Lenovo Yoga 730: At First Glance
Lenovo’s Yoga 730 is the company’s newest addition to its hybrid laptop lineup. However, this $725 Yoga laptop is designed for creative work rather than being a small, casual laptop.
The Yoga 730 is an excellent option for anyone looking for a versatile laptop with a low price, a detachable display, and outstanding performance. However, the laptop isn’t a gaming laptop, but it can handle some modern games.
Lenovo had to make some sacrifices to match the lower price point. Therefore, there are few places where the laptop falls short, especially when it comes to gaming and battery performance.
Lenovo Yoga 730: Design, Dimension & Weight
The Yoga 730 has a nice appearance, though the exterior isn’t particularly eye-catching due to its professional design.
The Yoga 730’s body is made of aluminum and is colored in a dark shade that Lenovo calls Iron Gray. On the left-hand side of the laptop’s lid, there’s a subtle Lenovo logo, tiny bezels around the panel, and two basic hinges.
The Lenovo Yoga 730 is available with either a 4K UHD or a Full HD display. These displays have a glossy texture that, unfortunately, attracts fingerprints easily, especially if you use tablet mode frequently.
The display also features an anti-glare coating. However, even at its brightest setting, the display is a little dark and has some dominating purple tones.
On the bright side, unlike other models where you can feel a teeny-tiny gap between the display and the LCD glass – the Yoga 730’s display doesn’t have that. The display is smooth and well-made; it doesn’t feel cheap, and taps, scrolls, and presses are all very responsive.
The Yoga is a convertible laptop, which means it comes with a touchscreen and it also supports an optional Lenovo Active Pen 2. This pen is a Bluetooth-enabled capacitive Active pen that can handle 4096 levels of pressure and is well-made with a smooth metallic finish.
However, the Active pen is a little thicker than a standard pen, and its metallic surface isn’t very grippy. As a result, I find it less comfortable to use than a standard ballpoint pen.
The Yoga 730’s JBL speakers are extremely quiet – far too quiet. Although you shouldn’t expect much more from a typical 2-in-1 system, however, it’s still disappointing.
However, with headphones, the sound is obviously much louder. When wearing headphones, you have all the volume you need, limited only by the type of headphones you’re using.
In addition, the Dolby Atmos software, which includes presets and a 20-band equalizer, can be used to customize the sound to some extent.
While the Yoga 730 is well-built in general, it isn’t as well-finished as I would have liked. The laptop has sharp edges and corners, making it uncomfortable to use.
In terms of the overall build, you can tell right away that this laptop is tough and well-made. That includes the display’s dual hinges, which feel very sturdy and of high quality.
Although many 2-in-1s, especially the more affordable ones, have issues with hinges, this is not the case with the Yoga 730. In standard laptop orientation, the Yoga 730’s dual hinges are tight enough to keep the display from wobbling.
The Lenovo Yoga 730 has a responsive and accurate keyboard with a short travel distance. However, the keyboard isn’t as comfortable as its previous model.
One good feature worth mentioning is that the keyboard is backlit, with white LEDs that can be adjusted to two different levels of intensity. By pressing Fn+Space, you can turn on the backlight of the keyboard.
The keyboard’s layout is fairly good, with keys that are appropriately sized and spaced. However, there is no NumPad section, which some of you may miss; and no dedicated Home/End or PgUp/PgDn function keys.
In addition, the Up and Down arrow keys are half the size of the other keys. You’ll have to get used to the abnormality and quirks of this keyboard layout.
A trackpad is located just below the keyboard. The trackpad is an average-sized plastic surface with Precision drivers.
Furthermore, the trackpad is pleasant to the touch and responds quickly to everyday swipes, gestures, and taps. Unfortunately, when tapped harder, it becomes a little noisy, and the physical clicks are also a little clunky.
The trackpad on Lenovo’s laptops might not be something for everyone, but it’s accurate and responsive, with no noticeable lag. However, don’t expect the trackpad to perform well in games, but it will work nicely for your productivity needs.
Lenovo also included a fingerprint sensor toward the right side of the palm-rest. The fingerprint sensor works very well and efficiently when used.
In terms of ports, the Lenovo Yoga 720 comes with a reasonable number of ports. Two USB Type-C ports and a headphone jack are located on the left side.
A full-size HDMI port can be found on the right side. Moreover, there is also a Type-C Thunderbolt port on the laptop as well, but there is no Ethernet port.
The Lenovo Yoga 730 weighs 1890 g and measures 360 x 249 x 16.95 mm. With this dimension and weight, the Lenovo Yoga 730 is more portable than most convertible laptops.
In comparison, the Lenovo Yoga 730 is lighter than the HP Envy x360 15. The HP Envy x360 15 weighs 2040g and measures 359 x 246 x 18.9 mm.
Finally, I’ll give the Lenovo Yoga 730 an eight out of ten for its overall design.
Lenovo Yoga 730: Processor (CPU) Performance
The Lenovo Yoga 730 comes with a 4-core Intel Core i7-8550U processor. This processor has a cache of 8 MB and supports a base frequency of 1.80 GHz and a maximum frequency of 4.0 GHz.
Furthermore, the Intel Core i7-8550U processor is really good at multitasking. With this processor, the Lenovo Yoga 730 can handle basic tasks like web browsing, document editing, and emailing.
