Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga

Lead_org , thanks for all the info. Im curious though. Are you using a wacom pen on the TPY ? Also if several websites and Frys here in are showing the i7 with 8gb ram and 256gb ssd model with a FHD screen wouldnt this mean its the wacom version? Or is the Wacom one completely different? Im thinking about stopping by Fry's tomorrow to test there FHD i7 with 8gb ram and 256gb ssd model using a Microsoft Pro pen (since its wacom). Also under key specs for the Model at frys it says "FHD available with option of combined Wacom" would that mean it wacom version just have to buy the been separate? Maybe thats why yours has the pen spot blocked?

 

Hopefully not a sign of delay for the North America market.. but the sub $2000 models disapeared from the solution book excel files Lenovo Solutions Center

 

Sorry for the double post. I spoke with a Lenovo rep and they said there will be 2 different variants the "Multitouch" and Outdoor". The Outdoor model will be the only one thats compatible with the Digitizer pen. They also said there Website will begin selling the TPY the first week of December. Gonna keep an eye out for the outdoor model at fry's or amazon...

 

I wouldn't hold your breath on what the Lenovo reps say. I've asked the same question multiple times a day on different days (all within the past week) and I've been told they don't know, it should be soon, it should be late November, it should be early December, it should be some time in December ect. ect.

I was just now told mid December.

 

And I was just told end of November. I was told I can contact a supervisor and I will, regardless of my being 17 years old. I will relay to them their dilema's with hyped releases. Here is my entire chat log with the rep,

 

In Lenovo's defense, it isn't easy to project solid release dates, especially if they're running into production issues. Any manufacturer can be depending on a component that gets delayed and in return delays the ending product. Manufacturing also takes time. There's a reason it's only released in a few countries just as the PS4 launched only in the US this past Friday. The PS4 also happens to be sold out just about everywhere. If Sony could produce more units, it would to make additional revenue, but there are other manufacturers using the same components and production facilities and they will start losing money if they need to out bid another company for these items and space.

Also, if you haven't noticed by the names, the online chat is likely outsourced to countries that are economically poor and poorly trained. The chance of them just making up random dates to flat out lie or to "hype" their product is unlikely.

 

Assuming a lot of purchased models have been way sub 2 grand, I'm assuming that's without savings that are automatically applied upon release.

But yes, I bet you it is delayed considering no one can give a estimated release date, let alone an estimated release week. "End of November" is too vague. That could mean anywhere from the 15th to the 30th. Considering it's being sent to resellers, I honestly cannot see how they can't at least set up pre-orders on their site.

 

Anyone got a link to the discount TPY on the australian student portal?

 

The FHD LCD on the ThinkPad Yoga is made by LG Philips (LP125WF2-SPB1).

sRGB is 70% (which is about the same as the HD version)

ThinkPad Yoga FHD LP125WF2-SPB1 sRGB | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

AdobeRGB is around 52%

ThinkPad Yoga FHD LP125WF2-SPB1 AdobeRGB | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

The brightness max is 387 nits, which is very close to the 400 nits claimed by Lenovo.

ThinkPad Yoga FHD LP125WF2-SPB1 Contrast and Brightness value | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

 

Hey Lead_org, do you find the FHD unit heavier than the HD version? How do you like the matte finish compared to the high gloss?

 

Is that for the FHD matte, or glossy? Because if that is the case that is a bit low(though close to the 13in non-retina MBP).

 

FHD unit is slightly heavier at 3.55 pounds or 1610 grams.

ThinkPad Yoga FHD with digitiser weight in Grams | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

ThinkPad Yoga with FHD + Digitiser weight in pounds. | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

The matte anti-glare screen protector

ThinkPad Yoga FHD with matte anti reflective screen protector (outdoor screen). | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Very similar to what the ThinkPad X1 Carbon Touch has.

 

I was just looking into the educational discount for australians because I was hoping to use the US edu discount. It does not seem that generous at about 4% off retail.
i7 1871/1949 = 96% of original price
i5 1247/1299 = '' ''
i3 1487/1549 = '' ''

Does anybody expect the US edu discounts to be better?

 

Matte finish is great. Lot less glares in direct light, so I don't have to turn up the brightness in the LCD in order to make it more legible.

 

Where are you seeing those prices? Also on the Australian site you can use the coupon SAVE10OFF for another 10% off.

