Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga

I seem to have an issue with my digitizer/stylus. Can anyone else check on theirs / confirm whether it's just mine showing this defect? Near the top right of the screen the stylus seems to deflect towards a point, it looks like a magnetic/electronic inteference type thingy. I've got a screenshot below. I drew all the lines in OneNote with a ruler (which slipped in couple of places, but the area I am talking about is clearly visible at the top right)

 

Lead_org, was all your battery tests with the HD or FHD panel?

 

That must be some sort of black hole!! Turn off the TP Yoga before it sucks you into another dimension!!!!!

 

What is the advantage of buying the HDD then manually swapping with an SSD? Can you save a significant amount of money doing it this way rather than just getting a model with the SSD already installed?

Another question is, if one installed a 512GB SSD into the TP Yoga, would it work?

 

Yes, I already swapped them in bios as it was impossible to use shortcuts like ctrl-shift-t (undo close tab in chrome) or ctrl-shift-tab using one hand.

The only thing is that with original mapping, if you press and hold fn key than it locks (there is an indicator light on fn key). When the light is on that top row keys act as Fx and not volume, sleep, mic mute etc.

Very useful feature but doesn't work for me when fn and ctrl are swapped in bios.

 

The i5 is the machine with HD (1TB hdd), and the i7 with FHD + digitiser (Intel SSD).

 

Really interesting test! If I had access to a TPY, I would try it out myself but alas I have not been able to get my hands on one. Did you do this test because you thought there was a problem or you thought to do the test and then found a problem?

 

Just replied out a longer reply but accidentally hit cancel. Short version, in a meeting I noticed my handwriting was worse than normal, and noticed it was only in that corner of the screen. Afterwards I grabbed a ruler to do this test to determine how big an area was affected / whether it was just that one area.

Will see what support comes back with. I hope it's a software thing, but I somehow doubt it. May even be a design flaw in the TPY (hence asking if anyone else here with one can check). If it is a hardware flaw that needs replacement/repair though, it will suck somewhat to be without the laptop again, though better sooner than later I expect it's a flaw I can live with though all the same. After all I'm mostly going to only be using the stylus for note-taking in meetings/conferences.

(p.s. that diagonal line wasn't a hardware thing, that was me slipping)

 

i did the test on my ThinkPad Yoga using the Surface Pro pen, it doesn't have this problem.

For those whom did not read all the posts. here are the flickr album.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lead_org/sets/72157637549448323/with/10942498496/

 

I'll check upstairs and see if any of the designers has a digitizer pen I could borrow to test it with - if it is just the pen that's somehow at fault then that would be better than replacing a laptop!

 

On a side note, Lenovo UK are now listing the Thinkpad Yoga as orderable / configurable on their site for anyone else that's looking for one that'd rather go direct There seems to be a few variants available from i3-i7 with/without pen 4-8GB but all with a 256GB SSD

 

I don't think it is ur pen that is at fault, but rather it is ur screen digitiser. When I said I used surface pro pen, it is because the model they sent me doesn't have a pen.

 

Damn, I didn't bother just yet because it wouldn't really explain the deflection in a single area. I guess it's back to looking @ return or just living with it

 

Need some input around wireless options. Who would benefit from upgrading the "Intel Wireless-N 7260 2X2 BGN+BT" to "Intel Dual Band Wireless 7260AC with Bluetooth 4.0"? Is there any reason not to upgrade?

 

Simon, not sure if I missed it or not, but did you calibrate the digitizer?

 

Why not upgrade and future proof yourself.

 

I bought one from Dabs and I just checked and it has the same problem, in the same place

 

Jesus christ!

i5, 256 SSD, digitizer, FHD

£1260!!!

thats 2k USD! If thats the price in US ill have to go with SP2, unfortunately!

 

Hi there, I didn't mention it, but yes I did try calibrating the digitizer. Will give that another try later on when I'm less distracted / check other calibration options.

