Lenovo Yoga 720-15IKB: the 2-in-1 with an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 card

Construction

The Yoga 720 is a well-built but not very original laptop. The dark gray dress in black plastic has the annoying tendency to retain fingerprints on the back of the hood. On the other hand, the very thin borders around the screen optimize the overall dimensions of the machine and produce a beautiful aesthetic effect. The power button is on the side. It allows you to turn on the computer in 6 s and turn it off in 8 s.

As the name suggests, this Yoga is flexible. 360 ° opening, flat, tent shape ... all positions are allowed. Beyond a 180 ° opening, the physical keyboard deactivates to avoid accidentally pressing a key and the touch screen becomes the only interface with the machine.

The stroke of the keyboard during typing is average. It occupies only a small part of the chassis, leaving a large part unused. Two levels of backlighting are available, but only slightly differentiated. The keyboard gives direct access to the usual shortcuts (airplane mode, brightness, volume ...), without having to press the Function key.

The connection is quite limited: three USB ports, including a USB-C and a 3.5 mm jack input. A fingerprint sensor completes this device to avoid having to enter a password when entering Windows. Very reactive, it is easy to use on a daily basis.

Faced with a period of 3D rendering with Unigine Heaven, the Lenovo Yoga 720 contains heat well, with peaks at 40 ° C at the hinges and only 35 ° C on the keyboard. The spaces dedicated to ventilation, under the device, for their part peak at 43 ° C.

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Screen

The configuration of Yoga 720 we received is equipped with a 15.6 "Full HD screen (1,920 x 1,080 px), but the model is also offered with a UHD / 4K definition (3,840 x 2,160 px) The screen occupies a large part, which is visually successful and allows to optimize the total size of the laptop.

Touch screen requires, the panel is shiny. Visually and subjectively, the gloss displays a more flattering finish than the mat, but more sensitive to reflections. Especially since the maximum brightness of the Yoga 720 hardly rises high: with 305 cd / m² on the meter, the preferred perimeter of the device is more in an apartment or a house than by the pool.

Fortunately, the contrast is very good (1,218: 1) and the colorimetry excellent; the temperature is almost perfect, maybe a little too hot (6260 K), and the colors are perfect (delta E = 3.1) despite a little excess on the bright reds and greens. The gamma is 2.1.

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Performances

Our configuration of the Lenovo Yoga 720-15IBK includes an Intel Core i5 7300 HQ processor in Kaby Lake architecture. It has four cores clocked at 2.5 GHz, but the frequency can climb up to 3.5 GHz in Turbo mode. 8 GB of RAM and a 256 GB SSD complete the team. The results are very good, and the differences ultimately minimal with the previous generation processors (Skylake), which the Dell XPS 15 2015 is, for example, equipped. Compared to the Gigabyte Aero 15, a machine with an even more game-oriented configuration, the Yoga 720, however, is no match. If we stay in the price range of Yoga 720, the Acer Aspire VX 15 has a more robust configuration, with an Intel Core i7 7700 HQ, and does better.

In practice, the Yoga 720 has proven to be quite good in photo editing with Lightroom and 3D rendering with Cinebench R15. On the other hand, he had more difficulties with video encoding with Handbrake and audio editing, while remaining average. In general, the Yoga 720 will be very comfortable in many everyday tasks (advanced office automation, web surfing, light photo editing, a little video editing).

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Games

All versions of the Lenovo Yoga 720-15IKB receive a graphics card dedicated to the game, the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050, with 2 GB of dedicated video memory. With this mid-range graphics card, Lenovo sets itself apart from the classic 15-inch model, often confined to multimedia and web browsing. Thanks to the modularity of this Yoga and its relative smoothness, this gaming aspect remains discreet, unlike the Acer Aspire VX 15, for example. Lenovo is therefore targeting casual gamers who are prepared to compromise on graphics options and who use their computers for purposes other than games.

The power index after the passage on 3D Mark is however disappointing. The Yoga 720 is hardly better than a Lenovo Ideapad 710 S Plus, which is equipped with a GeForce 940 MX. On arrival, the machine remains several cables from the Acer Aspire VX 15, equipped for its part with a GeForce GTX 1050 Ti, and very far from a versatile laptop such as the Gigabyte Aero 15. In game, the results are more correct, but again below those of the Aspire VX 15. The GTX 1050 provides the essentials in Full HD and manages to display at least 30 fps on the most greedy titles such as The Witcher 3 and Rise of the Tomb Rider.

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Mobility / Autonomy

As flexible as it is, the Yoga 720 has a mass of 2 kg, in the good average of 15 inches. The chassis remains imposing (364 x 242, 19 mm thick) and does not go unnoticed in a bag. This is reinforced by the size of the charger, very large for current standards, and which will have to be carried around very often, because the autonomy is not good (3h41 of video playback). On this point, the Yoga 720 does not do better than a conventional gaming computer and is located in the low average of 15 inches. Lenovo's machine is not made for mobility.

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Audio

The Yoga 720 has a very good headphone output. Power is at the rendezvous with 150 mVrms, wide dynamics (101 dB) and low distortion (0.01%).

The loudspeaker for its part delivers a good power, but sins by a high distortion (7 to 9%) in the bass and midrange up to 1000 Hz. It is unfortunately these latter frequencies which are most easily perceived by the human ear. As for the frequency response curve, it is not balanced: the mediums are enlarged and the rest, almost absent. This type of frequency response could at least confer good intelligibility to the voices, which is not even the case because of the too high harmonic distortion rate.

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Conclusion

Rather than a machine for players, we must see this Yoga 720-15IKB as a good versatile 2-in-1 that can also provide some video game. Its touch screen of excellent craftsmanship and adjustable to 360 ° still allows it to stand out from many competitors.

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