The Lenovo Yoga 3 Pro ultrabook is something special, right down to the box that it comes in.
The omens are good when you lift the cardboard lid, pull back the two flaps and in doing so the gleaming silver laptop is raised upwards towards you as if someone is presenting your favourite dinner on a plate.
It certainly sets the standard, and thankfully the actual technology on offer here lives up to the impressive introduction.
The Yoga 3 Pro is a hybrid laptop with a design that oozes class, from its colour combination (black and orange interior) to its hinge system.
The hinge is inspired by the band of a wristwatch, with its unique look crafted from 813 individual pieces of aluminium and steel. It’s smooth yet sturdy.
It can be used in four different ways: as a traditional laptop, folded as a tablet, propped up like a tent and also bent backwards or forwards at an angle.
This ultra-versatility is particularly useful, because you’re not just going to want to use this laptop for typing up reports and making bar charts or excel spreadsheets.
The 13.3-inch super-high resolution screen is ideal for watching films, whether while travelling or lying in bed.
The speaker system is equally as impressive, making the viewing experience as immersive as anything I have come across away from using an actual television.
And while caveats there must be, in this case there are few.
Weighing just 1.19kg, the Yoga 3 Pro is incredibly thin and will go virtually unnoticed in your bag. This does lead to breakage fears however, so keep it away from your dog/child/clumsy partner, and keep it in the box when it’s not being used.
There is also the matter of the Windows 8.1 operating system, which can leave you vexed, especially when you start jumping between the touchscreen and keyboard, and the apps page and traditional windows screen.
These are minor points, though, and should not stop you from wanting to open that box time and again.
Q&A
This sounds like one snazzy laptop. Go on, tell me the price.
OK. As you should have expected by now, it’s not cheap. You’re looking at a best online price of about Dh5,000, but expect to pay quite a bit more in the physical shops.
It’s worth it though, right?
I certainly think so, especially if you’re a film buff and don’t have televisions stationed all around the house. It’s like a mini-cinema. The green light at the end of Daisy Buchanan’s East Egg dock in The Great Gatsby beamed out so vividly that I almost wanted to reach out for it.
What’s the tech spec of this beauty?
It has an Intel Core M-5Y71 Processor (1.20GHz 1600MHz 4MB), a 13.3-inch QHD+LED glossy multi-touch screen with 3200x1800 resolution, so not quite 4K. Plus it has a 256GB hard drive and comes with an integrated camera.
And the battery life?
At around seven hours, it’s not particularly long for a laptop of this quality and doesn’t compare favourably against the Apple MacBook Air, which can clock up about 16 hours.
What else should I consider?
The Acer Aspire, Asus Zenbook, and Microsoft Surface Pro 3 are all worth a look, while the critics’ choice is the Dell XPS 13. For those who can’t drag themselves away from Apple, there’s the Macbook Air, which is at the cheaper end.
ioxborrow@thenational.ae
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