Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga

I ordered on 30th and I'm based in Uppsala.
Todate my shipment has gone Shanghai China, South Korea, Germany, Kazaghstan, Poland, and now its back in Germany again.
To be fair UPS have stated all along that I should expect delivery on Tuesday next week, I think they bundle many devices together in a shipment - thats really the only explanation I've got for it being shipped around like it is...
I'm hoping they know where Sweden is...

 

Lenovo do bulk shipments of system. They bundle a large number of systems together and pick the cheapest flight route. So sometimes this mean your laptop would travel half of the world to get to the final customer.

 

Yeah that's kinda what I figured too - I know logistics can get complex. This new laptop will be better traveled than me by the time it arrives! I will just buckle down and wait for Tuesday.

 

The UPS tracker is a bit weird - are you sure that on the location tracker it didn't just say that they've processed the package to be received in Germany (i.e. the German depot has confirmed they are ok to receive the package and after which the package can be sent towards Germany) and then that shows up the last location as being in Germany even though the package has never been in there yet?

 

FINALLY got my Yoga yesterday so thought I'd post my thoughts about it so far in case that helps anyone out.

- I don't understand people saying the screen is glossy, this screen is NOT glossy it's pretty matte to me. I thought there was a screen protector on it that I had to peel off when I first got it because it looks literally a tiny bit more glossy than my old X230 and other ThinkPads. It has a bit of gloss to it but I don't think glossy is a fair term to use, since it's nothing like a Mac or any of those other glossy screens at all which is really nice.

- The clickable trackpad is really horrible. I only use the trackpoint and the buttons are really hard to use. It's better than the Helix though as this actually does all click down but you literally have to make sure your thumb is far down on it. Also the middle button for scrolling you have to be right at the top of the trackpad. It's so bad I'm not sure if I want to keep it, so I've been using a mouse. Not sure why they had to ruin something so good.

- The machine is really quiet, like I only heard the fan when I got it during updates, but since then it's silent even in tablet mode which is nice.

- The lift and lock keyboard is really cool and works really well. I'm not sure how often I'll use this as a tablet though, it's very heavy for that, too heavy for one hand, and I feel nervous always putting it down on the keyboard!

- I have to use the display at 150% I find the 125% scaling is too small for me. Still the same issues with apps though like Skype is super small and chrome needs tweaks to make it work properly.

- Someone was asking before about swapping the FN and CTRL keys in bios and I remember a reply saying you can't. Well there IS an option in bios just like all ThinkPad's to swap those keys. I don't since I grew up this way but it's definitely there.

- I don't like how it only has mini hdmi or whatever it is, I don't know any device that uses that and had to buy an adapter. It's strange that it's the only port it has and then includes no adapter either. At least display port or mini dvi or what not is semi common but most monitors don't use hdmi so literally everyone would need an adapter.

- I don't have a use for the digitizer but I find it's weird to use, feels almost rough on the screen or bumpy if that makes sense. Mobile tech review was saying other digitizers with a felt tip are better since more natural, but other than maybe signing a contract I won't use it much anyway.

- If anyone is wondering, when you use it in tablet mode the display hing kind of snaps back which is good, pushing the screen into the base. I was wondering if it would fully lie flat against the back and it does.

I think that's all I can think of!

OH one quick edit. This is really annoying, but ALL the stickers on the machine look like someone threw them on last minute in haste with their eyes closed. The intel inside, the Ultrabook inspired by Intel, and the Energy Star sticker are all crooked, like REALLY bad literally almost a 45 degree angle so will probably pull them off since it looks stupid. Maybe they are meant to come off anyway but I don't usually take them off so just seems sloppy.

 

Strange... I do not feel any difference to any other screen.
Btw, I'm from Germany.

 

Same thing happened to me too. It was supposed to ship today, but has been pushed to the 17th... Definitely frustrating because I get the feeling they will have better discounts in the new year/boxing day. Has anyone had any experience with Lenovo Canada's price match policy?

 

I find the screen is far too bright, I use it on brightness setting 1. Jealous of people that can handle higher, I Get such bad migraines if I have it really bright, so I find if anything my issue with this screen is that I'm either pushing it in terms of being too dim, or one notch up and its too bright. If I use the tough feature in Windows 8 to adjust the brightness then it has more in between ranges and can get it a bit better.

