The Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga… I want it, I need it, I love it…

Ever since the Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga was revealed at CES 2012, I’ve been frothing at the mouth like a mad dog trying to learn as much as I could about it. I spent days scrounging around YouTube and looking through articles and such that showed off the device in all its glory.

Lenovo says that it may sell for around 1200USD, which is quite a lot to pay for a 13.3inch notebook said to be running ultrabook specced hardware… so just why am I getting so excited?

There’s a few reasons that really draw me toward the IdeaPad Yoga above all other notebooks/laptops… whatever you want to call them. Instead of going through the features myself in some long boring list, it’s easier just to get someone else’s hard work and plonk it on the page and say “there ya go”…

So, this is a Windows 8 hybrid notebook/tablet with a pretty unique (at the moment) hinge system that you use to fold the screen around to the back to turn into a tablet.

It’s pretty nifty stuff and I love the whole suggested flexibility that the “Yoga” name brings. The device itself is 17mm thick (Lenovo touts 16.9mm, lol) which makes it nice and thin for a notebook but too thick to be an effective tablet, according to some. I have to say that the flexible form-factor does have its advantages and allows you as the end-user to really use it however you want as a notebook that can do more than what other standard notebooks can do. I can see myself using the Yoga in a whole lot of different ways for uni and work and everything else compared to other laptops.

Another thing that I love about the Yoga is the look and feel of the device itself. It has nice hard edges, is flat with very little in the way of curves that a lot of other laptops seem to love having. The whole industrial hard-edged no-nonsense design is what I like and suits my tastes very well. It’s one of the big reasons why I got myself a Samsung Galaxy S II recently instead of the Galaxy S III which had just been released. Samsung’s design principle for the S III revolved around making the device look natural and organic, but I don’t want that. I want a more industrial look and feel and that’s what both the Galaxy S II and IdeaPad Yoga have in spades. The only shortcoming with the design is that the prototype shown off at CES 2012 was in silver… I want it in black.

The big problem I’m facing with the Yoga at the moment is that it was only ever shown off and talked about during CES 2012 and hasn’t been shown off by Lenovo ever since. They’ve been saying that the release of the Yoga will be around October, most likely after the big Windows 8 launch. But I want to know more… I want specifics and I want them now… I also want to know what the competition has to rival this device because if there really is something better, I want to know about it now. Unfortunately, the news and general showing of Windows 8 devices is pretty sparse with most OEM’s not really showing anything all that exciting (which is why Microsoft revealed the Surface not long ago), at least not to me.

Speaking of Windows 8, I am one of the few people who is actually excited about the new OS and I’m eagerly awaiting its arrival. The Yoga is going to be a great Windows 8 device and I also hope to get a Windows RT based tablet too for those times when I need something really light. I have a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 right now which is a terrific Android tablet, now if Samsung could make a Windows RT tablet that rivals the Galaxy Tab 10.1, especially in terms of its thin and light design, I’d be thrilled.

In fact, I hope to get a three-fold Windows 8 experience happening with my desktop PC, a hybrid notebook/tablet and a Windows RT based tablet. Microsoft believes that consumers like myself should just get their Windows Pro version of the Microsoft Surface, but the reality is that both the IdeaPad Yoga and the Surface are too chunky and too heavy to replace what I use my current tablet for, hence why two devices are required… Hey, I have the money to pay for both so why not? Plus, when it comes to devices with finite battery life, it’s good to share that burden so you’re always connected.

So anyway, at this point in time, the Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga is definitely going to become my future Windows 8 laptop… however, all I can do right now is play the waiting game and hope more information comes out about it before I’m driven to insanity.