Lenovo Yoga 6 review: an unusual thin and light laptop

Specifications

• Processor: AMD Ryzen 7 4700U (2.00 GHz, up to 4.10 GHz Max Boost, 8 physical cores (8 threads), 8 MB L3 cache, 4 MB L2 cache, 512 KB L1 cache)
• Graphics: AMD Radeon Graphics (512 MB)
• Memory: Max 16GB DDR4 3200MHz (soldered, non-replaceable)
• Storage: 1 TB PCIe 3.0 x4 SSD, actual size 953 GB (M.2 2280 SSD)
• Screen: 13.3″ IPS LCD touchscreen, FHD resolution (1920 x 1080 pixels), glossy, 300 nits
• Battery: 4 cells, 60W, battery saver technology (charge limit up to 55%), up to 18 hours
• Power adapter: 45W
• Webcam: 720p with privacy shutter
• Keyboard: full-size, no numeric keypad, backlit, fingerprint scanner
• Touchpad: standard size 10.5 x 6.5 cm, gesture support
• Audio: 1.5W x 2 Dolby Atmos stereo speakers
• Connectivity: Wi-Fi 6 802.11AX (2 x 2), Bluetooth® 5.0
• Ports:3
  • 2 x USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 (Always-On option available)
  • 2 x USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 (Always-On option available)
  • 1 x USB-C 3.2 Gen 1 (DisplayPort)
  • 3.5 mm for headphones and microphone
• Color: deep blue
• Materials: fabric, soft-touch coating, aluminum
• Dimensions: 206.4 x 308 x 17 – 18.2 mm, weight 1.32 kg
• Price: $2,000

Positioning

Yoga is Lenovo’s premium and slightly experimental brand. Here Lenovo often tries unusual and interesting solutions. On the Yoga 6, for example, it’s an intriguing fabric-trimmed design that turns this 2-in-1 laptop into a fashion accessory.

The laptop is designed for users who want a lightweight and compact device with long battery life.

The main advantages of the product, according to Lenovo:

• Fabric cover, abyss blue;
• Stain-resistant housing
• Touchscreen with 13.3″ stylus support and fine bezels;
• Up to 18 hours of battery life (18 hours of video playback);
• AMD Ryzen 7 4700U processor;
• Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.0;
• Webcam with shutter

At $2,000, it’s clear that the Lenovo Yoga 6 is playing in the premium thin-and-light laptop segment. Although formally premium ultrabooks start at about $2,600, formally the Yoga 6 is in the middle of the middle segment.

Appearance

The main highlight of the Yoga 6 is the fabric cover. And, apparently, this solution works, as I looked for reviews of the owners on the American Internet. And people write that this design decision prompted them to buy. I especially liked the review where the person came for the Samsung Flex because they wanted to buy a laptop from the same brand as the phone, but left with the Yoga 6.

To be honest, I don’t understand the enthusiasm, but I went to cafes with a laptop several times and could not help but notice that people really look at the fabric cover with curiosity. I have only one hypothesis: the laptop market is so boring in terms of design that any bright solution attracts attention.

All friends, acquaintances, seeing the laptop, immediately reached out with their dirty hands to touch the fabric. But nothing happened during the test with the laptop. In the reviews, too, no one complained. And Lenovo itself says that the lid is equipped with a special dirt-repellent coating. Armed with a pipette, I carefully dripped a drop of coffee with milk on the side. The drop was not absorbed, but remained on the surface. Wiped it off with a damp cloth and there were no traces left. But in general, this only says that a couple of drops of coffee will not leave marks. And what if you pour out the whole cup from the heart ?!

Screen and webcam

The laptop has a 13.3 inch screen. It is an IPS LCD touch panel with stylus support and Full HD resolution. Lenovo Yoga 6 has only one screen option. There was no stylus included.

The screen has both strengths and weaknesses. Let’s go over the positives first.

The Yoga 6 has thin bezels around the screen, but just enough to comfortably use the device when it’s folded into a tablet. It should also be added here that it is convenient to work as a tablet with a laptop.

The screen supports the use of a stylus, which will have to be purchased separately. Color gamut 100% sRGB. The color rendition is accurate, there are no color distortions. A nice detail is that there is no PWM, that is, the screen does not flicker when the brightness is reduced.

The maximum screen brightness is 300 nits (295 measured). This is the default brightness for laptops. Manufacturers do not like to set screens with high brightness, as this immediately affects battery life.

The brightness of 300 nits is enough for work in the office or in a cafe. However, it is better not to sit next to the window on a sunny day. Glossy screen glare. Here, of course, a 400 nit screen would be ideal.

Above the screen is a 720p webcam. Lenovo did a great job of equipping their laptops with privacy shutters. So even if a cunning hacker breaks into a laptop, he will not see anything. The only negative is that the curtain only covers the camera, but does not turn it off. That is, if at the meeting you covered the camera with a curtain, then colleagues, of course, do not see you, but continue to hear.

The webcam has pretty good quality.

Speaking about the webcam, I want to note an interesting feature. The laptop has two microphones and has a noise reduction function. In the proprietary Lenovo Vantage application, you can choose work options. For example, if you set the “Only my voice” mode, then the laptop will try to dampen third-party noise as much as possible. There is also a cool option – “Keyboard noise suppression”, that is, during a conversation, the interlocutor will not hear the clattering of the keys. Solutions like this showcase Lenovo’s forte – the company is constantly trying to figure out how to improve the user experience.

Keyboard, touchpad, fingerprint reader

Surprisingly pleasant keyboard, as from the outside it seems that it has a very short stroke. But in fact here, apparently, 1 mm. This is enough to comfortably type materials and answer emails.

There are separate Insert, Print Screen and Delete buttons, but PgUp, PgDn, Home, End are located on the arrows. The downside of this solution is if you prefer to use hotkey combinations in office applications.

I recommend using the proprietary Lenovo Vantage application. It can be placed on the taskbar to conveniently switch the mode of operation of the function keys (they perform primary functions by pressing or the icons drawn on them – decrease / increase the volume, brightness, etc.)

The touchpad is a standard size of 10.5 by 6.5 cm. Supports gestures. The bottom of the touchpad mimics the right and left mouse buttons.

Wrist zones remain cool even under load. The case is easily pressed through. Visually, it looks unpleasant, but I do not think this is critical. To see this, you need to purposefully press into the body with your finger. Why do it?

The fingerprint scanner is located under the arrow keys. There are no questions about his work. However, the lack of an IR camera for face recognition is disappointing. Still, at a price of $ 2,000. could have been added.

Performance

From a performance point of view, the Lenovo Yoga 6 is a worthy solution in any configuration. There are 2 processor options to choose from: 6-core AMD Ryzen 5 4500U and 8-core AMD Ryzen 7 4700U.

The strength of the Ryzen 7 4700U is that the processor does not overheat. Stress tests showed that even after two hours of 100% load, the processor temperature is about 70 degrees. At the same time, the laptop is only slightly warm and silent (this, by the way, is the reason for such a long stress test).

The laptop has a 1 TB PCIe 3.0 x4 SSD, showing near-top speeds. Thanks to such a high-speed SSD and a fairly fast processor, the computer boots in 7 seconds (after a reboot) and in 5 seconds with a normal start. It’s very fast.

A fly in the ointment, however, characteristic of most thin and light laptops, is soldered RAM. If an SSD can be replaced without problems, then this will not work with RAM. The user is offered a choice of options with 8 GB and 16 GB of RAM. Given that a laptop is a multi-year purchase, it’s probably best to go with the 16GB option.

With all the typical office tasks, Yoga 6 handles effortlessly – a couple of browsers with open tabs, Word, Excel, YouTube, working at the same time, do not cause any performance problems.

Perhaps, in the end, it’s worth saying a few words about games, because the laptop has AMD Radeon Graphics (512 MB), which is also called Vega 7. The solid performance of this video card is enough to play chess with good animation. Kidding. Actually, the card is pretty good. It allows you to play many modern games at low settings at 720p. For example, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey works great (but Valhalla is no longer pulling) – 28 fps on low settings.

Battery life

Once again, I advise you to use the proprietary Lenovo Vantage application, as this is perhaps the most convenient proprietary program among all manufacturers. I gave the first place due to the fact that you can make a quick access panel. If you are curious, then ASUS is in second place, which also has convenient and functional software, Dell is in third, because it is functional, but not so convenient. In last place I have HP, because the company strictly delimits the areas. So, for example, business-class laptops get software to save battery health (60% charge limit), but nothing on consumer models.

In Lenovo Vantage, you can limit the percentage of battery charge, you can turn on the USB port so that you can, for example, charge your smartphone from it, even when the laptop is turned off. There are also modes of increased performance and energy efficiency. And there, as I understand it, you can monitor the health of the battery – the intended and actual battery capacity is indicated.

The manufacturer claims up to 18 hours of operation on a single charge. And, frankly, it’s time for everyone to start following the example of Apple, whose words do not differ from deeds. In this case, we are talking about real scenarios, since few people will work on a screen with a brightness of 100 nits.

So, at maximum brightness in the Edge web browser (pages are updated every 15 seconds) and Windows economy mode – 11.5 hours of work. A similar result when scrolling through the video in VLC (and Netflix through the application – 12 hours).

These are decent numbers, especially considering that the laptop comes with 45W light charging. And it would be even more correct, instead of the bundled adapter, to take a charge from a smartphone and recharge the laptop in this way (there is support for Power Delivery).

The battery charge of Lenovo Yoga 6 is enough to go to the city without an adapter with peace of mind. And in which case you can interrupt charging from your smartphone.

Pros, Cons, Conclusion

Lenovo’s laptop turned out to be not just pleasant, but very good.

I will highlight the main positive points:

• Great performance (+ you can run games);
• The laptop does not heat up and does not make noise;
• Nice set of ports, and they are conveniently distributed (USB Type-C and Type-A on each side);
• 2-in-1 format + compact size and light weight – the laptop can be folded into a tablet and held on weight;
• The battery charge is enough for the whole working day (I noticed that I used the laptop like a smartphone, that is, I didn’t turn it off and charged it occasionally when I had time);
• The webcam is equipped with a protective shutter;
• Tactile keyboard;
• Useful proprietary Lenovo Vantage application;
• Fancy fabric design;
• Speakers on the sides of the keyboard.

As disadvantages can be noted:

• RAM is not updated;
• Camera only has a protective shutter (which blocks the image, but not the sound);
• Standard size touchpad;
• There is a fingerprint scanner, but no IR camera for Windows Hello.

The Lenovo Yoga 6 has many competitors, as the market for thin and light laptops is the most active. I see that the main competitors are HP Envy x360 or HP Specter x360 (with Intel Evo certification). The latter, by the way, have recently appeared on sale on the 11th generation of processors from Intel at a price of $2,100.