 

Do you have the digitizer version, or the non-digitizer version? I have the digitizer one, and was thinking that the screen wasn't as bright as I'd like. I am coming from a X200T outdoor that is also rated at 400 nits, and the X200T seemed much brighter.

I wonder if the anti-glare film is making it appear darker.

 

Lads, my 2 cents. This now looks like "courierreview.com" forum. 3rd of post about when shipped and what a status at the moment. Hard to find issues review about tpy itself. ;(

 

You can get a program like startisback. It's cheap. What is does is bring back the start menu and adds some other functionality. I'm planning on installing it once I get the laptop.

StartIsBack - real start menu for Windows 8 and Windows 8.1

 

It will. I just love the quick boot times. If you really miss the desktop, install Start8. It's only $5 and you can use it on every Win8 system you own. I bought it once and it's on all of my devices, TPY, Yoga 11s, X230t, Surface Pro and Dell Venue Pro 8.

 

I've seen a few questions about sleeves for the thinkpad yoga. Mine just showed up today and the Tom Bihn sleeve for the 13 macbook pro retina fits perfectly. I have the horizontal one, not sure how well the vertical one would fit.
Cache - Laptop sleeve and iPad sleeve. Many sizes for PCs and Apple laptops. - TOM BIHN

 

I have the digitizer version.

 

Hello,

Just registred to share my exp with TP Yoga.
First I was suprised with my version of yoga P/N 20CD000MMC
Even though it is listed as i5 CPU with 4GB it shows that system has 8GB. I dont know how is that possible? Still it has i5 CPU and active digitizer price without VAT 900EURO. Anyone else noticed that their TP Yoga has more memory ??

- Build quality is perfect. I love its keyboard and sturdy hinges.
- Screen quality is fine nothing superb but works really well and I am glad that ive picked FHD over QHD since all aps are usable with 8.1 scaling
- Digitizer works very well
- 12,5" vs 13,3" At first I was afraid that 12,5" would be too small for work but it seems to be ok.
- Tablet mode is bit clumsy but good enough for some bed reading. Eventhough screen has antireflect coating still it get smudges all over and I hate it lol.
- Installed HDD is quite slow even with 16GB cache. I assume 16 GB cache is connected over M.2 connector anyone knows if its possible to upgrade it and install OS on it? there are not many M.2 memory modules.
- Weight is fine.

Ready to answer any question

 

hey all, anyone doing any coding on the yoga. Im a comp sci student so will be coding and taking notes for math ect. Semien is the HDD really that slow?

 

Its not extremly slow but its slower than pure S-ATA3 SSD which I had on my ASUS Zenboook. I am thinking about upgrading to standard 7mm 2,5" SSD until they release more M.2 SSD which.. But still its decent for work. So far I really like this notebook

 

Imho boot time to login screen approx 23s.. no other apps installed just clean factory install.. btw my version of yoga is with 16GB cache M.2 and 5400RPM HDD 500GB

 

What is the SSD drive partition breakdown?

I am wondering if there are recovery partitions I can chose not to image to my new SSD I am going to install.

 

wow, man. I would love the 8gb with the i5. But for some reason they've attributed 4gb with i5 and 8gb with i7; exactly like the surface.

 

That restriction is only in the US as far as I'm aware. My configuration is I5, 8GB RAM & 256GB SSD (UK).

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk

 

TPY vs SP2 comparison here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1UWFeBPwZM&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk

 

Hello, just wanted to update anyone interested, my TPY sputtered to a black screen and finally to a boot menu that I was stuck on. After I closed it in frustration and went to bed, the battery died in the night and it restarted just fine in the morning. Essentially the same as holding the power button for 10-20 seconds as I was told to do. No issues since. I looked in the system history (if that's what it's called) and there was a long list of errors seeming to have to do with Bing Weather at the time of the crash so perhaps it was a Bing/Windows problem? I'm really just guessing but would like to know anyone else' opinions. Regarding my previous excellent rating of build quality, after a few more days with the machine the only quality issue to report is a squeak when you push below the "T" of "ThinkPad" below the keyboard. You can hear the squeak when you push a couple inches to the left of that spot too, between the trackpad and "ThinkPad" logo. Looking very closely there is a VERY slight separation of the very top piece from the L shape piece that appears to slide out with the removal of a screw. Anyone think this is a big deal? or big enough of a deal to return? I know what someone mentioned about every laptop having SOME sort of imperfectoin, i'm just not sure what should be ok in a 1500 machine....

