Lenovo Yoga 6 Gen8 review: Convertible with new Ryzen 7-7730U and fabric cover

[Redaktion]

Visually, Lenovo's Yoga 6 definitely stands out due to its colour-accentuated, fabric-covered display lid. The mobile Ryzen 7 also earns some plus points, not only offering high performance, but also fitting almost perfectly into the elegant convertible thanks to other features.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Lenovo-Yoga-6-Gen8-review-Convertible-with-new-Ryzen-7-7730U-and-fabric-cover.700829.0.html

[informatic]

The bet seems interesting but what everyone is waiting for are the AMD ZEN 4 7040 Phoenix = DDR5 + RDNA 3 + Pci 4.0 + USB 4.0 + HDMI 2.1 + Artificial Intelligence to make the most of AMD ChatGPT with XDNA architecture developed by Xilinx and everything to 4nm vs. 10nm Intel
Intel has fallen asleep or rather hibernated. Intel has been 4 long years with their unevolved integrated Xe graphics that you can only play minesweeper with, while AMD has gone from Zen 2 with Vega 8 --> Zen 3+ with RDNA2 and now with Zen 4 --> RDN3+ AI I just read The graphics of the Core 13 disappoints, it does not surpass the AMD Vega 8.

The AMD Phoenix 7040 CPUs will surpass the Apple M2 in performance and efficiency and that is what the portable public expects with ZEN 4 Phoenix if you want to know more simply write AMD ZEN 4 7040 Phoenix in your search engine

[Folie]

AMD ZEN 4 7040 Phoenix ... XDNA architecture developed by Xilinx

One finds in every corner that the CPU has security gaps for malware, its AI makes smart phone calls and thus competes with China.

[Neenyah]

The point of devices like this one here is mostly to be highly mobile to take it around with you on the go. It is not really intended to be a proper desktop replacement and/or a workstation (like many gaming laptops can be, Legion 5/5 Pro as example).

So its build quality seems pretty solid, it has a very good performance both on AC and on battery, it is very energy-efficient, its battery life is excellent, its WiFi speeds are very good, keyboard is nice, touchpad is fine for everyone who's not a ThinkPad user, it doesn't heat much, it is quiet even on a max load. It even has a great selection of ports for connectivity!

But then it all gets ruined by the screen itself! Yes it is fast despite being just 60 Hz, it is colour-accurate (not on a pro level but accurate enough), it has no PWM... but it is also glossy and has barely 279 nits (!) of maximum (!) brightness with not even 271 as average. Phone screens are glossy and you can barely see them outside if they are under 350-ish nits and this is about 80 nits less than that.

I'm not saying that one will work frantically outside in July on the strongest possible sun but come on, 271 nits is barely visible if you sit somewhere like Starbucks for coffee and want to be productive for an hour or two. You legit won't be able to see most the content on your screen with all that gloss and low brightness, you will basically be starring in a mirror.

So I'm back to my very first sentence of this comment - "The point of devices like this one here is mostly to be highly mobile to take it around with you on the go." - and this device can't be used anywhere but in dim rooms outside or at home. What the actual f*ck Lenovo?  What's the point of making a pretty damn solid device and then ruin it completely with that display?

I like that fabric cover though, despite being difficult to clean; it reminds me a lot of my old LG G4 smartphone and its leather back cover...

[Neenyah]

...keyboard is nice, touchpad is fine for everyone who's not a ThinkPad user...

Correction, replaced words by mistake on my phone, was supposed to say: "keyboard is nice for everyone who's not a ThinkPad user, touchpad is nice"

[LL]

Yeah Neenyah, often we see disconnection between device propose and hardware.
Here we have a very mobile device but then put a screen that cannot be used in most situations that said mobility promotes.
Cannot be taken to a coffe table in a well lit bar, cannot be taken to a well lit lesson room. I wonder if companies just buy screens in giant bulk and then device managers are said to put them any device they can.

