Photos by Vincent Villa
As an unofficial budol expert, people always ask me for laptop recommendations. Most of the time they will just say the budget they have and expect me to search for a few that fit that range. However, they must answer two questions first – what do you do, and how will you use the laptop. There are a lot of spec-combinations per price point that it would be hard to recommend in general if I don’t know their purpose for the laptop. But even with that explanation they’ll just say “I just want something versatile.”
Luckily, there’s a match for such a vague answer. The Lenovo Yoga 6 is a convertible laptop that ticks all the boxes in your checklist. I had one for a week and let me tell you, I’m tempted to buy one for myself.
But before anything else, let’s dive into the spec sheet first:
Lenovo Yoga 6 (13ALC7 82UD0018PH)
AMD Ryzen 7 5700U (8-cores/16-threads; 1.8 – 4.3Ghz)
Integrated AMD Graphics
16GB RAM
1TB SSD M.2
Windows 11 Home 64-bit
13.3-inch IPS display, 1920×1200, 300nits of brightness, 100% sRGB
Design and build
Lenovo is subtle in flaunting their name. The Yoga emblem is debossed on the aluminum top while a contrast patch of silver is on another corner bearing the brand’s name. Overall, they’re both small accents to a plain cover that looks great in any surrounding you put it on.
The bottom section of the unit is more of a usual affair. It’s made of polycarbonate which isn’t bad and tends to keep the weight at a measly 1.37kg. It’s a bit thick at 17.45mm but that’s the trade-off for its versatility which I’m more than willing to accept.
What I really love about it is the rounded edges especially at the palm rest area. It’s where I (and probably you too) spent most of my time so having that in a nice curve and not digging into my wrist is a big plus. All sides have the same curve too so if you’re used to carrying the laptop without a bag, it won’t be a pain in your hands.
Ports
The Yoga 6 has a nice set of ports for the modern user. At the left are two USB-C ports, one of which is used by the power adapter. Beside it is a full HDMI port which removes the need for an adapter should you need to power up a projector or external monitor, and last there’s a 3.5mm combo jack for headsets.
On the other side there’s a fingerprint scanner below the keyboard, and on the real right side you’ll find the “hidden” power button which I always tend to forget is there. Beside it are two USB 3.2 ports, and a microSD reader. The absence of a full SD card reader might raise some eyebrows but remember most devices that are used for video recording – phones, GoPros, and 360-cameras – mostly use microSD cards so to have that built in means one less adapter to worry about.
Keyboard
Aside from the performance which we’ll get to later on, one of my favorite features of the Yoga 6 is its keyboard. It has an almost tactile response. Sure, it’s still a membrane keyboard but as far as laptop keyboards go, Apple included, I say this is top tier in terms of feel and quality. With my personal Macbook Air, I type usually at 90-95 words per minute but with the Lenovo, I was able to go to 98-102wpm. It’s such a joy to use and I think anyone who does a lot of typing will notice this too in this laptop.
Display
It has a 13.3-inch screen with 1920×1200 resolution so watching full HD movies will result in black bars. Some won’t like it but as a cinephile I love it. It has 300 nits of brightness which is more than good enough for outside ventures especially at full power.
What’s great about the Yoga 6 is you can bend the display backwards so it can disable the function of the keyboard and use it as a 13-inch tablet. Yes, the display is also a touchscreen but the glossy finish means there will be a lot of marks left after using it. Why not use a matte finish? Simple. Lenovo was smart enough to consider its effect on color and contrast so they’d rather have the glossy finish.
Speaking of, the Yoga 6 has a fairly accurate color rendering even when compared to those with OLED panels. Contrast is decent enough to give you blacks and not shallow grays. Those into social media postings will appreciate this since they’ll have more confidence that the images they’re editing will appear as intended across many devices.
The test unit I had also came with the Lenovo Digital Pen (optional). It has a resistive feedback on the touchscreen that makes scrolling a bit sticky but that’s another downside from the glossy screen. The good thing about it is it won’t leave marks as obnoxious as the thumbprints resulting in a still usable screen after your presentation.
There’s also a FullHD webcam above the display that has a privacy shutter. This way, hackers won’t be able to use the camera to get visual information from you.
Performance
Let’s get down to the business side of things first. The Yoga 6 is exceptional with daily tasks and heavy office workloads. The 16GB of RAM provides a lot of headroom so you can open up around 15 tabs in Google Chrome without a hitch. That, combined with the AMD CPU and SSD storage means you can multitask between the browser and some apps with ease.
The trade-off between the lack of dedicated graphics unit so Lenovo can put a 1TB SSD pays off. It’s also an NVME or the smaller and faster storage that can has a read/write rate of up to 3.5GB/s. You won’t have an excuse again that your folder has a lot of files so it loads slowly that’s why you browsed YouTube for a bit.
What’s surprising is the gaming capability of the Yoga 6. Sure, it’s not built for that task but AMD really impressed me in this area. There’s no dedicated graphics card but it was still able to play CS:GO at a realistic 45 fps, Tekken 7 is at a decent 27 fps, while Need for Speed Hot Pursuit is at 43fps. Modern games will understandably have a drop in frame rates but again, this is a laptop without a dedicated graphics card. The fact it can decently run these games at these frame rates is very commendable.
As for fan noise, doing office work with the Yoga unplugged in an airconditioned place won’t really activate the fans. Do the same work at room temperature and you’ll only have a few minutes before you can hear them turning. They’re not loud though and can only be heard if it’s relatively quiet in your location.
Battery life
I am merciless when I use laptops unplugged. I do not hold back on the screen’s brightness nor do I limit my activities in order to have a longer battery life. I also turned off the performance limiter when unplugged in the Windows settings. With full brightness in the Yoga 6, I used it for writing via Google Docs in Google Chrome (a known power hog), opened a bunch of tabs as usual whenever I’m writing an article, browsed a lot on YouTube, and watched a couple of 30-min episodes from Netflix in between. The result was 5 hours and 20 mins before the Lenovo gave up on me. It’s a very respectable time given that I went all out with its components to get my work done.
Verdict
The next time someone asks me (or you!) which laptop to get, the Lenovo Yoga 6 should be the first suggestion. Its value in this configuration is hard to beat. For its price of P64,995 you’re already paying for the capability of a laptop and a tablet. Add to that its specs that help provide a fast and smooth experience and you have a dual machine that can go from office to office, with coffee shops and restaurants in between. Students, professors, employees, casual gamers, life insurance agents, social media managers, marketers, and more! – the kind of people that will appreciate this laptop is endless.
