Lenovo Yoga 6 Gen8 review: Convertible with new Ryzen 7 7730U and fabric cover ^↺

The chassis (metallic blue in our test unit) is sufficiently stable in its build. It only shows a slight bend when held at one corner. Here, the absence of an aluminum keyboard frame is noticeable, which would have made the whole thing even stronger. On the other hand, the display seems a good deal more solid.

The lid of this model is wrapped in fabric, the texture of which is reminiscent of tweed. Visually, this is definitely a highlight that makes you enthusiastic at first. However, fine dirt particles, crumbs and the like quickly catch and can sometimes only be removed with difficulty. One can thus plausibly assume that the edges and corners may be worn out in a year or two. Anyone who often stows the convertible in bags or backpacks and travels a lot with would be much better off with the aluminum lid.

Otherwise, the good workmanship and the tight hinges, which can only be adjusted using both hands, and the rounded edges for easy handling make for a good first impression. On the outside, the Yoga 6 clearly sets itself apart from the grey-silver colored competition.

With a screen diagonal of 13.3 inches, the convertible is roughly oriented to the DIN A4 format. This size ensures that it fits well in small backpacks or shoulder bags. A thickness of around 18 mm is not the best value, but for a model with a foldable touchscreen and high computing power, the Yoga 6 falls within the normal range.

This also applies to the weight: together with the power supply unit, it weighs less than 2 kg. Not extraordinarily light, but light enough for portable use, especially since it becomes clear later on in the review that the power adapter does not necessarily have to be taken along.

Using our AV PRO microSD 128 GB V60 reference card, we measured a slightly above-average value for the transfer speed of the microSD card slot. Whether this is the same model as in the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 7i is not certain, but cannot be ruled out.

Around 80 MB/s means that, in the best case scenario, a 32 GB microSD card would be copied in 7 min. The Dell Inspiron 14 7420, for example, would take half an hour for this.

The WLAN module is neither particularly fast nor too slow. The average values we determined for the same MediaTek plug-in card are even a few percentage points below our measurements.

So the Yoga 6 does not offer outstanding speeds, but it has more than enough power for all network and internet tasks. Bluetooth 5.2 is also integrated.

With the AMD Ryzen 7 7730U and 16 GB RAM, Lenovo's convertible can be expected to deliver high performance. The Zen3 architecture is still used here, so that the RAM is DDR4, but this does not entail any notable disadvantages. Without a separate graphics chip, high frame rates cannot be expected in games.

Nevertheless, some AAA titles in particular will be playable at lower graphics settings. Complex tasks that primarily require the CPU can be processed very quickly and even in parallel. With a few exceptions, this also applies to the optionally available AMD Ryzen 5 7530U, which has the same amount of L3 cache and an identical maximum clock rate with two fewer cores.

Experience has shown that the model with only 8 GB of RAM will have problems with multitasking and intensive browser use. Since the memory is not expandable, the 16 GB model is always advisable. 

With eight cores, 16 threads, an L3 cache of 16 MB and a maximum clock speed of 4.5 GHz, the AMD Ryzen 7 7730U offers impressive key data. Basically, it's a slimmer AMD Ryzen 7 5825U. But instead of a TDP of 25 W, this model requires significantly lower cooling power of 15 W, so that the CPU can be installed in a slim and mostly quiet convertible like the Yoga 6.

For comparison, we included the AMD R7-5825U in the Cinebech R15 loop chart below. This clearly sets itself apart, but requires considerably more power to do so.

The Intel Core i7-1255U, which is designed for comparable applications like the slim Ryzen 7, always lags behind. Its previous generation, represented by an Intel Core i7-1165G7, falls further behind and only achieves 60% of the values provided by the Yoga 6.

That the performance drops after a while is to be expected for a convertible whose cooling is limited by the folding, but even then it remains clearly ahead of a Dell Inspiron 14 7420.

Remarkable at this point is that the performance of the Yoga 6 is almost level with the i7-1255U in "Battery Saving" mode, while the power consumption is limited to 10 W and the cooling is hardly busy.

More benchmarks and comparison values can be found in our CPU benchmark list.

In the field of competitors, the Yoga 6 is not completely convincing in terms of system performance. Only in the PCMark10 "Productivity" score does it come out at the very top because of the strong processor performance. For all other values, however, the iGPU, the RAM and the SSD also play a role. All components are on a good level, but are by no means outstanding.

This is enough to keep up with most business notebooks. In PCMark 10 in particular, the Yoga 6 is clearly above the average for convertibles. This level of performance is clearly felt during use: programs start immediately and waiting times are very short. This also applies to the simultaneous running of several applications.