Lenovo ThinkPad Twist Review (S230U)

With a recover of Windows 8, Lenovo has been one of those PC manufacturers that have been stepping adult to offer some singular unstable machines that are built around Microsoft’s newest handling system. We formerly reviewed a Lenovo Yoga, that is a hybrid appurtenance that is partial tablet, partial notebook.

This time, we’re holding demeanour during a Lenovo ThinkPad Twist Convertible Ultrabook that is also a hybrid appurtenance of sorts as we can provide it as both a inscription and an Ultrabook, though it doesn’t offer a same underline a Lenovo Yoga did with a ability to undo a shade from a keyboard. Instead, Lenovo is permitting we to spin a whole shade to offer a series of opposite positions giving we mixed observation options during any time. Is rambling around an Ultrabook’s shade a newness or is this a underline that is actually useful? There’s customarily one approach to find out, so though serve ado, let’s get enormous on a review.

Context

I’ve reviewed hybrid Ultrabooks in a past, though this is a initial time I’ve used a hybrid Ultrabook like a Lenovo Twist. As we customarily do in my Ultrabook reviews, I’ll be looking during a integrate of factors these are a many critical points in these machines for me personally.

The initial cause is weight as customarily Ultrabooks are famous for being lighter than normal laptops. we transport on a unchanging basement to press events both in New York City and in remote locations, and a final thing we wish to worry about when we transport is a weight of my computer.

The second is a keyboard as we write a lot of stories on a daily basis, as good as conform by IM and email scarcely usually as much. The feel of a keyboard and a palm rests are intensely critical to me and can positively make or mangle my whole knowledge if they don’t feel right.

The final cause is a estimate energy of a appurtenance as not customarily do we write a lot, though we also use my machines to furnish videos as good as play games on a rather unchanging basis. we would like to have as discerning as a appurtenance as possible, though if there are other factors that make it a inestimable Ultrabook, afterwards we can simply disremember a lacking in power.

Technical Highlights

12.5″ HD IPS arrangement with Touch Sensor 1366 x 768 (350 nit brightness)
Intel^® Core^™ i5 – 3317U (2.60 GHz, 3MB L3, 1600 MHz FSB) + Intel HD Graphics 4000 Mobile
4GB DDR3 RAM
Windows 8 Pro
128GB SSD
Gigabit Ethernet, Bluetooth 4.0, and a/b/g/n WLAN
2 USB 3.0, RJ45, 4-in-1 label reader, Mini-DP, Mini-HDMI
Built-in twin array microphone (combo jack)
312.42mm x 236.22mm x 20.32mm (12.3″ x 9.3″ x 0.8″)
1.41kg (3.48lbs)
4 Cell (43 Wh)
Official Specifications on Lenovo.com

Industrial Design

The Lenovo ThinkPad Twist looks like any other ThinkPad in Lenovo’s quick of laptops as it’s lonesome in a black, somewhat rubbery material. When closed, there’s a apportionment of a Ultrabook that sticks out that is a concentration plcae for a resource that allows a arrangement to be means to twist. You can customarily spin a arrangement in one direction, though a routine of rambling is easy and requires unequivocally tiny to pierce a display, while during a same time being stout adequate where it won’t pierce on a own.

Because of a rambling screen, a Twist’s shade includes a Windows button, volume buttons, a shade course tighten and a Ultrabook’s energy button. we wasn’t too lustful of a plcae of a energy symbol as it doesn’t seem to be in a many judicious mark to be found, in my opinion. It took me a good 3 mins before we satisfied where it was, that we feel is approach too prolonged to find a elementary energy button.

The outdoor corner of a arrangement has a skinny square of cosmetic that seems to be infrequently placed during initial when a Ultrabook is used in a laptop mode, though a use becomes transparent when a device is in inscription mode as it covers a additional bit of a Ultrabook’s bottom from extending out. The plcae of a Twist’s speakers are also in a bizarre spot, that is directly underneath a display, though with a arrangement being somewhat raised, it doesn’t totally cover a speakers.

Keyboard: I’ve always enjoyed a keyboards on Lenovo laptops, and this one isn’t many opposite from past models. The keys are well-spoken and have an intensely light hardness to them where a letters, numbers and any other graphics are located on a keys. The keys have a good open to them after any pivotal is pressed. Overall, a keys are unequivocally clicky and don’t seem to offer any arrange of squishiness, and if it does, it’s intensely slight. The palm rests have a same hardness covering a whole Ultrabook, that competence spin those looking for a well-spoken aspect off as it doesn’t concede your hands to slip as good as an aluminum surface. The corner of a palm rests are a bit sharp, though not to a indicate where they feel uncomfortable.

