At CES 2019, Lenovo is taking the wraps off the Yoga A940, an all-in-one desktop designed for creatives.
From the look of things, Microsoft's Surface Studio is facing some serious competition.
The New Yoga AIO
The Yoga A940 measures at 27 inches, and it comes with either a QHD or 4K IPS touch screen, both of which have Dolby Vision support. It can be set between 90- and 25-degree angles, thanks to its rotating hinge.
The Precision Dial is compatible with a lot of software, such as Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and Lightroom, allowing users to adjust the opacity, tip size, and brush stroke. What's more, it's customizable, so much so that it can be plugged in on either side of the screen via USB depending on the user's preference.
Its stylus, called the Active Pen, is powered by Wacom technology. It boasts 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity and two mappable buttons.
The hardware is tucked inside a base station that's secured by two easy-to-remove screws. Under the hood, there's an eighth-generation Intel Core i7-8700 and an AMD Radeon RX560. The base model comes with 8 GB of RAM (up to 32 GB) and a 128 GB SSD (up to 512 GB) paired with either a 1 TB or 2 TB HDD.
Regarding ports, there's one USB 3.1 port, two USB 2.0 ports, and four USB 3.0 ports. On top of that, it also has a 3-in-1 card reader.
It comes with a wireless charging dock with a groove for the stylus too. Needless to say, users can charge devices such as phones that have wireless-charging support on it. Coupled with the base, it even provides a lot of space so that users can neatly put away the keyboard and mouse when they need to bring down the screen to do some serious sketching or illustrating.
Yoga A940 vs. Surface Studio 2
Just a quick comparison of the two: The Surface Studio 2 has a $3,499 starting price, while the Yoga A940 starts at $2,349.99, undercutting its rival by at least $1,000.
Lenovo is throwing in just about everything a user needs into the package too, from the keyboard and mouse to the stylus, dial, and wireless charging stand. On the other hand, Microsoft sells the Surface Dial separately, though it does include the Surface Pen, keyboard, and mouse.
Setting aside the price, what makes the Yoga A940 compelling is the dial simply because it doesn't take up screen real estate. As mentioned earlier, it can be easily opened too, allowing users to upgrade its components (but not the GPU) without breaking a sweat. That's something that the Surface Studio doesn't let its users do, but the storage is upgradable, though. Also, in Microsoft's defense, it does have a higher resolution, which is important for creative professionals.
The Yoga A940 is expected to start rolling out sometime in March.
