[ntab Configuration]
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The Lenovo Yoga 730-13 is the 4th generation of the Yoga 700 series. Even though it is not at the same level as the Yoga C930, which is Lenovo’s consumer flagship laptop, it still retains many of its premium features. The Yoga 730 is designed to be an affordable option for users who want to switch between classic mode when working and tablet mode for media consumption or take advantage of its stylus for note-taking or graphic design.
The Lenovo Yoga 730-13 can be bought for as low as $600 but the configuration reviewed here costs around $1300.
Configuration specifications
| Display | 13.3 inch, 3840 x 2160 @ 60Hz, Glossy, IPS-type AUO B133ZAN02.0 / AUO202B |
| Processor | Intel Core i7-8565U |
| Memory | 16GB DDR4 2400 Mhz (Soldered) |
| Video card | Intel UHD Graphics 620 |
| Wireless card | Intel(R) Wireless-AC 9260 |
| Storage | WD SN720 512GB M.2 PCIe SSD |
| Battery | 48 WHr (46.1 WHr usable) |
| Operating system | Windows 10 Pro |
| Full specifications here | |
[ntab Build quality]
Physical size
| Width: | 305 mm / 12.00 inches |
| Depth: | 215 mm / 8.46 inches |
| Height: | Front: 12 mm / 0.47 inch Rear: 13 mm / 0.51 inch |
| Laptop weight: | 1.220 kg / 2.68 lbs |
| Charger weight: | 0.340 kg / 0.74 lbs |
| Laptop + charger weight: | 1.560 kg / 3.43 lbs |
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The Yoga 730-13 looks nearly identical to its predecessor, the Yoga 720-13. Lenovo made only some minor cosmetic changes like removing the chrome elements and rounding the edges, thus giving it a cleaner design.
The laptop’s chassis is entirely made out of aluminium making it feel pretty sturdy and somewhat cold to the touch. However, after prolonged usage, the aluminium frame starts to get pretty warm, making the keyboard hot and uncomfortable to use.
The display lid is impossible to open with one hand, requiring quite a bit of force.
The Yoga 730-13 has a backlit chiclet keyboard which lacks a Number Pad. The keys are decently sized, but the 13” chassis forces them to be pretty cramped. Consequently, when trying to use the ALT key in various combinations, like when playing MOBAs, it is very easy to accidentally press the WIN key instead.
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The keys also have a very short travel time, even shorter than Lenovo’s ThinkPad laptops, and require very little activation force. However, the keys also have a powerful spring inside them, effectively pushing the fingers back when typing. The result is a unique typing experience which left the review team with mixed feelings.
On the bottom right side of the keyboard, there is also a glass-covered fingerprint reader with chrome bezels. The fingerprint reader felt snappy and worked well with Windows Hello.
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On the other hand, the touchpad felt great to use. Even though it lacks dedicated left and right buttons, the touch area was specious, precise and comfortable to use.
Please note that the laptop’s keyboards layout may differ from country to country.
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The webcam was another pleasant surprise. For an HD camera, it performs very well in close-up videos, with objects appearing clear and colour accurate. Unfortunately, for far-away objects, it tends to lose details, and the image is generally more pixelated. Overall, the camera should be adequate for voice calls and on-the-go streaming.
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The sound recording quality of the microphone has no noticeable issues. The recordings sounded clear without picking any noticeable background noise. Also, the Yoga 730-13 has far-field microphones that can pick up voice commands from up to 4 meters (13 ft.) away. A feature especially useful when talking to Microsoft’s Windows 10 built-in Cortana voice assistant.
[ntab Disassembly]
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Gaining access to the internal components of the Lenovo Yoga 730-13 is not difficult. Firstly, remove the nine Torx T4 head screws on the back of the laptop. Torx screwdrivers are less common, but obtainable on-line or in most hardware stores. Secondly, carefully place a prying tool or a plastic card in the space between the plastic bottom cover and the main chassis, then move the prying tool or plastic card all along this separation space. As the prying tool/plastic card moves along this space, it will slowly un-clip the bottom cover from the main chassis. Do not try to lift the bottom cover immediately. The base frame has round edges that have a “hook” like effect on the bottom cover. If the bottom cover is lifted right away, then there is a high risk of damage to the chassis. To avoid damaging the chassis, slightly slide/push the bottom cover away from the hinges, in the opposite direction to the main body of the laptop, then gently raise it. Thus, the laptop’s internal components are revealed.
