With the ThinkPad Twist and IdeaPad Yoga, Lenovo now has Ultrabook convertible options for its business and consumer laptop segments. The ThinkPad Twist, with starting price of $799, is actually one of the cheapest Ultrabook convertibles on the market. Surprisingly the consumer-positioned IdeaPad Yoga 13 is actually more expensive, starting at $999 — though it does come with a better display. The ThinkPad Twist is now available while the IdeaPad Yoga 13 is still a few weeks off.
Lenovo has an in-house unboxing of both the ThinkPad Twist and IdeaPad Yoga. The Yoga’s unboxing also reveals a sleek looking sleeve (they’re calling it the ‘Slot-in Case‘, $40) that can also slide over the keyboard while in tablet mode to hide the keyboard away when you don’t want it.
Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 13 Unboxing
Lenovo ThinkPad Twist Unboxing
Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga Price and Release Date
Lenovo is offering three variants of the IdeaPad Yoga 13. Starting at $999 you’ll find a Core i3-3217U processor, HD 4000 integrated graphics, 4GB of RAM (1600MHz), 128GB SSD, and 13.3″ 1600×900 IPS display. It’s a shame that Lenovo couldn’t hit the $999 price point with anything more than a Core i3 which lacks Turbo Boost.
The middle option, priced at $1099, keeps the same specs except for a faster Core i5-3317U processor (with Turbo Boost) and 8GB of RAM.
The final option, priced at $1299, has the same specs as the middle option but moves up to the Core i7-3517U (also with Turbo Boost).
Full Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 13 specs in our Ultrabook database
Unfortunately Lenovo says that the Yoga 13, which looks to be one of the most interesting Ultrabook convertibles on the market, won’t ship for another 4 weeks. This puts the Yoga 13 release date out to late November or early December.
Lenovo ThinkPad Twist Price and Release Date
If you want to get your hands on an Ultrabook convertible sooner (and cheaper) the Lenovo ThinkPad Twist is now available. The Twist uses a spinning-screen form factor rather than the interesting double-hinge of the Yoga. Lenovo has lots of experience making this kind of tablet thanks to prior Tablet PCs. For this reason I was surprised to find that the ThinkPad Twist does not come with a stylus! This is a real shame as digital handwriting is a boon for business users.
Lenovo is offering four ThinkPad Twist variants. The first of which starts at $799 and includes a Core i3-3217U processor, integrated HD 4000 graphics, 4GB of RAM (1333MHz), 320GB HHD, and 12.5″ 1366×768 display.
The second option is priced at $849 and jumps up to the Core i5-3317U processor (with Turbo Boost) and a 50GB HHD. If you can spare $50 on top of the base offering to go for this, do it! You’re getting 180GB more space in the HHD and a faster processor which includes Turbo Boost.
The third option will cost you $1029 and comes with a Core i7-3517U CPU, Windows 8 Pro, and 8GB of RAM ( still 1333MHz).
The last variant of ThinkPad Twist is priced at $1079 and adds a 128GB SSD in place of the 500GB HHD. If you are between this model and the step down, and aren’t concerned about storage, we’d say that $50 for the SSD is a pretty good deal.
Presentation is wonderful. Thanks for explaining the differences between Twist & Yoga. Wish Lenovo also offers Twist with 256gb SSD.
Thank you.
Madhu
I have useed HP notesbooks dv6t, dv7t for some 10 years, ASUS for 2 years, Sony 3 years. HO gave me the most problem, blue screen pop up every now and then, noisy fans very slow boot up despite i7 cpu . Then I tried Lenovo X220 , it was the best for what I do in my work. It’s very stable and fast. I think their engineers did a good job. Just recently I bought X230 tablet for my graphic work, I am happy with it. Although it is expensive but worst it.
Now I waiting for the Helix, that is very portable to carry around with its 11″. It look like a little brother of X230 tablet. I do hope they provide bigger SSD dive of at least 248 GB.