 

Well I'm happy to say that I've just been informed that a Lenovo-branded box has been deposited on my desk. Shame I'm in late today due to a dentists appointment, looks like I've got something new to look forward to though I'm a little shocked that at last one of these orders has materialised!

 

Thank you for your really helpful review.

I wonder which display is better to watch, 125% scaled FHD or native HD(100% scaled)

in terms of web browsing and typing on wordprocessor, not of watching videos or pictures.

And how about key travel?. I have tried X240's keyboard, and it was great.

Is the TPY's key travel similar to the X240?

Thank you

 

The 125% scaled FHD is much better than HD in 100% scaled mode for web browsing and wordprocessing.

Key travel from my rudimentary analysis. The new ThinkPad Yoga key travel is about 1.49 mm, ThinkPad Carbon is 1.78 mm, and the ThinkPad Precision keyboard on the X230/X230t is 2.45 mm. Don't have a X240 to test, so can't tell you about the travel.






''

 

Thank you very much for your kind answering.

I think short key travel feels too light to confirm right key typing at first. But when I typed for long time with X240, I hadn't my fingers get tired easily. And TP's key bumper technique will makes the keystroke soft despite shorten key travel. Although I'm not sure that TPY will have same technique on the keyboard.

After read your reviews lead_org, I'm very anticipating the day I will have TP Yoga in my hands
Do you think that lenovo will offer good price on TPY at blackfriday~?

 

The key travel of the TP Yoga sounds just about right for my liking. The X1 Carbon key travel was a bit too deep for my liking.

 

I went to Fry's yesterday to check out the TP Yoga (non-digitizer model) in person.

To echo the sentiments of others in this thread, I was very impressed by the hardware. Feels like a solid, well-built machine (especially in contrast to those new Sony Vaio Pros - I picked one up by the corner and thought I was holding a paperback book). FHD display is beautiful, keyboard is quite comfortable to type on and has decent key travel (although I had to wonder about that funky key layout - guess I'll be spending some time in the BIOS remapping keys). I also thought the trackpad felt solid and responsive, although I think I would probably want to enable tap-to-click for the first time in my life rather than go through the ordeal of clicking down the whole trackpad every time I wanted to click. I've also never used a trackpoint seriously, but I thought the trackpoint on the TP Yoga was nice and responsive without being jerky - that little bad boy could really come in handy if you got used to it.

The TP Yoga's characteristic yoganess is also just as good as all of the other Yogas. The funky hinges and rotating screens I see on other convertibles scare me. I think Lenovo has the simplest and most elegant solution to the convertible notebook problem.

The only design choice that really left me scratching my head was the use of the CFRP for the screen cover. It does have a noticeable amount of flex, and I thought they could have really hit a homerun on the overall ruggedness of the machine by sticking to magnesium alloy throughout. To me, that would be worth the negligible amount of weight (and production cost) that might be added by doing so. But who am I to judge? Perhaps the flex in the screen is intended to prevent components from getting warped over time as you put the Yoga through its poses (although I can't imagine that would really be a problem given how stiff the magnesium alloy is).

In any case, it'd be awesome if they could launch the darn digitizer model in the US already Losing my mind waiting for this thing.

 

how do this display FHD thinkpad yoga compare with the sony Vaio flip 13?

 

I do have one slight problem at present with my ThinkPad Yoga.

For some reason the touch-screen seems to be on the blink. I have had to disable it in Device Manager. It just seems to keep randomly clicking in a vertical line approximately halfway across the screen. It happened once during setup and went away, and now it seems to be pretty constant after a few hours use. I'll be giving support a call in the morning, that's for sure, as this just isn't usable! I mean I can disable touch-screen, but what's the point of having it if you're just going to disable it!

 

Hey simon, where did you get your TP Yoga? Is it a preview model?

 

Got the dock today and unfortunately it does not work (caps resolution at 1920x1080).
I am sure it is a onelink dock because if I switch the same cable from dock directly to yoga (with hdmi->minihdmi adapter) it works with full resolution

 

Thanks for the observation and heads up. It's quite unfortunate that the dock caps at 1920x1080. I think the reason they did that is because they want to make sure there is no compression or loss of quality when using the dock. They would have to make a better cable for the onelink dock in order for it to push higher resolutions without loss of quality

 

Thinkpad Yogas are on sale right now for 27% off in the Australian store.

