Lenovo launches the Yoga A940 to give Microsoft’s Surface Studio 2 some competition for creative pros
Lenovo on Tuesday launched the Yoga A940, an all-in-one PC that has a 27-inch 4K rotating display with dial and pen support, as it targets creative pros.
- See it now: Yoga PCs at Lenovo
Yoga has traditionally been a laptop brand for Lenovo but given its creative pro desktop pivots and rotates the PC maker applied it to an all-in-one.
Unveiled at CES 2019, Lenovo’s Yoga A940 is also a validation of Microsoft’s Surface Studio design, which until now didn’t have a rival. Microsoft’s Surface Studio has a dial, mouse, pen support and is aimed at creative pros (see CNET review). Microsoft cooks up designs in hopes that the Windows ecosystem follows suit, but PC makers have been slow to the mark. Dell at CES 2017 did outline its Canvas display that rhymed with some aspects of the Surface Studio.
Also: CES 2019: The Big Trends for Business
One big difference between Lenovo’s Yoga A940 and Microsoft’s Surface Studio 2 is price. The Yoga A940 starts at $2,349.99. Surface Studio starts at $3,499. Both systems are designed for the Adobe Creative Cloud crowd. Microsoft updated the Studio in October.
- See it now: Surface Studio 2 at Microsoft
- See it now: iMac at Apple
The designs don’t rhyme completely. Lenovo’s dial sits on the side of the monitor. Lenovo’s Precision Dial is a controller that can be placed on the left or right side of the Yoga A940. The idea is that a creative pro can use Lenovo’s dial to select and adjust features without needing to put down their pens. The dial is optimized for Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop and Lightroom as well as Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
Lenovo’s Yoga A940 will be available in March.
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The PC maker also rolled out the Yoga S940, which adds artificial intelligence features to filter out noise, blur out backgrounds and lock the screen when your absence is detected.
