Last year's Yoga 3 Pro lacked a Fn key row above the number keys, and we're pleased to see it return in the Yoga 900. These keys also house a range of shortcuts, including volume and screen brightness controls, switching to external displays and popping into flight mode, and it's great to see them back as easy, single-keypress actions.Various versions of the Windows 10-based Yoga 900 are available, based around 6th-generation Intel Core i7-6500U or Core i5-6200U processors. Models on sale in the UK as we write come with 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD, although our review sample had a 16GB and a 512GB SSD alongside the Core i7 processor.

Lenovo has boosted the battery capacity considerably from 44WHr in the Yoga 3 Pro, claiming up to 9 hours' life from the Yoga 900's 66WHr battery. Our real-world testing suggests that's a tad optimistic, although many less demanding users will stand a good chance of all-day computing from a full battery.

Lenovo uses a metal-alloy fan, with cooling vents built into the hinge. These explain why the hinge feels slightly warm to the touch even when the Yoga 900 is idle. The warmth is not a problem, just an interesting approach to heat dissipation.

Performance is on par with other laptops in this category, meaning it will work fast and smoothly for normal day-to-day tasks but may struggle with more hardware intensive stuff like gaming. Since we last looked at it, Dell updated the XPS 13 with Skylake processors. The base model starts at $800 and comes with an Intel Core i5 6200U chip, but we recommend springing an extra $300 for double the RAM and storage at 8GB and 256GB, respectively.

Apple’s MacBook Air has been at the top of our recommendation list for years and it’s commonly credited with revolutionizing lightweight yet dependable laptops. The Air's design has remained almost unchanged since 2010 but even by today's standards its aluminum unibody construction doesn’t feel dated at all. The 2015 MacBook Air is a very good upgrade over last year's model. You get slightly better performance with new Intel Broadwell processors, improved graphics, Thunderbolt 2 connectivity, faster storage and better battery life (around 13 hours).
One area where we do feel the MacBook Air has fallen behind the times is display resolution. Although it’s not a poor quality display, it has less accurate color reproduction than some of its direct competition -- the Dell XPS 13, for example. Also the 1440 x 900 resolution feels lacking, especially when compared to the MacBook Pro range or the newer (and underpowered) 12-inch MacBook. It doesn't help that most tablets and smartphones also have high DPI displays that look way sharper than this.

On the potential for a computer — inside your body — being hacked

It's not implantable, it's not there forever. So while it's true that hackers can hack computers, you'd only have to worry about it for a couple of days. In fact, I don't think you'd have to worry about it very much, even for those few days, because that information that you're sending out in the current device we have is pretty simple.

On the future of ingestible technology

• HP COMPAQ HSTNN-DB06 Battery
• HP COMPAQ HSTNN-DB11 Battery
• HP COMPAQ HSTNN-DB29 Battery
• HP COMPAQ HSTNN-I04C Battery
• Compaq Presario A900 Battery
• Compaq Presario V6500 Battery
• Compaq Presario V6700 Battery
• HP G6000 Battery
• HP G7000 Battery
• HP Pavilion dv2500 Battery
• HP Pavilion dv2700 Battery
• HP Pavilion dv2000 Battery
• HP Pavilion dv6000 Battery

As electronics get smaller and smaller, more capabilities can be put onto one of these devices. Right now, we essentially have a microphone, but you can imagine having a real time camera, that is, say, able to stream through the body, or able to take samples of fluids in your body to tell you things like more subtle markers for cancer, for heart disease.

Being able to travel in the bloodstream or affect the nervous system, I think, is the next great frontier of medicine.

Aside from that the MacBook Air is a pretty sweet deal. The backlit keyboard is sturdy and comfortable, Apple’s glass trackpads are on a league of their own, and performance is on par or above its similarly priced peers. The integrated Intel HD Graphics 6000 is fairly powerful, too. It’s definitely not a gaming machine but if you are willing to turn down some settings, casual gaming is well within the MacBook Air's reach. As for connectivity, unlike the 12-inch MacBook, which has just one USB-C port, the 13-inch Air has a Thunderbolt 2 (optional adapters for HDMI or DVI available), two USB 3.0 ports and an SD card slot in addition to 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0.
The 13-inch model starts at $999 but we recommend the step up model for $1,199, which gets you an extremely fast 256GB PCIe SSD. If you can throw in an extra $100 we would also recommend doubling the RAM to 8GB.

Confused readers should rest assured that this is not a cheap tablet designed to send along with Tyler on his first day at Wesleyan. It’s designed with the graphic arts in mind—hence the name "Canvas.” Vaio says the target market is primarily people working with still images—PhotoShop, Illustrator, and the like—but the company also wants to hit writers, musicians, and a smattering of video folks. The thinking goes that if, for whatever reason, those people aren’t interested in a Mac but want extreme mobility, then they should of course buy the Canvas. ("Apple does not dominate,” reads a Canvas reviewers’ guide, in classic Sonyese.)

And hey, maybe they should. The Canvas is a solid tablet; pound for pound probably the best Windows tablet so far. The Canvas post benchmark scores in line with some high-end laptops I reviewed last year, at least on general productivity applications. When it comes to heavy graphics, the Canvas has power to spare even though it has an integrated GPU. It outpaces any laptop or tablet I’ve tested in recent memory that didn’t have a discrete graphics chip. Even on heavy graphics tests, the Vaio holds its own. You can even credibly game on this system. It isn’t until you get to heavy 3D work that things begin bogging down. Put simply, if you’re comfortable working in PhotoShop on a PC, you’ll be comfortable working on the Canvas (particularly at full resolution, 2560 x 1704 pixels).

• HP Pavilion dv6700 Battery
• Compaq Presario 2500 Battery
• HP OmniBook XE4500 Battery
• HP Pavilion ZE4900 Battery
• HP COMPAQ NX9000 Battery
• HP COMPAQ NX9005 Battery
• HP COMPAQ NX9020 Battery
• HP COMPAQ NX9030 Battery
• HP COMPAQ NX9040 Battery
• Compaq Presario C500 Battery
• Compaq Presario V2000 Battery
• Compaq Presario V4000 Battery

Of course, as any Chicago mayor can tell you, great power often carries a great price. People complain that the Microsoft Surface Pro 4 is expensive, with a typical configuration running $1,299 and a top-end config that hits $2,699. Ha! The Vaio Z Canvas starts at $2,199, and the top configuration punches a cool $3,099 (for roughly the same configuration as the Pro 4).

The other major failure is battery life. With a Core i7 CPU, I knew it wouldn’t be great. I didn’t think it would be less than two hours, though. That is not enough to keep you running on a puddle-jumper from SFO to SEA. I’d complain that the screen is a bit dim, but boosting the lumens would drain that battery even faster.Can Vaio work the kinks out of this product and have the accountants take another look at that price tag? We’ll see come 2016, but for now, if you desire great power and are willing to accept great responsibility, bust out your checkbook and dive right in.

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