Hands-on with the giant Minority Report-like Lenovo Yoga Home 900
Lenovo has announced their latest 27-inch all-in-one PC the Yoga 900 Home. This PC is one of those genre-bending devices that I like to see companies play with, although I am not too sure if there is much mass appeal for them yet. The Yoga 900 Home is a continuation of Lenovo's plan for a giant-all-one PC that you can quickly convert into a table-top PC akin to Microsoft's original PixelSense computer (which itself was originally called Surface).
So what is the Yoga 900 Home? It's a 16-pound PC that runs for about 3 hours not plugged in. It features a bevy of solid hardware including Broadwell gen Core i5 and Core i7 processors, Nvidia video, and a decent 1080p display.
Lenovo Yoga Home 900 Specs
Category | Specification |
---|---|
Display | 27" 10-point touchscreen FHD with LED panel1920x1080 |
Software | Windows 10 |
Processor | Up to 5th Generation Intel Core i7 |
Storage | Up to 1TB SSHD |
Memory | Up to 8GB |
Graphics | Up to NVIDIA GeForce 940A 2G |
Thickness | 19.5mm |
Weight | 16.75 lbs |
Battery | Up to 3 hour 6-cell 73Wh battery |
Ports | 3 x USB 3.0, 1 x Headphone/MIC, 1 x HDMI-in |
Color | Platinum Silver |
Price | Starts at $1,549 |
I have played with Lenovo's previous attempts at such a device, and it is improving. Back a few years ago this PC came on a cart basically that you had to wheel around. Today, even at 16 pounds, you can rightly carry this around your living room to be used by the family. And that is what this device is meant for – it's a social, family computer that you can play special table-top games like air hockey or view and edit your photos Minority-report style or just surf the web. This is all possible with Lenovo's AURA 3.0 interface, which is a separate program that you run on top of Windows 10. AURA is connected to the Windows Store, letting owners download new games, apps, and utilities as Lenovo releases them.
Here is the thing with the Yoga 900 Home: It's clearly not a PC that every family will get, especially since it starts at $1,549. However, I think we all know where technology is going, and the idea that we have multiple, giant displays around us is something rapidly approaching. Microsoft's own Continuum is all about the idea of making computing more personal by taking it with you, and the Yoga 900 Home is just an here-it-is-now extension of that idea.
Frankly, I think it would be pretty amazing to have on of these in my living room, and if you ever saw Microsoft's original Surface (now called PixelSense), then you should be intrigued by this design. Clearly though we are still looking at niche computing, and it is neat to see Microsoft's Surface 1.0 concept hitting the consumer market.
Look for the Yoga 900 Home to hit Lenovo.com at the end of October. Pricing begins at $1,549.
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Daniel Rubino is the Editor-in-chief of Windows Central. He is also the head reviewer, podcast co-host, and analyst. He has been covering Microsoft since 2007, when this site was called WMExperts (and later Windows Phone Central). His interests include Windows, laptops, next-gen computing, and watches. He has been reviewing laptops since 2015 and is particularly fond of 2-in-1 convertibles, ARM processors, new form factors, and thin-and-light PCs. Before all this tech stuff, he worked on a Ph.D. in linguistics, watched people sleep (for medical purposes!), and ran the projectors at movie theaters because it was fun.