Convertible laptops combine the features of a laptop and tablet in one device. This increases the versatility of the laptop. However, they are not as common as traditional laptops.
In this article, we compare the Lenovo Flex 15 and Lenovo Yoga 730. Here’s everything you need to know about Lenovo Flex Vs Lenovo Yoga.
Overview
| Lenovo Flex | Lenovo Yoga | |
|---|---|---|
| Design (5) | 4 | 4 |
| Build Quality (5) | 3 | 4 |
| Upgradeability (5) | 4 | 3 |
| Display (5) | 3 | 4 |
| Thermals (5) | 3 | 4 |
| Performance (5) | 4 | 5 |
| Battery Life (5) | 4 | 4 |
| Total (35) | 25 | 28 |
Lenovo Flex 15 – Pros & Cons
Pros
Solid Performance
Affordable
Slim & Lightweight
Decent Battery Life & Fast Charge
Cons
Not The Best Build Quality
Dim Display
Lenovo Yoga 730 – Pros & Cons
Pros
Great Performance
Solid Build Quality
Decent Display
Quick Charger & Decent Battery Life
Thunderbolt Port
Cons
Keyboard Flex
Shallow Travel Keyboard
RAM Is Soldered
Differences Between Lenovo Flex and Yoga
Configurations
The Lenovo Flex 5 15 belongs to the Ideapad Flex series. And in that family, there is the Flex 14 and Flex 15.
The Flex 14 has a 14-inch display whiles the Flex 15 has a 15-inch display. The Flex 14 can be configured up to 8th Gen Intel Core i5, 16GB RAM and a 256GB SSD.
The Flex 15 can be configured up to 10th Gen Intel Core i5, 16GB RAM and a 512GB SSD. There is also an AMD version of the Flex 14 which is powered by an AMD Ryzen processor.
The Flex 14 and 15 are affordable 2-in-1 laptops. However, the Flex 14 is the more affordable of the two.
- Lenovo Flex 14 2-in-1 Convertible Laptop, 14 Inch FHD Touchscreen Display, AMD Ryzen 5 3500U Processor, 12GB DDR4 RAM, 256GB NVMe SSD, Windows 10, 81SS000DUS, Black, Pen Included
- Lenovo Flex 5 15.6" 2-in-1 IPS FHD Anti-Glare Touchscreen Laptop, Intel Core i7-8550U, 16GB DDR4, 256GB SSD, 1TB HHD, Bluetooth, HDMI, Webcam, Fingerprint Reader, Backlit Keyboard, Windows 10
- 2019 Lenovo IdeaPad Flex-15IWL Onyx Black 2-in-1 Laptop - 15.6" 1920x1080 IPS Glossy Multi-Touch Multi-Mode Display - Intel Quad-Core i7-8565U Processor 1.8GHz; 8GB DDr4-2400 RAM; 512GB SSD
- Lenovo Flex 5 Laptop, 15.6" Touchscreen, Intel Core i7, 8GB Memory, 256GB SSD, Windows 10 Home
- 2019 Lenovo Flex 15 15.6" FHD Touchscreen 2-in-1 Laptop Computer, 8th Gen Intel Quad-Core i7-8565U Up to 4.6GHz, 8GB DDR4, 512GB PCIE SSD, MX230, HDMI, USB 3.0, Windows 10 Home
- Lenovo Flex 11 Laptop, 11.6 Inch HD (1366 X 768) Display, Intel Pentium Silver N5000 Processor, 4GB DDR4 RAM, 64GB eMMC SSD, Intel UHD Graphics 605, Windows 10, 81A7000BUS, Onyx Black
- 2018 Lenovo Flex 5 15 2-IN-1 Laptop: 15.6" IPS Touchscreen Full HD (1920x1080), Intel Quad Core i7-8550U, 512GB SSD, 16GB DDR4, NVIDIA 940MX, Backlit Keys, Windows 10 - Black (Renewed)
- Lenovo Flex 14 2-in-1 Convertible Laptop, 14 Inch FHD (1920 X 1080) IPS Touchscreen Display, AMD Ryzen 7 3700U Processor, 8GB DDR4 RAM, 256GB NVMe SSD, Windows 10, 81SS0002US, Onyx Black
The Lenovo Yoga 730, on the other hand, belongs to its family- Yoga. The Yoga family offers better features than the Flex. Features such as USB-C charging, Thunderbolt 3 ports and better build quality.
