Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga

Anyone know what the deal is with the crappy warranty on this system? I usually upgrade to 3-year onsite but that doesn't seem possible when buying a TPY through Lenovo. Weird.

 

Still not available in the Canadian store

 

I hear ya.. hopefully it will be out soon. Y2P came out one week after the US release date.

 

I ordered my TPY today in the ACP Education Store (Austria) for 1300 Euro. Unfortunately only available with 1 year warranty, but I hope I am able to extend these warranty.

 

"beta models"? Is that what they're calling this? I don't recall paying out for a "beta" model The Lenovo rep on the forum has at least responded now to my issue, and have sent in my details. Hopefully they will be able to resolve my issues. If it requires a panel replacement, I really hope that they don't insist on me sending the machine in as it would be a pain to go through a return process.

Regarding the fan noise question, what fan noise? I hear no fan under normal operation. Regarding speaker quality, good question, honestly haven't tried it yet. I'll put a film on later and get back to you

 

Damn, the dealer just pushed my order back so I won't get my TPY until the 26th :/

 

THANK YOU esuuuu09,
I was able to apply the 12CLOSE0624 discount code,

Got the i7 model w/ 802.11ac/8GB RAM and 128GB ssd for 1468.72! before tax (i'll be adding my own ssd thanks)

Side note... i ordered the thinkpad yoga from frys thinking it had the digitizer, and was able to play with it for a bit before sending it back, the hardware seems really nice on the TPY. Such a small and powerful design.. I'm so excited to have this in the digitizer version. I'm coming from a x230t, and the difference in thinness is dramatic! (no more crazy large battery hanging off the side)

 

Please check the digitizer distortion after you receive it! Thanks a lot! The only thing that keeps me waiting is its digitizer issue.

 

Lenovo, y u no let me get damage protection?

 

Would anyone recommend either adding antivirus software to the configuration or installing some later? I'm wondering how Windows is with viruses now and if Windows 8 is pretty secure.

I've been using Linux for the past several years and so I haven't had to worry about viruses and malware.

Also, what are you all interested in using the digitizer stylus for? I'm curious about who this is attracting: college students, artists, graphic designers, business owners/employees... Any teachers?

 

Don't bother, Windows 8 has Microsoft Security Essentials built into Windows Defender now and it does a marvelous yet extremely unobtrusive and non resource hogging way! Unlike EVERYOTHER stupid antivirus.

Honestly to me antivirus causes more problems then the malware itself majority of the time! I have been running Windows 8 on 3 different PC's including my mum's who has no idea how to "protect" herself while searching around the web but not received one virus

p.s. I just sold my ATIV 500t and will be buying this in January when my student finance comes in, a bit broke atm
The digitizer allows some amazing results especially for writing university notes

 

Doing my Masters and this will work well for reading and annotating tons of research papers and pdf's. This will double as my e-reader. The digitizer makes it so much more easier to highlight.

+1 for microsoft security essentials.

 

I have never been a fan of anti virus software. You have to renew it yearly, they are costly, they suck resources, and they are more annoying than malware and viruses themselves! I also use the one that is built into Windows 8. It runs in the background and works just fine. Whatever the case however, use common sense and don't go to websites or click any links that is suspicious and potentially harmful. I haven't gotten a virus in years because I don't do anything that could pose as a risk.

 

Did anyone opt to configure for an i5 4gb version instead of an i7 8gb. If you did why? I'm wondering if extra couple hundred of dollars is worth investing. Any feedback from any user is much appreciated.

 

I think it's really a matter of personal need. I haven't purchased yet, but I'll definitely be going for an i5 simply because it gets slightly better battery life especially under heavier load, and the speed difference is negligible. I use an i5 for my Surface Pro 1, and I think my machine just flies and does not stutter or hang up. I could imagine the haswell i5 will be slightly faster. The slight speed gain and the poorer battery life of the i7 simply isn't worth paying an extra $160.

