Going head to head with Microsoft's Surface Pro, Lenovo's Miix 720 aims to be the ultimate travel companion for those who need grunt on the road.

Like the popular Surface Pro, the Lenovo Miix is a powerful tablet with a detachable slimline keyboard – a 2-in-1 design intended to help you stay productive if you need a decent keyboard when you're on the move. We're likely to see details of the new Surface Pro 5 soon, but meanwhile Lenovo's Miix 720 has a lot going for it.

The Miix 720 starts at AU$1699 with a Core i5 processor, stepping up to the Au$1999 Core i7 model and finally AU$2,349 for a Core i7 with 512SSD storage.

Out of the box

If you're familiar with 10-ish inch tablets then the 12-inch Miix 720 seems huge when you take it out of the box. Its 3:2 aspect ratio means it's shaped more like an A4 sheet of paper than a widescreen television – which is great if you're looking for a productivity tool.

While it looks big, the Miix 720 is remarkably thin and light – only 8.9 mm thick and tipping the scales at 780 gm. Those measurements are without the detachable keyboard cover, which almost doubles the thickness and bumps the weight up another 300 gm – still impressive compared to your typical slimline Ultrabook.

At this point it's important to note that you're paying a premium for this design, along with the high-end processor. At least Lenovo throws in the keyboard, whereas the Surface Pro still treats the keyboard case as a $200 optional extra.

If you really don't care about the detachable keyboard, your money might be better spent on something like a cheaper Lenovo Yoga notebook, with a keyboard which folds back behind the screen but doesn't actually detach. If you're fussy about keyboard you might actually prefer the Yoga's offering.

That's not to say the Miix 720's keyboard is terrible, it's actually one of the best slimline keyboards I've tested – as you'd expect from the makers of the iconic ThinkPad workhorse. Yet having just bought myself an 11-inch Lenovo Yoga 710 for travel – for less than $999 – I have to say I prefer its keyboard over the Miix's keyboard, even though the Yoga's keyboard is a tad smaller.

The Miix 720's keyboard has large, nicely spaced keys while leaving room for a decent-sized buttonless trackpad. It's better than the keyboard on most 13-inch Ultrabooks, which often treat the keyboard as an afterthought in their pursuit of style. The Miix 720's keyboard is backlit, a great feature which is often lost on thinner devices – including my tiny Yoga 710 unfortunately.

The trade-off is that the nature of the Miix 720's keyboard cover design means the keyboard will always have a little flex and give in it, plus the keys are a little loud and clickity. The Yoga 710's keyboard feels more sturdy under my fingertips – I'd rather spend all day typing on the Yoga 710 than the Miix 720 but keep in mind that I'm a wordsmith and your priorities might lie elsewhere.

Look closer

Also keep in mind that the Miix 720 is harder to balance on your lap than a typical notebook, even with the fully adjustable 150-degree rear kickstand, because the lightweight keyboard cover makes it top heavy with that 12-inch screen.

The Miix 720's screen is gorgeous – a tad smaller than the Surface Pro 4 but sharper at 2880x1920 pixels. It's a bright and crisp IPS LCD screen with tough Gorilla Glass, offering vivid colours and wide viewing angles. Thankfully it's not too reflective, so you're not left staring at your reflection as you work.

It's a 10-point touchscreen display, but the Lenovo Active Pen 2 stylus will still set you back another $59 if you're keen to make the most of the touchscreen and note-taking apps like OneNote or Evernote.

The Active Pen 2 is an active stylus which supports Windows Ink with 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity. If you've only ever used a passive stylus on something like an iPad, and were left underwhelmed, then this active stylus is an impressive step up. Its fine nib and response to a light touch make it much more practical as a replacement to pen and paper, although you might need to keep your scrawl in check if you expect the handwriting recognition to make sense of your notes.

Under the bonnet

The Miix 720's spec sheet makes for impressive reading:

• up to 7th-gen Core i7 processor, up to 16GB DDR4 RAM

• Intel HD Graphics 620

• 256GB or 512 GB SSD storage

• Windows 10 Pro

• front and rear camera

• 1 USB2 port, 1 USB3 port

• 1 Thunderbolt 3 USB C port

• Headphone jack

• microSD slot (hidden behind the kickstand)

• AC Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.1.

That's a lot of grunt compared to my little Yoga 710 which supports a 7th-gen Core i3 processor and 8GB of RAM. As a wordsmith the Yoga delivers enough grunt to cover my needs, especially as it's a secondary computer to use on the road rather than my primary workhorse (which is a 15-inch MacBook Pro). If you're handling high-end multimedia or design work on the move, or working with other demanding applications, then you'll appreciate the Miix 720's extra power.

The Miix 720's extra grunt is easier to justify if it's going to be your primary work machine, although one trade-off for that extra power is that it relies on active cooling – you occasionally hear the fans kick in even when the computer is idle but it doesn't sound like it's about to lift off.

Despite all that grunt and the large, bright screen, Lenovo still promises eight hours battery life – which seems about right from my testing although you might be able to nurse a bit more out of it depending on how tolerant you are of power-saving features.

So what's the verdict?

The Miix 720 is an impressive engineering feat, for some people it will be the dream work travel companion but if you're not making the most of the detachable keyboard, large screen, stylus and high-end grunt then your money might be better spent elsewhere.

If Lenovo's Miix 720 ticks all your boxes then it's tough to beat, although you might wait to hear more about the Surface Pro 5 before taking the plunge.