Review: Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 11e Chromebook

Introduction, design and features

Lenovo, the folks behind the original flip-and-fold, 2-in-1 laptop design with the first Yoga, brought the rotating screen to the Chromebook market with the Lenovo N20p. That stylish notebook could rotate its screen almost – but not quite – 360 degrees. Now, the company comes full circle with the Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 11e, the first Chromebook with a fully flippable lid.

The Yoga is also one of the few Chromebooks on the market with a truly rugged exterior. Designed for use in rough-and-tumble classroom environments, the laptop boasts rubberized edges and extra-strong hinges. At $455 (about £291, AU$739), however, the Yoga 11e is more than twice as expensive as most Chromebooks – $100 pricier than the N20p. Is this machine's combination of flexibility and durability worth the price?

Design

The Yoga 11e sports the same minimalist aesthetic as other ThinkPads, featuring a matte black plastic chassis and few adornments other than a silver ThinkPad logo at the upper left corner of the lid and another at the bottom right corner of the deck. The lid tapers at the edges, giving the laptop a slightly rounded look when closed, and a green LED along the leading edge of the lid glows when the Wi-Fi is enabled.

At 11.81 x 8.5 x 0.87 inches (W x D x H) and 3.3 pounds, the Yoga 11e is a bit heavier than the 3.1-pound Lenovo N20p, a semi-hybrid Chromebook, and the 2.95-pound, 13.3-inch Toshiba Chromebook 2. Still, the laptop is light enough that I barely noticed it in my bag. Compared to the textbooks students usually lug around, the Yoga 11e feels positively lightweight.

Like most Chromebooks, the notebook's port selection is fairly limited. On the left is a USB 2.0 port, a 3.5mm headphone jack and a 4-in-1 card reader. An HDMI port and USB 3.0 port are located on the right.

Multiple modes for multiple – um…

As with other notebooks in the Yoga series, the lid of the Yoga 11e can rotate 360 degrees to lie flush against the bottom of the laptop. This flip-screen design lets you use the device in four modes: traditional laptop mode, tablet mode (folded completely backward), stand mode (placed keys-down on the table) and tent mode. This final mode sees the Chromebook at a 270-degree angle, standing on the edges of its lid and base.

Rotating the screen automatically disables the keys on the keyboard, ensuring that you won't begin typing accidentally when using the Yoga 11e in tablet mode. Lenovo also placed the power button and volume rocker on the side of the notebook rather than deck, meaning you can reach both buttons even when the screen is flipped around.

While the Yoga 11e is comfortable to hold as a tablet, I found its utility in this mode limited. The Chrome OS interface features dense clusters of small buttons, particularly in the upper right corner of the browser, that are tricky to touch accurately. Moreover, many websites haven't been designed with a touchscreen in mind. In general, I found it easier to navigate the interface with the cursor than with my fingers.

Ruggedized for those rascals

Unlike most Chromebooks, the ThinkPad Yoga 11e was built to withstand the rigors of the classroom. Rubberized edges on the lid protect the laptop from unexpected drops, and extra-thick bezel minimizes damage to the LCD panel. In addition, Lenovo strengthened the hinges to endure more than 50,000 cycles of opening and closing.

Lenovo also subjected the Yoga 11e to military-specification testing for ruggedness, meaning the notebook can withstand extremes of pressure, humidity, vibration, temperature and airborne dust.

Performance, specs and features

The Yoga 11e's components are adequate for browsing the web, composing a document or streaming music, but trying to do all three together reveals some bottlenecks. The laptop also packs just 16GB of local storage, but almost nothing in Chrome OS needs to be saved locally.

Here's what was packed into the unit sent to TechRadar:

Spec sheet

• CPU: 1.83GHz Intel Celeron N2930 (quad-core)


• Graphics: Intel HD Graphics


• RAM: 4GB DDR3 (1,333MHz)


• Screen: 11.6-inch, 1,366 x 768 HD LED with anti-glare


• Storage: 16GB SSD (eMMC)


• Ports: HDMI 1.4, USB 3.0, USB 2.0, 4-in-1 card reader


• Connectivity: Intel 7260 802.11ac (dual-band), Bluetooth 4.0


• Camera: 720p HD webcam


• Weight: 3.3 pounds


• Size: 11.81 x 8.5 x 0.87 inches (W x D x H)

The Lenovo N20p Chromebook and Toshiba Chromebook 2 use nearly identical components – both feature an Intel Celeron chip, 4GB of memory and just as little storage. The Toshiba packs a slightly less punchy dual-core Intel Celeron N2840, while the N20p ships with either an Intel Celeron N2830 or matching N2930.