May just be due to something in the monitor then I guess, logically it does look like there's something magnetic behind there - I wonder if there's any details in the hardware manual. I don't want to send it back only to get one with exactly the same issue. Starting to wonder if the alternative pen is worth trying in case it somehow does resolve it.

I'd expect it to be nearer $1700 + sales tax (knock off the 20% VAT before translating the price - UK prices include that) - not a lot of difference but still ( so probably still around $1850 by the time you pay for it)

Works out about £100 or so more expensive than the comparable SP2 with Touch cover

 

I just tried with the stylus from my Galaxy Note and it still did it.

 

There was a similar issue on the first galaxy note 10.1. If you tried making straight lines across the screen, it would make jagged lines in some spots. It wasn't as drastic as your picture, but more widespread across the screen. I noticed this while writing too.

I don't think there was ever any official conclusion, but many thought there was wires directly underneath those spots that caused this.

Also, lead_org, thanks for the battery stats.


Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk 4

 

If anybody interested - in Czech Republic the date, when TP Yoga will be in stock as confirmed by some resellers should be December 4th. TP Yoga with i7/8GB/256GBssd/FHD/digitizer is already listed for 42k CZK incl. 21% VAT = 2,100 USD

 

The price difference is actually less than I thought: The extra cost of the 256gb SSD (on the australian lenovo site, the UK one doesn't allow changing the drive yet) is ~£187 while a 256gb Samsung 840 Pro SSD costs £162 on amazon.co.uk. I might still do it if the option becomes available on the uk lenovo site as the Samsung SSD is almost certainly faster than whatever is in the yoga and you also get the additional 16gb m2 SSD although I don't know if that would actually show up separately.

I don't see why a larger SSD wouldn't work.

 

Here's mine, exactly the same.

 

I"m new to the board and appreciate everyone's insight about the TPY.

Do we have any idea when we'll see a TPY with digitizer available in the US?

 

Magnet, or enough wires to create a (noticeable) magnetic field. Had the same problem on my Galaxy Note 3, when it was in a third-party case with a magnetic clasp, except that that pushed the drawn lines out, rather than the pin-cushioning you're seeing. Solution, new case.

If it's not a magnet external to the device, then we have a poor design by Lenovo, allowing the internal components to create a magnetic field that distorts the device's digitizer.

 

Man, Lenovo is really dropping the ball.

Two years ago, I got the X220 because *it had everything* (or, well, the X220T did). The point being that Lenovo offered a "no compromises" machine: great battery life with the larger battery, i7, all with a small footprint.

There's not a comparable Lenovo machine offered today.

Want high resolution? Then live with short battery life. Or get a a T440, and no digitizer. Want discrete graphics? No multi-touch. Small footprint, then live with soldered on memory and not enough of it.

Haswell gives better battery life, great, we'll shrink the battery, What?

I'd happily pay more for a machine that doesn't force me to compromise, but Lenovo doesn't offer it.

And now, they offer a digitizer with pin-cushioning. worse, it's in the very spot you're mostly likely to use the pen if you're right-handed.

 

This was my thought as well. It's like, the screen is already just 12.5". Okay. Wacom digitizers seem to have a problem around the edges of the screen. Okay. But now you're telling me that there's a fairly wide-area issue with the digitizer right in the middle of prime digitizing real estate on the already small screen made smaller by edge issues? Not okay.

My enthusiasm towards the TP Yoga has just taken a major hit. This is like the issue with yellow on the Yoga 2 Pro. On one hand I want to chastise myself for having such first-world problems. "Oh no, these otherwise awesome devices that I don't even really need (in the Maslow's hierarchy sense) have these tiny flaws. Woe is me."

On the other hand, I wonder, "Why can't Lenovo just put out something that's up to snuff?" What about the legendary ThinkPad tradition that I've been reading about? I don't expect things to be perfect, but you know, just working correctly would be nice.

