Lenovo Announces New YOGA Convertible and All-In-One PCs

Fans of Lenovo’s YOGA convertible laptops won’t be surprised to discover that the newest model, the YOGA 900, retains the elegant design of its predecessors but is the thinnest version yet. But here’s a real surprise: Lenovo has also announced a YOGA all-in-one PC, the YOGA 900 Home.

OK, if you’re a big Lenovo fan as I am, you will instantly recognize the YOGA 900 Home as an update to last year’s Horizon line of all-in-one PCs, and you may rightfully suspect, as I do, that the YOGA branding was moved over to this product to give it a bit of a bump. Perfectly reasonable.

But with Windows 10 taking off faster than any had expected, it makes sense that Lenovo—which is, remember, the world’s biggest maker of PCs—would want to cement its lead in the market by taking advantage of all that Windows 10 has to offer. And while much has been made about Microsoft’s concessions to desktop PC users in this release, it’s important to remember that the future is still touch-based mobile devices.

Which means that it makes further sense that Lenovo would try to marry the worlds of desktop PCs and touch-based mobile devices with what is now called the YOGA 900 Home. This intriguing design lets you pick up what many would assume is just your PC’s screen and carry it around the home, using it wherever you feel the most comfortable.

And let’s face it, the YOGA name makes sense here: YOGA of course stands for versatility, and while the YOGA 900 Home isn’t flexible in the same way as portable YOGAs, it is in many ways no less flexible, given that it is essentially a giant tablet (complete with battery) you can use anywhere in the home. (Yes, it includes a kickstand for use on a desk.)

Specs: 27-inch screen, up to Intel Core i7 processor, optional NVIDIA GeForce 940A graphics, up to 3 hours of battery life. It starts at $1550 and will ship at the end of October.

As for the YOGA 900 convertible laptop, it looks like Lenovo retained all of the excellence of its previous design—the svelte form factor, the now-iconic watchband hinge, and the sterling Lenovo keyboard—while ramping up the design. As with the recently-announced HP Spectre x360 Limited Edition, the YOGA 900 can be had in a gold version that will turn eyes, in addition to familiar orange and silver options.

And it is a stunner. I’d love to see Lenovo somehow manage to fits its TrackPoint nubbin into these devices, but I guess they need to give ThinkPad, especially the X1 Carbon, some advantage over this former IdeaPad product.

Specs: 13.3-inch Quad HD+ (3200 x 1800) IPS display, up to Intel Core i7 processor, up to 16 GB of RAM, 9 hours of battery life, JBL stereo speakers and Dolby Audio Premium. Starts at $1200 and comes in clementine orange, platinum silver or champagne gold.

Suddenly, the PC market is awash in amazing choices. But the Lenovo YOGA 900 Home and YOGA 900 convertible laptop are both in their own ways unique and differentiated. What a great time to be a PC fan.