The Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 2 11 is a brand new model in the company’s convertible PC family, offering the recognizable 360-degree folding screen in a 11.6-inch form factor and affordable pricing.
The Yoga 2 11 isn’t as powerful as the same-sized Yoga 11s with Haswell processors. Instead, it delivers entry-level performance, but also greater power efficiency, cooler operation, and fanless design thanks to the included Intel Bay Trail processor. It’s not the usual Bay Trail Atom chip commonly found in the latest Windows 8 tablets, but the Pentium N3510 Bay Trail with noticeably better performance than the Atom counterparts. The N3510 scores about 1,700 points in PassMark CPU benchmarks, whereas the widely adopted Atom Z3740 notches about 1,000 points. That’s still far behind the Core i5-4210Y Haswell found in the Yoga 11s with a score of 2,410 points and better integrated graphics.
Lenovo’s new convertible has 1366 x 768-pixel display resolution, IPS wide viewing angle tech, 4GB of RAM, and up to 500GB of hard disk storage, confirming entry level nature of the system. On the positive side, the display includes IPS screen technology for better viewing angles and picture quality. Other features are stereo speakers, webcam, two USB ports, a micro HDMI port, and a 3-in-1 card reader. The whole package measures about 0.68 inches in profile and weighs 2.9 pounds.
According to Lenovo, the battery life should last up to six hours.
The starting price will be $530 when the convertible arrive next month. For comparison’s sake, the aforementioned Yoga 11s with Core i5 is currently $800.
Update: It’s now available for purchase.
Good news for people who are looking to buy a laptop on a budget. I hope this Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 2 11 laptop suits well to them.