The Twist’s trackpad facilities a somewhat smoother hardness than what is covering a Ultrabook and seems to be usually a right distance for a altogether distance of a Twist. Scrolling with a trackpad is easy as a Twist automatically continues your corkscrew when your fingers strech a corner of a trackpad. The bottom-right of a trackpad can be clicked to trigger a right-click, while a rest of a trackpad can presumably be tapped or clicked for left clicks.

For long-time Lenovo users, a Twist does underline a company’s now iconic red TrackPoint, or a “eraser pointer” as many people competence know it as. Using a TrackPoint in 2013 seems a bit strange, though we know there are many of we who cite this process of determining your rodent pointer. The TrackPoint feels as good as it always has with mixed speeds being achieved by a strength during that we lean it. Three rodent buttons are located underneath a space bar, that we found to be a good mark if you’re going to use a TrackPoint.

The ports for can be found along a sides of a bottom of a Twist. The right side of a bottom is where a Ultrabook’s energy adapter, USB 3.0 pier and mini-DP are located, while a left side is where another USB 3.0 pier is located as good as a mini-HDMI port, RJ-45, a 4-in-1 media label container and an audio-out / microphone-in jack.

Display (good)

The Lenovo ThinkPad Twist facilities a 12.5-inch arrangement means of a fortitude of 1366 x 768 along with IPS technology. This means observation angles are unequivocally good as we beheld no picture plunge when observation a arrangement in mixed angles. Considering you’ll be rambling a arrangement all over a place, this is a unequivocally good thing.

With a 350 nit brightness, a Twist’s arrangement doesn’t offer a brightest shade as we felt gentle regulating it indoors during around 80% – 90% of a full brightness. This means regulating a Twist outdoor would positively be formidable when used on a balmy day.

A 12.5-inch arrangement seems suitable for this kind of Ultrabook, though a we cruise Lenovo could fist a few some-more inches in destiny models as many of a display’s bezel takes adult a surprisingly vast volume of genuine estate. For example, a bottom of a shade has a 2-inch bezel of usually zero before any logos or buttons.

Camera

The camera featured in a Lenovo ThinkPad Twist is a 720p HD Webcam. In a camera tests, we put it adult opposite a MacBook Pro (mid-2010) that is versed with an iSight camera.

Under a same illumination conditions, a ThinkPad Twist offers a good image with a 720p HD Webcam as a colors aren’t too saturated. Although, compared to a MacBook Pro’s iSight camera, we beheld shadows in a Twist’s photos were a tiny bit darker and a picture is somewhat noisier than a MacBook Pro’s image.

In a low-light test, a ThinkPad Twist achieved well in being means to furnish an picture with a good volume of liughtness and tone deliberation a circumstances. The picture a Twist constructed was also reduction loud than a mid-2010 MacBook Pro’s image, though it also wasn’t utterly as splendid as a MBP’s image. Ultimately, you’ll be manifest by a camera in low-light situations, that is what we’re certain you’re anticipating for when you’re conducting some late-night video discuss sessions.

Performance (very good)

The Lenovo ThinkPad Twist wants to broach an knowledge tighten to what we pattern from Lenovo’s laptops, though in a re-imagined bombard as you’ll be means to spin this Ultrabook in ways that can adjust to any conditions we find yourself in. Thankfully, in their re-imagining of what a Windows 8 ultrabook can do, Lenovo didn’t skimp on a Twist’s inner specs.

One of a initial benchmarks we like to run for PCs is PCMark 7 that is a  benchmark used in sequence to copy real-world tasks such as opening applications, booting adult your resource and doing some amiable graphical tasks.

In PCMark 7 benchmark, a Lenovo ThinkPad Twist did unequivocally good deliberation it’s an Ultrabook with a measure of 4357. This is interjection to a absolute Intel Core i5 CPU clocked during 2.60GHz, that eventually means you’ll knowledge a discerning and manageable Ultrabook with a good infancy of tasks we chuck during it. Just remember to keep an eye on a RAM given 4GB competence be good adequate for a infancy of people regulating this machine, though for complicated multitaskers, we competence wish to demeanour into presumably improving a RAM apportion in a future.

The second benchmark we like to run on a exam machines is 3D Mark 11, that is a benchmark that is some-more perfectionist as a primary concentration is how good it’ll perform as a gaming machine.. And we’re not articulate Facebook or Flash-based games here as those tend to not approach so many from a system, though instead, tangible games like Call of Duty, Assassin’s Creed or any other current-generation games.

