. There’s tons of options available, not to mention the original Yoga 11 for those on a budget. However, we feel the full Win 8 experience is essential to truly enjoy this machine. Others that come to mind would obviously be the MacBook Air, which by the way, recently got upgraded to Haswell, and even the Google Chromebook Pixel.
Now that we have a full Windows 8 build here and a Core i5, we’d put this up against any other Windows 8 machine in the price range in terms of overall usage and functionality. The 360 degrees hinge really comes in handy more than you’d think. The Yoga 13 is another excellent option, but for those on the go the 11S is the clear choice.
Wrap-Up
In closing, we’ve enjoyed using this machine for the past few weeks. The Lenovo Ideapad Yoga 11S has a unique design, and could be one of my favorite hybrid/portables on the market. It’s made for the traveler, and can do it all whether you’re out and about, or sitting on the couch. With Lenovo you know it is top quality, and it shows during daily usage.
The Yoga 11S is one of the most portable and flexible machines on the market, and now that we have full Windows 8 nothing will be slowing you down. Give us a similar design with Haswell and a bigger battery, and we’ll be plenty happy. In the meantime you can’t go wrong with the IdeaPad Yoga 11S. Get one today!
The Acer machine you’re about to see is rather unique – it’s got what the group calls an “Ezel” hinge, made to expand the units abilities beyond that of the average notebook or desktop. Here we’re using Windows 8 in combination with Acer’s hardware to add another chapter to the unofficial List of Touchscreen Computer
HP Pavilion Sleekbook 15 Review | We review the HP Pavilion Sleekbook 15 which is one of the company’s latest budget-friendly laptops retailing for under $500.
HP has officially entered into the Chromebook market with their new $329 Pavilion 14 Chromebook. As a laptop, it doesn’t deviate too far from HP standards, and it still sports the same curves and style that you’d expect out of a laptop from the company. Plus, despite being a Chromebook, it feels more like a traditional Windows laptop with it’s fairly spacious keyboard and trackpad, along with the 14-inch display. However, looks aren’t everything, and it’s the internal hardware and performance that can make or break a notebook. Is the Pavilion 14 worthy of a spot on your college laptop shortlist for the upcoming school year? Let’s find out.
Hardware & Design
The Pavilion 14 — unlike traditional Chromebooks that we’ve seen before — sports a standard laptop design for those that will want something a bit more full-size, but with minimalistic elements. It sports an Intel Celeron processor, which we don’t see too often anymore in laptops, but it’s enough to power a lightweight operating system like Chrome OS. It’s clocked at a mere 1.1GHz, and is paired with 2GB of RAM, along with a 16GB solid state drive, so nothing too spectacular spec-wise, but that was expected.
Essentially, if you didn’t notice the Chrome logo on the top corner of the laptop, you would think it was a regular Windows laptop from the face of it. The whole laptop is plastic-laden, and the top has an incredibly-reflective mirror surface that’s a bit of a fingerprint magnet. Opening up the notebook reveals the standard keyboard and trackpad, which aren’t anything special, but the larger size of the laptop makes for more typing room than what other Chromebooks offer. The trackpad is dimpled, adding a comfortable textured feel to your fingers. Unfortunately, using the trackpad isn’t smooth at all, and the cursor ends up skipping around quite a bit. I ended up having to use a mouse most of the time because I found the trackpad to be pretty intolerable.
Of course, the main seller for the Pavilion 14 is in the name. The laptop has a good-looking 14-inch display, which makes it one of the larger Chromebooks that we’ve seen, but the relatively low 1366×768 resolution leaves a bit to be desired. Then again, this is to be expected in a budget notebook like this. Connection options are a bit ample, however, with three USB 2.0 ports, an SD card reader, combination audio jack, Ethernet, and even a full-size HDMI port. Sadly, no USB 3.0 on this one, but we can’t be too surprised. There’s also no 3G or LTE chip built in, which we’ve seen in a lot of Chromebooks (as constant internet connectivity is vital to the platform), so you’ll end up having to tether to a smartphone to get internet on the go.
Other than that, there’s no optical disc drive, which is completely fine by us, but those wanting the opportunity to access the occasional disc will have to think twice. However, in this day and age, we’d be surprised if anyone actually needed to use a disc, and it certainly makes the entire package much lighter, coming in at a just bit over 3.5 pounds.