Again, thoughts are greatly appreciated!

 

I was wondering how's writing on the Yoga? When you have it on tablet mode, does it cause friction to the keyboard side on to the surface? Will it scratch the laptop in the long run?

 

There are little rubber bumpers that come out on the four corners of the keyboard side. If you keep it on a flat hard surface, like a desk, the keyboard and trackpad won't touch the bottom of the desk. The rubber does a good job of keeping the tablet in place when I used one note to work on some math problems. The only thing, is that the rubber bumpers rub if you wanted to move the TPY without lifting it up. My bumpers have wear marks on them. But, on and all, it's definitely solid.

Another thing to note, is that when you do write in tablet mode, to be very careful on how much pressure you apply on the panel. I don't know if I just had a defect on my screen, but I got a scratch on mines already, because I apparently applied too much pressure with my pen. There is a vertical line on the right edge of my screen. I have been using the same pressure throughout the rest of the panel and had no issue.

 

Something not yet touched upon enough is how the yoga feels in tablet mode. Does it feel odd how you can still feel the outline of the keys on the back of the laptop or is it not noticeable? I love how the DUO 13 works in this regard but I trust lenovo's support and hardware more than with Sony. I would be using this mainly for notes so it would stay in tablet mode most of the time on a surface. Also, is it still unknown when the digitizer version will hit stores?

 

At first I thought it was going to be a little gimmicky, but it is actually quite functional. The keys are not solidly "locked," but it is definitely better than having the squishy feeling from the keys, from say a Y2P. However, like many mentioned already, the trackpad does not lock it place. Though, not a deal breaker, I often find myself clicking the huge touchpad as it does not lock in place. I really look forward to a version 2 in the future where they manage to lock the touchpad down or go back to click buttons. Though the large pad feels nice, I personally prefer physical separate click buttons.

For the most part, I will be using tablet mode for taking notes, so it will be on a desk most of the time. But I also rest it on my lap or left arm while using my right arm to use the touch screen. When moving around I am comfortable gripping the Yoga with one hand on keyboard side.

No word on the digitizer version for stores as of now.

 

Thanks for the response. If the Q704 is too high of a price then I will probably just go ahead and order it.

 

Gorilla glass 3 supposed to be scratch proof. Thinkpad is supposed to be of highest quality. What's going on with all these false advertisements?

 

I think what's happening when you hear people report the scratches is that they (Lenovo) apply a coating/film to the gorilla glass to cut down on glare. The pen scratches the coating, not the actual screen itself. I've seen people try to scratch gorilla glass with car keys and stuff, so there's no way a digitizer pen would do anything to it.

It's still kind of annoying though.

 

If this is the case...is there a chance that I can get a replacement film in the future. From what little knowledge I possess, the film has some type of adhesive on it to keep it on the screen. The scratch is rainbow color if that means anything. Is it the coat/film? I am disappointed, because I didn't pay $1500 for a laptop that would scratch so easily, when it was meant to be written on. It looks like something that could be easily peeled off if I tried.

 

Hello,

im trying to replace the HDD with a SSD - are there any howtos or pics that show how to open up the yoga?

Thanks!

 

I will be doing this when I get mine next month. Check out the FRU videos on this link: RTPW1230_ThinkPad_YogaUltrabook

It makes the procedure look super easy. What I am planning to do is simply is buy the cheapest HDD model, then replace it with the Samsung 840 Evo. I will first make recovery media though from the original hard drive, then make a recovery partition on the new SSD that I install

 

I have already peeled off the anti-glare screen protector that was on mine. I didn't like the slight graininess that it added to the screen, and wanted it to be more like the Surface Pro's screen. It was not hard to do. If you are familiar with the screen protectors that came on Fujitsu tablets (T5010, T4020, T4215, etc...), it is very similar to that.

It actually came off a littler easier than my old T5010's did, probably because it hadn't been on the system as long. I was able to take it off in one piece, while on the Fujitsu systems I had to peel a little and then cut it, then peel some more until it was all off. I don't think I'd be able to put it back on and get it to look good, but I figure there will be plenty of aftermarket screen protectors available in the future if I decide I want one back on.

Love the screen clarity now, and the feel of touch is better in my opinion. It also seems to be just a bit brighter.

 

Hey that is good to know. Did it leave any adhesive residue on the screen after you peeled it off?

