The Lenovo Yoga 720 is the 15-inch GTX 1050 convertible you didn't know you wanted

Lenovo Yoga 720

Convertible laptops have by-and-large settled into the 10-to-13-inch range, with a few 14-inchers scattered about. Much larger than that and it becomes awkward to use as a tablet. But don't tell that to Lenovo and their new Yoga 720. Coming in 13-inch and 15.6-inch sizes, the updated convertibles pack the latest chipsets and all of the little features we've come to love and expect.

We're talking a processor specced up to an 7th-gen Kaby Lake Intel Core i7, up to 16GB of RAM, and varying SSD and HDD storage options depending on the model. They're also packing Windows Hello-compatible fingerprint readers (no IR facial recognition cameras, though) and a USB-C + Thunderbolt 3 port. The nicest bit is in the 15-inch version: an NVIDIA GTX 1050 GPU — the best graphics card you'll find in a convertible laptop. Gaming on a convertible? Now you can. If the 13-inch Yoga 720 is more your style, then you'll have to settle for the still-decent Intel HD Graphics 620 GPU.

Both are equipped with 10-point touchscreens with support for Lenovo's Wacom-based Active Pen 2 (but not their Any Pen "whatever stylus you want even a knife will do" tech), as well as Precision touchpads. Lenovo has also listened to the ongoing complaints about their shifting and non-standard keyboard layouts and equipped both sizes with keyboards that have properly-sized and positioned keys across the board. Color us happy.

Both are nice, solid laptops with narrow bezels on the top and sides of the displays and metal bodies. But the GTX 1050's power and thermal management needs had a profound and unfortunate side effect with the 720-15: it's heavy and it's thick. Closed, the Yoga 720-15 measures a beefy 0.74 inches from top to bottom. While that's not bad for a GTX 1050-equipped 15-inch laptop, keep in mind that this is a convertible — the screen flips around a full 360 degrees and is meant to be held and used like a tablet. Three quarters of an inch is mighty thick for that. And to power that GTX 1050 and get the advertised 9 hours of battery life you need to fill that thick tablet with lithium ion battery cells, so the Yoga 720-15 also weighs in at 4.4 pounds. Not heavy for a 15-inch GTX 1050 laptop, but exceptionally heavy for a tablet.

That said, I still really want to spend more time with this laptops. 15-inch convertibles are a rare breed — the only real competition here is the HP Spectre x360 15-inch, which despite its thorough refresh just two months ago at CES 2017 had a year-old GTX 940M GPU. HP's convertible sits in the same size and weight classes, just a bit thinner and barely lighter.

The Lenovo Yoga 720 is launching in April; the 13-inch version will start at $859.99, while the Yoga 720-15 will start at $1099.99.

• See Yoga 720 13 at Lenovo

• See Yoga 720 15 at Lenovo

Lenovo Yoga 520

The 500-series Yoga line has also received an update, bringing the latest 7th-gen Intel Core i7 processors, GTX 940MX graphics, and an assortment of storage options to the 14-inch convertible.

Lenovo has slimmed down the 14-inch convertible from the 510's chassis, mostly trimming in the bezels around the full HD display. Aside from the addition of the fingerprint sensor and USB-C port (alas, no Thunderbolt 3 here).

The Yoga 520 is further down the chain from the 700-series (which is itself lesser than the flagship 900-series Yoga convertibles). As such, it's no surprise that it's a bulky and heavy thing, even if it's still reasonably capable. It's just not fancy. If it feels like your thing, you'll be able to grab one starting in May for $799.99 (in the U.S. it'll be known as the Lenovo Flex 5).

Lenovo Miix 320

A small, cheap, Windows 10 tablet with a detachable keyboard. That's the Lenovo Miix in a nutshell. This $200 2-in-1 has a 10.1-inch FHD display and runs on an Intel Atom X5 processor. If you're expecting that it's not a barn-stormer or head-turner, then you would be correct. But it's also not that bad — especially for the price.

The Miix 320 attaches magnetically to a solid hinged base, transforming the tablet into something that's more of a laptop. The magnetic attachment is relatively strong, taking not inconsiderable force to remove the tablet from the base. With a starting price of $199.99, this clearly isn't a premium tablet, and the design reflects that. It's a chunky body with spacious bezels and underwhelming specs. But for $200 I wouldn't expect much more. Interested customers will be able to buy one in April 2017, or in July if they want one with Lenovo Active Pen support.

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