Lenovo Yoga 910 - Detailed Review & Parts

True to form the Samsung doesn't display Yellow. It's all mustard. So that is going back.

I really liked the Yoga 910 other than the fan noise. I hope the solve it soon

I might try the HP after all. Has anyone else tried it?

 

I really liked this review!

 

Did you check the build date on your two Yogas? Wonder if they were part of the same batch. Might be worth picking another one up from a different location. Mine doesn't run hot or loud. I couldn't be happier.

 

I'll do that tomorrow and let you know

 

but btw there are many other reports of the loud fan out there other than my own, so i am nervous.

 

I've seen yours and I think two others, but I think most people who don't have problems don't bother to post that fact.

 

I went into BestBuy again yesterday and the high pitched noise wasn't as apparent in 2 of their display models.

That being said, another review reporting the same issue as me was just posted on Lenovos's own forums. There are now a good number across BestBuy's site, Reddit, Lenovos's forums

I may try a second model this weekend because other than that it is a great machine

Btw Jason a potential reason it may not happen to you may be due to the load you run on it. I am a computer programmer and watch 60fps 4k youtube videos . It's normal for fan to be on but no where near as high pitched and loud as the Lenovo 910 in many of the units being reported

 

Lol literally as I posted this another user posted a buzzy fan on Reddit. He said he swapped his and the next unit was better

 

Yeah, I've been following the reviews on all of those same sites. My fan doesn't come on very often, but it has several times, and it's never been high pitched or offensively loud at all.

 

Josh,
have you seen that lenovo posted a response to your review on best buy? Not that it isn't a canned response or anything....BUT, there is a BIOS update out as of November 2nd for the 910. Maybe give it a try?

The readme literally says nothing worthwhile about what its possibly fixing. In fact there's quite a few updates on that page from 31OCT

Updates

 

Thanks Keith. Unfortunately it was a canned response. The newly posted bios on the support page is just the same bios that the computer already comes with.

 

super odd since the date was the 2nd and you've had yours for nearly a month now. bummer.

 

Ah! That's the day it was posted to the site. If you click on it, there is a Release Notes file. It has a different older date

 

Guess what everyone.... I'm sitting here with my 2nd Lenovo Yoga 910 4k 16g 512g SSD and...

It has the same very loud high pitched fan as the prior one I had.

Definitely a problem with the design of the machine.

If you run anything substantially taxing on the CPU this machine will sound like a vacuum cleaner

 

Btw if you set the max processor state to 99% it will reduce the fan noise a fair bit. Doesn't eliminate it but its better

 

I wonder if it's possibly to find an after market fan for those fans. Would be awfully difficult obviously for a notebook but curious.

 

Its definitely much much better at 99% btw, it still comes on way too early i.e. when processor is at 52C the fan is going. There really isn't a need for that.

 

Please note I have posted solutions to the fan issue in detail here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/solution-yoga-910-fan-issue.798186/

 

Josh,
did you see Lisa's review on MobileTechReview? She also mentioned the fan noise, and she didn't have the 4k version like you. However, what I found interesting was she only had the problem when it was plugged into the AC adapter. Is that indicative of yours as well?

 

Yes, I did see that. I like Lisa, she does a good job, better than most. Like all reviewers though, they don't use the laptop for a long duration of time, so even though she mentioned it, she may not find it as annoying. Right now, i'm writing this on the 910 and the fan is going nuts. I am literally doing NOTHING on this computer other than typing this. I checked Task Manager and there is nothing running other than Edge.

I haven't spent much time on non AC power to see if it is better. I personally don't want to run my laptop on battery all the time to lower fan noise.

I may have to return yet another 910. Its so annoying. I am going to hang onto it for a couple more weeks to see if Lenovo issues a bios fix

 

Well if you do happen to try it out without ac more often let us know if the issue is not as prevalent. Lisa once again mentioned the fan noise in her smackdown between the x360 today. I do hope they push a firmware update soon.