Performance

Again, multitasking is where this Chromebook runs up against its limited hardware. As I worked in Google Docs while listening to Spotify with a dozen other tabs open, for example, the audio occasionally stuttered. Worse even, I periodically noticed a half-second delay after pressing on the arrow keys.

Bright, bold and barely HD

Thankfully, the Yoga 11e's 11.6-inch, 1366 x 768 touchscreen delivers bright and crisp visuals. Colors popped when I watched HD video on Netflix and Hulu, and text looked sharp on The New York Times website. However, the viewing angles are a bit shallow. When I moved more than a foot to either side of the screen, colors began to wash out.

The touchscreen responded promptly to my input, and I had no problem using pinch-to-zoom to change the magnification. As I mentioned earlier, however, Chrome OS was clearly designed with the touchpad in mind. I anticipate that most users will spend their time in laptop mode rather than in tablet, tent or stand mode, which rely on the touchscreen.

Surprisingly sound tweeters

The notebook's rear-facing speakers pump out surprisingly loud and well-balanced audio. When I listened to the score of The Nutcracker, Tchaikovsky's iconic melodies rang out clearly, and I didn't notice any tininess or distortion even when I cranked the volume up the maximum.

The audio sounded almost as impressive on bass-heavy songs, such as Tove Lo's "Habits." That said, the low end sounded a bit weak.

Unsurprisingly stellar inputs

I've come to expect an outstanding typing experience when using a ThinkPad, and the Yoga 11e doesn't disappoint. The smile-shaped, island-style keys offer plenty of vertical travel and tactile feedback, and the textured surface makes it easy to touch type. Lenovo reduced the gap between keys to make it harder for children to pop them off the keyboard, but the spacing remains generous enough that I rarely made adjacent-key errors.

The touchpad is large and responsive. I could easily scroll using two fingers, and the cursor accurately tracked my finger's movement across the pad's smooth surface. As with most Chromebooks, the Yoga 11e lacks a right mouse button, but you can tap with two fingers simultaneously to open the right-click menu.

Short lived (for a Chromebook)

While impressive for a laptop, the Yoga 11e's battery life falls short of competing Chromebooks. With the brightness at 30 percent, a dozen tabs open and streaming music to headphones, the notebook lasted 6 hours and 21 minutes. By contrast, the Toshiba Chromebook 2 lasted 6 hours and 26 minutes, while the Lenovo N20p ran for a whopping 8 hours.

Verdict

At $455 (about £291, AU$739), the Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 11e Chromebook is more than twice as expensive as many Chrome OS-powered laptops. And if you're comparing based on its hybrid features, the Yoga 11e is $100 more than the Lenovo N20p Chromebook.

Still, it's one of the few Chromebooks – if not the only – that is a true 2-in-1 laptop. Plus, the Yoga's ruggedized exterior will help it endure the wear and tear of classroom use.

We liked

The Yoga 11e is a fine Chromebook for the classroom. The notebook can take some serious abuse, thanks to its rubber edges, thick bezel and strengthened hinges. Furthermore, the fact that you can rotate the screen 360 degrees makes the Yoga an excellent teaching tool and visual aid.

The Yoga 11e also performs admirably as a productivity tool. The keyboard and touchpad are both excellent, and the 1366 x 768 touchscreen looks vivid. The speakers also deliver impressive audio for the price.

We disliked

Although the touchscreen is responsive, Chrome OS doesn't take full advantage of touch input. The browser buttons are small and sometimes difficult to touch accurately, and many websites haven't been optimized for touch. Overall, this reduces the utility of the Yoga 11e in any mode other than the standard.

The viewing angles could also be better, as could the battery life. My biggest complaint is the price, as the Yoga 11e is significantly more expensive than most Chromebooks. Adding a ruggedized exterior seemed to bump the price up another $100, which seems steep. (Keep mind that Lenovo likely strikes deals with school institutions that purchase these machines in bulk to dull the sticker shock.)

Final verdict

While expensive, the Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 11e Chromebook makes up for its relatively steep price with excellent, classroom-friendly features. Lenovo offers a truly rugged design, a flip screen that rotates a full 360 degrees, an excellent keyboard and touchpad, a bright and vivid touch screen and surprisingly good speakers.

Given the Yoga's steep price, however, I would have appreciated a longer battery life and an operating system that takes full advantage of the notebook's touchscreen. Some Windows 8-powered notebooks offer superior touch experiences for the same price or less.

Still, the Yoga 11e Chromebook should be on every teacher's shortlist. Its sturdy exterior, flippable screen and outstanding keyboard make it a great laptop for even the rowdiest of students.

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