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Lenovo Yoga 720 Review: It seems that style, performance, and comfort don’t need to cost you over a grand. Take the $829 Lenovo Yoga 720, a convertible laptop with Intel’s Seventh-Gen Kaby Lake CPUs, blisteringly fast storage and an elegant, light-weight design. While the 13-inch laptop can be even better by providing more battery life and a brighter display, it’s still a more-than-capable notebook that will serve you effectively.
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Lenovo Yoga 720 Review – Specifications
Processor 7th Generation Intel® Core™ i5-7200U Processor
RAM 8 GB
Storage 256GB PCIe SSD
Display 13.3-inch Full-HD (1920 x 1080)
Operating System Windows 10 Home
Graphics Intel HD Graphics 620
Dimensions 12.2 x 8.4 x 0.6-inches/ 2.9 pounds
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Lenovo Yoga 720 Review – Design
A glimmering aluminum sliver of a notebook, the Yoga 720 is so svelte that I was stunned to see it packs a 13-inch panel. Out there in silver, gray or gold, it features shiny YOGA branding on the top-right nook of the lid and equally reflective beveled edges that wrap around the display and keyboard deck. Pretty much as good as everything else appeared on this machine, I’m not a fan of the display’s thick, 1.1-inch bottom bezel.
Opening the Lenovo Yoga 720, I felt its strong, 360-degree hinges that make it possible to use this machine in tent, tablet, display and laptop modes. Its full-size, island-style keyboard is barely recessed from the rest of the machine, and the 2-in-1’s fingerprint reader sits on the bottom right of the keyboard.
On the left facet of the Yoga 720, you will discover the 2-in-1’s Thunderbolt 3 port, USB Type-C port, and headphone jack which the machine relies on for drawing power. The Yoga’s USB 3.0 port and power button sit on the right facet.
Weighing 2.8 pounds and measuring 0.6 inches thick, the Lenovo Yoga 720 is a bit thicker than the HP’s Spectre x360 (weighing 2.9 pounds and 0.5 inches thick). Both the Dell’s Inspiron 13 7000 2-in-1 (weighing 3.4 pounds and 0.8 inches thick) and Asus’s ZenBook Flip UX360CA (weighing 3.0 pounds and 0.6 inches thick).
Lenovo Yoga 720 Review – Keyboard and TouchPad
The Yoga 720’s shallow-but-responsive keyboard allows speedy typing. While this machine’s keys are short on key journey (with 1.2 mm versus the 1.5 to 2.0 we expect to see), their 76 grams of required actuation force (we hope to see at least 60 g) steadiness that out to make for a suitable experience. Nonetheless, if the keys were deeper, users might keep comfy while typing for longer stretches.
The Lenovo Yoga 720’s 4.1 x 2.7-inch touchpad allows smooth scrolling and gives a good feel in every click. It also accurately registered Windows 10’s three-finger app-switching gestures. To the right of the touchpad, below the keyboard, you will discover the 2-in-1’s fingerprint reader, which allows speedy logins via Windows Hello. I’m also glad that Lenovo continues to maintain the reader separate from the touchpad, something not all manufacturers does.
Lenovo Yoga 720 Review – Display
The Lenovo Yoga 720’s 13-inch, Full-HD 1920 x 1080-pixel panel produces crisp, colorful pictures, however, the screen is a bit dim. When I watched a trailer of The Defenders, I noted the inky-black shadows of a jail cell together with the vibrant hues of Danny Rand’s amber fist and Daredevil’s crimson mask. The resolution was sharp enough that I could see the splotches of blood on Jessica Jones’ face.
Based on our colorimeter, the Lenovo Yoga 720 produces 127 % of the sRGB spectrum. That’s more than the 68 %category average, in addition to the readings from the HP Spectre x360 (102 %), Dell Inspiron 13 (69 %) and the Asus ZenBook Flip (102 %). The convertible’s touch screen registered my input precisely as I navigated through the display and kept up as I quickly doodled in Paint. The screen also registered Windows 10’s swipe-based navigation gestures quite effectively.
I’d favor it if the Yoga 720’s panel supplied a little more brightness because it emits only as much as 280 nits. That’s under the 293-nit ultraportable category average, in addition to the 318 nit presented by the HP Spectre x360 and the 298 nits for the Asus ZenBook Flip. Certainly, the Yoga’s rating beats the 228-nit Dell Inspiron 13, however, I still noticed colors darken when I considered the 720’s panel from 45 degrees to the left or right.
