Jared Newman / TIME.com

For laptop makers, now is a time of experimentation. After years in pursuit of the same old goals thinner, lighter, faster, cheaper Windows 8 has provided a novel challenge: Create laptops that can transform into tablets, or vice versa.

Lenovos IdeaPad Yoga 13, which starts at $1,000, is just one attempt to take advantage of Microsofts dual-sided operating system. Out of the box, it looks like a traditional notebook, but keep tilting the 13-inch touchscreen back along its hinge, and it folds all the way around until the clamshell is closed again. Only now, the screen is face-up, and the keyboard hangs from the underbelly. You can also open the Yoga partway, keys down, so the screen is facing outward, or stand the device on both of its edges in a tent-like configuration.

This approach is simple and logical enough, but after spending a week with a Lenovo Yoga review unit, I think its a better laptop than it is a tablet.

The Yoga is clad in plastic, but its a soft-touch material that doesnt feel like the cheap shells of budget laptops, and the area where you rest your palms almost has a leathery feel.Among Windows laptops, its the rare high-end design that doesnt feel ripped off from Apples MacBooks, yet its keyboard and trackpad are just as good.

Jared Newman / TIME.com

The trackpad is generously sized and covered in glass, so your fingers glide over it smoothly, and the entire surface clicks with ease. It also supports multi-touch gestures, such as two-finger scrolling, pinch-to-zoom and the ability to simulate right-clicks by depressing the pane with both fingers. The Yogas keyboard is also a pleasure to type on, with island-style keys that let out a satisfying clack. One particularly nice touch is the rounded edge on the bottom of each key, which seems to leave just a bit more room for your fingers to land.

The display isnt too chintzy, either, though it does beg for the occasional swipe of a cloth as fingerprints build up. Although some users may pine for a higher resolution than 1600-by-900, this pixel density strikes a happy compromise, where text is fairly crisp but the desktop elements remain large enough to tap on, should the modern interface of Windows 8 fail to suit your needs.

As for performance, the Yogas Intel Core i5 processor provides more than enough power for ordinary tasks such as word processing, web browsing and streaming video. It can even handle some newer PC games; I loaded Guild Wars 2 on it, and had no trouble adventuring through its massive world.

Jared Newman / TIME.com

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Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 13 Review: Great