#IFA2017, #ShowStoppersIFA – September is always an interesting time in the PC industry because there’s a large product refresh. The Lenovo Yoga 920 is Lenovo’s new tip-of-the-spear consumer/prosumer multimode laptop. Boasting a 13.9” 4K display in a 13.3” laptop body, it is equipped with Intel’s latest 4-Core Intel Core i7, Generation 8.
When we first looked at the Yoga 920, we were impressed by the Industrial Design. It is beautifully designed, but equally well built. The materials felt “rich” and the look is sober, but elegant. Lenovo has pushed last year’s design language to new levels, and it is obvious at the first instant you see and touch this computer.
Lenovo still relies on its unique watchband hinge to offer a 360-laptop which is thin. Because the hinge has to be 360, sturdy and stay in place in any position, this is a difficult exercise to design something which is just right. Lenovo has certainly succeeded, and it’s not completely surprising from the company who invented multimode laptops.
The Yoga 920 comes with a 4K IPS display with very thin bezels on the left/right side. The top and bottom still have significant bezels for two reasons: first, the top is housing the camera, and that is arguably the best location at the moment. HP has taken a similar decision, and overall, it’s completely understandable. Secondly, the screen needs to cover the whole surface of the laptop when closed, so it’s not unnatural to have more space at least the the bottom of the screen.
There an optional Gorilla Glass cover which adds a luxury touch to this laptop, and in 2017 it’s a Star Wars theme that has been selected. That is part of a larger Disney/Lenovo cooperation that also touches VR/AR products.
The Yoga 920 might be 13.95mm (0.55”) thick, but it comes with a Dolby Atmos certified sound system. If you’re not familiar with Atmos, it is a sound rendering system originally developed by Dolby for theaters. At a high level, Atmos has been designed to “render” sound from a set of 3D audio data, just like images can be rendered from points and triangles. The main difference between a theater setup and a computer setup is the accuracy at which the sound can be rendered.
Last, but certainly not least, the Lenovo Yoga 920 comes with dual Thunderbolt 3 ports. This is great because Thunderbolt 3 is the fastest protocol available for PC ports. It can accommodate multiple 4K displays, and even external GPUs. This is a must-have if you move a lot of data around, or if you work in a creative job.
We’ll dig into the specifications and will probably review this product at some point, but at the moment, technical details are still emerging — and that includes final pricing. Looking back at last years 9xx series, we predict that Lenovo will price the 920 to be able to efficiently compete in the 13”-14” ultralight space.
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