Bad display choice? Lenovo's 11.6-inch convertible fails to impress in any given area - but it stands out in a negative way with its TN panel and limited viewing angle stability.
The chassis is made from two-tone plastic. The display lid and the bottom part of the base unit are white; all other parts are black. Three sides of the base unit are surrounded by a rubber bumper, which protects the upper base unit when the convertible is resting on it. The display can be rotated backwards a full 360 degrees to allow for different modes. The build quality is quite decent. As far as the sturdiness is concerned, the Yoga 300 exhbits the usual weaknesses: the chassis flexes in the areas next to the keyboard and below the touchpad. The base unit resists twisting quite well. To access the hardware, the bottom half of the base unit needs to be taken off, which is an easily accomplished job.
The small notebook features a decent number of ports. One of the three USB ports supports USB 3.0. HDMI out allows the user to connect a monitor or a TV. The physical ports are all located towards the rear on the left and right side.
The integrated card reader is about average as far as the speeds are concerned. Large data blocks are copied at a maximum transfer rate of 75.9 MB/s. The copy process of 250 jpeg-files (5 MB each) took place at 33.3 MB/s. For these tests we use our reference SD card Toshiba Exceria Pro SDXC 64 GB UHS-II.
Left side: lock slot, power jack, USB 2.0, card reader, automatic rotation, volume rocker switch
Right side: power button, One-Key recovery (recessed), USB 2.0, USB 3.0, HDMI, Gigabit Ethernet
Input Devices
The chiclet keyboard does not feature a backlight. The flat keys are ever so slightly rough to the touch with well-defined feedback and short travel. The keyboard only flexes minimally, so typing is not affected at all. Overall, the quality of the keyboard is acceptable. The multitouch-capable clickpad measures about 9 x 6 cm and offers plenty of space for gestures. The smooth surface allows fingers to glide easily. The travel distance is short and the feedback well-defined. In addition, the convertible also features a touchscreen as an alternative input method. The screen responds instantly and can recognize up to 10 touch points.
The Yoga 300 is equipped with a 11.6-inch touchscreen with a native resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels. Neither the brightness (241.6 cd/m²) nor the contrast (376:1) are standouts - an 11.6-inch convertible should offer more, especially since it's likely going to be used in different locations and different ambient light settings. A positive aspect: at no time did we encounter any PWM flickering.
To dim the screen, some notebooks will simply cycle the backlight on and off in rapid succession - a method called Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) . This cycling frequency should ideally be undetectable to the human eye. If said frequency is too low, users with sensitive eyes may experience strain or headaches or even notice the flickering altogether.
Screen flickering / PWM not detected
In comparison: 53 % of all tested devices do not use PWM to dim the display. If PWM was detected, an average of 603 (minimum: 43 - maximum: 10420) Hz was measured.
As shipped, the color DeltaE deviation is 8.87. The goal is a value of under 3. In addition, the display panel suffers from a bluish hue.
CalMAN - Color Checker
CalMAN - Graylevels
CalMAN - Saturation
Display Response Times
ℹ
Display response times show how fast the screen is able to change from one color to the next. Slow response times can lead to afterimages and can cause moving objects to appear blurry (ghosting). Gamers of fast-paced 3D titles should pay special attention to fast response times.
↔ Response Time Black to White
24 ms ... rise ↗ and fall ↘ combined
↗ 7 ms rise
↘ 17 ms fall
The screen shows good response rates in our tests, but may be too slow for competitive gamers. In comparison, all tested devices range from 0.8 (minimum) to 240 (maximum) ms. » 22 % of all devices are better. This means that the measured response time is better than the average of all tested devices (29.1 ms).
↔ Response Time 50% Grey to 80% Grey
58 ms ... rise ↗ and fall ↘ combined
↗ 26 ms rise
↘ 32 ms fall
The screen shows slow response rates in our tests and will be unsatisfactory for gamers. In comparison, all tested devices range from 0.9 (minimum) to 92 (maximum) ms. » 89 % of all devices are better. This means that the measured response time is worse than the average of all tested devices (42.7 ms).
For some inexplicable reason, Lenovo decided to outfit the Yoga 300 with a panel based on TN technology. The viewing angles are therefore restricted, even though this particular display is one of the better ones and the viewing angles are greater than normal. IPS panels are still much better in that regard. The convertible is not really usable outdoors because of glossy and reflective display in combination with the low maximum brightness.
The Yoga 300 outdoors (sun from behind)
Performance
The Yoga 300-11IBR is an 11.6-inch convertible notebook. The hardware is good enough for simple word processing and web browsing. Our review notebook sells for 380 Euro (~$430). Other versions are available as well with the price starting at 300 Euro (~$340).
