How many times have you had to take your school laptop to the Information Technology (IT) Help Desk? How long does your laptop last on a full charge? How many of your USB ports are dysfunctional? For too long, faculty, staff and students of Taipei American School (TAS) have been troubled by the Lenovo laptops that the school provides. Since 2020, TAS has made it mandatory for students, sixth grade to ninth grade, to purchase the X13 Yoga for school—a device that has fallen short to fulfill its promise of having the simple capability of being a functional tablet-desktop hybrid.

“[TAS] first chose as a school to use Lenovo Tablets in 2008. A committee analyzed several devices and chose the one that would best support our goals,” Dr. Leanne Rainbow (she/her), the assistant director of technology at TAS said. “It’s exciting to watch teachers teach and students learn with a laptop supporting their work. They gravitate to whatever is the easiest and most natural way for them. It’s a very powerful and versatile tool.”

Whilst the committee chose the Lenovo Tablet back in 2008, some students believe the laptop should be replaced. While the X13 Yoga has some strong points regarding its inking and touchscreen elements, its lack of durability and unreasonably high price outweigh whatever beneficial features it may provide. The screen, even without evidence of misuse, can still have shattered connectors, which leads to a dysfunctional touch screen. Additionally, the screen can easily fall off of the backplate of the laptop, and the hinges that connect the screen to the keyboard loosen significantly over time, leading to the screen falling off and smashing down on the keyboard.

The frustration that the X13 Yoga has induced has resulted in many students thinking about alternative devices. A common replacement laptop that has been mentioned is the MacBook Pro.

38% of the sophomore and above student population at TAS choose an iOS for their Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) laptop. Compared to the X13 Yoga, the MacBook Pro runs the MacOS software, a more optimal software to run high performance coding programs. Although Lenovo can also run complex operating systems (such as Ubuntu and Linux), Lenovo’s processing chip – the electronic board that runs the most of the laptop’s executive functions – is less efficient than the Macbook’s M3 chip. Additionally, the Lenovo boasts a 13.3 inch touchscreen whilst the MacBook has a 14 inch screen. To summarize, unless you’re a huge tech nerd who needs specialized programs and comprehensive coding apps on your laptop, Apple is the much more functionally efficient and desirable option for you.

Despite its cool touchscreen and inking features, the functional longevity and reliability of Lenovo’s X13 Yoga makes it an extremely frustrating and rage-inducing device to use on a day-to-day basis. I believe that TAS should consider Apple’s MacBook Pro as an alternative device for student and faculty use, for the sake of us all.