Lenovo Yoga 2 11 – 59440471 / 59417913 Affordable 11.6″ Laptop-Tablet Hybrid

The Lenovo Yoga 2 11 – 59440471 / 59417913 is the cheapest Yoga laptop/tablet hybrid Windows PC you can buy at the time of this writing. As same as the other Yoga 2 11 models, the 59440471 / 59417913 (both have the same specs) has a 11.6-inch 1366×768-pixel IPS wide viewing angle display mounted on a hinge that rotates 360 degrees. Besides as laptop and tablet, the hinge also allows the device to operate in “stand” and “tent” modes, which are suitable for movie watching or showing off PowerPoint presentations. These notebooks have plastic cases, with finish resembling metal.

The Yoga 2 11 models have different processors as the main difference. The 59440471 / 59417913 relies on a lower-end CPU. Processing performance is sacrificed for the interest of lower price. Nevertheless, the included Intel Pentium N3530 with four cores is still sufficient for the most of the tasks a PC user might throw at it. Text processing in Word program, Excel spreadsheet editing, web surfing, social media apps, and multimedia playback will all run easily. The N3530 should be only avoided if you regularly process large video and photo files or do 3D modelling and such. For these purposes, you’ll need the Intel Core i5 or i7 series processors if you want comfortable work. The Yoga 2 11 is generally available with up to the Core i5. But, the i5 used in this machine is a lower-performance “Y” version, which is optimized for a greater power efficiency instead. Much greater speed is offered with the i5 “U” and “M” series. They can be usually found in larger laptops such as the 13.3-inch Yoga 2 Pro, but also in the Microsoft Surface Pro tablet. As a side note, the Intel i5, i7, as well as i3, are far better in terms of their integrated graphics processing units. They can be used even for some newer demanding games on lower settings, whereas the Pentium N3530 has a very basic IGP with almost no 3D gaming potential.

As same as the majority of budget notebook PCs, the Lenovo Yoga 2 11 – 59440471 / 59417913 comes with 4GB of RAM and a 500GB hard disk drive. This RAM size is no reason for complaints, since it’ll handle multitasking well even in complex scenarios an average user might encounter. HDD could have been larger of course, since storage space needs are increasing all the time, primarily because of big high-resolution video files. But, it’s in line with other notebooks in the similar price range. The convertible doesn’t have a built-in DVD burner, which is no surprise considering its small dimensions.

Speaking of portability, the Yoga 2 11 is a great laptop for trips and carrying around. It weighs three pounds and has a 0.7″ slim profile. That’s quite light and thin for a notebook, but no so portable if you view it as a replacement for your iPad or other classic slate computer.

The built-in keyboard is however a great advantage over the standard screen-only tablets. The keyboard on the Yoga doesn’t have backlight, but it stands out with ergonomic design of the keys. Besides the touchscreen, for navigation through Windows and programs you can use the trackpad with integrated click buttons.

Rounding off feature set, the device has stereo speakers, a frontal web camera, Wi-Fi wireless Internet connection, micro HDMI external display output, a pair of USB ports, a multi-in-one media card reader, and Bluetooth. Ethernet LAN wired network connection is omitted.

According to Lenovo, the battery life of the Yoga 2 11 – 59440471 / 59417913 is rated at up to 5 hours and 6 minutes.

On the end, lets mention some a bit different alternatives in the similar price range, namely the Asus Transformer Book T100 and Acer Switch 10. They have smaller 10.1″ displays and Intel Atom processors, which are slower than the Pentium. But, their screens are detachable.