It's been a bumper few years for laptops, what with shrinking bezel and greater screen-to-body ratios, alongside fanless processors and improved battery life.

Lenovo has been one such company breaking the mould, but its Yoga laptops have often had chunky bezel on one side. Not so the Yoga S940, a widescreen laptop that looks like a very tempting mid-2019 launch prospect.

Our quick take

The Lenovo S940 shows great progression for the Yoga laptop series, shrinking the bezel to new lows and therefore offering a small footprint and lightweight design. Plus it offers a better typing experience than the new MacBook Air.

Sure, the widescreen aspect ratio might look a bit odd at first, but the quality of the screen and, indeed, the design as a whole is undeniable. It might be too soon for some to move onto USB-C/Thunderbolt 3, but in terms of future-facing this Yoga certainly ticks all the right boxes.

Available from May 2019, the Lenovo Yoga S940 will be priced from $1499.99.

Lenovo Yoga S940 initial

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Lenovo Yoga S940 (2019)

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Design and Display

  • 13.9-inch IPS LCD display (UHD 3840 x 2400, 500nits / 1920 x 1080, 400nits Dolby Vision)
  • 90% screen-to-body ratio with 4.2mm side bezels
  • 2x Thunderbolt 3 USB-C, 1x USB-C 3.1
  • 319 x 197 x 12.2mm; 1.2kgs

At first glance the S940's 16:9 aspect ratio screen looks rather unusual, as most laptops have slightly taller screens. Such a ratio makes perfect sense in terms of keeping the footprint and weight down, though, while delivering a decent workspace thanks to a 13.9-inch diagonal measure.

Lenovo Yoga S940 review image 2

The S940 comes in two resolution flavours: there's an Ultra-HD option, or a more standard Full HD option.

The most impressive thing about the screen is its 90 per cent screen-to-body ratio, thanks to tiny bezels to all sides – there's no massive one to the bottom edge for this Yoga, which shows design progress from the company.

The design adopts an increasingly and supposedly future-facing approach to ports: they're all USB-C sized, so no full-size ports to be found here. There is a 3.5mm headphone jack though. And we particularly like that there's two separate Thunderbolt 3 ports to the charger designated USB-C port on the other side.

Lenovo Yoga S940 review image 6

Compared to the ultra-loud MacBook Air and its clacky keyboard, we find the Lenovo's dampened keypad to feel far better in use too. Good job. That said, the Lenovo's trackpad is on the small side, given the lack of footprint to place it within.

Power and Performance

  • Intel 8th Gen Core i7 processor, 8GB/16GB RAM, Intel UHD 620 graphics
  • Front-facing Dolby Atmos Speaker system

Exactly how the Yoga S940 will perform isn't something we can detail just yet, having only spent a little time with the product. It certainly ticks the box on the power front, with Intel's 8th Gen Core i7 processor being the only chip found inside, paired with 8GB or 16GB RAM.

Lenovo Yoga S940 review image 7

Longevity per charge will be very dependent on use and which resolution you happen to choose. The UHD panel is said to go for nine-and-a-half hours, while the Full HD is purported to last up to 15 hours. We'd take that with a pinch of salt, really. But at least there's Rapid Charge to get 80 per cent battery back on board within an hour.