Furthermore, to determine the processor performance I conducted a Geekbench 4 multi-core test. In this test, the Lenovo Yoga 730’s processor scored 14,439 points which is quite impressive.
Comparatively, the Lenovo Yoga 730 performed way better than the Dell Inspiron 14 5000. In the same test, the Dell Inspiron 15 5000’s Core i5-8265U processor scored 12,011 points.
Finally, I’m happy to rate the Lenovo Yoga 730 a nine out of ten for its excellent processor performance.
Lenovo Yoga 730: Memory (RAM) Performance
The Lenovo Yoga 730 comes with an 8 GB DDR4 RAM that is soldered to the motherboard. However, the laptop has a second slot that can accommodate an additional 8 GB of RAM, bringing the total RAM to 16 GB.
Even though 8 GB RAM is sufficient for everyday computer operations, I recommend getting the laptop with 16 GB RAM.
For the best performance on any recent Windows laptop, 16 GB RAM is the best to use. The 16 GB RAM is ideal if you plan to handle memory-intensive applications like Adobe Premiere Pro.
In a memory test, the Lenovo Yoga 730 with 16 GB performed brilliantly. The laptop handled about 40 Chrome browser tabs while a YouTube video was streaming at the same time without slowing down.
To further determine the laptop’s memory performance, I ran a PCMark 10 test. In the test, the laptop scored 3618 points.
In comparison, the HP Envy x360 performed better than the Lenovo Yoga 730. On the test, the HP Envy x360 scored 4796 points.
Finally, I’ll rate the Lenovo Yoga 730 an eight out of ten in this memory review.
Lenovo Yoga 730 Storage Options & Performance Review
Lenovo’s Yoga 730 supports a maximum storage capacity of 1 TB PCIe SSD. Unfortunately, the Lenovo Yoga 730 does not have an SD card slot for storage expansion.
Nonetheless, I believe that 1 TB of storage will be sufficient for the majority of users. Furthermore, SSDs provide a huge performance boost over HDDs.
The Lenovo Yoga 730 can deliver fast boot time and task execution thanks to its SSD, giving you an excellent experience. The laptop I reviewed came with a 512 GB SSD.
To determine the storage’s read and write speed, I conducted a CrystalDiskMark benchmark test.
On the test, the laptop has a sequential read speed of 3307MB/s and a sequential write speed of 1873MB/s.
Comparatively, the Lenovo Yoga 730 outperformed the Dell XPS 15 2-in-1. The Dell XPS 15 had a sequential read speed of 2976.7MB/s and a sequential write speed of 520.2MB/s.
Overall, the storage speed of this laptop is quite impressive. As a result, I will rate the laptop an eight in this storage performance review.
Lenovo Yoga 730: Graphics Card Performance
The Lenovo Yoga 730 comes with an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 graphics card. This GPU has a base frequency of 1290 MHz and a boost frequency of 1392 MHz.
In addition, the GPU also features 4 GB of dedicated GDDR5 VRAM. Despite the fact that this laptop isn’t built for gaming, the GPU is capable of running some less graphically demanding games.
Furthermore, the GPU is a capable graphics processor. The GPU in this laptop delivers a nice gaming experience to some extent.
To determine the GPU performance, I conducted a 3DMark Fire Strike test. In the test, the Lenovo Yoga 730 scored 5156 points.
Comparatively, the Dell XPS 15 2-in-1 outperformed the Lenovo Yoga 730. In the same test, the Dell XPS 15 2-in-1 scored 6276 points.
To further determine the laptop’s GPU capabilities, I performed a gaming test.
In the gaming test, the laptop played Rise of the Tomb Raider at High settings and 1080p with an average frame rate of 33fps. Unfortunately, the Dell XPS 15 2-in-1 outperformed the laptop once more, playing Rise of Tomb Raider at 54 frames per second.
In conclusion, I will rate the Lenovo Yoga 730 an eight for its decent GPU performance.
Lenovo Yoga 730: Battery Life & Performance
The Lenovo Yoga 730 comes with a 3-Cell 51.5Wh battery. According to Lenovo, the battery should last roughly 11 hours with an FHD display and 9 hours with a UHD display.
To validate Lenovo’s claim about the battery life of the laptop, I conducted a battery test. The test involves looping a 1080p fullscreen video on Youtube in Edge browser, screen brightness at 40%, and Wi-Fi ON.
In the test, the Lenovo Yoga 730 lasted for 6 hours 35 minutes which is okay for a laptop its size.
In comparison, the Lenovo Yoga 730 performed slightly better than the Dell XPS 15 2-in-1. The Dell XPS 15 2-in-1 managed to last only 6 hours in the battery test.
Finally, I will rate the Lenovo Yoga 730’s battery a seven out of ten for its average battery performance.
Conclusion
The Yoga 730 is a good choice for students and those who need a computer that can handle both work and fun. It’s a well-made 2-in-1 laptop with clean design lines; it is also lightweight.
The Lenovo Yoga 730 also has great ergonomics, a nice design, a sturdy hinge, and a comfortable keyboard. It also features modern hardware, allowing it to handle both routine computing tasks and more demanding workloads with ease.
However, you’ll have to accept its below-average speakers and battery’s average quality.
Overall, if you need a hybrid laptop for creative, productive tasks then the Lenovo Yoga 730 is an excellent choice for you.
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