Gadgetory

look at this thing it looks like a tablet but it's not just a tablet it's really more of a laptop but it doesn't have a traditional laptop keyboard instead it has this touch sensitive surface that lights up like a keyboard but also doubles as a writing pad this thing is a Lenovo yoga book and it's what Lenovo thinks is the future of computing yes the same lenovo that makes big heavy sync pads and has made 13-inch convertible laptops has made this thing this thin and ridiculously light computer that feels more like a paper notebook than anything else so does it hold up looks wise and design wise yes this thing is a stunner actually typing on it is a different story still lenovo has managed to make something that feels totally futuristic and still familiar there are two versions of the yoga book an Android one and a Windows one the Android one is a little bit less expensive at $500 and the Windows one jumps up to five hundred and fifty dollars but to me the Android one is probably the one you're going to want to get because it feels more like a mobile computing device than a super heavy-duty productivity machine it's made of magnesium aluminum alloy and it has a full HD 10.1 inch multi-touch display it has the same watch band style hinge that Lenovo's bigger yoga laptops have which is what allows it to fold in two different modes the yoga book weighs just one and a half pounds which puts it close to the same territory as an iPad pro plus smart keyboard but oddly enough it feels much lighter than that and it's definitely lighter than a Microsoft Surface and the Microsoft Surface keyboard you put it this way when you're carrying those around there's no doubt that you're carrying a tablet but with this you really can mist if we're notebook so not surprisingly there are some sacrifices when you're working with such a tiny computer the first is that it's so light that it sometimes doesn't balance very well on your lap and then just like Apple's MacBook there's a shortage of ports it has a micro USB charging port an HDMI port a micro SD port and a headphone jack and that's pretty much it no USB and it's Intel Atom processor which is in both the Android and Windows models isn't the most powerful one out there it's battery life isn't great either at least by tablet standards lenovo says that you should get about 15 hours with general usage of this but i didn't get anywhere near that so let's get to what makes this different the halo keyboard once you put this into laptop mode this matte black lower panel turns into a glowing digital keyboard it also vibrates a little bit when you tap at it you do get this sense that the whole panel is moving and not the isolated Keys you're typing on you can also use lenovo's real pen as a stylus or you can put a pen tip in a stylus slap a piece of paper over the touchpad panel and then write on the piece of paper as a journalist I like the idea but in reality this surface is probably more appealing to designers or people who use styluses and digitizer pads to control multimedia software after a few days of using the yoga books keyboard I still don't feel totally used to it but just like typing on a touchscreen it's something I probably would get used to it's also more comfortable than typing on a touchscreen that forces you to prop your hands up and blocks half of your display the question isn't whether this is better than a tablet touchscreen keyboard because I think it is the question is whether it's better than a light accessory keyboard like the iPad pro smart keyboard or the Microsoft Surface keyboard personally I still prefer a little bit more tactility when I'm typing even if it means using a flimsy accessory keyboard really the only other thing to consider is the software I still think Android is the way to go although some people might want Windows if they're using this as a travel laptop or a secondary device to their main Windows name it ships running Android marshmallow not nougat but lenovo has added its own multitasking features to the software to make it a little bit more desktop like on what is a mobile OS it is worth noting though that multitasking isn't supported in all apps there are a lot of reasons to seriously consider the yoga book in the first being it looks cool it's a sleek little computer with an innovative keyboard and also it's one of those rare instances where a convertible or a two-in-one actually makes sense because it's great to use as a tablet - the biggest drawbacks are that it's not super powerful and lacks some basic utility ports and some people just won't like the feel of the keyboard it's not going to replace that feeling of a real laptop but it's not really supposed to replace your laptop it's meant to reinvent the laptop designs like these are supposed to assure pcs into the next wave of mobile computing lots of companies have learned different PC designs at the wall in recent years hoping they would stick the Lenovo yoga book feels like it actually might okay so we're behind the scenes this is Lauren all right here we go okay ready and hit it hit the button okay reach your arm around and start typing