 

I am onto my 2nd unit of the 4K 16g Yoga 910. The issue seems equally prevalent on battery power. From taking the laptop completely apart. My hypothesis is that there are a couple of issues:

1) The physical fans themselves are just loud and whinny
2) The heat dissipation due to issues such as thermal paste etc.

My laptop easily gets to 93 celsius when running CPU intensive tasks. Its just too hot

I tried to repaste but unfortunately I could not unscrew the screws on the CPU. They were too tight and the thread of the screws was coming apart

 

I just bought one of these myself and believe Joshva is on to something. Poor fans. Alternatively, the internal design and placement of the fans creates increased air turbulence, in which case even new fans would still have the same issue. The likelihood of a bios patch fixing that is unlikely. It would likely just throttle the CPU and stop the fans from coming on but wouldn't actually permanently stop the noise.

Because of that reason, I am going to return mine. The XPS 13 is the alternative I am considering but it is a compromise. It is just a tad too small and doesn't have the 360 ability and less memory/storage. However, I realized I probably will not use the 910 in tablet form for 95% of the time. It is a shame they screwed this up so badly and are not likely to fix the problem.

 

Can someone tell me what is the model number it use for touchpad from Synaptics? Thanks.

 

I strongly advise returning it. I got a HP Spectre X360. After a bios update to that unit, you can still hear the fans going but it is a more normal airflow sound. I'd advise looking at that unit. The screen is very good for a 1080 btw. Don't let that phase you.

On a side note, my first HP Spectre was broken, it wouldn't sit flat on a table and it had a clatter sound from the fan. I returned that one and the current model is perfect.

Btw I also have the 2016 Macbook Pro 13 non touchbar with 16g ram and 512g SSD. It performs as good as the Kaby Lake's due to the SSD. I mainly use that machine

 

To add some relevant substance, I picked up my Yoga 910 (16GB/512GB/4K display) the other day as an open box deal from Best Buy. Even coming off of a Samsung ATIV Book 9 Plus which was really very quiet, I haven't been experiencing significant fan issues with this Yoga 910. (Edit: I did notice last night one interesting behavior that I've noted below...)

Even now as I type this, I'm streaming the Sugar Bowl with audio and video on one side of the display along with a dozen Chrome tabs open and several other applications running and nothing seems abnormal. Yes, the fans do kick on every now and then and they are more high-pitched than the fans on my previous Samsungs. But even though I consider myself very sensitive to fan noise (and I get aggravated around my friends with older Macbooks when they throttle forward for liftoff), I can't get this machine to bother me. I've been using it to study for the bar exam for the past few days and it's been on around the clock.

I haven't made any modifications to settings and I'm using the standard Balanced power plan. I did all of the bios and firmware updates using Lenovo's online update scan utility and ran all of the Windows updates as well. The fans were certainly cranking during the update process so I know what they sound like, but I just don't get that through normal use, even with video streaming. It'd be interesting to compare model numbers to determine build dates and batches once a big enough data sample might be available. I did read these and other reviews noting the fan issue, so I was definitely prepared to have to return this notebook, but I'm pleased with the outcome so far.

[EDIT: I did notice last night that when I plugged in to charge with the display on that that fans came on full speed after the battery reached full capacity and seemed to stay that way until I unplugged from power. I'm not sure how the charging circuit works on this device - the Samsung suspends charging at 100% capacity and then resumes at 99% as long as it is plugged in (a standard Li-Ion charging technique called topoff charging, as Li-Ion does not tolerate trickle charging very well), so it's never on long enough to require fans. I'm not sure why the Lenovo is requiring active heat dissipation well after the battery reaches full capacity.]

I did consider the Spectre as a very viable alternative - I do like the inclusion of Thunderbolt and the better keyboard feel with the HP. I do not like the overall aesthetics of the Spectre, though - the overly-rounded corners resemble old netbook devices and I cringe at the sight of a silver-on-silver keyboard (the keyboard backlighting on the HP is wacky, too). I know those criticisms are all based in vanity, but if I'm dropping over a grand on a computer to carry around with me everywhere, I want to feel satisfied every time I look at it. I do know that it is a very good device, though, and definitely worthy of consideration.