I do however want to get 8gb of RAM, not that I need it, but I might in the future when some software becomes more demanding. As of now, 4gb is PLENTY of ram for me. I never even reach 80% of its usage even when I have a lot of programs running. What people should do is download a program that tracks their RAM usage to see what their personal usage is. I'd say the majority of people won't even take advantage of 8gb of ram unless they do really heavy multi tasking. If the TP Yoga turns out to be really expensive, I'll end up just sticking the i5 and 4gb of RAM. It has been more than sufficient on the surface pro that I am using right now.

 

My uses for the digitizer are similar, mostly taking notes. Note taking with a capacitive pen isn't very good, right? I haven't really tried either much, however.

I still use MSE, even though Microsoft recommends using 3rd party antivirus Goodbye Microsoft Security Essentials: Microsoft Now Recommends You Use a Third-Party Antivirus

 

The Yoga takes 7 mm drives only, the 9.5 mm drive won't work.

Capacitive pen works like your finger, if you think drawing with your finger is okay, then the pen would do.

 

Hey lead_org, do you know of a good SSD drive that would fit into the Yoga that has good read/write speeds? I am thinking of possibly just buying a TP Yoga with a hard drive, then installing an SSD myself. What are the things to look for to know that it will fit and be compatible with the Yoga?

 

I totally agree with everything you just said. I am not a CAD user and don't really do a lot of photo editing. I will mainly be taking notes, doing assignments using office, web browsing and watching videos. All of this can be handled easily with an i5 (especially since it's a 4th gen) 4gb ram. I told myself that if I could get an i5/i7 configuration with digitizer and 256gb for under $1500 I would jump on it. At present with the 12% discount I hit that mark.

This is what I ordered.

Core i5
4gb ram
256gb SSD
Dual Band Wireless Card

For anyone interested this was the breakdown

1479.00 Cost Before Discount
-177.48 Using 12% Discount Code: 12CLOSE0624
3.00 CA Recycling Fee
117.14 CA Sales Tax

$1421.66 TOTAL

Happy Holidays Everyone.

 

beexsama, looks like you made the right choice. I may be getting the exact same configuration as you. I might however buy a seperate ssd and install it myself.

 

This was one of the things I was pondering. I could save 150 bucks and purchase a 256gb or larger drive, later. I have a 120gb SSD on my desktop, and it is not enough. I went to look at the prices for a 256gb, and the majority were priced at approx. $200. That's why I opted for the 256gb now, rather than later. I'd rather just eat it now than have to bother swapping out the SSD later. My total still came under my max, which was $1500. The 256gb should last me for the foreseeable future. If you can find a larger SSD relatively cheap, then you are definitely getting the better deal.

 

What I was contemplating was waiting for the HDD options to be available. Buy that, then buy an SSD separately.

 

The configurations for the HDD might be better. By then, prices might drop and NFC will be available in some configurations. However, lead_org made a good point in an earlier post. He doesn't recommend getting a HDD because the spinning can cause vibrations. I am in agreement to that observation. But, it really is going to depend on your needs. If you plan to just keep your laptop flat on a solid surface, then I suppose it wouldn't matter. I know some of you like to put all your videos and songs and other media on your laptop and it is 500+ gigs sometimes. So a HDD option is important. I on the other hand plan to lug it around and manhandle it.

I've been waiting months for this to get released. I went like basically the whole quarter without a laptop, because I was patiently waiting for the TPY. I just kept going to our computer labs, but they kept getting full. My classmates were doing their assignments in class while I just sat there bored, listening to the mundane sounding professors. Never again! Come January when the next quarter starts I will be ready. (^_^)

 

Have anyone tried to install Ubuntu on the TPY?

And as I side question: Do anyone know about good programs for Linux to annotate pdfs (with the digitizer) and to write notes?

 

I am using the Samsung 830 Pro with the old machine. I am happy with the speed. SSD is really fast now, so which ever you choose should be okay, as long as they are 7 mm/2.5 inch and SATAIII.

 

How is battery life coming along with the digitizer models? Is there a noticeable difference between models with the digitizer and models without?

 

I think the Fujitsu T904 deserves discussion and is a strong contender against the Thinkpad Yoga.
For those of you interested in discussing the Fujitsu T904 in further detail, I created a separate thread to do it:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/fujitsu/738118-fujitsu-lifebook-t904.html#post9461674

 

Hey thank you guys for the input on antivirus software.