[Abc]

400 nit is about where most laptop LCD screens top out at. 300 nit is pretty standard, although in this case it didn't reach its manufacturing specification. Dell puts 300 nit screen on their $1800 Latitudes, so it isn't a pricing problem. The technology with large screen LCD is simply not there yet. OLED can easily go higher if I understand correctly.

A 2 in 1 convertible with pen support like this Yoga 6 will always be glossy, unfortunately. That is the compromise you get by using a pen support display. If you don't care about the pen, touch screens can be had with matte displays.

[NikoB]

Outdated and slow Zen3 in 2023?!
Shameful memory speed (2 times worse than Intel even in outdated Alder Lake) and ridiculous only slodered 16GB in 2023?

I don't even want to comment on the rest. Well, maybe it will come down to someone at a discount for 800 euros...

[Neenyah]

400 nit is about where most laptop LCD screens top out at. 300 nit is pretty standard, although in this case it didn't reach its manufacturing specification. Dell puts 300 nit screen on their $1800 Latitudes, so it isn't a pricing problem. The technology with large screen LCD is simply not there yet.

400 and 271 is quite a difference with glossy screen(s). Take a look at the 2022 HP Envy x360 (13-bf0013dx) with 13.3" screen, same as this Yoga in this review, but with brightness reaching maximum 418.9 nits (right in the center) and averaging 396.8 cd/m² across the panel.

Or the 2020 Razer Book 13 (i7 1165G7 + 1920x1200 model) with average of 507.2 (!) and maximum in the center 545.3 nits.

I mean, even SEVEN years ago Microsoft's Surface Book (i7 6600U) was comfortably averaging 414.1 nits and reaching 438 maximum. I can keep going quite a lot here in all price ranges from budget to high end. And those above are all 13.3 to 13.5 inch devices with IPS panels, glossy panels and touchscreens.

I won't even mention a lot of bigger screens with IPS non-touch panels that are reaching far above 500 nits. Hell Apple's MacBook Pro 15 (i7-7700HQ) was averaging 522.8 nits back in 2017. A lot of OEMs simply love to blindly copy Apple - so why don't they copy Apple in screen brightness but instead they provide basically smaller yet 50% dimmer screen full six years later?

A 2 in 1 convertible with pen support like this Yoga 6 will always be glossy, unfortunately. That is the compromise you get by using a pen support display. If you don't care about the pen, touch screens can be had with matte displays.

Yes, correct.

[Kek]

It's 2023 and AMD devices still get the short end of the stick when it comes to screens or batteries lol.


Also, this might be a Ryzen 7000, but only God & AMD knows if its actually a new gen CPU or just another 5000 refreshed one.

[Neenyah]

Also, this might be a Ryzen 7000, but only God & AMD knows if its actually a new gen CPU or just another 5000 refreshed one.

"The AMD Ryzen 7 7730U is a processor for thin and light laptops based on the Cezanne generation. It is part of the second "Barcelo" refresh in early 2023 and offers the same specifications as the old Ryzen 7 5825U. The CPU integrates all eight cores based on the Zen 3 microarchitecture..."

Source: notebookcheck.net/AMD-Ryzen-7-7730U-Processor-Benchmarks-and-Specs.681481.0.html

[NikoB]

That is why Intel won back 5% of the market share in laptops from AMD by the end of 2022. AMD releases "paper" processors of really new series, laptops with which you can't buy anywhere.

Even the fact that NB only released a review of the 5625U(obsolete Zen3) model from Lenovo in March in 2023 shows how bad things are. But for a whole year now, models should only go to Zen3+, but there are almost none. After another year in March 2024, NB will finally be reviewing mainstream models on Zen3+.

And we will see reviews of mass laptops with Zen4 Phoenix (AMD's only valuable line of 2023) no earlier than March 2024. And it's good if they are at least on the shelves...

Buyers in 2023, at least by the summer, are only interested in the 7x40 line and nothing more, everything else is obsolete and an attempt to fraudulently sell people old cores and technologies.