There are several members of the Yoga family. But, they can be grouped into three – the Yoga 900s, Yoga 700s and Yoga C.
Both three categories have a wide range of configurations. But, what sets them apart is the design and build quality. The Lenovo Yoga 700s and Yoga C have a similar design. But, the Yoga 900s are slightly different and the display hinge is a dead giveaway.
- New 2018 Lenovo Yoga 730 2-in-1 15.6" FHD IPS Touch-Screen Laptop, Intel i5-8250U, 8GB DDR4 RAM, 256GB PCIe SSD, Thunderbolt, Fingerprint Reader, Backlit Keyboard, Built for Windows Ink, Win10
- 2019 Lenovo Yoga C930 2-in-1 13.9" 4K UHD Touch-Screen Laptop - Intel i7, 16GB DDR4, 1TB PCI-e SSD, 2X Thunderbolt 3, Dolby Atmos Audio, Webcam, WiFi, Windows 10, Active Pen, 3 LBS, 0.6", Mica
- Lenovo Yoga 920 2-in-1 Ultrabook Laptop, 13.9in FHD IPS Touchscreen, Intel Quad-Core i7-8550U, 8GB DDR4 Ram, 256GB SSD, Fingerprint Reader, Windows 10, Bronze (Renewed)
- Lenovo Yoga 730 2-in-1 Laptop: Core i7-8550U, 15.6" 4K UHD Touchscreen, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD, NVidia GTX 1050 Graphics
- 2019_Lenovo Yoga 2-in-1 15.6" 4K UHD Touchscreen Laptop, 360° flip-and-fold Design, Intel Core i7-8565U, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD,HDMI, Thunderbolt, Backlit Keyboard, Fingerprint Reader, Win 10 Iron Grey
- 2018 Lenovo Yoga 2-in-1 Ultrabook Flagship 13.3" FHD Touchscreen Backlit Keyboard Laptop | 8th Gen Intel i5-8250U Quad-Core | 8G | 256G SSD | Fingerprint Reader | Built Windows Ink | Windows 10
Design & Build Quality
Budget convertible laptops rarely have metallic build. The Lenovo Flex 15 is a convertible laptop and it’s entirely made of plastic. The plastic build makes it have a good amount of flex on the display and keyboard area. An all-black colour that looks clean and modern.
The position of the Lenovo logo has also been changed. It’s now located at the top-left corner and it’s no more horizontal. But, vertical. The Lenovo Flex 15 is a fairly thin and lightweight device. It’s about 0.8 inches in thickness and 4.41 lbs (2.0 kg).
It also has a decent port selection. Overall, the Lenovo Flex 15 is one of the best-looking budget laptops out there. The plastic has a smooth and shiny finish making look like a premium laptop. The build quality, however, is questionable.
The Lenovo Yoga 730 has a stronger build quality. Made from aluminium. It will be sturdier than the Lenovo Flex 15. However, the keyboard area has quite a bit of flex.
The convertible comes in two colours – silver and black. If you look closely, the shape of the laptop closely resembles the HP Envy and parts of the HP Spectre. The corners are sharp and the hinge design is similar.
The metallic build has a smooth finish and it’s a fingerprint magnet. The Lenovo Yoga 730 is a thin and light device. You can easily carry this with you anywhere. The 13-inch model weighs 2.47 lbs (1.12kg) and half an inch thick. The 15-inch model weighs 4.2 lbs (1.88 kg) and it is a little over an inch thick.
Port selection is decent. You have a Thunderbolt 3 port which supports USB-C charging and two USB 3.0 ports.
All in all, the Lenovo Yoga 730 design looks so much better than the Lenovo Flex. The design and build quality embodies that of a mid to high-end convertible laptop.
Upgradeability
Opening the Lenovo Flex 15 is easy to do. All you need to do is remove a few screws. Once inside, you can easily upgrade the SSD, HDD and WLAN card. The RAM is also upgradeable but only one slot is.
The other slot is inaccessible and it’s only 4GB of RAM. You will also notice that there are one cooling fan and a single heat pipe. The cooling system is enough to prevent your laptop from getting too hot.
The Lenovo Yoga 730 is also easy to open. But, in terms of upgradeability. You are limited. The only components upgradeable are the SSD and WLAN card. There is no HDD storage and you also can’t upgrade the RAM since it is soldered.
