Lenovo seems to have pulled the plug on its first Windows RT device. The Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 11 is a notebook that transforms into a tablet when you flip the screen back nearly 360 degrees until it rests below the keyboard.

It has an NVIDIA Tegra 3 processor, 2GB of RAM, 64GB of storage, and runs Microsoft’s stripped-down version of Windows designed for devices with ARM-based chips.

Lenovo started offering the tablet last year with a list price of $799, but now you can pick up a refurbished model for as little as $342 or a new model for around $580.

lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 11

But what you can’t do is buy a new model straight from Lenovo anymore. The company’s website says the IdeaPad Yoga 11 is no longer available from Lenovo.com but that you may still be able to find one at other retail stores.

The move’s not a huge shock. Lenovo recently brought a new IdaPad Yoga 11S to market. It looks virtually identical to last year’s model, but it has an Intel Ivy Bridge processor, 4GB to 8GB of RAM, and 128GB to 256GB of disk space.

The new model also runs the full Windows 8 operating system, which means it’ll run apps that aren’t available for Windows RT tablets, and the Yoga 11s has the same $799 list price as the Yoga 11 had — although right now you can get one for as little as $750.

Windows RT probably seemed like a good idea a few years ago when Microsoft started working to make its next-gen operating system play well with devices with very low power consumption. ARM-based devices were starting to corner the tablet market at the time.

But Intel has done some great work at reducing power consumption in its recent Atom and Core family processors, which means you can get an Intel-powered tablet with similar battery life to what you’d expect from an ARM-based system. Some models with Atom chips are even priced competitively with their ARM counterparts.

Meanwhile, the key advantage you get from running Windows on a tablet instead of Android or iOS is the ability to run Windows apps — and while Windows RT devices can run Microsoft Office and new Windows apps designed with a full-screen user interface and for distribution in the Windows Store, they can’t run classic Windows apps like Photoshop, iTunes, QuickBooks, or XBMC.

So given the choice between a Windows RT device and a similarly priced Windows 8 model, there are almost no good reasons to choose RT.

It’s not surprising Microsoft recently slashed the price of its own Surface RT tablet by $150.

And it’s not surprising that Lenovo seems to be retiring the Yoga 11.

via Neowin

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7 replies on “Lenovo discontinues the IdeaPad Yoga 11 Windows RT convertible”

  1. All I can think of is a commercial with bunch of dancers doing very little with their computers other than moving them around a lot.
    Looks like that’s all the moving Win RT stuff is ever going to do

  2. Useless for less…

    I much doubt that a drop from $799 to $580 is going to sell this.

    Especially not with the sound of Microsoft writing off a billion on unsold RT devices

    Maybe if someone gets Android or Linux to work on it.

    1. Well hey, they’ll get a nice tax break for it. I’m sure working people will enjoy paying a bigger share.

  3. Go figure. windows RT is a bigger failure than webOS, which would have succeeded if HP had a better strategy. Windows RT was failed from the get-go, and this is proof: the largest PC manufacturer is eliminating their Windows RT model

    1. Ironically, major corporation like Microsoft fails to capture the needs of the general consumers. It is like experimenting and releasing prototype features before knowing what people really want. What a shame. Besides, Microsoft just doesn’t know how to manage their app business as Google and Apple do. Better off to just to it off completely, without the need to pay for regular maintenance and trash clean ups. Ever since the launch of Windows 8 and that notoriously bad Metro app business, the CEO Steve Ballmer has been questioned and put on the “wanted” list. Beware! Mr. Ballmer has two distinct characteristics and is easy to spot: 1. He is…bald. 2. Whatever things he does will end up in bummer.

  4. It’s the end of RT as we know it.
    It’s the end of RT as we know it.
    It’s the end of RT as we know it,
    And I feel fine.

    1. RT was already dead when Microsoft pulled the promised Windows software support from it, as a favor to Intel in early 2012.

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