Active Stocks
Thu Mar 28 2024 15:59:33
  1. Tata Steel share price
  2. 155.90 2.00%
  1. ICICI Bank share price
  2. 1,095.75 1.08%
  1. HDFC Bank share price
  2. 1,448.20 0.52%
  1. ITC share price
  2. 428.55 0.13%
  1. Power Grid Corporation Of India share price
  2. 277.05 2.21%
Business News/ Mint-lounge / Features/  How flexible are you?
BackBack

How flexible are you?

Lenovo's new line-up of limber notebooks will appeal to home and business users

The ThinkPad Yoga S1 is one of the more robust laptops in the market. Premium
The ThinkPad Yoga S1 is one of the more robust laptops in the market.

The Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga, launched in 2012, was well received. The flexibility was appealing—the display could go all the way back, the lid and the base of the machine would sit flush, and you could use it as a tablet. But the price was restrictive (it was launched at 84,000 and currently costs around 65,000).

However, it gave us a glimpse of the future. Lenovo’s new IdeaPad series of laptops is targeted at the home user, while the ThinkPad series is designed with the business user in mind.

Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 2

41,990

View Full Image
The IdeaPad Flex 2 is powerful enough for home usage

The Flex 2 doesn’t fold all the way back into tablet mode, like the IdeaPad Yoga. It bends back around 300 degrees, in a sort of tent mode, with the screen facing away from the keyboard and touch pad. This is useful if you want to watch movies in bed, or keep it on the coffee table for video chats, or simply show a presentation to colleagues sitting across the workstation. But since there is no authentic tablet mode (when the screen flips all the way back and the machine looks like a tablet), its utility is limited.

The screen has a 1,366x768-pixel resolution, common among laptops in this price range. The colours look much better than they did on Yoga, and the text is crisp. However, the glass above the screen is quite reflective and will pose some discomfort in a brightly lit room or outdoors during the day. Push the brightness above 60%, and that reduces the reflections slightly. The touch screen works well, but you may not be using it too often—it’s just a matter of habit, we have come to realize.

The key size and spacing on the keyboard are quite good, but the curved key design takes some getting used to. If you are typing too quickly, the centre portion of the keyboard tends to dip a bit. The touch pad is quite big, and works well for multi-touch gestures.

An Intel Core i3 processor (1.7 GHz) powers the Flex 2, paired with 4 GB of RAM. Windows 8.1 comes pre-loaded on the 500 GB hard drive. The performance is fairly smooth for everyday use. However, if you tend to open a lot of system-draining software simultaneously, the Flex 2 will struggle to keep up. Battery life is impressive though—in real-world usage, this battery is good enough to last five-and-a-half hours.

The Flex 2 is meant for someone who wants a laptop for daily use—Web browsing, document editing, high-definition (HD) movie playback and Skype video-chat sessions. The performance is limited, but adequate for most daily-usage patterns. The affordable price and flexible design are the real attractions.

Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga S1

96,765 onwards

If ever a run of the mill, black-coloured laptop could be attractive, it is this. The ThinkPad Yoga S1 looks upmarket with the matte colour and soft-feel finish on the lid, keyboard deck and side spines. The magnesium alloy chassis makes this notebook strong, and in line with what the rest of Lenovo’s business notebooks offer. Its hard-drive protection feature prevents data loss in case the machine is subject to sudden impact.

This laptop has passed the US military standard tests for pressure resistance, response to sudden temperature changes, dust and vibrations. The Yoga S1 weighs 1.6kg, which qualifies it to be called an ultrabook.

This is the more serious version of the IdeaPad Yoga, and the screen folds all the way back. We had pointed out a flaw in the IdeaPad Yoga’s design, which left the keyboard exposed to potential damage, in tablet mode. This time around, Lenovo has tweaked it a bit—each key retracts when you move the display back, and sits flush with the keyboard deck to prevent accidental breakage.

This is one of the few laptops that comes with a stylus. It can be pulled out from its slot on the right-side spine. And to retain the old-world charm, there is the pointing stick, which was common across Lenovo (then known as IBM) business laptops in the pre-touch pad days.

The keyboard is quite comfortable to use—each key feels chunky and gives a rather solid response to every press. The pointing stick sits between the G, H, V and B keys and tends to get in the way a bit while typing, till you get used to weaving your fingers around it.

The 12.5-inch screen is full HD (1,920x1,080 pixels), in line with what you would expect from an expensive laptop. There is a Gorilla Glass layer above it, to prevent panel damage in case of abusive use. This display isn’t reflective at all, and is comfortable to use in a brightly lit office. This should sit well with the target-user demographic.

There are absolutely no issues when it comes to performance—the latest-generation Intel Core i5 processor paired with 4 GB of RAM does a consistent job. The test unit we received included a 1 TB hard drive, with a 16 GB flash partition for system cache.

Business users tend to move around with their laptops quite a bit, for meetings and presentations. The Yoga S1’s battery lasts around 5 hours on a single charge, with Wi-Fi connected and brightness at 90% throughout. Turn the brightness down to 50%, and the back-up time increases by around 45 minutes.

The ThinkPad Yoga S1 costs a lot of money, but is one of the more robust laptops available in the market. This is a machine meant to appeal to someone who moves around a lot, and needs the extra protection for potentially sensitive data.

What exactly is an ultrabook?

The Ultrabook has evolved from the conventional laptop, but Intel makes no compromise with the eligibility criteria.

To the untrained eye, an Ultrabook doesn’t look very different from a typical laptop. The Ultrabook concept was introduced by Intel, which has set specific guidelines, and not every laptop can be classified as one. Regularly tweaked to include any new hardware, these guidelines are shared with laptop makers (called OEMs, or original equipment manufacturers).

An Ultrabook needs to be 18mm or less in thickness for machines with displays smaller than or equal to 14 inches. For machines with bigger screen sizes, the thickness is limited to 21mm. There are no strict numbers to follow as far as the weight is concerned, but most Ultrabooks weigh around 1.4kg, while the high-end ones are around 1.1kg.

Ultrabooks are supposed to offer a minimum of 5-hours’ battery life. Do not assume, however, that all Ultrabooks offer that, because these figures depend on the usage scenario, the configuration of the machine and the health of the battery pack. This is a bit like the fuel mileage figures that car makers tend to advertise, but with that ever-so-tiny mention of the disclaimer: “These figures were achieved under standard test conditions only".

For performance, Ultrabooks are supposed to have a flash drive for cache, in addition to the standard hard drive. This cache partition is used by the operating system to store critical drivers, files and keep frequently used software in a state of readiness. If the Ultrabook has an SSD (solid-state drive) for primary storage, the separate cache is not needed.

Do remember, Ultrabooks remove the optical drive (CD/DVD drive) to keep the thickness levels within prescribed limits. But wireless connectivity features such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are standard.

An Ultrabook is perfect for someone who needs a slim and light machine to carry around. Portability may be especially relevant for business users, students and writers on the go.

Unlock a world of Benefits! From insightful newsletters to real-time stock tracking, breaking news and a personalized newsfeed – it's all here, just a click away! Login Now!

Catch all the Business News, Market News, Breaking News Events and Latest News Updates on Live Mint. Download The Mint News App to get Daily Market Updates.
More Less
Published: 23 Aug 2014, 12:26 AM IST
Next Story footLogo
Recommended For You
Switch to the Mint app for fast and personalized news - Get App