So you are stuck with whatever RAM the laptop comes with. The Lenovo Yoga 730 has two cooling fans and a single heat pipe. For a slim device, that is pretty good cooling. Unless you subject it to heavy loads example gaming. It will run cool most of the time.
Display
The Lenovo Flex 15 is a budget convertible laptop. And budget laptops do not have the best displays. However, the Lenovo Flex 15’s display is decent. A 15.6 inch Full HD (1920 x 1080) display that has fairly thin bezels. All touchscreen displays are glossy and this laptop is no exception.
In bright environments, there will be a lot of reflections on the display. It is also not that bright and will make outdoor use quite difficult. The touchscreen has multi-touch support of up to 10 fingers.
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The colour accuracy is decent for a budget laptop and has good viewing angles. All in all, the Lenovo Flex 15 has a good display for an affordable laptop.
The Lenovo Yoga 730 is a bright and sharp display. There are 13 inch and 15-inch display options. You can also choose between a Full HD (1920 x 1080) and a 4K (3840 x 2160) display. The 4K display is going to be sharper, brighter and more colour accurate than the Full HD display.
But, at the cost of lower battery life. The Full HD has above-average colour accuracy and good viewing angles.
In short, the Lenovo Yoga 730 has a better display than the Lenovo Flex. It is bright, sharp and has above-average colour accuracy. Overall, a pleasant display to look at it.
Keyboard & Touchpad
The Lenovo Flex 15 has a decent keyboard and touchpad. The keyboard has no Numpad. And this makes the keys well-sized and have adequate size.
The key travel is not shallow and the tactile feedback is quite good. The keyboard is also backlit. The touchpad is large, fast and responsive. Overall, the keyboard and touchpad are quite good.
The Lenovo Yoga 730 has a backlit low travel keyboard. This due to its thin form factor. It’s a full-size keyboard that doesn’t have a Numpad. Just like the Lenovo Flex 15, the keys are going to be well-spaced.
The trackpad has Windows precision drivers and so it is fast, responsive and accurate. The touchpad is also large giving your fingers more room.
All in all, both laptops have decent keyboards and trackpads.
Performance
Because they are so many configurations. You can’t compare them. But, if you want the best performance. Lenovo Yoga 730 is the best option. Because it has Intel Core i7 and 16GB RAM configurations. Whereas the Lenovo Flex 15 only has Intel Core i5, AMD Ryzen and 16GB RAM.
The Intel Core i7 is faster and more powerful than the Intel Core i5. And so you will get better performance. The Lenovo Yoga 730 might also have a GTX 1050. A dedicated graphics card which is good enough for some light gaming.
However, you won’t get the best performance since the convertible laptop will run so hot it will thermal throttle. Fortunately, you can get around it by hooking up an external GPU thanks to its Thunderbolt port. This will provide better performance and gaming experience.
Although, the Core i7 is more powerful than the Intel Core i5. It is powerful enough to handle several demanding tasks and multitasking. Gaming and rendering are out of the question though.
The most common configurations of the Lenovo Flex 15 are Intel Core i5 and AMD Ryzen. For the Lenovo Yoga 730, it’s Intel Core i5 and Intel Core i7.
In short, the Lenovo Yoga 730 beats the Lenovo Flex 14 in performance. Because it has an Intel Core i7, 16GB RAM and an NVIDIA GTX 1050 configuration. Aside from that, any other configuration will give similar performance.
Battery Life
Both offer decent battery lives. The Lenovo Flex 15 can last about 8 hours under consistent use. The convertible also supports fast charge and it can get it to 80 per cent an hour.
The Lenovo Yoga 730 also has the same duration of battery life. But, no fast charging capabilities. Instead, it makes use of quick charge. 15 minutes of charge will allow you to use it for 2 hours.
Lenovo Flex Vs Lenovo Yoga – Which One Should You Get?
The Lenovo Yoga 730 is the better option. It has a solid build quality, display and performance. In addition to that, one of the few affordable laptops to have a Thunderbolt 3 port.
Also, it is a well-designed laptop that gives off a better “premium” look than the Lenovo Flex 15.
The Lenovo Flex 15 still overs great value. An affordable convertible laptop with decent performance and display. You can easily upgrade the RAM if you want more performance out of it.
All in all, it is a solid laptop especially if you are on a tight budget.
