Look at that text isn’t it tiny oh its on the Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro!

A few weeks back I got my grubby little hands on a Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro i7 8GB 512GB SSD-HD, this was up against the Dell XPS 13 and the Sony Vaio Pro. I have had a play on the Vaio, that is a nice piece of kit, absolutely stunning battery life especially with the additional battery. If you are looking for battery life this is the model but it can get a little pricey. The other alternative the XPS 13 I wasn’t able to get my hands on to see what it was like, but I do know a couple of people who have and that is also good performing, the touch makes little sense to my mind without being able to do the Yoga moves, this comment also applies to the Vaio.

Lets start by a few facts they all have:

• i7 Chips (same in all)
• 8gb ram option
• 256 or 512 SSD hard drives
• 13”-ish screens

and now the unique features of the models

Vaio:

• Good -- Uber battery at little size/weight, additional connectivity
• Bad – Cost approx. £1550 (US only for identical spec?)

XPS:

• Okay -- £1300 for for 256 model (to memory, not available at time of posting),Middle of the board battery

Yoga:

• Good -- Yoga-ness Moves (Tablet/Tent), Ultra high resolution display
• Okay – Price for spec £1300, £1100 for 256 model (best deal)
• Bad – Smallest battery capacity

Comparison Conclusion

As you can see there is little to distinguish between these models, price therefore is a big impact as well as desired use case. In my case I wanted something I could use as a tablet for presenting demos since my work is heavily sketch based it is useful to not have to carry around a tablet as well. I also love high definition displays, I am well aware on a 13” device having 3200 by bla bla resolution makes little sense when you have to upscale everything anyway, but it is nice to have and it is noticeable; there is probably a middle ground though, but hey this was the option.

Use of the Yoga 2 Pro

So as I said I got this laptop, tablet flexy thing a few weeks ago, and I have loved it ish. The resolution is great if apps supported, but still is nice and so sharp is amazing. The touch pad isn’t great, you can get used to it, but it isn’t something to brag about and friends coming from other laptops will hate it. Back lit keyboard not automatic, this is weird, it shouldn’t be a gripe, but it is, just weird on such an expensive laptop. Battery life I find is fine, can reliable take off charge for the better part of day with conservative use, if you do any heavy processing e.g. Matlab, Data churning code you will be lucky to get 3hrs.

I got the 512GB model due to it being available, but I do think it is well worth it possibly not worth £200 markup on this model but others I am sure are cheaper or alternative install yourself after. It is nice knowing I have the capacity to take a chunk of files with me anywhere I go.

So the main selling point the yoga ness, I find it useful it validates the touch, but isn’t something for every day. I generally find myself slipping it over once a week, so not much. Having said that take it to a conference and it is great for the plane in the tent mode for a video, or for demos on.

Stuart James  …