Microsoft’s decision to enter the laptop market hasn’t exactly been popular with its OEM partners, especially Lenovo, but rather than sitting around and complaining about the new Surface Book, Lenovo is going on the offensive with some new 2-in-1 laptops of its own. The first of these laptops is the Yoga 900, which is the thinnest addition to the Yoga line yet, and it comes with the kind of high-performance hardware that Lenovo’s going to need if it wants to compete with the high-end Surface Book, although it lacks the dedicated graphics card and detachable screen that the Surface has, which helps bring the price down to more affordable levels.
The Yoga line of laptops from Lenovo gets a new convertible laptop that is thinner than all previous models. The Yoga 900 has the same format as earlier models, with a display that rotates 360 degrees to support using the laptop in several formats — laptop, tablet, tent, and stand. The Yoga 900 is only 14.9mm thick and weighs in at 2.8lbs, and features the innovative “watch band” hinge that Lenovo debuted in the Yoga line earlier this year. The 13.3-inch screen (3200 x 1800) can be pushed back all the way under the keyboard to facilitate using the Yoga 900 as a tablet. The internals of the Lenovo Yoga 900 have been updated to Intel sixth generation processors, starting with the Core i5. The top model can be configured with the Core i7 for those wanting a high performance laptop. What makes the Yoga 900 a competitor to Microsoft’s new Surface Book is the price point. The entry level model can be purchased from Lenovo for $1,199 with a Core i5, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage. The best configuration is $1,499 with a Core i7, 16GB of RAM, and 512GB of storage. This is over $1,000 less than the similar configuration of the Surface Book. though it lacks the detachable screen and the dedicated graphics found in Microsoft’s offering.
