Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 11e Review: A Mid-Range 2-in-1 Laptop

Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 11e: At First Glance

Based on the increased demand for 2-in-1 laptops, Lenovo released the ThinkPad Yoga 11e in October 2021. Impressively, this laptop features a decent number of amazing specs with good performance.

Moreover, despite being around for less than a year – this article was published in April 2022 – this laptop has become quite popular among students and business owners. This is because it offers a fair deal between price and performance.

Speaking of price, when this review article was published, the Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 11e had a starting price of $449.99. If you are wondering if this laptop delivers a great performance considering its price, read the subsequent sections below to satisfy your curiosity.

Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga: 11e Design, Display, and Sound

Design-wise, the Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 11e looks rugged and bold. This can be attributed to its all-black plastic body.

Impressively, despite the body being made of plastic, this Lenovo laptop is very sturdy, tough, and robust. As a matter of fact, the Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 11e is so tough that it passed numerous MIL-STD 810G tests.

In case you are wondering, the MIL-STD 810G tests are a series of tests used to measure the toughness and durability of military-grade weapons. Hence, having passed these tests, the Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 11e should be able to withstand rough handling and extreme conditions.

This laptop isn’t just tough and durable, but it also looks decently good. Specifically, the Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 11e features a slanted “ThinkPad” inscription on its lid’s top right corner, giving it a bit of elegance.

Besides, the matte finish of its body also makes it look pretty good. That aside, the lid of the laptop is attached to the base by a set of sturdy aluminum hinges.

Although these hinges are not so tight, they keep the lid in place and prevent it from wobbling too much. Moreover, since the Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 11e is a 2-in-1 convertible laptop, the hinges can rotate a full 360 degrees.

Thereby enabling users to use the laptop in various forms. These forms include stand form, tent form, tablet form, and the conventional laptop form.

Having talked extensively about the laptop’s exterior, let us proceed to discuss its interior. The first thing you will notice in the Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 11e’s interior is the display.

To be more precise, this laptop comes with a fantastic 11.6-inch touchscreen display. Performance-wise, this touchscreen display is very responsive and accurate, allowing for seamless swiping and inputs.

Furthermore, the touchscreen supports multitouch inputs and gestures. Besides, the display comes with an HD (1366 x 768) resolution that makes it deliver decent picture quality for video streaming and web browsing.

That’s not all; the display also comes with an IPS panel. Due to this IPS panel, the display offers wide viewing angles.

Thus, you can watch the display off-center or from an extreme angle without noticing color distortion or blurry images. In addition to the IPS panel, the Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 11e’s 11.6-inch touchscreen display also features a glossy coating.

This coating allows the display to deliver more colorful and clearer images. However, the coating causes reflection when the laptop is used in bright areas or outdoors.

On a positive note, the Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 11e’s touchscreen display features corning gorilla glass on its surface. This gorilla glass prevents scratches, fingerprints, and smudges from the display.

Nevertheless, this laptop’s display is framed by extremely thick bezels that may cause some distraction during video streaming sessions. Nonetheless, in the middle of the top bezel, you will find an HD webcam that is good for taking pictures and video calls.

Moving on, the Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 11e offers a chiclet-style keyboard that features large and well-spaced keys. As a result, this keyboard should offer a comfortable and pleasurable typing experience.

To make things even better, the keyboard is spillproof. Therefore, you don’t have to worry too much when you accidentally spill liquid substances on the keyboard.

However, it is not advisable you make “accidentally” spilling liquid substances on the keyboard a habit. This is because regular spillage might reduce the functionality of the keyboard in the long run.

Seated nicely beneath the keyboard is the Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 11e’s touchpad. This touchpad is pretty wide, with a set of integrated click buttons situated at the bottom.

Performance-wise, the surface of the touchpad is quite smooth, thereby allowing for easy navigation and finger gliding. Also, just like the touchscreen display, this touchpad supports multitouch gestures like pinch-to-zoom and two-finger scrolling.

For ports and connectivity, the Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 11e comes with the right amount of ports. Specifically, on the right side, the laptop features a USB Type-A port, an SD card slot, and a Kensington lock slot.

On the other hand, the left side of the laptop offers an audio jack, another USB Type-A port, an HDMI port, and a USB Type-C port.

