Laptop manufacturers have been reducing the thickness and weight of laptops relentlessly for two decades. Just weeks after Microsoft announced the Surface Book, which is full-blown laptop that for the first time may really live up to expectations, Lenovo has announced another ultra-thin laptop in their Yoga line.

The screen of the Surface Book detaches and functions as a Surface tablet would, reports Engadget. The Surface Book improves upon earlier plain Surface models by allowing for the addition of what appears to be a fully functional QWERTY keyboard making it essentially the same as a laptop. As the Inquisitr has reported, Microsoft is having difficulty keeping up with the demand for the just-released Surface Book. The Surface Book has the potential to be a top-selling Christmas item, so long as Microsoft is ready for the demand it looks like it’s going to get.

Microsoft’s decision to fuse the desktop and mobile versions of Windows now makes a great deal of sense. Having a touch screen on a laptop is an intriguing idea. The Surface Book may also provide some insight into why Microsoft decided to give Windows 10 away for free. Perhaps Microsoft is gambling that a major switch to Microsoft-manufactured devices will mean that goodwill generated with the Windows 10 giveaway won’t go to waste.

Lenovo launched a new Yoga Laptop series, the 900, yesterday. The product was described as an “all-in-one.” Anand Tech says the new Lenovo device defines “exactly what a combination clamshell laptop ‘that’s also a sort of tablet’ should be.”

Engadget says about the Surface Book, “on the inside, it has enough horsepower to take on the MacBook Pro.” The tech reviewer also compares the Surface Book with the Lenovo Yoga Line. Lenovo has other laptops that might be considered comparable. The LaVie Z, priced at about $1,260, according to Tech Radar, and the ThinkPad X1 Carbon, priced at about $1864, are both comparable to the Surface Book in size. Whether they can compare in terms of performance remains to be seen.

The Surface Book is reported to be 50 percent faster than the MacBook Air, which is a big amount. Surface Books are reported to range in price between $1,499 and $3,199 by Microsoft.

Engadget says the Surface Book belongs to a “small echelon of truly premium, luxurious-feeling computers.” The Surface Book is encased in silver magnesium. The tech reviewer described the keyboard as being slightly “pillowy” and the weight of the case versus the lightness of the keys to be an experience different than what they were accustomed to.

The base Surface Book has 16 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage. Higher-end versions are reported to include 16 GB of RAM and 512 GB of storage. One TB of storage is reported to be on the way from Microsoft as well. Intel Core i5 and i7 processors are available.

Trusted Reviews claims to be “excited” about the Surface Book’s glass track pad and compares it favorably with the MacBook Pro. The reviewer also points out that the Surface Book, like a tablet, has a touchscreen. Something that most laptops do not offer.

The Surface Book also features a reader for SD cards and two full size USB 3.0 ports. The Windows operating system is said to be better adapted to the touchscreen environment than Apple’s OS X. Surface Book users can run on the tablet all the programs they are used to running on Windows 10 on their laptop, with what looks to be the same full range of functionality.

[Feature Photo by Andrew Burton/Getty Images]