 

Thanks, that makes me feel a little better. I will probably remove the film in the not too distant future.

Anybody did a fresh install of windows 8 and is having trouble with the brightness and keyboard controls? After installing all the Lenovo drivers when I set brightness to max, it is actually only about half brightness. Also The indicator lights for the mute and microphone are not working as well as F8-F12 keys.

Can someone direct me to the correct drivers or tell me what software I need.

I did a UEFI install of Windows 8.1 (core)

Edit:

Just removed the anti-glare screen protector too. It was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be. I had to use a scraper to get it going, but once it got going it wasn't too bad. Had to go slow, the bottom of the screen in particular wanted to give and pop out. The screen protector is really stuck on there.

The screen is much more responsive now with finger gestures. It feels as everything is much more responsive. The panel is very glossy and reflective, but now the colors are more vibrant and everything looks less grainy. Most importantly for me, the screen protector got scratched and left a rainbow colored line that annoyed the heck out of me. That line is now gone.

 

anyone else having problems with the trackpad or keyboard?

Sometimes my touchpad isnt working at all - it isnt even there in hardware manager. If i use the touchscreen (in laptop mode) the touchpad wont work anymore.
Same problem with the keyboard from time to time.
Before this was fixed by restarting now the touchpad doesnt even work after rebooting... this is extremely annoying.

I know the TPY disables the touchpad when you flip it in Tablet or Tent mode - maybe an issue with the software / sensor?
Someone know a fix or anything?

 

Nope, no residue. Just went slowly and carefully to not put too much pressure on the screen while removing it.

 

Sorry to bother you. What was the process, if any, to remove the anti-glare coating. The coating is on top of the panel right?

 

I just picked at one of the bottom corners with my fingernail, and it could be pulled up. I went slowly so as not to put too much pressure on the glass.

 

I just picked at one of the bottom corners with my fingernail, and it could be pulled up. I went slowly so as not to put too much pressure on the glass.

 

Very interesting; thanks for sharing that. When you said it felt better to the touch, were you referring to fingers, or to using it with a stylus (not sure if yours is the digitiser version?)

 

Has anyone noticed their backlighting being very slightly uneven? It's only noticeable on a light or white background, and I see it most when scrolling a webpage. Then I can see kind of a slight shadow that stays in the same place on the screen.

Not a big deal, just wondering if anyone else has noticed this.

 

I was referring to the feel with my fingers, but I actually prefer the smoother feel under the pen too.

 

Does anyone who already have their TPY have any real experience of using the digitiser with a Modbook Pro pen? I know there has been talk about different pens, but can't remember if there was any actual experience of using Modbook. Can you buy one if those styluses in the UK, does anyone know?

 

Are there a lot of problems with the yoga? I'm really considering it to replace my surface pro.

 

Laptop Mag Review posted yesterday with some benchmark comparisons.
Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga Review: Business 2-in-1 Ultrabook

 

I'm in the same boat. Have a Surface Pro first gen, and I love it as a tablet but really don't like the keyboard options - the trackpad on the type cover is just almost unusable for my needs. I'm not about to start lugging a separate keyboard and mouse, so the tossup has been between the SP2 and the Thinkpad Yoga. I had already purchased and returned the Yoga 2 Pro, nice enough machine but just not as sturdy as I'd prefer, and the QHD screen was really a problem for all of the RDP sessions I do, I ended up running it at 1920x1080 all the time anyway, so never got much use out of the resolution. Sitting around waiting until my Lenovo rep can get me the deal I'm waiting for next month, but still debating back and forth in my head...

The Thinkpad Yoga doesn't seem to suffer from the same kind of issues the Yoga 2 Pro did (or the same number of issues). The only ones that I've heard that have me a little concerned is the image persistence, which for the ones who encounter it, seems to crop up after a couple weeks of use. So I'm just lurking here waiting for more people whose systems have been arriving last week and this week to chime in after a week or two of using them. Seems to be a very small slice of the pie suffering the issue at least so far... The other issue being some people with some separation by the display, where it seems to split apart some at the seam. Hoping someone posts a photo or two showing it.

 

Thanks beckib

 

I have experienced this issue as well (happened twice until now). The only solution I know is to close and open the laptop. Keyboard however always worked. Only the touchpad and the trackpoint were affected. Don't know if this is a software or hardware thing, but i will try to get a replacement in any case as I have this serious ghosting problem on my device.