Discussion
Processor
The Yoga 300 is equipped with an Intel Celeron N3050 (Braswell) dual-core processor with a clock speed of 1.6 GHz. The Turbo can overclock the cores up to 2.16 GHz. The CPU is quite frugal with a TDP of 6 watts, which in turn allows for passive cooling. The Celeron isn't exactly powerful and can't handle much more than simple word processing. During our benchmark runs, the CPU maintained the Turbo-maximum both with the notebook plugged in and running on battery power.
The system runs trouble-free and without any stutters. Potential buyers should be aware that the convertible was only designed to handle word processing and similar tasks. Common news and online-shop websites can take a little while to load. The results of the PC Mark benchmark tests reflect the performance of the integrated SoC. The convertible scores better than competitors with Bay Trail hardware thanks to the more powerful Braswell GPU. Swapping out the hybrid HDD for an SSD should improve the overall system performance.
The Aspire is equipped with a hybrid HDD from Seagate. The drive rotates at 5400 RPM and has a capacity of 500 GB. The included SSD cache (8 GB) increases the load speed of frequently-used applications. The transfer rates are equivalent to normal platter-based 5400 RPM drives.
Intel's HD Graphics (Braswell) supports DirectX 12 and operates at speeds of up to 600 MHz. The results of the 3D Mark benchmarks are as expected for this particular GPU. The new graphics card is clearly better than the predecessor Bay Trail thanks to the new architecture.
An integrated decoder takes load of the processor during the playback of common video formats. The convertible can even handle H.265 (successor to H.264) 4K videos. When we ran our video (4k, H.265, 60 fps), the CPU load remained under 10 %. For our tests we used the movie and TV app Windows 10 comes with, as it supports hardware acceleration of H.265 videos.
Users interested in gaming should stick with the casual games available from the Windows Store. Modern 3D games like Rise of the Tomb Raider are out of the question, since the hardware is simply not powerful enough.
The SoC is passively cooled, so there is no fan system. The hard drive is audible, although we needed to pay close attention to hear it at all, as this particular model is very quiet. Swapping the HDD for an SSD would result in an utterly silent notebook.
The Yoga handles the stress test (Prime95 and Furmark are running for at least one hour) in identical fashion no matter if it is plugged in or not. The CPU (2.16 GHz) and the GPU (600 MHz) deliver the full performance for about one minute before throttling occurs (down to 1.6 GHz and 520 MHz, respectively). After the initial slowdown, further decreases happen very slowly: after one hour we recorded 1.3 to 1.4 GHz for the CPU and 500 MHz for the GPU. The convertible doesn't get very warm. All areas remained under 40 degrees Celsius.
Power Supply (max.) 34.9 °C | Room Temperature 22.8 °C | FIRT 550-Pocket
Speakers
Pink noise
The stereo speakers are located towards the front edge on the bottom of the convertible. The output quality is acceptable but not great, as the sound can get a little tinny.
Power Consumption
During idle, the convertible consumes a maximum of 7.8 watts - 3 watts less than than the netbook sibling. During the stress test, the power consumption increased to 16 watts, which is the same draw we measured under medium load. The reason is the throttling of both the CPU and the GPU performance during the stress test. The power adapter is rated at 45 watts.
Power Consumption
Off / Standby
0.45 / 0.5 Watt
Idle
5.6 / 7.7 / 7.8 Watt
Load
16 / 16 Watt
Key: min: , med: , max: Metrahit Energy
Battery Life
Our practically relevant WLAN test revealed a run time of 5 hours and 8 minutes. This result matches that of the Ideapad 300s-11IBR, which shut down after 5 hours and 15 minutes. For this test, we use the balanced profile and set the display to a brightness of 150 cd/m².
In review: Lenovo Yoga 300-11IBR. Test model courtesy of notebooksbilliger.de
The Yoga 300-11IB is an 11.6-inch convertible designed for simple word processing and web browsing. When connected to a TV, the notebook can also function as a silent video playback station. The Yoga 300 is very quiet and doesn't get hot. The 500 GB hybrid HDD offers plenty of storage capacity. If desired, the HDD can be swapped out for a higher-capacity model or an SSD. The battery life is fairly average; some competitors offer substantially longer run times. The warranty coverage is also nothing to get excited about, as Lenovo covers the convertible for only one year.
For some inexplicable reason, Lenovo decided to outfit the Yoga 300 with a TN panel. The viewing angle stability is therefore not great.
In our opinion, there is no place for a screen based on this technology within the group of tablets and convertibles. Even though this particular screen is better than normal, the viewing angles of an IPS display are much better still.
, med: 
, max: 
Audix TM1 Arta (15 cm distance)
