Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga - Upgrade tutorial.

First of all, I am not a native speaker so please, forgive my grammar mistakes. I hope you enjoy this tutorial, any advice, help, or correction points will be very welcome.

This is a walk-through for the upgrade of RAM and the second SSD for the Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga. The hardware maintenance manual gives an idea of how to do this but it leaves a lot to our imagination... As some people hadn't very clear how to do it, I decided to give a graphical example, which in my opinion is usually much better than a video tutorial for the quality of the details.

Very important note: Perform this task at your very own risk. I will not be responsible for any damage cause to your computer (if this is really possible... ). That said.... Let's start!

Recommended tools.
- A set of precision screwdrivers, containing TORX from 5 to... and flathead screwdrivers.
- Very thin double-sided tape.
- A thin plastic tool or a credit card.
- The RAM and the SSD.


0. Organize your desktop and your tools.
Make sure you have the desktop organized and enough space for this operation. I would recommend to have a container for the screws and tools. Prepare a soft surface as you will have to put the computer with screen facing the table.




1. Disassembling the keyboard.
The keyboard is fixed to the bezel by several flaps and double-sided tape, and by some clips in the backside. First thing you have to do is to free the keyboard from the flaps in all sides. It is recommendable to start from the top following the red arrows. Once the keyboard is free, you have to slide it upwards as shown in the image with my hand , following the direction of the white arrows.





This image shows the clips in the backside, when reassembling the keyboard, it is important to do it sliding downwards trying to reach all of them. If you don'do correctly, you will notice some bumps on it. You can as well replace the double-sided tape.




3. Replacing RAM.

If what you want is just to replace the RAM, you don't need to go any further. I would not recommend to disassemble the keyboard. Just fold it to the back.

In order to free the RAM, just press the two metallic tabs in its side to the exterior and the RAM will come up. Pull from it and replace it. Make sure the new gets completely trapped by the tabs.

If you are going to replace the SSD, pull up the tab that is holding the wire of the keyboard in the direction the red arrows show.



The new RAM should enter in the slot in the same angle the other one ended once it was free.




4. Disassembling the bezel.

At this point you should have already removed the keyboard completely. Torx 6 looks like too tight for these screws, but I found Torx 5 to slip in some of them while retightening them. Although the manual tells otherwise, I recommend to fold the computer again and start unscrewing the bottom screws at this point.



Once those six screws are out, you can open again the computer and place it over its screen. You'll have to remove another 4 screws on the top of the bezel.



The bezel is still hold by the main structure by a high number of clips. Then you should proceed separating the bezel with a credit card or another similar plastic tool. I recommend to start following the same order that was used for the keyboard, from back to front.



The bezel is now completely loose, but we still have a couple of cables joining both parts. I couldn't remove the cable in the left side, so I left it like that (picture on the left), but you need to let the one on the right go to be able to turn the bezel over the bottom part and see the slots for the SSD. To do this, perform the same way than the keyboard.



Now you should see the free slot for placing the second SSD.



5. Installing the secondary SSD.

The second SSD should enter in the slot in angle as show by the next pictures. To finish fixing it you just need to push it down and tighten the screw that come with it in the thread.



6. How to make windows recognize your new SSD.

Back on windows again, you have to activate the SSD in order to have it working. Drive your pointer to the bottom left corner of the computer and when you see the start icon right click and select "Disk Management".



A message will pop up saying:

"You must initialze this disk before the logical disk management can access it"

Choose GPT and click OK.

An unallocated partion will appear below your current disk. Right-click it and choose "new simple volume...", click next again .

Unless you prefer to make several partitions, choose the whole available volume, press next again.

Choose a letter for your drive, click next

Choose NTFS (unless you prefer otherwise), default allocation file, quick format, and you can choose file compress if you don't plan to access from other operating systems. Click next.

Click finish.

 

Reserved in case of future updates...

 

Great work! Thanks!

 

Glad you like it. I know it´s easy, but I just wanted to give a introduction to "do it yourself" to some people that usually wouldn´t do it.

 

Is the mSATA socket a SATA II or SATA III?

 

I've completed the upgrade. I want to make sure I got all the clips (the metal ones) back in right. Would it be obvious if I'd made a mistake? I can't tell if it's uneven or if I'm just imagining it.

Update: I reinstalled the new keyboard (I had ordered a replacement because of a defective space bar) and this time, I kept pressure on the home row of keys as I slid it into place. The new keyboard now seems to have LESS bounce than the original, leading me to believe that the clips may not have been properly engaged during the factory installation. I would recommend this technique.

Also, my new keyboard came with adhesive attached. I specifically asked for the adhesive to be included, however, it appears that the adhesive is just there to begin with (it's covered by clear backing, and kind of hard to see). Anyone installing a new keyboard should keep this in mind.

Thanks again!

 

Great tutorial, thanks. I followed it word by word and upgraded my yoga today (8gb, 256ssd). Upgrading memory was easy but adding 2nd ssd is not so. It was not trivial removing the bezel. I'd say proceed with caution to those who are like me, never done anything similar.

 

great tutorial. What is the maximum memory the yoga can handle ?

 

I just received a Yoga 13 after waiting almost 6 weeks. 8GB/256GB unit. Nice little machine.

I just purchased a second 256GB from Crucial to go in the second slot. To keep things simple (for my wife), I would like to combine the two drives into one volume using disk spanning. To accomplish this, I understand that I need to convert the basic disk that already exists into a dynamic one. My question:

Will this harm or affect my stock drive or Windows 8 installation?

Thank you for the awesome guide!

 

I believe 8 GB.

 

Agree... That bezel removal is not trivial. XD. I tried my best explaining it.

I believe so because it has only one slot. Maybe more if you can find just one module with 16Gb

Not possible as far as I know. You would need to have RAID support in the bios, and unfortunately... I already tried that.

 

Double post

 

sorry for the stupid question I got and Samsung 840evo ssd will this be compatible to be able to upgrade my Lenovo yoga 13?

 

Every question is welcome. Tutorials are for that reason.

I don't think so man. That SSD look like regular size and you need to go with a smaller standard called mini SSD.

 

Hello,

I want to add another SSD - I already have 1 x 128GB mSATA from my 13 TOSHIBA laying around or maybe I will go with Crucial... anyway the question is:

do I have to remove keyboard to access SSD space? I saw on the picture that's under "top layer" that holds keyboard but maybe there is a way to access is from back?

 

I got a refurbished Yoga 13 for my daughter going to college this Fall. I got a Crucial M500 240GB mSATA for ~$80 and did both memory and SSD upgrade on the Yoga. It was a bit scary in the beginning but it was actually pretty easy once you know what are holding the parts together. I actually did not disconnect any cable for both upgrades. There is just enough room to tighten the screw on the SSD if you have a screw driver with a thin shaft.

 

Can this be done on a Thinkpad Yoga?

Are there any 16 GB SODIMMs these days that would work in this? Any affordable ones?

Nice Where did you buy from?