Lenovo’s new Yoga Book, which includes a number of innovations such as flat keyboard and hand-written note taking capability, drew a series of mixed reviews on opening day.

USA Today calls it “innovative but unsatisfying” while Gizmodo calls it “the future of laptops” – with a caveat.

The Yogas – a convertible laptop in that it can divide into a laptop and tablet – is a big hope for Lenovo to re-ignite sluggish PC sales. It comes in two varieties, Windows at $549 and Android at $499. They went on sale Monday.

But the initial reviews were not overwhelmingly positive.

The Verge calls it a “convertible that makes sense.”

“Lenovo, which has made a bunch of these convertible creations, has come up with something that not only makes sense, but nudges the category forward with a completely new kind of keyboard. It’s called the Yoga Book, and it’s an incredibly thin and light tablet-like machine with a flat, touch-sensitive surface that lights up into a glowing keyboard. This lower panel also doubles as a Wacom digitizer surface, which means you can use a stylus pen to draw on it as well,” writes Lauren Goode.

Read the review at:

http://www.theverge.com/2016/10/17/13289506/lenovo-yoga-book-review

  • VIDEO: Watch a video review at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkou_QMuVqg

Yet in Gizmodo’s review, Alex Cranz writes:

“Lenovo’s new Yoga Book draws the eye like no other tablet or laptop available today. People aren’t always sure what I’m reading my comics and or jotting down notes on, but they know it’s fascinating, and tiny, and cool. With its capacitive touch keyboard that turns into a drawing tablet with the press of the button, the Yoga Book is absolutely the future of laptops and tablets and the blurred space in between. But Lenovo’s thinnest laptop ever also has one major problem in that it only comes in a Windows and an Android flavor. Neither OS is ready for the future Lenovo’s built.”

Read the review at: http://gizmodo.com/the-lenovo-yoga-book-is-the-future-of-laptops-but-its-1787858849

Edward Baig at USA Today notes:

“Most anyone with a tablet computer has typed on a touch-only keyboard. The touch keyboard I’m using to write this column on the Lenovo Yoga Book is as uncommon as the Yoga Book itself, an innovative and well built — but ultimately unsatisfying — 2-in-1 tablet.”

See more at:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/columnist/baig/2016/10/17/lenovo-yoga-book-tablet-innovative-but-unsatisfying/92230708/