Guess I'll only be checking back weekly from now on to see how this plays out.

 

Does it happen when it is not in tablet mode? Probably it can be a HDD magnet interference in case you have a spinning one. Can anyone with SSD disk check this?

 

Is yours HDD version or SSD version?

 

At this point, i think I'm giving up on Lenovo. I really wanted to replace my X220 with an X240. But Lenovo didn't upgrade the display resolution, while downgrading the maximum memory to *GB from the X230's 16GB. So I looked at the T440s: no digitizer. The Yoga 2 Pro: no digitizer, bad color reproduction. The Thinkpad Yoga: poor battery and now pin-cushioning.

It's just a mess of trade-offs and compromises. I can spend $500 more on a Fujitsu and get a device that isn't compromised. (Well, the T904 reduces max memory to 8GB from the T902's 16GB, but other than that....)

I really wanted to stay with Lenovo, but....

 

I am so glad, that this forum exists, thank you everybody doing the tests, we will probably not see on any "serious" tech review portals.. If it turns out, that the digitizer distortion exists also on models with ssd disk, than i need to go for this gadget Cintiq Companion | Wacom.. Almost same price, no haswell thought, but for graphic users i would expect more quality. I only need someone to import this to east Europe This is so sad.. I was hoping that TP Yoga is the perfect match.. Maybe next year's revision will be ok ? But has Lenovo been improving faulty designs in past during life of one model ?! Not that this would be only Lenovo story, i remember IBM TP760, which cost me fortune and battery died because it was poorly designed and too close to the fan.. What testing did they do now ? None ? I would suppose testing the digitizer involves drawing such lines at least..

 

i7 256GB SSD, came in @ £1350ish iirc

 

@ tpdi,
Sorry, but how can the T904 have a better battery life than the ThinkPad Yoga, which has a poor battery life according to you? The battery of the ThinkPad Yoga is even 2 Wh bigger than the T904. Thats just unlogical.

The T904 is also compromised, if I follow your logic:
- As you said, only 8 GB RAM
- Same battery capacity as Yoga

 

I've ordered Thinkpad Yoga with 8GB RAM, 256GB HDD & full HD screen. Also got 10% discount using the voucher code on Quidco! Code is CJNOV10UK. Hope it helps! I live in the UK.

 

I just cannot believe the digitizer thinkpad yoga has such a major flaw.

cmon, really?

It would be the perfect machine for an artist and now theyve ruined it.

Obviously a hardware fault.

Sad to settle for the small-screen surface pro

 

can anyone tell me if the i7 version does have nfc
and does any version have gps?

and the last thing, i assume the yoga supports instantGo?
you can check if you launch the windows 8.1 alarm app and add a new alarm.
if the device doesn't have instantGo, the app shows a message on the top of the app saying that the alarm only works when the pc is active.

thanks for all your help

 

This issue with the warping of the digitizer pen input at the top right is really concerning. Anyone have a model with the digitizer that doesn't seem to have this problem? I've been wanting to get this laptop so badly... but if this isn't fixed I may look elsewhere.

Do y'all think the Fujitsu Lifebook T904 will be super expensive? I ask because the previous model (I forget the number) is still at about $1,900 U.S.

Also... is anyone else here a teacher wanting to use this with the digitizer in their class? I present things on my computer a lot and I'm looking forward to being able to use the pen to write and draw on powerpoint presentations, give notes in class and add simple drawings to my handouts. Just curious if other teachers are attracted to this laptop for the pen, and how you're thinking of using it.

Hello everyone (new to the forum).

 

I have the i7 version (20CD-0038UK) and it doesn't have NFC, GPS or instantGO. I haven't heard any mention of GPS in any models.

