A few years ago, I realized that I wanted to develop in digital painting. The first time I drew on an old Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet, and in general it suited me for a long time. When choosing a laptop for myself, I firmly decided that I needed a model with a touch screen and high resolution in order to get a 2 in 1 device – both a computer and a digital tablet for drawing.

9 months have passed since the purchase of Lenovo Yoga, and I actively use this model as a personal computer for all video blogging tasks, I also actively draw on the screen as on a tablet (I completed a full course on YouTube and a book with illustrations). My impressions are the most favorable. At first it was difficult to get used to the increased sensitivity of the stylus and the glossy screen. I even thought that the screen would be a problem for me due to slip, glare and reflections. As a result, I turned the laptop with the screen out, put it on the table, connected a large monitor …. and everything fell into place.

After my model, a new one has already come out, but I think that this review will be useful to everyone who is interested in the Lenovo Yoga line. When I bought my computer, the price for my model was 87 thousand rubles (~1000$) or so. Now, due to changes in the dollar exchange rate and, possibly, covid, my model is being sold for 120-160 thousand. This is a transformer computer that turns 360 degrees. The screen is 15 inches, touch and glossy, very easily soiled and glare. Fully working behind this screen is inconvenient, only if you make a video for a couple of weeks on a trip. For the home, you just need to connect a large monitor!

As for drawing, it’s just my love! The coolest thing is that the computer is so powerful that it allows you to simultaneously draw and record hours of screen video on OBS. I immediately installed Sketchbook, and now I draw only in this program. The stylus is chic – this is the official Lenovo Active Pen 2 stylus on a battery (I only put a new battery in right after the purchase, everything still works). A real professional tool for an illustrator and artist! The lines go smoothly, without misses. Line thickness and effects depend on the slightest pressure. It turned out that it is very convenient to draw on a glossy screen, since the tip of the stylus is rubberized.

You do not need to buy a matte film for the screen to draw! Everything is so great.

Things to do immediately after buying a Lenovo Yoga with stylus:

1. Add maximum RAM (if your model is not 16 Gb);
2. Sew or buy a glove for drawing on a tablet (otherwise the hands will get in the way);
3. Fix the stylus device a little so that the battery holds better (see video):

Here’s what I learned about a laptop that you can draw on:

• even if it is a super small and light laptop, it is still not a tablet – it is not convenient to put it on your knees or hold it in your hands;
• when you turn the laptop inside out to draw on the screen, the keyboard remains below, and if you put the laptop on the sofa or on your knees in this position, the buttons will be pressed through, get in the way and deteriorate;
• it is convenient for me to keep the laptop on the table in an “inverted” state so that I can draw on the screen at any time – in this position, an external keyboard, monitor and mouse must be connected to the laptop;
• when the laptop is on the table, its screen almost does not glare, since I look at it from above like a book;
• you should always draw with a glove – since I absolutely did not find another way to remove responses to hand touches, although such functions are declared both in the software for the stylus and in drawing programs, but in fact it is implemented quite crookedly;
• a non-gloved second hand can operate a keyboard or press touch keys in a drawing program.

Now I don’t understand such a class of devices as Wacom drawing tablets at all – why can they be useful to me, if it is much more convenient to have both a tablet and a full-fledged computer on which Photoshop is installed, and you can also edit video in Adobe Premiere Pro. At the same time, those Wacom graphic tablets that I used to be interested in and thought to buy someday …

• Wacom MobileStudio Pro 16 (price about 300 thousand?!) – tablet (computer) + display;
• Wacom Cintiq Pro 16 (130k) – graphic display only, no computer inside.

… cost more than a transformer computer. Probably, for some specialized tasks or when drawing on a large format (24 inches or more), this makes some sense. But for myself, I definitely made a choice in the direction of transformers, because in addition to drawing, I still need to do video. As for the quality of the screen and the stylus of Lenovo Yoga, the color reproduction can be slightly improved, the screen can be made brighter and gloss removed. And it turns out just candy! It seems that in future models some of these characteristics can be improved. But even now Lenovo Yoga exceeds all my expectations, especially in tandem with a good large monitor.

Which digital drawing tool is closer to you – a standalone graphics tablet or a 2 in 1 transformer laptop?