In terms of size and weight, the Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 11e is lightweight and compact. Precisely, the laptop measures 293 x 207 x 19.9 mm (W x D x H) and weighs just 1410 g.

In comparison, the HP Stream 11 X360 is thicker and heavier than this Lenovo ThinkPad laptop. To be more specific, the HP Stream 11 X360 measures 308 x 215.1 x 21.9 mm (W x D H) and weighs 1550 g.

In summary, the Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 11e offers a solid build and a decent design. Also, this laptop comes with a responsive touchscreen display and weighs less than its competitors.

As a result, I will rate the Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 11e a nine out of ten in this design review section.

Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 11e: Processor (CPU) Performance

For processing data, the Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 11e offers two CPU options. Basically, you can purchase the laptop with a dual-core Intel Core m3-8100Y or a dual-core Intel Core i5-8200Y processor.

Both processors feature the same amount of cache memory – they have a cache memory of 4 MB each. However, their processing speeds differ.

Specifically, the Intel Core m3-8100Y has a base frequency of 1.10 GHz and a maximum frequency of 3.40 GHz. The Intel Core i5-8200Y, on the other hand, has a base frequency of 1.30 GHz and a 3.90 GHz maximum frequency.

Performance-wise, both processor options should be able to handle most computing tasks. However, with the Intel Core i5-8200Y processor, the laptop’s performance should be better and faster.

This is because the processor features a faster base and maximum frequency. Gladly, this review article is based on the Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 11e with the Intel Core i5-8200Y processor.

To test how well this laptop can perform with this processor, we will quickly go over its result on a Geekbench 5.3 test. In brief, Geekbench 5.3 is a benchmark test that assesses the processing performance of a computer by putting its CPU’s cores to work.

Thus, the Geekbench 5.3 test consists of two tests – the single-core test and the multi-core test. For clarity, the single-core test measures the performance of the processor when one out of its cores is in use.

Meanwhile, the multi-core test examines the processor’s performance when all its cores are in use. Moreover, a high score on these tests indicates good processor performance.

So, on the Geekbench 5.3 single-core test, the Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 11e scored 900 points. However, on the multi-core test, this Lenovo ThinkPad laptop scored 1934 points.

Comparatively, this laptop’s scores are the same as the scores gotten by the HP Spectre Folio 13. It is worth mentioning that the HP Spectre Folio 13 uses an Intel Core i7-8500Y processor.

Finally, because it features multiple CPU options, I will rate the Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 11e an eight out of ten in this processor review section.

Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 11e: Memory (RAM) Performance

In terms of memory, the Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 11e comes with an onboard memory of 4 GB LPDDR3-1866. Because this memory is “onboard,” it cannot be upgraded or removed.

Before you get upset about the laptop’s memory not being upgradeable, you need to know that there is another model of the laptop that features 8 GB RAM. Hence, if you feel the 4 GB RAM isn’t enough for you, you can simply purchase the model that features 8 GB RAM.

In fact, with 8 GB RAM, the Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 11e should be able to multitask decently. Speaking of which, the laptop will be able to run 12 Chrome tabs simultaneously without lagging.

Moreover, switching between the tabs is going to be smooth and easy for the laptop. In order to further prove how well the Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 11e can perform with 8 GB RAM, we will now discuss its result on the PCMark 10 test.

In case you are wondering, the PCMark 10 is an application-based benchmark test that analyses the memory performance of a computer. It does this by simulating real-world computing tasks like video streaming, web browsing, and word processing.

Furthermore, a high score on this test equates to great memory performance. Hence, based on the PCMark 10 test result, the Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 11e scored 5103 points.

Comparatively, this laptop has a better memory performance than the HP Spectre Folio 13. Precisely, on the PCMark 10 test, the HP Spectre Folio 13 was only able to score 2945 points.

To wrap up this memory review section, I will rate the Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 11e an eight out of ten. This rating is based on the laptop’s performance on the memory benchmark test.

Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 11e: Storage Options and Performance

For storage, the Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 11e comes with an M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD. Furthermore, this laptop supports a maximum storage capacity of 256 GB, which I believe will be quite limited for most users.

However, to make things a little better, the laptop features a micro SD card reader for storage expansion. Besides, because the Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 11e uses an SSD (Solid State Drive), it should offer a fast boot time.

