Hands-on with the ultra-thin Lenovo Yoga 900S
The Yoga 900S is a more compact, thinner and lighter version of the early announced Yoga 900.
Lenovo is the leader in convertible computing devices. And at CES 2016, they announced the world’s thinnest and lightest convertible notebook - the Yoga 900S. While the Yoga 900S can be thought of as a slimmer and lighter version of the Yoga 900, which was announced earlier last year, it’s the differences that matters. Let’s take a look at some of them now.
To begin, the Yoga 900S is appreciably thinner and lighter, measuring just 12.8mm thick and weighing just 999g. These impressive numbers were achieved thanks to the use of carbon fiber. In comparison, the Yoga 900 is 14.9mm and 1.3kg. On top of that, the Yoga 900S also has a smaller 12.5-inch display - the Yoga 900 has a 13.3-inch display. Overall, the Yoga 900S is more compact.
The 12.5-inch IPS display supports QHD resolution (2560 x 1440 pixels) and looks crisp, sharp and vibrant to our eyes. Since it’s an IPS display, viewing angles are good too, which makes the Yoga 900S excellent for sharing content.
The watch band hinge that's made up of hundreds of tiny components allows the Yoga 900S to fold and work as a tablet.
In terms of design, the Yoga 900S mimics the Yoga 900, and also features the unique watchband hinge construction that newer Yoga models have come to be known for. It also comes in gold and silver and matching keyboards and hinges- the gold models have keyboards with gold caps and gold hinges, while the silver model will have keyboards with, you guessed it, silver caps, an also silver hinges. It’s a nice touch and makes the Yoga 900S that little bit more attractive - gold and black is a winning combination.
The keyboard has a nice feel to them and a surprising amount of travel for a notebook this thin. One thing to also note is the faux leather finish on panels around the keyboard. It feels quite nice and certainly differentiates the Yoga 900S from other ultrathin notebooks.
Do you like gold?
The gold model has matching gold keycaps. Gold and black is a fantastic, if somewhat ostentatious, color combination.
And while the Yoga 900 is powered by Intel Core i processors, the Yoga 900S is equipped with less powerful Core M processors. The ultra low TDP of these new second generation Core M processors is what allows the Yoga 900S to be so thin. The Yoga 900S can be configured with up to a Core m7 processor and 8GB of RAM. Users can also equip it with up to 512GB of PCIe-based SSD. Battery life is rated at 10.5 hours.
The Yoga 900S is just 12.8mm thick. Here we can see the USB 2.0 port that doubles up as the power port and also the USB Type-C port and headphones jack.
In terms of connectivity, the Yoga 900S comes with a single USB 3.0 port, a USB Type-C port that doubles as a video output, and also a USB 2.0 port that doubles as the power port (similar to the Yoga 3 Pro). It also supports wireless 802.11ac with speeds of up to 867Mbps.
All in all, the Yoga 900S looks like an excellent choice for users who do not need the computing power of a Core i processor. The new second generation Core M processors are plenty competent and will provide more than enough oomph for casual users who want to browse the web, email, run productivity apps, and value portability over computing performance.
The Yoga 900S will be available from March onwards with prices starting at US$1099.
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