If you’re looking for the best rugged laptop or perhaps the best chromebook but don’t wanna spend a lot on it, the Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 11E is a fantastic option. It’s a cheap and low-powered laptop best used for presentation purposes. Even though it has a rugged design, it still keeps a lot of flexibility of the Yoga series intact. Compare this device with others on our list of the best laptops so you can make a great choice.
Why We Like It – Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 11E
The Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 11E is an awesome rugged touch screen laptop that comes at a very enticing price. Yes, it won’t compete with your average gaming laptop in terms of performance because it’s not supposed to. It’s excellent for educational and business purposes.
- Military tested rugged
- Full 360-degree hinge
- Intel Wireless WiFi module inside
- Just a quad core Intel Celeron N4100 inside
Related: In case you are doubting this laptop, read the Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Yoga 3rd Gen review
Power & Performance
To be upfront from the very beginning, this is not a very powerful system at all. The quad core Intel Celeron N4100 inside, and the 4GB of RAM can only do so much. You should not pick up the ThinkPad Yoga 11E at all if you’re going to do any kind of work that puts a heavy strain on the CPU/GPU. At least it has a small 128GB SATA SSD as its boot drive for faster boot times and smooth operating system. If you really want a rugged laptop that can handle a heavy workload (e.g., video editing/rendering), you’re much better off with the Lenovo ThinkPad P52 instead.
Battery
You can expect about 3 hours of average battery life out of the Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 11E. It’s not much, really, as we were expecting way better results with its lower-end components and the 768p IPS display. The LG Gram series of laptops are widely regarded as the battery life champs, so in case you need great battery life, you can go for the LG Gram 17 as well.
Ports & Expandability
Well, you do get an expansive list of ports with this laptop. It includes a USB 3.1 Type C port, two full-sized USB 3.1 Gen 1 ports (one on the left and the other on the right side), an HDMI 1.4B port, an ethernet port, and a micro SD card reader. Yes, the HDMI 1.4B port can’t do 4k at 60Hz, but fret not. The USB Type C port is capable of 4k 60Hz display output.
Related: Also read the Lenovo Yoga C930 review
Build Quality
The ThinkPad Yoga 11E is built like a tank. The chassis is quality, and we’ve already mentioned the rugged design. Even though the keyboard isn’t backlit, it’s a good quality tenkeyless keyboard that feels great to type on. The same goes for the trackpad too. Overall, it’s a nice little package that is solidly built.
Value
Finding a rugged laptop like this below $1000 is pretty hard. And even though the display of the laptop is just 768p HD, it’s an IPS display, so the viewing angles are going to be great. If you have the money to spend and want something better, the Panasonic Toughbook would be a better option.
Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 11E Wrap Up
Considering everything, the Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 11E is a great little laptop for students and regular travelers alike. Small perks like Bluetooth 5.0, a great WiFi module, a good webcam, a great keyboard, and an excellent trackpad set it apart from the rest of the cheap laptops for us.