 

Hello, i'm new here but i've been following this thread for a while.
I'm really concerned by the digitizer problem, it's available in my country since this morning and i was about to purchase it....
i'm an artist so it is extremely inconvenient for me.
So basically everyone with the digitizer have this problem ? If so i shouldn't by it

BTW i get it at 1257 € (1700$), which is not so expensive (a macbook pro is 1200€ in my country = 1600$)

 

Personally the digitizer problem isn't the end of the world, but there is another issue I've had where the touchscreen seems to malfunction. Starting to wonder if it's another sign of hardware fault.

I've raised a couple of threads on the lenovo forum + contacted support but so far no information forthcoming. If people who this would affect could post up on there, maybe they will get some more attention.

Digitizer thread https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/X-Seri...ga-Digitiser-has-inaccurate-area/td-p/1321217

Touchpad malfunction thread https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/X-Seri...-malfunctioning-Random-clicks-in/td-p/1320221

 

Thanks for offering but I don't think its anything you can test easily. I guess this information might be in some Lenovo documentation - but I've not seen it anywhere.
Incidentall I'm really happy with all of the info you have given out so far, its helping me to make what I consider to be an informed purchasing decision - something the Lenovo website has failed to do, good job, thanks!

 

Yikes - noticed this digitizer issue just before ordering - I think I will wait this out a bit longer. Interested to see if its the hard disk that does this - or maybe the speakers or something else...

 

I think earlier someone said they were getting it with their SSD, I would also be skeptical about the magnetic field from the HDD getting through the magnesium bottom plate too.

 

I find it hard to believe it is that, as it happens regardless of distance between screen and speaker/ssd (not just in Tablet mode)

 

In looking at the service manual, it appears besides the screen the only other parts in the lid are the wiring for WiFi and the Webcam, and those wires run around the outer edges of the screen. I am not sure what would cause the issues seen.

RTPW1230_ThinkPad_YogaUltrabook

 

I'm still pretty excited for the TP Yoga. Let's not become all bitter and whiny over one person's bad experience. Perhaps it is a rare and isolated issue that only a few units suffer from. Things are still way too early in the game to draw conclusions. Out of the people on this forum who actually have the unit, it appears only one person is experiencing those problems (simon_at_mso). I would suspect he just has a defective unit.

 

Wow, never seen that link before. Gotta love the step-by-step guides for dismantling everything. Even how to take out the digitizer pen from its holder.

Looking on that, it looks as if there is nothing behind the screen and WiFi heads down both sides. The camera appears to head down the right hand side of the screen though which would correspond with the side that the distortion is being seen. I wonder if something as simple as disabling the camera will affect the distortion. I guess it might be a bit much to hope for something that simple though, as I never really use webcams anyway!

Regarding anyone else seeing the issue, newslang has reported that it occurs on their one also so that's 2 instances so far - still could easily just be a defective batch or something though.

 

It seems that there are specific parts for RF emisions for digitizer model. I think the digitizer screen is sensible to them.
00HM084 N HDD shield asm for Digitizer model

There is also a micellanous part "Magnet for hole sensor" that I can't figure what is intended for and where is located.

 

Hi everyone

Great thread! up to date and critical!

Anyways, just wanted to inform that the TPY is now available in Denmark and Sweden from Lenovos site. LINK: Lenovo Yoga Hybrid Laptops - Lenovo Multimode PCs | Lenovo (DK)

Starting from 1248 USD total (the danish site), though the sweetspot configurations no doubt is the i5-4200U with 8 gb of ram and 256 gb SSD, with Wireless AC dualband, Full HD and Pen enabled.
If you dont get it with Windows 8.1 PRO, then it costs apx. 1860 USD (In sweden its even less at 1800 USD)

BUT!

Of course you can go all the way, and get the i7 processor, and windows 8.1 PRO

but that will be about 2120 USD (Denmark) so 260 USD more.

So here is my question, is it worth it?
Why would you want the PRO version of windows anyway? And if the i7 processor uses more battery, is the power worth it, how often will you really profit from it?


So close to buying one, just have to figure this out (if the more expensive one is worth it) and of course this new digitizer problem! Not cool at all