 

just fyi for those of you going to grab a one link doc, I was doing some research on it and came across

New Lenovo - ThinkPad OneLink Pro Dock 2 - YouTube - looks like a new doc, I haven't been able to find a part number for it yet though.

lenovo chat said it wasn't available for the thinkpad yoga, which is odd because at the 1:00 mark it says it's great for a thinkpad yoga.

Have in my cart
• i7-4500U(4MB Cache, up to 3.00GHz) • Windows 8.1 Pro 64 - English • Touch & Pen, FHD (1920 x 1080) • 8GB PC3-12800 DDR3L on MB • 256 GB SSD • Intel Dual Band Wireless 7260AC with Bluetooth 4.0
just waiting to figure out the doc thing before submitting a purchase.

 

Personally I'm a photographer and I plan to use the stylus for photoshop editing. Also in my spare time I do a bit of watercolour painting - and I thought I might try my hand at some digital art.

 

Looks to be available now.

 

The video also show the ThinkPad Yoga as the featured device for the OneLink Pro 2 dock. I am so getting this baby. I hated the HDMI one in the old dock.

Also no wonder they put the hdmi port in the Yoga, they wanted you to get this dock for the dvi and displayport.

 

Another person reported the digitizer problem on the lenovo forum...
At this point nobody reported not having this problem with the final product. This is not good

 

Regarding antivirus, personally I've relied on MS antivirus/anti malware for the last few years and so far haven't been affected by anything at home or at work. As someone mentioned though, there may be better options out there. I have previously used Avast and found it to do a good job for free also.

Regarding the digitizer I'm a web developer and I've been using it a lot in meetings, and yesterday I was in a series of talks. It was great to use within the talks to take notes (without having to tap away at a keyboard) and during workshops (to take notes + to annotate screenshots). I am starting to wonder how I did without it, but of course the answer lies in the pile of old notebooks that I never look at any more. It saves carrying around a pen + notebook certainly.

The handwriting recognition even almost manages to get it right most of the time with my dodgy handwriting unless I'm writing something odd (MySQL seems to give it issues)

I managed to use it from about 08:30-16:30 yesterday on and off (approx 4h-5h of use within that time) and still had 20%-30% power remaining. I probably could have made it through the whole day, but then I spotted a spare power socket so went for it. (i7 w/ digitizer)

I had already ordered a USB3 dock prior to seeing the onelink's + the 2x DVI outputs on that seem to work very well, so all in all I'm happy enough. The only downside of course is that it requires a seperate charger. But on the plus side, the dock can be used on other laptops easily.

 

All reports so far are from the UK though. Could still be a bad batch.

 

I'm a student (although I just finished my final semester already - *sigh* these things come out too late), and I'm also a heavy reader, not only novels but non-fiction books as well, scientific, technology, and even design ... all sort of topics. Apart from the novels, the majority of the other books are in pdf form that is great for annotation, and that's where the active digitiser stylus comes in. I am also learning Japanese by self-study, I bought quite a few ebooks already, all in pdf form. This is a big deal, the start of a new experience, because for the first time in my life I would not feel bad about writing onto a pristine new book page - because it is an ebook of course!! Having the digitiser, I can practice writing Japanese characters right on the page, or even complete sentence exercises, great stuffs!!!

Also, I happen to like painting and I have always been fascinated by the idea of digital painting. Now I can finally draw all I like with this machine. It is just perfect in every way.

Because of these usages, I have been waiting and waiting for a long time for the right device. Basically any pc out on the market that doesn't have a digitiser is not for me.

 

Second this question. I'm a student looking to get this for note-taking (on pdf's and pdf-ified slides) directly. I'm planning on dual-booting immediately with linux and I'd like to be able to annotate on there. I know Okular (KDE's PDF viewer) has some annotation support, but I found it fairly limited and annoying to use (I didn't have a digitizer, don't think it supports them).

 

I've used Xournal before, it supports digitizers but is not especially feature rich. On Windows, OneNote is probably the best choice, from what I've read there doesn't seem to be anything on Linux that can compete with it.

