Lenovo IdeaPad MIIX 700 Surface-Like 2-in-1 PC with Detachable Keyboard

The Lenovo IdeaPad MIIX 700 is a portable 2-in-1 PC with design heavily inspired by the popular Microsoft Surface Pro (3) and Surface (3). They all have adjustable kickstands on the back, proprietary detachable keyboard covers, support for active pen input, and dual cameras. The difference is that the Lenovo’s version by default comes the keyboard cover, included in the pricing which starts at $699.

Externally, the IdeaPad MIIX 700 is closer to the Surface Pro 3, since they have the same screen diagonals of 12 inches and an ultra-sharp resolution of 2,160-by-1,440 pixels. Their screens are based on IPS technology which provides wide viewing angles and they support active digitizer input using separately sold pens, besides finger touches and gestures. Both displays have a 3:2 aspect ratio, which is better optimized for working on documents than the usual multimedia-centric 16:9. The MIIX 700 units we’ve seen live had an exceptionally sharp, bright, and well-contrasted picture, as well as responsive multitouch input support.

The keyboard cover with its ergonomically shaped keys and well-sized trackpad are another way of interaction with Windows 10 and programs. Whereas other keyboard covers have extremely short key travel and therefore lousy tactile feedback, the one included with the MIIX 700 is surprisingly good. It feels almost like a high-quality keyboard of one of the full-blown ThinkPad notebooks, known for their excellent keyboards. This practically means much a better overall typing experience than on the keyboard covers of other detachable 2-in-1s, including Microsoft’s Surface line.

Performance-wise, Lenovo’s 2-in-1 is in the middle between the Surface Pro 3 with the Intel Core i-series processors and 10-inch Surface with the Intel Atom x-series. The MIIX 700 is based on the power-efficient Intel Core M-series from the latest Skylake lineup. Depending on a particular CPU model, performance of different MIIX 700 configurations will vary. So far, we only know the device will be available with up to the Intel Core M7-6Y75 with Intel HD 515 integrated graphics, which should perform similar to the previous-gen Core M 5Y70 with Intel HD 5300. This means good performance for the basic computing tasks like exploring the web, working in Office applications, high-definition multimedia playback, or low-end gaming. In more demanding scenarios like high-resolution photo and video production, the Core i-series chips generally have big advantage.

Lenovo’s IdeaPad MIIX 700 comes with either 4 or 8 Gigabytes of system memory, depending on your multitasking needs. Storing data is done using a solid state drive with a capacity of up to 256GB and way better read/write speeds than with the traditional hard drives.

Lenovo is vague when it comes to the sound system of the device. In their press materials, they say the computer has a “single stereo speaker”. Some single speaker devices are able to produce stereo sound, so we hope Lenovo opted for this instead of just a plain mono speaker. In the camera department, things are much clearer. Both front and rear shooters have 5-megapixel sensors. The rear cam supports auto-focus. It can be optionally replaced with a RealSense 3D camera, which unlocks some advanced Windows 10 features, such as Hello facial recognition-based logins.

As for networking and connectivity, the 2-in-1 PC offers a decent selection of network interfaces, ports and slots. To get you online, it uses an 802.11AC Wi-Fi module and optionally a mobile broadband 3G / 4G LTE module. There are also one USB 3.0 and one USB 2.0 port, a micro HDMI video output, microSD memory card reader, and Bluetooth.

Lenovo claims the MIIX 700 provides a battery life of up to eight hours, measured by playing a locally stored video file. If you use the device for more power-consuming tasks like surfing the web via Wi-Fi, the battery life will be normally shorter.

The MIIX 700 is very portable, which is one of the main advantages of the 2-in-1s with keyboard covers. The system weighs in at 1.7 pounds and is 0.4” thin, but we’re not sure whether Lenovo has included the keyboard cover in these values.

The device will ship in two colors: black and gold.