First impressions of Lenovo Yoga 510 (Flex 4) – why get a regular laptop when you can get a convertible for the same price

LaptopMedia.com Highlights First impressions of Lenovo Yoga 510 (Flex 4) - why get a regular laptop when you can get a convertible for the same price

From: Rossen Pandev 17 March 2016 / 10:23 | 0

Last year’s Lenovo Yoga 500 was immediately welcomed with mostly positive reviews and probably the biggest reason was the affordable price tag and, of course, the 360-degree rotatable hinges. But what if we told you that Lenovo is planning to release a successor that will sell for around the same price but with better screen and much better build quality. Find out more below, because the Yoga 510 seems like a really good bargain and we honestly haven’t been more excited about a mid-range laptop so much.

Design

Changes in the design are a lot, compared to last year’s Yoga 500. We are dealing with more solid construction made from plastic, which imitates anodized aluminum, yet incredibly sturdy. The lid doesn’t sink even under high amount of stress. And the best part is that the finish doesn’t allow fingerprints to stick.

However, the size, weight and form factor aren’t exactly screaming “2-in-1 device” in your face. Yes, the 2.07 kg machine might not sound a lot, especially at this price point, but imagine holding a 15.6-inch tablet weighing that much. In tablet mode appears to be a bit hefty, but you can still put the flexible hinge to use.

Anyway, the keyboard is a another big hit, along with the keyboard tray. The latter uses anodized aluminum finish (the real deal) with chamfered edges giving it a distinct look and feel. And the keyboard, well we fell in love with it even from this year’s MWC at Barcelona. The keys provide long key travel and excellent ergonomics. Unfortunately, though, the touchpad doesn’t deserve the same kind words, but it’s kind of okay considering the price range. We will look closely into that in the upcoming review.

Hardware

We are still unsure what hardware will be included in the configurations but we are certain that the starting price will be $599 and as higher the price goes, you snatch from Core i3 to Core i7 processors. There’s only one RAM chip in our unit with Core i7-6500U CPU, but at MWC 2016 we noticed that the Yoga 510’s specs suggested of discrete graphics card up to AMD Radeon R7 M460 and Full HD IPS panel. The latter is present in our unit but the one we saw at MWC 2016 surely had a TN matrix.

Anyway, the battery capacity is 35Wh and we hope it will get decent reading, although we don’t expect more than 4 hours of non-stop normal usage.

Specs sheet

Some of the specs may differ depending on your region.

CPU	Intel Core i3, Core i5 and Core i7
RAM	4GB (1x 4096MB) – DDR3, 1600 MHz / 8GB (1x 8192MB) – DDR3, 1600 MHz
GPU	Intel HD Graphics 520 / AMD Radeon R7 M460
HDD/SSD	1TB HDD (5400 rpm)
Display	15.6-inch – 1920×1080 (Full HD) TN, glossy / 15.6-inch – 1920×1080 (Full HD) IPS, glossy
Optical drive	–
Connectivity	LAN 10/100/1000 Mbps, Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 4.0
Features	2x USB 3.0 2x USB 2.0 web cam built-in microphone built-in speakers RJ-45 combo audio jack (microphone/headset) HDMI memory card reader (SD, MMC, SDXC)
Battery	35Wh
Thickness	21-23 mm (0.83-0.91″)
Weight	2.070 kg (4.56 lbs)