It seems in a universe of Ultrabooks, a Intel HD Graphics 4000 GPU seems to be a many renouned as we’ve seen it in a series of inclination over a past integrate of months. Unfortunately, that means a ThinkPad Twist’s ability to furnish game-performance graphics are unequivocally low as it scored a P547 on a 3D Mark 11 benchmark. If you’re awaiting to play new high-powered games on a ThinkPad Twist, we competence wish to recur because you’re meditative of shopping this Ultrabook in a initial place.

The final benchmark we like to run on a exam machines is Geekbench, that isn’t a benchmark that tests a laptop with real-world applications, though instead precisely focuses on a CPU’s tender opening measure by throwing mathematical equations during it that would substantially take billions of years for a normal chairman to solve.

In a Geekbench benchmark, a ThinkPad Twist scored a 4851, creation a tender CPU energy right in a center belligerent of other competing Ultrabooks. Its Intel Core i5 CPU is sandwiched right between a HP Envy 4 and a Samsung Series 9 (h2 2012).

Value for a weight, price

We know when purchasing any PC, people tend to demeanour during a inner specs and squeeze a resource formed on what they now need. One cause many disremember is a weight as some-more absolute unstable computers will many expected be heavier than PCs that aren’t as powerful. That’s because we also like to demeanour during a PCs opening relations to a weight so we can see if all of that energy is value we violation your behind over or if a PC’s weight isn’t value a sub-par performance.

We found in a value for a weight equation that a Lenovo ThinkPad Twist can be deliberate value a weight when we cause in how many energy you’ll be lugging around. Its Intel Core i5 CPU performs impressively in this 3.48lbs Ultrabook. When we cause in a ThinkPad Twist is means to morph itself into 4 opposite positions, that creates us cruise this is utterly a adaptive Ultrabook.

Battery (good)

The ThinkPad Twist has some good specs inside of it, that is because we were positively extraordinary how good it did in a battery tests, generally saying how it has an Intel Core i5 inside of it. One of a initial battery tests we ran on a Twist was a long-term battery test. This exam is conducted by withdrawal a Ultrabook on with 50 percent of a screen’s liughtness and Wi-Fi kept on, that resulted in a battery durability a tiny over 5 hours.

Watching videos didn’t empty too many of a Twist’s battery life as we watched a 1080p video with 50 percent of a screen’s liughtness for an hour, and a battery forsaken a sum of 24 percent. This means we can pattern a sum of around 4 hours of internal video playback time. Watching 1080p streaming videos resulted in a battery dump of customarily 26 percent, that will give we 3.8 hours of online streaming video playback time.

Battery assign speed

We were tender by how discerning a Twist’s 4 Cell 43Wh battery charged from 0% – 100% as we remarkable it took a sum of 1 hour and 45 minutes to get a Ultrabook to full charge. An Ultrabook that charges a battery underneath 2 hours, generally a 43Wh battery, is unequivocally an considerable attainment and will outcome in we watchful a lot reduction for your Twist to get a full charge.

Conclusion (an altogether good, variable Ultrabook)

The some-more Ultrabooks adopt something like a Lenovo ThinkPad Twist’s ability to adjust to scarcely any situation, a improved a marketplace will be as we enjoyed being means to use it in one of a 4 modes. Its Laptop Mode will keep traditionalists happy, while a Stand, Tablet and Tent modes will offer we a ideal mode for a crowd of situations, nonetheless we still can’t find a reason to ever use a Twist in a Tent Mode that doesn’t engage usually arrangement it off to your friends, nonetheless we’d positively adore to hear from a readers on their thoughts of a Twist’s Tent Mode uses.

One of a few things we wish was opposite in a ThinkPad Twist was a display. we felt that it didn’t stir adequate with a shade distance and a liughtness as it was formidable to use when in approach sunlight. Its 12.5-inch arrangement felt small, generally when a Twist facilities such a vast bezel for a screen. Hopefully Lenovo competence wish to cruise equipping a destiny Twist with a improved screen.

If you’re a long-time Lenovo user, a Twist will come to feel second inlet to we as a keyboard, trackpad and TrackPoint will feel informed to we as good as a somewhat rubberized element it’s done out of. It positively doesn’t have a same adorned pattern as some ultrabooks have, though what it lacks in a flashiness, it some-more than creates adult for in a opening and adaptability.