Lenovo offers new Yoga hybrids, a new Flex line of PCs, and more

We go hands-on with business and consumer Yoga systems, plus a tabletop PC, a new line of semi-hybrids, and more.

Dan Ackerman Editorial Director / Computers and Gaming

Dan Ackerman leads CNET's coverage of computers and gaming hardware. A New York native and former radio DJ, he's also a regular TV talking head and the author of "The Tetris Effect" (Hachette/PublicAffairs), a non-fiction gaming and business history book that has earned rave reviews from the New York Times, Fortune, LA Review of Books, and many other publications. "Upends the standard Silicon Valley, Steve Jobs/Mark Zuckerberg technology-creation myth... the story shines." -- The New York Times

Expertise I've been testing and reviewing computer and gaming hardware for over 20 years, covering every console launch since the Dreamcast and every MacBook...ever. Credentials

Author of the award-winning, NY Times-reviewed nonfiction book The Tetris Effect; Longtime consumer technology expert for CBS Mornings

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Dan Ackerman

Sept. 5, 2013 4:44 a.m. PT

2 min read

As part of the IFA flood of new laptops, tablets, and other products, Lenovo is introducing a new PC line, as well as serious revisions to the popular Yoga hybrid. Also new, an Android tablet called the S5000 and a phone called the Vibe X, both of which claim to be especially lightweight.

Below you'll find links to hands-on impressions, photos, and video of Lenovo's new PC lineup, including a high-res update of the popular Yoga hybrid, and a brand new Yoga version from the ThinkPad brand, which includes a keyboard update that's been on our wish list for some time.

IdeaPad Flex 14
The IdeaPad Flex line, available in 14- and 15-inch versions, doesn't fold all the way back into a tablet like the Yoga does. This is more of a laptop with some extra flexibility, bending its screen back by 300 degrees to allow for what we've been calling a kiosk mode, with the screen pointing out from the rear of the laptop, away from the keyboard and touch pad. Read our First Take and see hands-on video here.

IdeaPad Flex 20
Unlike earlier tabletop PC such as the HP Rove 20 and original Sony Vaio Tap 20, which both weigh around 12 pounds, the $899 Flex 20 is closer to 8 pounds. That's about the same as Sony's just-announced 21-inch Tap 21, and a little more than Dell's excellent, and extremely thin, 18-inch XPS 18. Read our First Take and see hands-on video here.

IdeaPad Yoga 2 Pro
How do you top the much-loved original? In the case of the just-announced Yoga 2 Pro, the star of the show is an ultra-high-res 13.3-inch display, with a native resolution of 3,200x1,800 pixels. That puts the Yoga 2 in similar territory to the Toshiba Kirabook, Retina MacBook Pro, Chromebook Pixel, Samsung Ativ Book 9 Plus, and a handful of others. Read our First Take and see hands-on video here.

The keyboard recedes into the body and is locked in tablet mode. Sarah Tew/CNET

ThinkPad Yoga
Lenovo has a new take on the Yoga that should make a lot of people very happy. This new ThinkPad-branded model has a seriously engineered keyboard and chassis that pulls the keys into the body as you fold it over backward into tablet mode. Read our First Take and see hands-on video here.

Finally, the 7-inch IdeaTab S5000 claims to be lighter than either the iPad Mini or Nexus 7, but has only a 1,280x800 display and a 1.2GHz quad-core MediaTek 8389 CPU. It should be available in December. The Android 4.2 smartphone known as the Vibe X has a 5-inch screen and weighs just 4.1 ounces, but there are currently no plans to release it in the US.