Lenovo Yoga 3 Pro Review

The Lenovo Yoga 3 Pro is the company’s convertible Ultrabook that features a 13.3-inch QHD+ touchscreen display, metallic body, watchband hinge design, and powered by Intel Core M processor. Like its predecessor, the Yoga 2 Pro, it’s one of those thin laptops that not only focuses on getting things done but also in looking good and different at the same time. But are those enough to convince you to choose this over its competitors? Find out by reading our full review below.

Design and Construction

One of the first things you’ll notice about the Yoga 3 Pro is its premium look and build. When you open the box for the first time you will be greeted by the metallic lid with matte finish and the Lenovo badge. This part is cold to the touch and resistant to smudges fingerprints which is good.

On the left side you can see the charging port which also doubles as a USB 2.0 port, USB 3.0 port, micro HDMI, and the SD Card reader. On the right are the power button, LED light, auto-rotate button, volume buttons, headset jack, and USB 3.0.

Take a look at the bottom and you will see the same metal build and finish. There are four rubber nubs located at the corners and two grills on the left and right sides for the JBL speakers.

Connecting the base and the display is the Yoga 3 Pro’s watchband hinge with a design that, as you can see, is inspired by the metal bands found on a men and women’s timepiece. Aside from giving the Yoga 3 Pro a masculine and feminine look, the special mechanism in this hinge allows the Ultrabook’s screen to flip around 360 degrees and change into four different modes: Laptop, Stand, Tent or Tablet.

Open the lid and you will see the 13.3-inch display, the HD webcam, a pair of microphones, and the Windows and Lenovo logo. Down below is the dimpled leather-like surface which surrounds the keyboard with “U”-shaped backlit keys and the matte touch pad.

Speaking of the keys, it’s quiet and easy to type on, however, it’s not as springy or doesn’t provide that much depth when pressed – one of the sacrifices for having a really slim build.

On hand, the Yoga 3 is really slim at 12.8mm and relatively light at 2.62 lbs. It looks premium and feels good to hold which makes us want to use it more often than we like. To sum it up, it’s a really well-made Ultrabook.

Display and Multimedia

The Yoga 3 Pro boasts a 13.3-inch IPS display with QHD+ resolution or equal to 276 ppi. As expected, it’s crisp, vibrant, and has good viewing angles. One thing we noticed though is that the color of the display looks a bit warm. It’s not a serious issue though as we were able to calibrate it within Settings.

Having one of the best displays we’ve seen in an Ultrabook, the Yoga 3 Pro makes a great device for watching videos and viewing photos. Now if audio quality is your concern, we’re glad to report that the Yoga 3 Pro is equipped with a pair of JBL speakers that are capable of producing rich and loud sounds.

Operating System and Performance

Running the software department for the Yoga 3 Pro is Windows 8.1 64-bit which you can upgrade to Windows 10. It comes with a lot of pre-installed apps mostly all of them from Lenovo: Harmony, Hightail, Lenovo Motion Control, Lenovo SHAREit, Lenovo VeriFace Pro, OneKey Optimizer, Lenovo Photo Master, and Lenovo Reach. There’s also Evernote, Kindle, Live TV, McAfee Central, Nuance Dragon Assistant, Nitro Pro 9, TripAdvisor, and Zinio Reader.

Powering the Yoga 3 Pro is a Intel Core M 5Y70 processor clocked at 1.10GHz up to 1.30GHz, Intel HD Graphics 5300 and 8GB of RAM. The configuration was able to keep things running smoothly especially when comes to tasks involving productivity and multimedia. Programs like Photoshop and MS Office launch fast and runs well. We also tried playing graphic intensive games like Far Cry 4, as expected, the Yoga 3 Pro doesn’t have enough muscle for this kind of work.

When it comes to temperature, the Yoga 3 Pro is cool most of the time, however, we noticed that the upper right corner of the base warms up during demanding tasks. This isn’t an issue if you’re working on a desk but it gets annoying when you place it on your lap.

Battery Life

The Yoga 3 Pro is equipped with a 5,900mAh, 44Wh battery which Lenovo claims to last for up to 9 hours. In Power Saver mode, we manage to get a little over 7 hours when connected to WiFi with mid to heavy web browsing and multimedia playback. We ran our usual battery test which involves playing a full HD video in Airplane mode at 50% brightness and volume with headset plugged in at Balanced power setting, the result is 7 hours 37 minutes worth of playback.

Conclusion

The Lenovo Yoga 3 Pro is an attractive yet versatile Ultrabook that not only performs well but also offers something unique to its users. The multi-mode makes it stand out in terms of design as it allows the device to easily adapt to different situations and tasks.

On the downside, it doesn’t come cheap at Php77K. It’s actually more expensive than the new Macbook and the ASUS Transformer Book T300 Chi. But if that amount is not much of a big deal and you prefer the flexibility and freedom it offers, then the Yoga 3 Pro is a good choice.

Lenovo Yoga 3 Pro (80HE) specs:
13.3-inch QHD+ (3200 x 1800) IPS display, 276ppi
1.10GHz Intel Core M 5Y70 Processor
Intel HD Graphics 5300
8GB LPDDR3L RAM
256GB SSD
720p webcam
WiFi 802.11 ac
Bluetooth 4.0
2x USB 3.0
1x DC-in with USB 2.0 function
4-in-1 card reader
micro-HDMI out
Audio combo jack
Integrated JBL stereo speakers w/ Waves Audio
5,900mAh, 44Wh battery, 9-hours
Windows 8.1 OS 64-bit
330 x 228 x 12.8 mm
2.62 lbs
Clementine Orange, Platinum Silver, Champagne Gold
SRP: Php76,995USD 1,312INR 111,227EUR 1,250CNY 9,555

What we liked about it:
* Premium build
* Slim design
* Good, high-resolution display
* Good performance
* Great speakers
* Multi-mode function

What we didn’t like:
* Pricey