Overall, the design of the laptop feels solid for what you’re paying for, but plastic-built laptops will always have a hint of cheapness, and durability is always a concern in this case. The keyboard and trackpad are pretty cheap, but for the price you’re paying, you can’t expect anything too top tier.
Software
We’ve talked about Chrome OS before in past Chromebook reviews, so I won’t go into a lot of redundant details here, but there a few things to note specifically. First off, the Chrome OS install on the Pavilion 14 is mostly stock, with only an “@HP” icon in the app launcher that takes you to the HP registration page for the Chromebook.
If you don’t know a lot about Chrome OS, it’s essentially just a browser, and while it does have a desktop of sorts, there’s no file browser exactly (just a “Downloads” folder and your Google Drive). You can also download apps, but they’re essentially just web apps that appear in the app launcher on the bottom-left. Clicking on one will simply open the web browser to that web app. You can pin apps to the “dock” of sorts, similar to pinning programs to the taskbar in Windows, and the bottom-right corner is where you can access settings, as well as toggle the WiFi and adjust the volume.
Performance & Battery
It’s hard to judge Chrome OS performance using pure numbers, as you can’t really run benchmarks, so we simply had to base the speed of the laptop on how fast apps opened and whether or not we experienced any significant lag while playing around with the Pavilion 14. Indeed, despite the slow Celeron processor, Chrome OS performed as we expected, and boot-up and shutdown times were extremely speedy. It wasn’t necessarily an instant-on type of boot-up, but it almost felt like an older computer waking up from sleep, taking about five or so seconds to get to the desktop. Shutting down was even a bit quicker, taking only about three seconds to go completely black.
One feature that may bother some users is that when you open the lid, the laptop will automatically turn on. Obviously, this feature will prevent you from having to press the power button, thus saving an extra step, but it was a bit cumbersome when I wanted to open up the laptop to show off the keyboard or trackpad to someone without having the whole thing boot up. I haven’t found a setting that will disable this feature either.
As for battery, HP claims that the Pavilion 14 can last for up to 4 hours and 15 minutes on a single charge, which isn’t very long at all, especially for such a low-powered machine. However, we were getting closer to five hours with light web browsing. Obviously, though, streaming any kind of video on YouTube or Netflix will see the battery life diminish quite a bit (about three hours in our testing), but that’s definitely to be expected. Sadly, though, we were hoping to get at least six or seven hours out of the battery during light use at least, especially since it’s a larger laptop with room for a bigger battery than most Chromebooks, so we were still a bit disappointed to only get five hours, despite exceeding HP’s own battery ratings.
It’s also important to note that even turning off the power completely and closing the lid for overnight storage still eats away at battery life from what we’ve found. We stopped playing around with the laptop for the night when it had around 82% left in the battery. We made sure to completely shut it down for the night, but when we booted it up in the morning, we noticed the battery was mysteriously drained to 72%, hinting to the possibility that the Chromebook actually doesn’t shut down completely without taking the battery out, probably to make sure it boots up quickly without hesitation.
Wrap-Up
The HP Pavilion 14 is the company’s first stab at a Chromebook, and instead of just mostly copying what Samsung and Acer have done with their Chromebook options, HP made a one-of-a-kind option, with the minimalistic performance and operating system mixed with the look and feel of a standard Windows laptop. However, this isn’t the notebook for everyone. Chrome OS is a very niche operating system, and it’s really only suited for casual users who surf the web, check email, stream media, etc. The Pavilion 14 isn’t the cheapest Chromebook option, but the larger 14-inch display is the real kicker here, and it’s perfect for those that want a lightweight OS in a slightly larger package.
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Lenovo introduced its original Yoga back in late 2012, which we were impressed with its ability to create an ultrabook that is able to have multiple functions, such as its ability to be used as a tablet or a stand. Since then, Lenovo re-introduced its Yoga as the Yoga 2 Pro, which improved on many of the ultrabooks internal specs, such as including Intel’s new 4th-generation Haswell processor, offering a QHD+ 3200 x 1800 display and some other fancy bells and whistles to make this appeal to fans of the original Yoga. We were able to go hands on with the Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro just a few months ago, and after our short time with the tablet, we were left pretty impressed with some of the company’s improvements to the Yoga. With that said, let’s just see how impressed we’re left with the Yoga 2 Pro after we throw it to our hungry review wolves. I’m not sure what that meant. Let’s just get on with your review without the use of wolves, shall we? (more…)
