Lenovo Yoga 730 is a light convertible with Windows operating system

Lenovo Yoga 730 is a convertible with Windows operating system, aluminum frame, 15.6-inch screen and high-end technical specifications.

The Lenovo Yoga 730 is a laptop with a great design and advanced hardware features. The 15.6-inch model is the largest but also the most versatile. It has decent graphics, quality processors and RAM and some gems that make it perfect for many occasions, both professional and entertainment. The strength, like the previous Yoga range, is the 360 degree rotating screen.

Of course the card is important, 1.699 dollar list, but they are well justified: the Lenovo Yoga 730 is a solid and functional product, with a finished hinge, a software that runs perfectly and a pen that gives that extra touch of usability. Let’s go into detail.

Design

The Yoga 730 is designed for maximum flexibility and, as the name suggests, to be used in many different ways, thanks to the hinge that rotates 360 degrees, allowing at least three peculiar uses: laptops, stands and tablets.

The screen is touch sensitive and boasts the Active Pen 2 already included in the package. The pen supports 4,096 pressure levels and, finally, the company has worked to match a plastic dongle that occupies a USB 3.0 port to which to connect the stylus. The only drawback is that when the input is occupied by the Pen, all the other ports on the selected edge are blocked.

Like other convertibles, the speakers are not exceptional, so let’s not expect miracles in this regard but the quality of hardware and drivers is there and is appreciable with a pair of headphones, where the sound like magic becomes enveloping. To customize the audio, at least in part, you can use the Dolby Atmos software, which includes presets and a 20-band equalizer.

Lenovo Yoga 730

Technical data sheet

  • Processor up to the eighth generation Intel Core i7
  • Windows 10 Home operating system
  • Screen Touchscreen IPS Ultra HD from 39.62 cm (15.6″) (3840 x 2160) / IPS Full HD by 39.62 cm (15.6″) (1920 x 1080)
  • NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 graphics card
  • 8 GB / 8 GB DDR4 memory + 8 GB DIMMs
  • Storage 256 GB / 512/1 TB PCIe SSD
  • Battery Up to 9 hours of battery life with UHD / 11 hour screen with Full HD screen
  • Audio JBL Dolby Atmos speakers (with headphones)
  • HD 720p camera
  • Ports 2 x USB 3.0 Type-C Thunderbolt technology with the HDMI standard, DC input audio jack, Wi-Fi Connectivity AC 2 × 2
  • Weight Starting from 1.89 kg
  • Dimensions 36.0 cm x 24.9 cm x 1.69 cm
  • Platinum colors Iron gray

The Yoga in question does not revolutionize but affirms its position in a well-defined world of consumption, which looks to those who need a balanced computer for work and fun. It’s a well-built 2-in-1 laptop with simple and light design lines (at least for a 15 inch product). It mounts modern hardware and can easily handle daily tasks and more demanding loads, but by sacrificing performance and battery life to remain “portable”, in fact.

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As for the overall structure, the ultrabook is well done, thanks to the double hinges that hold the display with a certain quality, bringing home a thick result, often problematic for very similar 2-in-1. The Yoga 730 instead prevents the display from swinging when it is oriented towards the standard mode.

The trackpad is certainly one of the strengths of this Yoga 730. Unlike the low-cost models, when used in the traditional way it does not separate too much from the display, giving the feeling of continuity and classic functionality. It will not be the best to play, but for the needs of productivity it will be just fine. The white backlight should also be appreciated, to be activated or deactivated as desired.

Prices

The Lenovo Yoga 730 is a good mix of durability, portability, performance and convenience. It is a compact and well-made device that allows you to approach digital tasks without too many problems. The battery life could be better than, as well as the speakers, but it is still a reference machine for the sector. The price list starts at 1,699 Dollars, depending on configuration.

Lenovo Yoga 730

Review

When you have smartphones, tablets, laptops and maybe even desktop computers, very often you find yourself in the condition of not knowing which the perfect device to perform a certain activity is. The role of 2-in-1 convertibles, for some years now, has been to combine the needs and functionalities of laptops and tablets in a single device, avoiding making the latter a niche product with an exorbitant price.

With Yoga 730 (15IKB), Lenovo’s goal is not to simply satisfy more users, but to fully satisfy that type of user who does not want to compromise for most daily tasks.

Yoga 730 is a 2 in 1 convertible dedicated to productivity but also to entertainment: the 15.6-inch display with native 4K resolution (and the HDCP 2.2 driver integrated into the motherboard) allows for ample space for windows, not sacrificing sharpness and above all not straining your eyes.

During the test period, which lasted for about a month using the Christmas break, there was no lack of stress tests with multitasking, alternating with video game sessions and watching movies and TV series on Netflix and Amazon Prime, without neglecting web browsing and music reproduction, passing through programming through development environments (NetBeans, specifically).