Click Frenzy Sale 2013 | Laptops & Ultrabooks| Lenovo Australia

Sale ends tomorrow. Just picked up the i5 256g SSD 8g Ram FHD with Wacom Digitizer.

 

I would be very upset if I had recently purchased one at full price. Makes me think that I should hold off until one of these sales after it's released in the US....

 

dabs.com (UK Lenovo ThinkPad S240 Yoga Intel Core i7-4500U 8GB 256GB 12.5" W8P (20CD0038UK) - dabs.com ) (after someone else in this thread mentioned they were selling them) + don't believe it to be a preview model. Not sure if I've just got unlucky with a defect or whether I'm doing something wrong tbh.

 

@Simon, that's quite strange, but my suspicion is that it is more of a software issue than a hardware issue. I remember having that problem with my Surface Pro, but I haven't had the problem for a while. It just went away without me really noticing perhaps after installing updates and upgrading to Windows 8.1. If you can't figure the solution, you may have to try a clean re-install. Especially look into your video drivers

 

I am pretty sure they will offer these e-coupons shortly or upon release in the U.S. and in Canada just as they did with the Yoga 2 Pro. I am hoping I can get an i5, 256gb SSD, 8gb of RAM, FHD + Digitizer for around $1200-$1400. I just went on the Australlian website and customized the order I wanted and it came up to around $1615 AUD after applying the e-coupon which is about $1514 in USD. Mind you, that is already including tax. I would imagine that it will be even cheaper in North America

 

Hello there. New to this forums.

I have my eyes set on the Thinkpad Yoga and I've wondering what advantages does the Wacom Digitizer option offer. I would think taking advantage of it will be very software dependent.

Any suggestions on this? Should I try to get the wacom digitizer option when this baby comes out or just get the regular version without it. Thanks!

 

The advantages will mainly depend on YOUR personal needs. Here is how I use my Wacom digitizer:

-Digitally signing documents
-Taking notes that require images that can't be easily typed
-Highlighting and annotating documents/PDF's
-Writing hand written notes
-Annotating pictures and such
-More accurate for clicking on certain things like dragging things around, selecting texts, etc. if I don't want to use my finger on the touch screen or use a mouse. Sometimes its faster than using a mouse/trackpad/finger touch
-When doing power point presentations, I could make on the spot illustrations
-Fun apps like fresh paint that uses pressure sensitivity
-When in tablet mode, the digitizer acts as a mouse. You will sometimes find yourself in situations where you need a mouse function like hovering over certain things especially in web browsers

 

I wouldn't know, never used a Sony VAIO Flip 13 before. I am pretty much either ThinkPad or Macbook kind of person.

 

Lead_org, I know you were talking about battery life before and it being around 5.5 hours. Have you noticed any difference in your new model? This battery thing is killing me! It's the deciding factor in whether or not to get this and so far your mentioning before is the only real world battery life I've seen. I pretty much have to have 6.5-7 hours to make it through a day at school.

 

A few questions about this:

Can you still use touch with your fingers if you have the digitizer model?
How does hovering work with the digitizer, you just hover with the pen without touching the screen?

Thanks!

 

Yes you can still use your fingers without a digitizer. When you place the pen near the screen a dot will appear. Using programs like OneNote or something similar, this will turn on palm rejection. So when you place your palm on the screen to write/draw, it will not write/draw unwanted lines. The pen has a tip which gives you the ability to ink/write with different pressure sensitivity. You would not hover the pen over the screen to write; as it seems you are asking. Some pens have eraser functionality, which allows you to flip the pen and use the top end to erase. Some people like to use the pen while in tablet mode to replace a mouse. Tapping acts as a left click. Pen's also have buttons, which is generally binded for right clicking. You can find a lot more information online. Even better, go to your local store and mess around with a surface pro or something. If money is not an issue, and the slight added weight, as well as the wait time, then a digitizer version is definitely worth it IMO. But, to each their own.

 

Remember, battery tests are done with continuous usage, so any downtime (i.e switching classes, watching videos, etc) will conserve battery life. It also does other things that use up processor power. I assume you'd need it for things like OneNote and browsing, so I bet you it would last that long if not more.

 

Carbon Fiber is actually really strong, so I don't feel as if it'd be as much as a problem as it seems.