Back to the Yoga 910, though:

- The hinge is amazing. Because it is so stiff, opening it is a bit like shucking steamed oysters, but that's also coming from the Samsung with was almost perfect in mechanical design. I probably just need to relearn how to open a laptop with two hands again. I'm so pleased to have the ability to pull it out in bed or on the train or plane and use it in tablet mode (I did have the original Yoga before the Samsungs, and I missed that feature).

- That said, one drawback of the 910 is the thin bezel does make for some weird issues in tablet mode since when I grip it with my hands it registers the base of my thumb as a touch very easily - so a swipe with a finger of my other hand can register as a pinch-zoom, or a button press may not take because of the multiple touches it senses. That is something I wish Lenovo could work on, perhaps by adjusting touch sensitivity at the screen perimeter in tablet mode.

- The touchpad is absolutely amazing. It does click a bit more tgha I'd like, but it's acceptible and the feel and input sensitivity is on par with any Macbook I've used over the years.

- The keyboard is good for an ultrabook - better than the Samsung, at least. The spacing seems to make the biggest difference. I have no issues with the right Shift key since I seem to use the left Shift key almost exclusively. I didn't realize I was in the minority in that department, but I'd much rather pinky the left shift key and have my right (primary) hand free to cover more ground. But I'm not a perfect technical typist, either.

Overall good experience, so YRMV when you consider this and anyone else's reviews. Hopefully we can get an owners' thread going at some point if a few more people take the plunge and stick with it.

 

With the move to a Precision Touchpad on the Yoga 910, I can't seem to locate any hardware-specific information on it as I would expect. Lenovo does not provide a specific driver for this touchpad and so it uses the generic Microsoft driver. I did download drivers from Synaptics but they showed no noticeable effect and I still cannot get a hardware part number through available scanning utilities.

I opened up the notebook and snapped a pic of the touchpad controller for reference:

 

Hey all! I've tried out both the Yoga 900 and the 910 today and fell in love with the thin bezel and larger screen of the 910. However, it feels much worse than the 900 in tablet mode, as the metal body is uncomfortable to hold. Is there a version of the 910 available with the same rubberised finish as the 900? If not, which of the two would you choose in my situation? I plan on using my Lenovo machine as a backup computer for programming projects and travel.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

 

Picked up both the Lenovo Yoga 910 and the new Dell XPS 2-in-1 to decide between the two (already tried the new HP Spectre i7 as well).

HP Spectre 13 i7; Loud high pitched fans, returned it
XPS 13 2-in-1; no fans, but slower CPU (not by much when plugged in at least)

And the 910, sigh, loud high pitched fans.. even with an undervolt.. It doesn't help, nothing helps, a repaste isn't necessary since the temps are really good actually on this thing.. The i7 Kaby doesn't ever throttle... holds 3.5ghz under any situation (except for Prime95 where it still did well but throttled back to 2800~mhz).

Such a shame because the battery life of the 910 is AMAZING and everything else is pretty much perfect about it.

The XPS, while being nearly $400 more has the terrible CABC (brightness issue)..

It's a shame Lenovo didn't allow the CPU to get to about 80c before turning the fans on like the previous Dell XPS 13" ones.

Lenovo being the first to do the 2-in-1s, after all of these years, can't learn the lesson of quality/quiet fans. Back when I owned the Yoga 2 Pro, it also went back for loud fan noise, and here they are years later, doing the same crap all over again.

Don't tell me it would be impossible to make quiet/thin fans.. Go put a strain on any MacBooks and you'll hear a nice whoosing low-toned fan sound.. Nothing high pitched there.

Sigh, back to the drawing board, might just keep the XPS 2-in-1.. despite it's shorter battery life and semi-annoying CABC issues.

 

my yoga 910 8GB RAM only
from hk HKD$14248

 

Did you with the new BIOS try set in to Quite Mode? See
https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/Lenovo...fan-even-when-CPU-at-lt-35/m-p/3552229#M47982

 

Also wondering about using a power bank to charge the yoga 910. Has anyone found a power bank or external battery that works well to power the yoga 910?