In general, Yoga 730 seemed really good in every situation, not making us regret or a traditional desktop, or a tablet like the iPad Pro: the display 15.6-inch, in fact, also it is oriented in portrait mode when Windows 10 is in mode tablet, and the reading experience is almost pleasant: the weight is well distributed over the entire surface, but care must be taken to exert greater force on the hand that holds the part of the hinge, which is obviously considerably heavier.

Yoga 730 seems what it is not: the weight of 1.89 kg makes one think of a heavy 13 inch notebook, and instead Yoga 730 is a very light 15.6 almost without edges at the upper and lateral ends. The lower end contains, instead, a decidedly broad edge, which is not clear what purpose it has to exist, given that the camera is present in the upper edge – perhaps to make room for a mechanism that allows the two hinges to rotate 360 degrees.

The size of the display therefore leaves the possibility of having an equally spacious base, which is occupied by a touchpad that could be wider, a keyboard that does not have a numeric keypad and a fingerprint sensor that is positioned immediately below the ‘arrow right’. Last but not least, the Active Pen 2, which is separate from the laptop, but occupies a position within the overall design since it can be included, via a hook that attaches directly to the USB-A socket, on one of the sides of the base.

The inclusion of the Active Pen 2 in the overall design is not trivial: although it fits perfectly and does not fall into normal use situations, it is very easy to detach the whole hook when taking the laptop from the bag or storing it, if not be careful.

To complete the questionable choices that stand between design and functionality, the charging cable: it is not USB-C, it is not USB-A but it has the shape of a reversible USB-A. It is not possible to recharge with USB-C.

Lenovo Yoga 730

During the testing period, various types of applications were used, which did not slow the system down at all: Windows 10 appears to be fluid and lag-free, apps load in a few moments, multitasking is handled very well – except for Chrome which however, it is known to be very heavy when many cards are open.

However, there are some situations in which the CPU, an eighth-generation Intel Core i7 with a base frequency of 1.8 GHz and Turbo Boost up to 4.00 GHz, makes the fans turn on, which run at a fairly high frequency causing an annoying noise background.

To improve the experience of use is the keyboard, which has a run neither long nor short, or like that present in notebooks of 3-4 years ago, nor like that present on the latest MacBooks. Result: a pleasant writing experience, which does not tire, also because the space on the base creates ample space for the palm rest.

Once the versatility is verified with productivity and entertainment applications (content on Netflix can be played in native 4K and with support for Dolby Atmos and 5.1), a stress test has also been carried out that has little relevance for the laptop in question, but that better positions its range of uses. The games No Man’s Sky and Destiny 2 were then installed, the first known for its real-time rendering capability, the second for the need for low latency not only of connectivity but also of image rendering, to push the laptop to its limits. Both tests have produced a discreet result, certainly not satisfactory for the band of users accustomed to gaming with high performance, but generally discreet for casual players.

No Man’s Sky was rendered at Full HD 1920 × 1080 with texture details and medium-low shadows and framerate locked at 60 fps, while Destiny 2 worked in an acceptable way only with Full HD resolution and low details, with framerate and VSync locked at 30 fps. It’s not a laptop for heavy video games, but many of the indie video games on Steam can run without too much trouble.

The autonomy is not exactly 10 hours as indicated by Lenovo, or rather, it could be 10 hours only by watching series on Netflix for 5-6 hours and then simply browsing the web without opening too many tabs. A more realistic evaluation, with the use of several apps at the same time, for example word processing, music reproduction and web browsing, results in a battery life of about 6 hours, quite a bit below the average of the 2018 laptops.

And yet, with all these flaws and inaccuracies (not least, the speaker that reproduces well the high and medium frequencies, but not the low ones), Yoga 730 surprises, if looked at as a whole, and especially if used in everyday life. Uninstalling the Lenovo application suite immediately (which is not yet clear why it is still present, but this is a ‘problem’ with many manufacturers), Windows 10 seems to have been developed specifically for this laptop. The Active Pen 2 works very well, despite the ‘only’ 1024 pressure levels, with apps like OneNote and Edge, both in tablet mode, in table mode and with keyboard.

$1,699, the list price, fully justifies all the features offered, because the defects are irrelevant or widely overcome: the noise of the fans helps to lower the temperature of the base, the charging cable is proprietary but loads very quickly, the hook for the Active Pen 2 can come off but it is very useful to have it movable.

The conclusion always answers the same question: should we buy this product? Yes, it’s a great replacement for the laptop + tablet, it’s light and compact, it’s very powerful and above all it has technical features that will keep up with the 2019 laptops.

AH Sagar

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