This is due to the fact that SSDs are the fastest storage drives in the market – they are significantly faster than HDD and eMMC. In fact, thanks to its SSD, you should be able to open and save files swiftly on this Lenovo laptop.

To prove this, let us proceed to discuss the performance of the laptop on a CrystalDiskMark 5.2 test. Briefly, the CrystalDiskMark 5.2 is a benchmark test that evaluates the read and write speed of a computer’s storage drive.

To clarify, read speed is the time it takes a storage drive to open a file. Write speed, however, is the amount of time it takes the storage drive to save a file.

Besides, on the CrystalDiskMark 5.2 test, the higher the “MBps” value, the faster the read and write speed of the computer. Hence, based on the test result, the Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 11e has a sequential read speed of 922 MBps.

Also, the laptop features a sequential write speed of 948 MBps. In comparison, this Lenovo ThinkPad laptop has a faster read and write speed than the HP EliteBook x360 1030 G3, which also uses SSD.

Precisely, the HP EliteBook x360 1030 G3 recorded a sequential read of 498.3 MBps on the CrystalDiskMark 5.2 test. Additionally, the laptop recorded a sequential write speed of 466.4 MBps.

In conclusion, the Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 11e offers limited storage space. However, it outperformed most of its competitors on a storage benchmark test.

Hence, I will rate the Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 11e a seven out of ten in this storage review section.

Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 11e: Graphics Card Performance

Coming down to the graphics card, the Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 11e offers an Intel UHD Graphics 615 GPU. This graphics card has a base frequency of 300 MHz and a boost frequency of 950 MHz.

However, the GPU is integrated – it is embedded into the laptop’s processor. Therefore, to perform graphics-associated tasks, the GPU shares the system memory with the CPU.

Due to this, the Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 11e might not be able to effectively handle graphics-demanding tasks or play high-end games. However, the laptop should be able to smoothly run a few outdated games under low graphics settings.

For instance, while playing Team Fortress 2 under low graphics settings, the Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 11e delivered a frame rate of 51.8 fps (frame per second). For more insights into the laptop’s graphics performance, I will now share its 3DMark test result.

Briefly, 3DMark is a benchmark test that examines how well a computer’s GPU can render 2D and 3D graphics. Furthermore, based on the test’s settings, a high score means good graphics performance.

So, according to the test result, the Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 11e scored 275 points. Comparatively, this laptop has a better graphics performance than most of its major counterparts.

For example, on the 3DMark benchmark test, the HP ProBook x360 11 G4 scored just 238 points. It is worth mentioning that this HP laptop also uses an Intel UHD Graphics 615 GPU.

All things considered, the Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 11e deserves an eight out of ten rating in this graphics card review section.

Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 11e: Battery Life and Performance

For battery, the Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 11e employs a 4-cell 46 WHr Li-Polymer battery. Lenovo claims that this laptop should be able to last up to 16 hours with this battery.

Just to be certain of the above claim, I will quickly highlight the laptop’s result on a battery rundown test. However, before mentioning the laptop’s result, it would be ideal for us to know what the battery rundown test is all about.

In short, the battery rundown test involves repeatedly surfing the web via a Wi-Fi network until the battery of the laptop dies. Therefore, at the end of the test, the Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 11e offered a battery life of 4 hours and 57 minutes.

Apparently, this battery life is far below Lenovo’s initial 16 hours claim. Also, when placed side by side with some of its major rivals, this Lenovo laptop has terrible battery life.

For Instance, the HP Stream 11 X360 delivered a battery life of 6 hours and 36 minutes on the same battery rundown test. Hence, I will rate the Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 11e a seven out of ten in this battery review section.

Frequently Asked Questions

Conclusion

The Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 11e is a mid-range 2-in-1 convertible laptop that offers a durable build, a responsive touchscreen display, and a spill-resistant keyboard. Also, this laptop offers multiple CPU options and a decent graphics performance.

However, the storage of this laptop is quite limited. Additionally, its battery life is somewhat average.

Nevertheless, for a starting price of $449.99, this laptop has adequate overall performance. Therefore, if you are a business owner or student in need of a rugged 2-in-1 laptop, the Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 11e is an ideal choice.

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