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Inside, there is:
- one M.2 SSD/PCIe slot;
- two soldered RAM sticks;
- a PCIe slot for the Wi-Fi card;
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| Lenovo Yoga 730-13 M.2 SSD |
It is worth mentioning that the soldered RAM is protected by a metal plate which also acts as a heat spreader, allowing it to run cooler. Also, having soldered RAM means it is impossible to upgrade the RAM in the future.
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[ntab Ports]
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The Yoga 730-13 rocks the same ports as its predecessor, the only difference being that instead of one Type-C port and one Thunderbolt 3 port, there are now two Thunderbolt 3 ports, which both support PCIe 3.0 x4. In theory, the laptop should have no issues to simultaneously run with an external video card or a high-speed external hard drive.
Overall, the laptop has :
- one USB 3.0 Type-A;
- two USB 3.0 Type-C Thunderbolt 3 (also known as USB-C 3.2 Gen 1);
- a standard 3.5mm jack combo for microphone and headphones or speakers;
However, regarding the USB-C ports, there are some noticeable limitations. The laptop does not have a separate charging port so it charges itself through one of the USB-C ports, meaning that while it is connected to the wall, only one of the USB-C ports is available. If an external video card is connected (eGPU), then the laptop is only left with one regular USB 3.0 port, which severely limits its connectivity options.
Even though it lacks an HDMI port, Lenovo was kind enough to provide a USB to HDMI adaptor in the box. It would also be nice if Lenovo provided a USB to LAN adaptor, but alas, that is not the case.
The lack of a card reader was somewhat surprising since the Yoga 730-13 also targets graphic designers and photo editors. With the ability to turn into a tablet, stylus support, and an excellent display, it is a shame not to have a dedicated card reader. It is likely Lenovo wanted to keep costs down with the Y730-13, but its direct competitors, the HP Spectre x360 13t and the Dell’s XPS 13 9365, both have a MicroSD card reader.
[ntab Display]
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Most versions of the Yoga 730-13 come with a Full HD IPS display, but the model reviewed here has the much higher quality UHD/4K display. The exact model is AUO B133ZAN02.3 / AUO202B. Overall the screen is excellent for media consumption and photo editing on the go. Unfortunately, the touchscreen digitiser adds another sheet of glass on top of the existing display, making it very glossy and reflective. Consequently, despite its high brightness capabilities rated at 300 nits and measured at 320 nits, the brightness still needs to be set to maximum when the laptop is used outside.
Having the laptop on high brightness all the time will much more rapidly deplete its battery. Therefore, if battery life is essential, it is advisable to opt for the Full HD version instead, despite having lower contrast and colour coverage.
The UHD display has excellent colour coverage, at 96.6% sRGB and a high contrast ration of 1600:1. On the downside, without a colour calibration profile, the colours seem washed out and somewhat unnatural.
Here is a link to the calibrated display profile of the reviewed unit. Because each display is unique, this profile will not perfectly match other displays of the same model. Still, using this profile should give better overall colours.
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Lenovo includes an active pen/stylus in the retail box of the Yoga. The Lenovo Active Pen 2 features 4096 levels of pressure sensitivity and comes with one top button as well as two-barrel buttons, which are programmable using Lenovo’s app. Although the stylus has no tilt support, it was pleasant to use, and there was no noticeable lag. Unfortunately, Lenovo did not design into the laptop a place where to store the stylus, which would be particularly useful when traveling and moving around.
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[ntab Benchmarks]
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SCORE |
4748 |
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| Graphics score | 4795 |
| CPU score | 5403 |
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SCORE |
1107 |
|---|---|
| Graphics score | 1126 |
| Physics score | 7486 |
| Combined score | 369 |
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SCORE |
3970 |
|---|---|
| Graphics score | 3703 |
| Physics score | 6533 |
| Combined score | 3794 |
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SCORE |
7672 |
|---|---|
| Graphics score | 8783 |
| Physics score | 5318 |
| R15 Single/Multi | R20 Single/Multi |
| 134/458 | 347/1102 |
| Single-core score | Multi-core score |
| 5360 | 15634 |
| Single-core score | Multi-core score |
| 1117 | 3401 |
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PCMark 10
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RESULTS (720P Low)
SUPERPOSITION
BENCHMARK
1590
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Crystal Disk Mark
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[ntab Gaming benchmarks]
The UHD/4K display might be great for media consumption, photo editing and graphic design, but in combination with an underpowered integrated graphics card, the device’s gaming capabilities are severely limited. It is still possible to play a limited number of games like League of Legends, DOTA 2, Rocket League and CS: GO on low to medium settings at around 30fps, but it is a poor gaming experience, well below what could be called “competitive”. The high resolution of the UHD display also caused some scaling problems. In some games, turning down the resolution to 1920×1080 or lower, caused the games to run in a small window instead of the full screen. The only solution was to manually lower the display’s resolution in Windows and then relaunch the games to make them run in full-screen mode.
