The system comes with some software preinstalled, including 30-day trials of McAfee LiveSafe and Microsoft Office 365, along with apps such as Skype, Zinio, Amazon, Evernote, and proprietary Lenovo apps that include cloud storage through Hightail, Lenovo Phone Connection, and Lenovo Photo Master.
The sleek design also dictates the storage options-the Yoga 3 Pro comes with a 128GB solid-state drive. Given the extremely slim chassis, it’s not a bad selection of features.
Inside, the system is equipped with 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0. Along the right side of the laptop are several physical buttons for Power, Volume, and Screen Rotation. Otherwise, the port selection is fairly standard, with two USB 3.0 ports, an SD card slot, and a headset jack. The smaller port doesn’t require the extra chassis thickness that a standard HDMI port does, but it will require some sort of adapter dongle or micro-to-full-size HDMI cable to run a connection out to a TV or projector. Additionally, the laptop offers micro HDMI for display output. This has the dual effect of reducing by one the number of ports needed on the system without reducing total connectivity, and adds a new proprietary charger that you’ll need to purchase through Lenovo. The standard USB port is modified with a slight bump on one side that ensures the power cord is plugged in properly, and the port reverts back to standard USB whenever the DC power cable is disconnected.
In addition to the new look, Lenovo throws a couple of unexpected curveballs in terms of the port selection, like a power connector that doubles as a USB port. This is one of the first times we’ve seen a convertible hybrid laptop with a better-than-HD-resolution display it definitely helps justify the Yoga’s premium price.
The edge-to-edge glass only enhances the gesture controls and the touchcapable display offers full ten-finger tracking. The 13.3-inch display, with its Quad-HD (3,200-by-1,800) resolution, features Gorilla Glass, which should protect it from scratches and cracks. The touchpad is also quite good, with all of the gesture controls and accurate tracking you might expect from a Lenovo product.
The keyboard does have backlighting, so typing in a dark room will be a little less difficult. That said, this might be as thin as a laptop can get while still having a regular keyboard, and even this one won’t please all users-I know I was irritated by how shallow the key travel was.
The keyboard is also a bit thinner, but Lenovo has managed to retain most of the comfortable depth and smooth key movement seen on past iterations of the Yoga. The laptop slims down even further with the new fanless chassis design, thanks to an Intel Core M processor that doesn’t need the cooling fans Intel’s usual laptop CPUs require. The chassis is molded plastic, with anodized aluminum on its lid and underside, but the palm rest gets a soft-touch finish with a polka-dot texture. The laptop measures 0.5 by 12.99 by 8.98 inches (HWD) and weighs just 2.6 pounds. The sturdier hinge also results in a machine that better holds up to the many taps and touches to which it will be subjected in daily use. More important, the new hinge lets Lenovo shave a few more millimeters from the device, making the 3 Pro the thinnest Yoga yet-and the first time a system of this size hasn’t felt too large for tablet use. You can still flip and fold the laptop as before, with the four usage modes of Stand, Tent, and Display, but now you can finally also lay the laptop out flat. The biggest change with the Yoga 3 Pro is the hinge, which leaves behind the dual-axle design seen on the Yoga 2 Pro and the Yoga 2 13, and instead uses a watchband-inspired hinge that runs the length of the device.