According to Lenovo’s guidance, “using disinfectant product containing alcohol (at least 70%) to wipe down your device with; ensure you leave your cleaning solution on your device for several minutes before wiping it off. This will give the solution enough time to ‘soak’ and effectively remove any existing germs from your device.” The guide makes specific note of bleach, too – don’t you DARE use bleach on your device.

Whenever there’s a note like this, where a product is mentioned specifically, it’s almost certainly there because Lenovo’s had to deal with people that’ve used bleach on their devices, then complained that their devices malfunctioned. It’d take a few times, too, they wouldn’t likely make a note like this if more than one person hand’t come to its support centre to see why their bleached Yoga Tab wouldn’t turn on.

“Don’t use bleach. Always read the directions to make sure you’re using the products as recommended to avoid damaging your sensitive electronic devices. Another solution would be to use wipe-able covers for your laptops and other electronic devices, as this will make the cleaning process much simpler and time-effective.”

The rest of Lenovo’s tips for cleaning your tech products are not brand new this week, but remain good advice nonetheless.

• Remove and debris (crumbs, dust particles etc) from your device by gently turning it upside down or using compressed air;
• Apply a cleaning agent* to a lint free towel or cloth;
• Wring excess liquid out of your towel/ cloth to avoid damage to your device;
• Thoroughly wipe down all surfaces of your device, and subsequently allow to dry for the specified time on the cleaning agent label;
• Wipe off any remaining residue or liquid from the surface of your device

That goes for all Lenovo products – and any other gadgets you might want to clean around the house, while we’re at it. Don’t get extra wild trying to make sure you don’t get COVID-19 (aka novel coronavirus) by bleaching your entire collection of mobile devices. Bleach won’t do what you want – it’ll wreck everything.

First Impressions Count

The Lenovo YOGA 900 is one of the more beautiful YOGA products, and while it brings with it the best elements from the lineup (that is, the flexibility), it offers quite a bit more. The design is at the same time simple but elegant, featuring a metal exterior shell hiding a soft, somewhat leather-like material on the interior wrist rests. The lid features both “Lenovo” and “YOGA” branding, with the “Lenovo” logo very subtly placed and the “YOGA” logo very prominently positioned in shiny chrome near the top.

The laptop is, speaking of the overall design, very thin and lightweight, and the watchband hinge complements the thinness by serving as a seemingly seamless connection between the display and lower portion. When looked at from a profile position, the laptop looks like a single unit that happens to be extraordinarily flexible in the middle.

Greatly complementing the design is the material used around the keyboard — it is textured and feels like a slightly softer version of a Moleskine cover. The keys, meanwhile, are plastic and shallow and produce very little noise when typing. Rounding it all out are the edge pieces where the ports lie; these are distinctly plastic and have a more pronounced texture with a dot-matrix pattern.

As with other YOGA laptops, the hinge allows the display to be positioned at a variety of angles, including completely flat or folded all the way back into a tablet mode. Lenovo calls these positions laptop, tent, stand, and tablet modes, and they come in handy during times you’re watching movies or using a stylus.

The last element, the trackpad, sports the same style we’ve seen on some other recent YOGA laptops — it has shiny chrome trim around an otherwise smooth and button-less surface. A short and thin red line marks the centermost portion of the bottom edge, separating the two halves

The laptop’s lid can be opened and closed easily using one hand, and it features Auto Lock to stay in place at whatever angle it is positioned. Lenovo offers a few different colors, including the Clementine Orange one shown below, and the more subtle Platinum Silver and Champagne Gold.

In Use

The Lenovo YOGA 900 comes pre-installed with several Lenovo applications: Lenovo Companion 3.0, Photo Master, SHAREit, REACHit, and OneKey Recovery. The system is also loaded with McAfee LiveSafe antivirus, as is common with the maker’s laptops. It is possible to uninstall McAfee if you don’t want it.

As far as benchmarks go, we got expected and fairly substantial results from Geekbench. Our particular system runs an Intel Core i7-6500U 2.50GHz/2.59Ghz processor, which is of course on the highest end of things; those who go with less powerful hardware options will get lesser results. Performance was solid, however, with the laptop doing everything we expected it to, and without hiccups. You can compare the benchmarks to other laptops by checking out our Laptop Reviews portal!

In Closing

Those who have only ever used Lenovo’s ThinkPad laptops and find them bland will find the YOGA 900 is an entirely different beast, one that is unashamed of its luxurious design elements but able to carry them without pretension. The laptop is, from a purely utilitarian standpoint, entirely suitable for most users’ needs.

Few people care solely about a device’s utility, though, wanting a design that matches their personality or draws attention. The YOGA 900 meets both those needs, and does so with a design unlike any other thanks to the watchband hinge.

Price for the 13-inch Yoga 900 starts at R29 999 

Starting with the ones intended for everyday consumers, the Yoga 3 11 replaces – you guessed it – the Yoga 2 11, while the Yoga 3 14 is actually a substitute for last year’s 13-inch model. Though the two have a similar design, complete with a bright orange color option, the performance is going to differ from one to the other. Whereas the 14-inch version runs on Intel’s fifth-generation Core processors and can be configured with discrete graphics, the 11-incher makes use of a lower-powered Intel Core M chip, allowing for a thinner and lighter build — just 1.20 kgs and 0.6 inch thick (down from 1.60 kgs/0.67 inch)

Meanwhile, though the 14-inch version technically rocks a larger screen than its predecessor, it has roughly the same footprint and nearly the same weight: 1.60 kgs. Either way, both new machines come standard with a 1080p touchscreen and 802.11ac WiFi, and can be configured with up to 8GB of RAM and either an SSD (128/256GB) or a 500GB hybrid hard drive. Look for them this month, starting at roughly R24999 at Incredible Connection stores.

Then there’s the Yoga Tablet. As of Tuesday, the lineup includes both Android and Windows tablets, mostly in the 8- and 10-inch range. Now, though, Lenovo is blurring the lines: Its new 13-inch Yoga Tablet 2 is the same size as its ultraportable laptops, except it has a kickstand that folds out of the back, and the optional keyboard doesn’t attach to the device. Pricing on the models is TBC.