Hands On: Lenovo Yoga Tablet 2 With Windows

Lenovo’s Android-equipped Yoga tablet has morphed into the Yoga Tablet 2. While it still comes in 8- and 10-inch screen sizes, now you have the option of buying one running Microsoft Windows 8.1 with Bing.

The Yoga Tablet 2 Windows 8-inch and 10-inch models are quite compact, having the same dimensions of the Android-powered models, except painted Ebony Black instead of silver. They are powered by quad-core Intel Atom Z3745 processors using the Bay Trail architecture. The improved hinge design lets you use the system in your hand, in a stand mode, tilted on a table to ease typing on the screen, and hanging from a hole punched into the stand. The tablet’s Dolby Audio optimized speakers are larger and full sounding, so it is a good platform for binge watching Netflix or looking stuff up while you’re watching on your HDTV.

The 8-inch and 10-inch screens are both full 1,920-by-1,080 resolution full HD, so you can view full 1080p HD videos natively. We didn’t have our scale with us, but both tablets felt like they could be carried all day. The screen reacts quickly to swipes and taps, including multi-touch gestures.

The Yoga Tablet 2 10-inch Windows model comes with a clip-on Bluetooth, chiclet-style keyboard with an integrated one-piece touchpad. Using the keyboard was comfortable, with a decent key feel. The keyboard cover hinges open like a clamshell laptop, but it can be removed and used wirelessly from across the table or across the room. Thanks to its adjustable stand, the Yoga Tablet 2 can be used from a sitting or standing position with the keyboard. When folded up, the keyboard and Yoga Tablet 2 looks like a small laptop and slips easily into a commuter bag. It’s not quite an ultraportable laptop, since the cover doesn’t lock to the tablet body, but it will work fine in a coffee shop or (more importantly) on an airline coach seat tray table.

Lenovo promises up to a 15-hour battery life, which would make sense for a media-consuming tablet, but we will of course test them when they arrive at PC Labs later this year. Both Windows-equipped models come with 32GB of SSD local storage, plus a one-year subscription to Microsoft Office 365. The system is loaded with Microsoft Whindows 8.1 with Bing, which is a fully functional copy of Windows 8.1, with all the search presets pointing to Bing. You can install a third-party browser and change the search settings yourself after purchase (it’s not locked to Internet Explorer and Bing).

The 8-inch Yoga Tablet 2 Windows is $299.99 and will be available on Lenovo’s website in November. The 10-inch Yoga Tablet 2 Windows is $399.99 and will be available at Best Buy later this month.

For more, check out PCMag’s hands on with Lenovo’s Giant, Projector-Packing Yoga Tablet 2 Pro, and our run-down of Lenovo’s new Yoga laptops.