 

I have the same problem with digitizer. Very annoying, I ended up using pen&paper

Bought from moreComputers in UK

 

Yeah. Xournal is what some of our profs use aswell, and it seems to be the best Linux alternative to OneNote.

So, I contacted the german Lenovo support about the digitizer issue, and unfortunately, they were of absolutely no help. I contacted the general hotline at first, which then redirected me to the Thinkpad hotline, which redirected me to the Ideapad Line (after numerous times which I asked if they are sure about this, since it's called Thinkpad Yoga, but they insisted it was a Yoga and therefore an Ideapad), which then wanted to redirect me to another Thinkpad hotline, and after they wanted to redirect me to the Ideapad hotline again, I hung up. That's some really bad phone support.

Afterwards, I proceeded to contact the Lenovo US support chat, which seems to be way more helpful. The support guy told me that he never heard of that issue, although he is US-only. But seeing that he didn't hear of that issue yet is a good sign.

I think I'll take the risk and just order one. If it's faulty, I'll send it back.

EDIT: cuba_guy, that sucks to hear, but it's another report from the UK. Interesting.

 

I wonder when new dock will be released.

I got OneLink dock in red and have problem with wqhd monitor as the dock only supports FullHD. If new dock is still couple of months away than I may just keep using this one and then sell it on ebay, if i could get 60 pounds for it (paid 85) i'd be happy.

 

Question to Linux users:

Anyone know how to set global scaling in Linux? I am running linux with xfce in virtual box as my dev environment, and everything is too small to be usable. Font scaling in xfce helps a little bit, but UI elements are still very small, java applications are not scaled (Intellij IDEA), also tabs are too small in SublimeText (i believe it's written in python). I tried setting dpi with xrandr but that didn't work, maybe something to do with me running it in Virtual Box

 

Thanks. I am still not so familiar with the sizes. If I installed a 512 GB SSD, will it work with the TP Yoga? Is there a reason why Lenovo only offers 256gb?

 

Great find! I wonder how people are able to get a hand on those videos when Lenovo hasn't publicly released them. I'll also be waiting for this rather than getting the first onelink dock

 

This video is posted on non-Lenovo YouTube account, could be that the person whom was doing the video editing accidentally leaked the video. It happens. But now that i know about this new dock, i feel much better about my Yoga.

Regarding the hdd sizes, what Lenovo uses really depends on availability at the time certification, since most laptop have a design to mass production timeframe of around 8 to 18 months. What were available then, may not reflect what is available now. Technology is moving lot faster than what these engineers can test for.

 

Does anyone know if there is any chance of getting 3G/LTE and GPS on any TPY models?

 

It turns out that the onelink dock 2 video was actually released by Lenovo themselves yesterday on YouTube at full resolution!

Lead_org I was also wondering if this SSD will work in the ThinkPad Yoga: Amazon.com: Samsung Electronics 840 Pro Series 2.5-Inch 256 GB SATA 6GB/s Solid State Drive MZ-7PD256BW: Computers & Accessories

 

I actually don't plan to use the HDD. I just want to buy it up front since it will be cheaper, then install an SSD of my choosing later since I can save a few bucks and get an ever better SSD than what Lenovo is offering. If you go to the Australian site, they are offering the 500GB HDD. To upgrade to a 256GB SSD, you need to add around $300 USD. For $200 I could get a good 256 SSD that surpasses the speed and quality of the one that comes with it already. On top of this, I also have the 500GB HDD for backup if ever I need it. So I have a HDD and an even better SSD while saving $100 on top of it.

 

+1 for digitizer error.
Bought it 2 days ago from here: Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga
Impressive company, free next day shipping and they had the max model for £1276 back then (and i really got it next day
Im gonna wait till the water clears out around the digitizer stuff and see how they gonna replace it.
3 year on site warranty would be nice too but the warranty extension site says: 07/11/13 21/12/14 395 days remaining && There are currently no Service Offerings for this system! Please contact us at . thanks!
Somebody mentioned that he sees the extension now on the site. Is that in the US or UK?

 

The video was posted before on the Lenovovision Youtube channel: ThinkPad OneLink Pro Dock - YouTube So I guess this is announced.

This new Dock is also released for the upcoming X1 Carbon successor.