| Medium | 35.6 FPS | 13.7 FPS | 47.6 FPS |
| Medium | 57.2 FPS | 33.9 FPS | 90.8 FPS |
| Lowest | 59.0 FPS | 41.1 FPS | 83.1 FPS |
| Medium | 35.6 FPS | 13.7 FPS | 47.6 FPS |
| Low | 17 FPS | 1 FPS | 28 FPS |
| Low | 19.0 FPS | 7.9 FPS | 29.3 FPS |
[ntab Temperatures]
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The cooling solution of the Yoga 730-13 consists of a single, slightly larger than average, heat-pipe and two small fans which pull fresh air from underneath the laptop and push it throughout its back. There is also a thermal pad on the M.2 SSD which touches the bottom cover, effectively cooling the M.2 SSD through the chassis and improving its performance. The soldered RAM sticks are also covered with a metal sheet to help disperse the heat.
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| Lenovo Yoga 730-13 air intake | Lenovo Yoga 730-13 air exhaust |
In stand-by, due to its aluminium chassis, the laptop feels cold to the touch, but under heavy load, the keyboard tends to heat up, especially around the ‘8’ key of the main keyboard.
All temperature measurements were performed at an ambient temperature of 23°C (73.4°F).
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During the standard 20 minutes AIDA64 stress test (CPU, FPU, cache), the processor reached an average temperature of 74°C (165.2°F), with a maximum of 99°C (210.2°F) which is dangerously close to the manufacturer’s safety limit of 100°C (212°F). At these temperatures, the processor managed to keep an average frequency of 2.11 GHz, with dips to as low as 1.79 GHz. These frequencies are well below the processor’s theoretical 4-core maximum boost speed of 4.10 GHz, but still within Intel’s minimum guaranteed speed of 1.80 GHz.
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In the combined AIDA64 plus Unigine Superposition test which had both the processor and integrated video card under heavy load for 20 minutes, the processor immediately spiked to 99°C (210.2°F) and started to throttle until it reached an average temperature of 71°C (159.8°F). The frequencies barely managed to run at an average of 1.27 GHz and sometimes even dipping to as low as 1.09 GHz, which is way under Intel’s minimum speed 1.80 GHz.
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Finally, the laptop was tested with the AIDA64 stability test, which is another combined stress test for the video card and processor. The results were very similar to the previous stress tests. The processor’s temperature again initially spiked to 99°C (210.2°F) and then stabilised at 71°C (159.8°F), which indicates that this is a BIOS implemented behaviour. The average clock speed was way under the minimum 1.80GHz specified by Intel, with an average of 1.64 GHz and dips to 1.39 GHz.
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After multiple tests, it is safe to conclude that the Lenovo Yoga 730-13 is not meant to be used for intensive tasks like photo editing, video editing, rendering, 3d modeling or any other processor or graphics demanding workloads. Even though the device has a gorgeous screen, the Yoga 730-13 is not suitable for anything other than media consumption, office suite, checking emails or any other mundane tasks. Unfortunately, the cooling solution is not capable of adequately cooling its 4 cores – 8 threads processor. Under load, the laptop reaches the processor’s maximum critical temperature in just 15 seconds resulting in a machine which severely throttles and underperforms.
[ntab Noise]
The Yoga 730-13 is a reasonably quiet machine. Moreover, it seems Lenovo did an excellent job of creating a smooth fan profile, with the laptop’s two fans not making any sudden jumps in speed (RPM). When idling, the fan noise is hardly noticeable, remaining at the room’s ambient level of around 20 dB. Even under intensive usage, the noise level barely reaches 30 dB.
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LatencyMon was used to evaluate if the laptop is suitable for video/audio editing and recording. The laptop was tested only while connected to the internet via Wi-Fi. It was impossible to test the laptop while connected to LAN because it lacks a dedicated LAN (RJ45) port and Lenovo does not provide a USB-C to LAN adapter. Throughout the test, the laptop did not experience any high latency, which makes it suitable for sound recording. The test was run multiple times to eliminate any flukes, and it always returned with the same results.
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| LatencyMon test – WIFI |
[ntab Sound quality]
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Overall, the sound quality is pretty decent, though the bass is average at best. The stereo JBL speakers sound very clear and maintaining their sound clarity at any volume. Additionally, the Dolby Atmos software provided by Lenovo for manging the audio device has multiple pre-sets and there is even an equaliser for mixing and matching various settings. However, a medium-quality headphone will still provide a better sound quality than the laptop’s speakers.
