Head-To-Head: Lenovo Yoga 920 Vs. Microsoft Surface Pro

Face-Off

The 2-in-1 device category is a rare bright spot in the sluggish PC market, and most major vendors have by now jumped in with convertible tablets, laptops or both. The true pioneers in the space, however, are Microsoft on the tablet side (with the Surface Pro series) and Lenovo in laptops (with the Yoga line). Both product lineups got major updates in 2017 — with the launch of a successor to the Surface Pro 4, simply dubbed the Surface Pro, and the debut of the Yoga 920. Which of the 2-in-1s is a better fit for you? In the following slides, the CRN Test Center compares Lenovo's Yoga 920 versus Microsoft's Surface Pro on specs and price.

First Things First

While both devices are variations on the 2-in-1 theme, a key difference to note up front is that the Surface Pro keyboard (aka the Type Cover) detaches from the display. The Surface Pro can be purchased just as a stand-alone tablet or with the Type Cover included. For the Yoga 920, meanwhile, the keyboard does not detach. Instead, the keyboard can fold all the way back for using the device in tablet mode. The Yoga 920 achieves that flexibility thanks to its signature metallic watchband hinge.

Display And Pens

The display size is another area where the devices diverge. The Yoga 920 is 13 percent larger at 13.9 inches versus the 12.3 inches of the Surface Pro. In terms of resolution, the Yoga 920 offers two choices — FHD (1,920 x 1,080 pixels) or UHD (3,840 x 2,160). The Surface Pro falls in between the two Yoga 920 options on pixels, with a resolution of 2,736 x 1,824.

As touch-focused devices, both support digital pens (sold separately). The Yoga 920 works with Lenovo's Active Pen 2, marking the first time that a Yoga 900 series laptop supports the pen, while the Surface Pro works with the Surface Pen.

Thickness And Weight

The Surface Pro comes out ahead on portability. The tablet and Type Cover together weigh 2.37 pounds, well below the Yoga 920, which has a weight of 3.02 pounds. There's less of a difference on thickness, though the Surface Pro is still a smidge slimmer at 0.53 of an inch thick (again, for both tablet and Type Cover together). The Yoga 920 measures 0.55 of an inch thick.

Processor

Among the two devices in our comparison, the Yoga 920 is the newer to market and benefits from having the latest available processors. The Yoga 920 is one of the first devices to feature the eighth-generation, Kaby Lake R Intel Core processors. One advantage over the previous generation is that the eighth-gen Core i5 processor features four cores, rather than two, for boosted speeds. So even if you choose the entry-level model of the Yoga 920 with Core i5, you'll be getting quad-core-level performance. The laptop also comes with a quad-core Core i7 chip.

The Surface Pro debuted a few months earlier, and so it includes the seventh-gen Intel processors. Those are the Core m3 processor, Core i5 or Core i7. Either device in our comparison should offer impressive performance, but the Yoga 920 should have a slight edge thanks to its eighth-gen chips.

Battery Life

Microsoft put a lot of emphasis on increasing the battery life on the new Surface Pro. The result is that the tablet promises up to 13.5 hours of battery life on a charge, a big increase over previous models. However, that's only a bit better than the FHD model of the Yoga 920, which offers up to 13 hours on a charge, according to Lenovo. The UHD model of the Yoga 920 promises 10.5 hours of battery life. So if you're searching for the best combination of a high-res screen and long battery life, the Surface Pro may hit closer to the mark.

Ports

If you're a fan of USB-C/Thunderbolt 3, the Yoga 920 may be the better choice for you. Lenovo includes two USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 ports in the laptop, along with a USB-A port. The Surface Pro doesn't offer any USB-C connectivity. The tablet has a USB-A port and a Mini DisplayPort, along with microSD and Surface Connect ports (for power and docking).

Memory & Storage

Depending on how you want to use your device, you'll have a few options on memory and internal storage. Since not all users may need to use their Surface Pro for heavy productivity tasks, Microsoft offers an entry-level 4-GB RAM model. The Surface Pro also comes in 8-GB or 16-GB configurations. The Yoga 920, meanwhile, starts out with 8 GB of RAM and can go up to 16 GB as well.

For storage, the Yoga 920 offers 256 GB, 512 GB or 1 TB. The Surface Pro has options for those three amounts of internal storage, and also offers an additional option —128 GB — at the entry level.

Price

As mentioned, Microsoft doesn't automatically include the Type Cover with the Surface Pro tablet, so that needs to be factored in when comparing the Surface Pro with the Yoga 920 on price. Microsoft offers two Type Covers for the Surface Pro — a basic Type Cover for $130, and a Signature edition for $160 that comes with Alcantara fabric around the keys and touchpad.

Assuming you want the Signature Type Cover, the Surface Pro starts out at $959. However, that model only gets you 4 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage. A better model to compare with the Yoga 920 is the 8-GB/256-GB configuration of the Surface Pro, which costs $1,459 with the Signature Type Cover. That's nearly $200 more than the entry-level Yoga 920 (with the same amount of RAM and storage), which currently starts at $1,264 on Lenovo.com for the FHD model. Those prices will get you the eighth-gen Core i5 for the Yoga 920, compared with the seventh-gen Core i7 of the Surface Pro. But the Surface Pro at that price has the higher-res display over the entry-level Yoga 920.

To get the UHD display and Core i7 on the Yoga 920 (with 16 GB RAM), you'll pay $1,800 on Lenovo.com. A Core i7 model of the Surface Pro, with 16 GB of RAM and the Signature Type Cover, starts at $2,359. So if price is a chief consideration — over things such as detachability and maximum portability — the Yoga 920 may be the better choice for you.