Lenovo Yoga 720 Review – Graphics and Audio
The inbuilt Intel HD Graphics 620 chip in the Lenovo Yoga 720 pushed the machine to a robust 877 on the 3DMark Fire Strike graphics test. That beats the Dell Inspiron 13, which uses the identical GPU, the ultraportable category average and the Intel’s HD 515-powered Asus ZenBook Flip. The HP Spectre x360 (Intel HD 620) earned a higher rating, at 920. Gamers with average demands will enjoy the Lenovo Yoga 720, as it ran DiRT 3 (at Med settings) at a smooth 52 fps. That easily beats the 35-fps category average and the scores from the HP Spectre x360 (40 fps), Dell Inspiron 13 (38 fps) and Asus ZenBook Flip (18 fps).
The convertible’s JBL-branded audio system produced solid audio that crammed our medium-size conference room with a strong rendition of Imagine Dragons’ “Thunder,” producing strong bass, clear vocals, and crisp drums. Although the preloaded Dolby Atmos sound-tuning app gives several presets, I discovered that the default Music setting delivered the most effective audio experience.
Lenovo Yoga 720 Review – Hardware and Performance
I examined a Lenovo Yoga 720 armed with an Intel Core i5-7200U CPU and 8GB RAM, which allows stable multitasking. I observed no lag after splitting my screen amongst a dozen Chrome tabs (together with ones for Slack, TweetDeck, and Google Docs) and a Full-HD YouTube video. The laptop stayed zippy and active after I opened, even more, apps on top, doodled in OneNote, shot pictures with Camera and played a round of Candy Crush.
Our Lenovo Yoga 720 scored a superb 7,300 on the Geekbench 4 general performance test. That beats showings by the Dell Inspiron 13 (6,707), which features the similar CPU and RAM, and the Asus ZenBook Flip (5,082), which has an Intel’s Core m3-6Y30, with 8GB RAM. The Lenovo Yoga also beats the 7,024 ultraportable category average. The HP Spectre x360 earned a better score, at 8,147, with its Intel Core i7-7500U CPU and 16GB of RAM.
The 256GB NVMe M.2 PCIe SSD in the Lenovo Yoga 720 duplicated 4.97GB of multimedia information in 18 seconds, for a speed of 318.1 MBps. That’s tied with the Spectre x360’s 512GB PCIe SSD’s time of 318.1 MBps and is quicker than the 191.08 MBps ultraportable category average. It also beats the rates from the 256GB M.2 SSD in the Dell Inspiron 13 (110.6 MBps) and the 512GB SSD in the Asus ZenBook Flip (169.6 MBps).
The Yoga 720 accomplished our OpenOffice Macro test, which consists of matching 20,000 names to addresses, in quick 4 minutes and 2 seconds, a time that beats the 5:39 ultraportable category average and the 6 minutes from the Asus ZenBook Flip. The Dell Inspiron 13 completed a mere second later (4:03), and the HP Spectre x360) needed even less time (3:33).
Lenovo Yoga 720 Review – Heat
The Lenovo Yoga 720 doesn’t simply look cool’ it also stays cool to the touch. After we had streamed 15 minutes of Full- HD video on YouTube, our heat gun registered temperatures from 74 to 83 degrees Fahrenheit on the laptop’s touchpad, the area between G and H keys, and underside. These measurements don’t come close to crossing our 95-degree consolation threshold.
Lenovo Yoga 720 Review – Battery Life
The Lenovo Yoga 720 could stand to last a little longer on a charge. The laptop made it only 7 hours and 4 minutes on our Battery Test that includes steady internet browsing over Wifi at 100 nits. Is is well under our 8:16 ultraportable category average, in addition to the times from the HP Spectre x360 (10:06) and the Asus ZenBook Flip (9:58). Only the Dell Inspiron 13 provides even less battery life, at 6:30.
Lenovo Yoga 720 Review – Configuration Options
The entry-level Yoga 720 prices $829 and features an Intel’s Core i5-7200U CPU and 8GB RAM. The top-of-the-line version that I reviewed costs $1,099 and packs an Intel’s Core i7-7500U CPU, with 16GB RAM and a 512GB PCIe SSD storage. Only essentially the most demanding users will need the Core i7 configuration.
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Conclusion
The Lenovo Yoga 720 will attract many eyes with its slick design, speedy performance, and vibrant display. If only this 2-in-1 lasted a little longer on a charge, then it would have earned an even higher score. For a longer-lasting notebook with a better typing experience, and brighter display, you will get a similarly configured HP’s Spectre x360 for $1,069. Nonetheless, the Lenovo Yoga 720 offers a premium convertible experience at a more affordable price.