[ntab Battery life]
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Since most laptops are used on battery for mundane office activities and web browsing, the laptop was tested using a simulated continuous web browsing session over the Wi-Fi. The browsing session involved checking emails/news, social media and accessing multimedia websites, similar to the behaviour of an average user. The level of brightness was set according to visibility and usability. At 50% brightness (maximum is 320 nits) the laptop provided an enjoyable viewing experience. The sound volume was also set to 50%.
Officially, the battery is rated at 48 WHr. However, as it is often the case with most laptops, the real maximum charge is smaller and diminishes over time due to battery wear. The unit reviewed here reported a maximum charge capacity of 46.1 WHr.
With its 48 WHr battery, the laptop lasted only 3 hours and 2 minutes. The laptop was tested using both Firefox and Edge and yielded similar battery life results regardless of browser.
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| Lenovo Yoga 730-13 battery specifications | Lenovo Yoga 730-13 charger |
As mentioned earlier, the UHD/4K display has a significant impact on battery life. While some similar-sized laptops come with bigger batteries, the standard battery capacity for laptops of this size is around 50 WHr. Thus, the most appropriate solution for improving battery life is to opt for a Full HD display instead of the UHD one. Judging from how other laptops perform, a Full HD display should increase battery life by around 30%.
Charging the laptop from 5% to 100% took almost 1 hour and 35 minutes with the 65W power adapter included in the box.
[ntab Software]
The machine came with Windows 10 Pro pre-installed on it and the only Lenovo provided software worth mentioning is the Lenovo Vantage app.
Lenovo Vantage is relatively useful on more complex machines, like the Legion Y7000, but has limited usability on the Yoga 730-13. On the Yoga 730-13, it only offers to possibility to customise a few shortcuts for the more commonly used settings, a password manager, a summary of the laptop’s characteristics and external links to Lenovo Support and other vendor websites.
Alongside the Lenovo Vantage app, Lenovo also provides the Lenovo Migration Assistant which helps users to port their files and settings from their old machine to the new PC.
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[ntab Conclusion]
Pros:
- High color coverage display (over 90% sRGB);
- Good build quality;
- Lightweight;
- Great trackpad;
- Fast M.2 PCIe storage
Cons:
- Processor throttling under heavy usage;
- A limited selection of ports;
- Shallow keyboard;
- Glossy and reflective display
- Lack of a card reader;
- Display needs to be calibrated for professional use
- Below-average battery life
To conclude, the Lenovo Yoga 730-13 has many strong points. The high-resolution screen makes everything look crisp and clean, the lightweight aluminium chassis gives it a premium feel, and it is highly affordable for its specifications. Putting all this together makes for a perfect 2-in-1 laptop for students and anyone who wants a hybrid laptop for media consumption and day-to-day use. However, it cannot go unnoticed that its out-of-the-box cooling solution is severely underperforming and wastes the potential of its i7 processor. Moreover, the highly glossy and uncalibrated display together with the lack of an SD card reader makes it unsuitable for content creators, graphic designers or anyone who would want to use it for more intensive workloads.
[ntab Buy]
The Lenovo Yoga 730-13 with Whiskey Lake processors (i5-8265U, i7-8565U) is currently reaching the end of its life and few if any retailers still sell this model. However, the slightly older version with Kaby Lake R processors (i5-8250U, i7-8550U) is still available. The two versions are nearly identical, with the older one being unnoticeably slower by 5% to 7% on average. Alternatively, there is also a newer version of the Yoga 730-13 with Comet Lake processor (i5-10210U and i7-10510U).
To support noteb.com search engine and its review team, please consider buying a future Lenovo Yoga 730-13 laptop through one of the links included below. Thank you!
Lenovo Yoga 730-13 Kaby Lake R
Amazon – i5-8250U, 8GB RAM, 256 SSD M.2 PCIe, 13.3 FHD touchscreen, Windows 10 Home
Amazon – i5-8250U, 8GB RAM, 512 SSD M.2 PCIe, 13.3 FHD touchscreen, Windows 10 Home
Newegg – i5-8250U, 8GB RAM, 512 SSD M.2 PCIe, 13.3 FHD touchscreen, Windows 10 Home
Bestbuy – i5-8250U, 8GB RAM, 512 SSD M.2 PCIe, 13.3 FHD touchscreen, Windows 10 Home
Bestbuy – i5-8250U, 16GB RAM, 512 SSD M.2 PCIe, 13.3 UHD touchscreen, Windows 10 Home
[ntab More Pictures]
[ntab Videos]
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