A debate over whether this is a tablet that doubles as an external display or an external display that happens to run Android will no doubt rage following Lenovo’s announcement of the Yoga Tab 13. It’s an Android tablet with a micro HDMI input, which sees the tablet pulling a double duty as an external screen.
(Image credit: Lenovo)
With a 10,000mAh battery inside, Lenovo's Yoga Pad 13 should run all day as an external monitor, accompanying laptops on trips out of the office to really nail that dual-screen productivity feeling wherever you are without having to buy the best computer monitor. The 13 inch display has a resolution of 2160 x 1350 and a brightness of 400nits, a refresh rate of 60Hz and 100% sRGB Dolby Vision support. It’s also a 10-point touchscreen, though possibly only in tablet mode. There’s a kickstand at the back to enable it to stand upright, an 8MP front-facing camera, and four speakers supporting Dolby Atmos.
Should you wish to use it as a tablet, you’ll find Android 11 running Google’s Entertainment Space launcher, on a Snapdragon 870 (the same chip found in the Samsung Galaxy S8) and 8GB of LPDDR5. Graphics come via the Qualcomm Adreno 650 GPU, and storage tops out at 256GB. Connectivity comes via Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5, and there's a USB-C 3.2 Gen 1 port for charging and compatible devices.
The screen/tablet comes as part of a tablet refresh from Lenovo, which also announced the Yoga Tab 11 (sadly without the HDMI port), the Lenovo Tab P11 Plus (which comes with a keyboard and stylus) and some entry-level tabs: the M7 and M8. The Lenovo Yoga Tab 13 starts at $680 and should be available in July.
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Ian Evenden is a UK-based news writer for Tom’s Hardware US. He’ll write about anything, but stories about Raspberry Pi and DIY robots seem to find their way to him.
I have been saying for years that all tablets and AIO computers should have a HDMI Input with a way to toggle between inputs and a "picture in picture" function. When the device is no longer your go to device, it can still be useful as a monitor or portable monitor and even more useful as a device that can Google or play a game while the computer or device it is attached to is too busy doing another task. Everyone can use a extra portable HDMI screen, even if it is only to check if another screen is malfunctioning.
