My Yoga 910 Review (4k/i7/16GB/256GB)

This 2-in-1 laptop is outstanding! It replaced a Dell XPS 15 from 2011 that just wouldn't play nice with Windows 10.

After exhaustive research of probably 20-30 different computers ranging from the Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book all the way up to 17" behemoth gaming machines. My main priority was an outstanding display. The other features I wanted were an i7 processor, minimum 16gb RAM and 256gb SSD drive. I watched hours of YouTube video reviews and comparisons, read scores of articles, and looked at at least a hundred computers in Best Buy and other retailers. In the end, I just fell in love with the Yoga 910.

I wasn't sure if I needed a 4k display or not, and it wasn't a requirement in my search, but I was leaning towards 4k since I plan to use the computer for at least three or four years, if not longer. I know 4k isn't fully utilized by many windows programs yet, but neither was 1080p when I bought my XPS nearly six years ago. So for future-proofing purposes, I think 4k is a plus. This display is really beautiful. Very clear and bright, with good contrast and great color that seems pretty accurate. It's not as bright as my old XPS, which I would generally keep at about 50% brightness indoors. I've been sticking around 75% brightness on the Yoga. So if you intend to use your computer outdoors very much, you might want to look elsewhere. The glossy screen would not help outside, either.

The backlit keyboard has a great feel and good layout. I tested my typing speed for this review at 10fastfingers <dot> com and got a 95wpm score, which is significantly better than my usual. My only complaint about the keyboard is the Home/End/Page Down/Page Up keys being combined with the arrow keys accessible only by using the Fn key combo.

The touchpad is extremely smooth and responsive. My fingers glide across it's surface and it responds well to two-finger scrolling and other multi-finger gestures. The only minor issue I've had is that the cursor seems to move quite often as I'm right-clicking causing it to miss the target of my click. I don't consider it to be a huge issue and figure I'll probably adjust to it, and it may even be something addressed by a future driver update.

The watch band hinge is a polarizing feature based on my research. I find it to be very sturdy and, in my opinion, attractive. It is fairly stiff, requiring two hands to open the screen, but I don't mind that and feel like that bodes well for it's longevity. It easily folds back into tent and tablet modes and stays where you leave it with no undesired movement. The screen also doesn't wobble at all when I'm typing in regular laptop mode.

The silver finish on mine is very attractive and doesn't seem to show fingerprints at all.

Speaking of fingerprints, the built-in fingerprint reader works very well and allows for quick logins with the Windows Hello feature.

Overall performance is very speedy, but you'll have to temper that judgment with the knowledge that this is my first SSD equipped computer. My XPS had a 500gb 5400 RPM hard drive, so pretty much any SSD would probably have impressed. Belarc reports my drive is a NVMe SAMSUNG MZVLW512, if anyone cares for that info. Boot times are incredibly fast and all disk operations seem to be as well. Photoshop start-up time on my old XPS was probably close to a minute or more, on this Yoga it's closer to 10 seconds or less.

I read another user's review about this model having super loud fan noise under light to moderate load. I have had zero problems with heat or fan noise at all. I could barely hear it come on briefly while I was installing all of my apps, syncing my Google Drive and Dropbox and simultaneously trying to watch 4k videos on YouTube with Chrome. The fans are not a problem on this computer, so don't worry about that.

Battery life is hard to judge at this point, because I've been using it heavily while installing my apps and have been plugging it in regularly just to keep it topped up. I'd expect something around 7-8 hours based on my usage so far, but your mileage may vary.

There was no bloatware installed on this computer at all, which was a pleasant surprise. I was expecting to do a clean install right off the bat, but that turned out to be unnecessary.

 

Sorry if this is in the wrong forum. There's no IdeaPad in the model name, but that seems to be where the other Yoga 910 posts are. Admin feel free to move or delete.

 

Moved it is.

 

Thanks for your honest review! I'm torn between this and the new Spectre x360. I don't plan on the 4k screen.

 

The new Spectre models are all really nice!

 

For those looking for a case or sleeve for their Yoga 910, it is very close in size to the 13-inch MacBook Air, so you should be able to buy any case that fits that. I ended up buying a leather sleeve from Amazon for just $30 that looks and works great!

 

This model is on sale for $200 off this week at Best Buy - $1399.

 

you should bring yours back and then buy a new one for $200 cheaper

 

I took my receipt in yesterday and received a no hassle price adjustment.

 

NICE

 

I looked at these at Best Buy today. Very solid build quality and screen. I would say it's one of the nicest laptops in the store and the fit and finish was definitely on a Macbook level.