Sorry for 2 posts in one!

 

the use of CFRP for screen is probably to do with radio signal strength, since the antenna cable is behind the screen cover. Using a magnesium or aluminium casing would block some radio frequency. This is one reason why ThinkPad has the best wireless in the industry. It is because they always give consideration to the location of the wireless antenna to maximise reception and transmission. In the old day, the ThinkPad X6x and X2xx which had magnesium alloy screen cover, had special section that is made of plastic for the antennas.

 

I haven't see the ThinkPad Yoga in person, but based on the color gamut, and contrast specs the Sony will be much better. The 13in Flip(which has the same panel as the Duo 13n and Pro 13) are rated at around 90% for sRGB in and around 70% for Adobe RGB in the color gamut scale.

 

I hadn't considered that, but it certainly seems plausible. Faraday cages being what they are and so on.

A little bit of research revealed that apparently the aluminum cases on the various Mac notebooks have long been rumored to cause issues with wireless connectivity. The more you know.

So I guess my minor nitpick with the screen is now a moot point. I will also say that the screen on the TP Yoga did feel more solid than the screen on the Yoga 2 Pro, if that gives anyone a point of reference.

 

Most likely. I've removed some of the software that I had installed, and so far it seems to have cleared up. It may be chance, but removing a DNS server that I installed seemed to do the trick. Hopefullly that's the case because it's one of the pieces of software that I was just testing / haven't needed before

One other thing I feel silly for saying. I can't figure out how to turn on the keyboard backlight (edit: found it! function + space)

 

Oh god, Lenovo just doesn't know how to release products. I'm now being told mid-December, and I'm currently telling this rep to forward to Lenovo themselves to get their act together.

 

Are there warranty seals over the screws on the bottom? I'm thinking about buying the HDD version and upgrading to an SSD myself (it seems simple enough from the service training videos).

 

No warranty seals, just remove 10 screws and you can take off the bottom casing. The SSD is essential.

So i have been doing some battery testing for these couple of days.

On the i5 with normal 1 TB HDD, i get about 5.30 hrs of battery life on balanced mode with screen brightness at 70% and wifi on. with the 128 gigs Samsung 830 Pro i get about 6.30 hrs. This is with mixed use of wordprocessing, doing some CAD in Sketchup, surfing web, and watching HD Youtube movies. I think it is respectable.

The i7 with the same usage, is about 20 minutes less battery life.

 

The bundled stylus sensitivity? Just wondering if the bundled stylus has the ability to measure different pressure levels. The latest Wacom stylus have 2048 different pressure levels of sensitivity, I'm curious to know if this is also the case with the bundled stylus - or if its just a binary on / off affair. Then if its possible to replace it with a 3rd party stylus that is pressure sensitive... Anyone any info on this topic - I'd be interested to know.

 

how do i test the level of digitiser sensitivity?

 

the bundled stylus uses Wacom technology so it IS pressure sensitive, not an on/off thing. I'm not sure of the precise pressure level on this model but it should be 1024 levels of sensitivity (which has been pretty much standard for the current integrated pressure panel on retail PCs - i.e. not something that comes from Wacom themselves, such as the Cintiq or Intuous ..., but just a touch PC/tablet/convertible that integrate a digitiser panel that uses Wacom tech. The current gen of the products that come from Wacom themselves indeed offer 2048 levels of pressure sensitivity).

However, this raw number doesn't really determine or even have an apparent effect on your user experience of the stylus. The difference between 1024 and 2048 with the travel available is way beyond the recognition level of pretty much 90 or more percent of users. Here is a great video explaining how these stylus with different level of pressure sensitivity works and feels like (although the video shows a Samsung and Fujitsu machine, not a Thinkpad, but the digitiser panels all use pretty much the same tech, and the reviewer raises some very good points about using these styli. It is a video that would be well worth your time):

ATIV Smart PC Pro quick review as a digital art slate - YouTube

 

Can you confirm that the Fn and Ctrl Keys can be swapped in the BIOS? If not this would be a deal breaker for me.

What I hated most of my friend's MacBook Air I tried was the fact that every key combination I tried while doing domething else like coding didn't work, because I was pressing that damn Fn key instead of Ctrl.
I know I could get used to it, but it would mean having to change habits between my desktop PC's keyboard and my notebook each time. Not very efficient.