At IFA in Berlin, Lenovo expanded its Yoga series with a new 2-in-1, a Windows on Snapdragon (WOS) machine and, surprisingly, a non-convertible clamshell. It’s all part of an effort that shows Lenovo making Yoga its flagship consumer brand, rather than just a name for 2-in-1s. If you want something lower-priced, go for an IdeaPad. For something premium, it’s a Yoga. Even if it doesn't bend back.
The Yoga Book C930 takes the premium 2-in-1 spot in the lineup. Starting at $1,399.99 when it releases in October. It eschews Lenovo’s watchband hinge in favor of a Dolby Atmos soundbar that rotates a long with the display. The HDR touchscreen displays (in either FHD or UHD) feature Dolby Vision HDR. The stylus fits into a small “garage” on the back of the laptop, which makes it difficult to lose. And it uses Intel’s Kaby Lake R 8th Gen processors.
| CPU | 8th Gen Intel Core i7-8550U or Core i5-8250U |
| RAM | Up 10 16GB DDR4 |
| Storage | Up to 2TB PCIe SSD |
| Display | 13.9-inch, IPS, FHD or UHD touchscreen with Dolby Vision |
| Ports | 1x USB 3.1, 2x Thunderbolt 3 |
| Other | Built-in stylus, far-field microphone, fingerprint reader |
| Starting Price | $1,399.99 |
Then there’s the Yoga S730, perhaps the most surprising Yoga device we've seen to date. That’s because it’s doesn’t actually fold over backwards as you'd expect given the name. This $999.99 model is the first Yoga we’ve seen that’s a standard laptop, so the name is a big of a misnomer. This one uses Intel’s newly-announced Whiskey Lake 8th Gen U-series chips.
| CPU | 8th Gen Intel Core i7 8565U or Core i5-8265U |
| RAM | Up to 16GB DDR4 |
| Storage | Up to 1TB PCIe SSD |
| Display | 13.3-inch FHD IPS |
| Ports | 2x Thunderbolt 3, 1x Type-C |
| Other | Fingerprint reader |
| Starting Price | $999.99 |
Last but not least, there’s also the Lenovo Yoga 630 WOS, one of the first Qualcomm Snapdragon 850-based based laptops we’ve seen. The Yoga 630 WOS will release in October, and it will run Windows 10 S out of the box. Lenovo claims that it can last up to 25 hours on a video playback test. $849.99 for the starting configuration with 4GB of RAM, seems high, though.
| CPU | Qualcomm Snapdragon 850 |
| RAM | Up to 8GB |
| Storage | Up to 256GB UFC 2.1 |
| Display | 13.3-inch FHD IPS touchscreen |
| Ports | 2x USB Type-C, SIM card slot |
| Other | Fingerprint reader |
| Starting Price | $849.99 |
Lenovo's other announcements include a new Yoga Book with an e-ink display and the ThinkPad X1 Extreme.
But will it Blend?
Why, why, Lenovo? Why would you do this? PC vendors continuing the tradition of naming having no meaning.
Let's call a gaming desktop and a blade server a Yoga too!
they were the only brand that made any sense, up until this point anyway.