Help me decide: Yoga 13 or Surface Pro?

Posted by Interslice on October 22, 2012 11:43 pm 18

Like the rest of you.... I've been painstakingly following the progression of these devices for what seems like ever. Here's my situation, and here's what I want to achieve:

I'm an engineering student, but I'm in my last year. I currently have a massively bulky and heavy gaming laptop (Sandy Bridge i7-2630 quad core (2.0-2.8 ghz) which suffice to say is more power than I need. It's also too big to be carrying around at 17.3" and 8.9 lbs. along with a 2 lb. charger in addition to textbooks.

I want a good Windows 8 experience. I want something lightweight and thin that's portable. I want it to have great battery life (unlike the 2 hrs. I get now). It needs to run legacy software, as I occasionally use 3d modelling programs such as AutoCAD and SolidWorks which I believe the ULV i5 processor could still handle fine. I'm not worried about gaming, I have my xbox for that (yay for IE).

It's also important to me to have a good typing experience. That means both how I sit with the device and how the keyboard feels. This is the largest deciding factor at hand I think.

#1 The Surface Pro is a really attractive prospect. A 2 lb. tablet that will be a little heavy to hold with one hand but not awful, and great with two... with a (I'm sure) great looking 1080p screen that's optically bonded to minimize the distance between glass and screen, yielding a better stylus experience. This tablet not only gives you the metro experience that is wonderful to touch, but also provides you with the entire Windows experience you know and love. Certainly the Desktop on a 10.6" screen won't be a great experience... but I see myself getting a real nice monitor to hook this thing into when I'm home.

#2 The Yoga 13 pretty much makes up for everything the Surface Pro doesn't. Sure it doesn't have stylus support and the resolution is lower and it's a lousy tablet. But.... having a traditional laptop form allows me to sit with the Yoga in any position and use it comfortably without having to hold it up. I seriously question how well the Surface is to use sitting on your lap with keyboard folded out.... unless my legs don't move at all it's going to fall over. Speaking of the keyboard... and I won't judge the Surface's until I've tried it, but I know the Lenovo Yoga 13 has a good keyboard because I tried it today. Despite not being backlit, it's everything a chiclet keyboard should be - accurate and comfortable.

Anyway... they both meet my computing needs. I just need to determine if I want the better Windows 8 experience using it primarily in tablet form... or if the yoga 13 offers a good enough Windows 8 experience and be happy to have a platform that allows the screen to move to any angle and has a proper keyboard.

Do I :

- Buy the Yoga 13?

- Wait for the Surface Pro?

- Keep my gaming laptop and get the Surface RT?

Here's a video I took today of the Yoga 13: