The Official Yoga 3 Pro Release Thread

Thanks for the clarification! In that case it's all good. I never use pens or my palm.

 

Regarding (1) I'm a big fan of PassMark's CPU Benchmark page, which goes back pretty far. You may find some comparisons there that are informative, but I don't think the new Broadwells have shown up yet.

Concerning (2) I think going fanless is (for better or worse) relatively new territory for a PC -- your concern about being in Africa sounds like a very legitimate one to me too, but we don't have much existing data to extrapolate from. For sure there will be onboard thermal sensors (and I'm also a fan of utilities like HWiNFO64 to monitor temps), so you may just end up being a pioneer on that issue. On the reassuring side, though, it's worth considering that the new Core M will draw much less power than previous machines, which might mean in the end that they contribute much less heat to the ambient air (grasping at straws here!). It occurs to me that you might think about a cooling pad, but then I realize that doing so kinda defeats the purpose of buying a machine you can take anywhere!

-Matt

 

44.8 Watt Hour battery. Interesting. 10 Watt Hour less than the Y2P. Watching a movie last night on my Y2P it was consuming 8 watt hour so that would be a little over an hour less on my Y2P's battery life.

I wonder why they made the battery smaller on the Y3P

 

But doesn't that mean the battery life will also be lower?

 

Correct me if I'm wrong but I thought all the specs we're seeing at this point are speculations and leaks. I wouldn't trust those as definitive...though if you're right, it is a head-scratcher, Given that the design team wouldn't *knowingly* cripple the system with an obviously weaker battery, there must be other considerations we've overlooked (e.g., lower power draw on the CPU). I suspect all this will make more sense in a few weeks.

-Matt

 

New to the site
I am a Y2P owner and I really love it. Some of the rumors are quite disappointing. If true it would seem that it would be better to just get a Y2P at cheaper cost.
My wishlist that's different from rumors
- Active digitizer (PLEASEEE LENOVOOOOOO)
- 2.5 lbs or less
- 10 hrs or more battery life
- Thinner.
- 2 USB 3.0 ports


Off topic but
Does anyone know how to get the Wifi Direct to work on the Y2P? Last I checked, Intel never updated their Win8/8.1 drivers

 

New Lenovo Yoga tablets, PCs due out for holiday season | Computerworld

Knowing that Ashton Kutcher has been promoted to "product engineer" at Lenovo really knocks my confidence down a few notches! But at least we have an October 9 date for an announcement.

 

Maybe they will use the core m with android version.

 

Matt, thank you very much for your very useful reply, that website is exactly what I'm looking for!

Yea, maybe a cooling pad might become a necessary addition to my bag one of these days. My phone shut down in the heat the other day also, gadgets not designed for the Sahara!!

I wonder what Ashton Kutchers thoughts are on fanless m vs regular u series processors? You think he's a fan of screen digitisers or not?

 

Oh gawd I can't tell if you're joking or not!!! Next time add a smiley to avoid confusion. By the way your screen name is awesome! I often say "what have YOU been smoking???" which either earns me a dirty look or a blank stare.

-Matt

 

Ah OK some more news to fuel speculation -- looks like the Broadwell U-variant is starting to get some leak coverage:

Intel to introduce new Core i-series ‘Broadwell-U’ processors at CES 2015 | KitGuru

@ikjadoon, should we assume that if the Broadwell-U is indeed 15W, then it should also work with a fanless design like the M? If so, I'd feel a bit more optimistic that (a) the Core M variant of the Y3P will come in a bit cheaper, and (b) we'll see Core i3/i5/i7 versions of the Y3P as well maybe by March or April 2015.

-Matt

 

Unfortunately April or march is too long for me

 

My estimate is mildly pessimistic. If chips ship as planned in January, then there's a chance we'll see Core-i Yogas right after CES, say in February. But my impression -- especially when Intel is involved -- is that if they plan to ship in January we'll see a half-dozen reports of delays from manufacturers, stretching into spring.

-Matt

 

Thanks for all the updates. I've been a little busy, So, this post will be a bit more negative than before, but I think it is justified.

I'm also pessimistic regarding Ashton Kutcher's involvement. Figurehead or otherwise, it's not a good sign.

If he's just there for headlines, that probably means Lenovo is just trying to score quick sales. Not inspiring on what will be a thousand-plus dollar purchase.

If he's actually making design decisions...well, enough said.

The more I think about it, the Yoga 3 Pro seems to be a minor step up from the Yoga 2 Pro, if I take these leaks as accurate. It is no longer a premier Ultrabook.

We're getting the same ridiculous, specification-race-motivated 3200x1800 screen that killed the Y2P's battery life.

We're getting the same ridiculous, needless thin-over-battery mentality. 7 hours? I was shocked. Intel has done enough R&D and hand-holding the past 2 years. We're at 6W TDP. 6. Watts. And, we're hoping beyond hope for "up to 7 hours"? Lenovo could hardly care less. We had "7 hours" a few generations ago. Just like with the lack of 5Ghz in the Y2P, Lenovo doesn't want this to be a great laptop. Just good enough...

We're getting the same ignorance of crucial details, like USB 2.0, a 720p front-facing camera, a gimped wireless card (either lacking 5GHz in Y2P or non-Intel in Y3P), SATA vs PCIe, etc.

This laptop is produced for the lowest-common-denominator consumer. Which is par for the course in consumer Windows laptops. I think Lenovo's innovation with the 360 hinge in the original Yoga made me expect they had some higher vision, a higher bar for their products. But, maybe that was just a lucky break and not indicative of the level of innovation they would have in other parts of the laptop.

If I take these leaks as accurate...

We'll see what comes October 9th.

Regarding Broadwell-U, hmm. 15W TDP is still pretty high for fanless. Unless the chassis is engineered beyond what was possible in Haswell-U (which was 17W, IIRC), I think it will still require a fan. It might run less, but if you're doing something CPU-intensive for some length of time, I'm unsure if fanless can cut it.

 

WOW....that's quite a change in perspective for you! Are you leaving me as the last Yoga cheerleader on the thread? I hope not!

I'd say the various improvements from Y1P to Y2P make the step up to Y3P look...incremental...at best. In fact, I guess you're arguing it's really a sideways move. Perhaps you're right.

I have zero industry experience, but my intuition from reading tech blogs and industry news is that your "lowest common denominator" comment is a bit off-target. Instead, while that may indeed by the outcome, I think it's the result of a variety of factors, both internal to the company as well as things outside Lenovo's control (e.g., arrival of new processors, consumer trends, major updates in Windows, etc.). So what we tend to see as "a really boneheaded decision" may turn out to be the best compromise the company can make, given all those factors.

Case in point: I understand that Samsung has withdrawn from the PC market. Over the last several years, I saw posts exactly like yours and mitchellvii's on the Samsung forum pages...reasonably smart owners scratching their heads and trying to understand what appeared to be counter-intuitive business decisions. In the case of Samsung, what looked like indifference and a lot of bad decisions (including product design, marketing, and support) turned out to be all kinds of red flags that Samsung was shifting its resources toward cell phones and basically abandoning laptops. I certainly can't argue that something comparable is happening at Lenovo, but maybe the internal tug-of-war has to do with consumer vs. enterprise...laptop vs desktop...Ideapad vs. Thinkpad. Again, I figure the average consumer believes, "Hey, don't start a product division unless you plan to do it right," but in fact what I've seen over the last decade is an AWFUL lot of "satisficing," i.e., trying to produce and sell just-barely-baked solutions. Maybe what we're seeing here is another example.

I'm still sitting on my hands and waiting for the announcement. How ironic that I'm going on a long business trip the day before it happens. I'll be in a foreign land somewhere and probably hear what Lenovo announced days after everyone else. But I'm still naive and dumb enough to think that the early product/spec listings from those random seller sites are not fully accurate.

-Matt

 

Hi,

I've been reading about the laptops being released with Core M then after some time with Core i7/i5. Why is this being done if the Core M is the latest generation and comes with faster speed and performance? Are there any disadvantages to owning the Core M vs the Core i7?

 

Tell me about it. I fell in love with the original Yoga 13, announced at CES 2012. I was waiting for Haswell (for battery life "promises"), but that didn't pan out, lol. So, Broadwell--I got excited by the Core M inclusion in the Y3P (6W TDP!), but my hopes were misplaced.

True--I wholeheartedly agree that Lenovo is acting in its best short-term/medium-term interests. They are, after all, a business. But, long-term interest? I don't see it--maybe they are playing the loooong game, but I can't wait around for that. I was excited to join the Lenovo bandwagon, but these "just-barely-baked solutions" are the opposite of inspiring confidence.

I understand Lenovo may be having internal discussions/debates/issues, but unfortunately, they aren't delivering. And, as a customer, that's a big sign to me that my priorities and Lenovo's don't align any more.

Good reminder about the leaks. All those spec listings have been pulled, as far as I can tell, leaving a few dead-links in the OP.

---

But, here's something more exciting. Intel, amazingly, has created almost the laptop that I wanted the Yoga 3 Pro to be (sans fanless design and USB 3.1):

Intel's Broadwell-ULT Reference Ultrabook ( Lilputing's coverage | TechReport's coverage )

Let me list the interesting specs:

• 360-degree hinge
• 13.3" 3200x1800 screen (luckily, it comes with PSR--panel self-refresh, so static images use a fair bit less power)
• Active digitizer (and carrying case has a slot for the pen)
• LPDDR3 (huge increase in standby and light-usage battery life)
• Synaptics amazing ForcePad touchpad (it has different pressure sensitivities! On a touchpad! It should be wonderful)
• Full-size HDMI and Gigabit Ethernet
• Intel's AC-7265 (battery-optimized, 2x2 antennas, 2.4Ghz and 5GHz support, and it's Intel)
• 2 USB 3.0 ports
• 1080p front-facing camera (plus an 8MP shooter on the keyboard for tablet-style shooting)
• Extras like a fingerprint sensor, LTE WWAN (via micro-SIM), NFC, GPS, WiGig, Mircast, WiDi, Bluetooth 4.0, accelerometer, gyroscope, ambient light sensor, optional 3D camera, barometric pressure sensor, and a SDXC card slot

Cons: battery is only 50Whr, it weighs 3.4lbs, 3200x1800 screen (but PSR alleviates some of the battery life concerns), not fanless, and no USB 3.1 reversible (but that would've been a few months early, anyway). Interestingly, however, the power-draw on the laptop is limited to 45W, unlike the 65W adapters we saw with the Y2P.

It's like Intel released what I expected to be in the Yoga 3 Pro, heh.

 

I will never understand why the majority of consumers seem to competely prefer thickness and weight over all else. I would much rather a laptop that was a few millimeters thicker and a lb or two heavier if it meant a few hours extra battery life.

My last laptop was a Sony SA, I bought it with the separate sheet battery that I literally never took off.

 

Thanks for the thoughtful response -- if you haven't been invited to be an NBR mod, you really should get an invite! Like I've said before I admire and appreciate your even-temperedness and careful way of thinking!

That's REMARKABLE news about the Intel machine. But help me understand this -- I'm not familiar with the concept. This is a REFERENCE machine, correct? A demo designed to give manufacturers a prototype to play with and mutate? I also have to give my unadulterated first impression. The machine that I saw described would never retail under $1500. I'd expect to see it on the shelves somewhere between $1600 and $1800. Either way, Liliputing's speculation that Lenovo might be involved in the demo unit is pretty intriguing: "If I had to guess, I’d say Intel partnered with Lenovo to built this laptop. It looks like a Lenovo system and the power adapter looks like something you’d see on a Lenovo laptop."

So, forgive me for prolonging my argument started above, but I'm tempted to suggest that this bit of news fits nicely into the theory that Lenovo learned about this machine at the start of the year, and decided to "sunset" the current Yoga line (hence lateral "improvements" on the Y3P) and concentrate instead on the new monster. I know, I know...grasping at straws. But I'm eternally hopeful. The one main reason to keep my fingers crossed is that if indeed Lenovo helped build Intel's demo, there's still a chance that we'll see one (maybe May 2015?) under $1200!

-Matt

 

Hey,

I'm the guy from MobileGeeks who leaked the full specs of the Yoga 3 Pro a couple of weeks ago.

I got a couple of things I wanna say... first just a small tidbit about the Yoga 3 Pro itself. It will be only 1,19 kilo in weight and 12,8 mm thick... so it's definitely gonna be superthin and light - still 360° design. Source is a retailer website that again confirms the rest of the specs.

Regarding the Intel Broadwell U developer notebook: That thing definitely looks totally like a thicker, heavier and somewhat bigger version of the first gen Yoga 13. It's made out of a cheaper plastic material than the retail Yogas. The device was on show at the Intel booth at IFA 2014 a month ago, running a diverse bunch of demos of other Intel technology. One night we played around with it a bit, but never thought this would be interesting enough to do a video or something I have to mention that the trackpad didn't work. We even ran a benchmark, but the devices were locked down and CPU IDs were anonymized... no usable results, sadly. I think Lenovo will release devices close to this Dev Ultrabook (which is given out to devs working with Intel) when Broadwell-U comes to market, probably as third gen Yoga 13 - but there is absolutely no chance the Yoga 3 Pro will be anywhere close to this device - cause the specs and dimensions are definitely real, without any doubt.

Cheers,
Roland

PS: This thread is awesome, nice work guys!

 

Thanks Roland, you're definitely a sight for sore eyes! :hi2: Hope you'll stick around and keep us enlightened.

So then if I understand, you're saying the leaked specs are accurate?



-Matt

 

Yep, these are from a (scandinavian) distributor, which is why there's a bunch of other dealers naming the same specs. Definitely real. I mean, I don't have any other proof, but as I said, this is distributor data, so it is pretty much improbable that around 50 nordic retailers are faking those specs for clicks or something. Foeniks Computer (which was the source for the list above) has removed the listing, but a bunch of other scandinavian retails still have it listed.

Also, french retailer FNAC, which is probably getting it's data from another distri is listing the device too. That's where I found the info regarding size and weight earlier today:
PC Portable Lenovo Yoga 3 Pro 13.3" - Ordinateur ultra-portable - Fnac.com

 

Cool, thanks! Assuming the specs are right (no reason to doubt them at the moment) I think the consensus on this thread and the Y2P owners' thread is most people are disappointed with the slight improvements. The thinner size helps explain the smaller battery, but as Stoned Hippy just said, to paraphrase, "Why shrink the body/battery at the cost of valuable battery life?" What are your thoughts on the Y3P?

Regarding the Intel reference laptop: I'm not too bothered by the plastic body and clumsy performance (e.g., broken trackpad). I think the goal of the unit was to suggest what's possible with the design, and to let the manufacturers build the pretty ones. But I'm not sure I get your reasoning that it could end up as a Yoga 13 -- that's way too many features (ESPECIALLY the digitizer screen which owners here have been BEGGING for) for a plain old '13. Don't you think it would deserve the "Pro" designation? Even if it's bulkier than the Y2P/Y3P. I think my money would be on Lenovo waiting for CES 2015 and announcing some kind of higher-end Yoga, with all the bells and whistles.

-Matt

 

I personally, as I am working as a writer and editor for two websites and have to lug around a computer at tradeshows and events (fyi I'll be at the launch event for the new Yoga family on the 9th of October, though I am not fully sure if the Y3P will be there ) am all for small and light systems - what I need is a decent performance when rendering videos with QuickSync, a decent battery life, a good keyboard, a sturdy and durable design and low weight (actually the last two things are even the most important things for me, because even 1,4 kg can become very heavy after a week of CES, Computex or IFA).

So in my special use case I'm totally fine with the Y3P being superlight, super thin and having only "mediocre" on battery life. Let's be real: this is not a ThinkPad. It is a lifestyle device for lenovo - always has been. They are trying to get design concious business people as customers, I think. Also the so-called pro consumers (not people who want maximum performance) is what Lenovo is going for with this. This certain group is what it's been about with the last Yogas too. Actually I'm on a Yoga 2 Pro right now, and I like it a lot - except for a couple of things: The screen is crap - I am running it at 2048x1152, so just over Full HD. Anything higher is not really usable for me, as I am solely using the desktop UI. Second: battery life could be better - much better. I get around four hours of battery life out of my Y2P, which is not enough for me. Third: outer shell is getting wobbly over time - when I got it, I was very happy with the fact, that Lenovo seemed to have worked out the internal contruction problems of the first gen Yoga 13 (which I also have), where parts around the trackpad are bending easily and the trackpad tends to hang because of that. Well, after half a year on the Y2P that has changed and I am seeing almost the same issues on the newer device too.

Because of these factors the Y3P seems a good proposition for me. OK; screen resolution is still unnecessarily high, but as I hope they've worked out the color issues and have been using the Y2P at a lower resolution I can live with that. Metal housing, 1,2 kg weight and 7 hours of battery life AND NO FREAKING FANS, all sound great for me and my use case (I hate that the Y2P and Yoga 13 are running _two_ fans that tend to be loud). As long as going down to 6 Watts TDP really gives me a fanless device, that is lighter, runs a bit longer and still offers a good keyboard I'm fine with that.

I don't think the step up from previous models is not enough. Actually I feel _it is_ quite a step up, considering the reduction in weight, the fanless-ness and the metal casing.

I'm with you on the expectation of Lenovo launching devices close to what Intels dev book is at CES. Regarding the digitizer I am pretty pessimistic at least for the consumer oriented Yoga series - it's just not gonna happen. The Intel device is a developer ultrabook - which has EVERYTHING that is possible to be put into a notebook right now. It's for devs to work on stuff like the new RealSense Cams, all kinds of sensors, digitizer and whatnot. That stuff is for them to fiddle around with, not to build devices for consumers to buy with these things in them. So no, none of what is in the dev ultrabook is guaranteed to show up in retail devices - it's pretty ridiculous to expect anything to end up in retail devices just because it is in this device which is cleary ONLY aimed at devs - software devs, not hardware devs!

So no digitizer on the Y3P. Never... What I meant when talking about the Broadwell-U in Yogas, was that Lenovo will put out Yogas with that at CES. Not with digitizer or anything else that is in the dev device. I only meant the SoC, not the rest of it

 

That's very discouraging that you don't envision some of the fancier hardware (e.g., digitizer) making it over to the Yoga, but in all honesty I can't argue with you. Yeah I overlooked that the big news for CES will be the new ultrabooks and hybrids with Broadwell-U...guess I'd already digested the news with the Core M and forgot we haven't seen the U's yet! But like the OP noted (post #64), at ~15w the U's will likely have a fan. So that means your an M-man? I have to confess if 12.8mm means a Core M and fanless, that *does* sound pretty nice. I'd love to see how the Apple fanbois and MBA owners react.

You really are very handy to have around! :thumbsup:

-Matt

 

thanks gotta say this forum is a true treasure trove of info for me too.

I'm just trying to be realistic actually. And yes, since broadwell (U) got pushed back a bit, I think it'll be the big thing at CES. And yes, those will be with a fan, certainly. Maybe Lenovo will finally work it out the right way and build those devices in a way that doesn't make noise as hell... loved my ASUS UX31E... 17w Core i5 including a fan, but almost completely silent... as opposed to the Yoga 13... which is noisy as hell since Lenovo never managed to get their f'ing fan management right. I could rage on and on about this, but hey, no fans means no noise, yay. Guess that's the only real reason why I'm all for the Core M - I really hate the fan noise. For me those devices only need to have enough power for what I do with them... and no, don't get your hopes to high - digitizers are not gonna be widespread... there have been a couple more devices, especially tablets, but this will always be a niche.

besides, 1499 euro for 4GB/256GB and 1699 euro for 8GB/512GB will be not cheap at all. I hope quality can keep up with that, as I always had the feeling the Yogas were very expensive for what you got - at least in Europe and Germany. Even though this is probably the MSRP and will be lower at around 1300 for the low end one it's still not cheap at all. Hope you now at least get a lot for what you pay... Only three more days till we find out.

PS: I have spent a lot of time looking for pics of this thing... and I just can't find any... drives me nuts. Went thru a list of 80 model numbers, no luck, Lenovo is really good at keeping things under cover - at least for now.

 

On that last note, I couldn't help ranting...just a little...

I was doing my daily search today and somehow stumbled on this video, posted August 20:

NEW AWESOME ! lenovo yoga 3 pro ! PREVIEW - YouTube

I was pretty excited, until I remembered that there was NO NEWS in August. So I watched kind of skeptically, and sure enough the guy in the video (who mumbles up a storm) basically HOLDS a Y2P in his hands while he's talking in the vaguest terms about the next-gen model. Totally pissed me off.

What a jerk.

OK...thanks for letting me let some steam off!

-Matt

 

heh, saw this earlier.. the usual clickbait bull. Easy to tell this guy is completely clueless, plus it's not even his video. Just someone elses he dubbed and put his own intro on... guess there's a reason comments and rating are disabled

 

So Lenovo has just started a Twitter campaign under the banner "a new way is coming". German, African and International twitter accounts tweeted this slogan recently for the launch on the 9th. plus they published the following pic ( on Oct 2nd already)



you know what I'm thinking? I think they are going for a new design to make things even slimmer. This is a double hinge... it's basically twice what's on the current Yogas. They will probably do a three-part design, where some part (I'm guessing the battery) will be sticking out the back of the device when folded to normal Desktop Mode.... just guessing though.

 

Well that's very cool. Doesn't get my blood too stirred up, but I suspect there's an interesting story just around the corner. I kinda hope your guess about the battery is wrong, if I'm visualizing it the way you mean. I once had a Dell notebook with an extended battery that did the same, and I learned to dislike the look. Or actually, it didn't bother me too much at the time, but that was MORE THAN 10 YEARS ago. In hindsight -- given the thin-and-light design spirit we have now -- it seems unappealing.

And now for a bit of humor. My favorite tweet from the campaign so far:

OHNO!!!!!! The politness filter removed the best part of the tweet.

-Matt

 

Thanks for all the info. I was just about to purchase a Yoga 2 pro, but will probably hold out now. Hopefully have more info tomorrow after the event in London.

Can anyone tell me if there is a better spec 13.3 laptop out there? I keep coming back to the Lenovo Yoga range

 

I've always liked what ASUS does with their Zenbook line-up, especially since they are able to keep fan noise down... New UX303 is just launching into the market in the coming weeks, might wanna check these out - full metal body rocks - which isn't fully confirmed on the Y3P yet

 

i can hear it coming

 

@nim, those links are good! Working for me anyway.

Nims original post:

"So here you go

Yoga 3 Pro - 80HE000HUS - Light Silver | 80HE000HUS | Lenovo | US ( Yoga 3 Pro - 80HE000HUS - Light Silver | 80HE000HUS | Lenovo | US)

Yoga 3 Pro | Lenovo US ( Yoga 3 Pro | Lenovo US)

$1,349.99 for 256 GB
$1,549.99 for 512 GB"

 

umm, go figure.. they used to work for me.. no longer so

 

Don't worry about that. Core M platform is about 30% more efficient than Haswell generation. Intel's Llama Mountain reference design gets 8 hours of life on a 32WHr battery. They claimed 9 hours on a 50WHr for Haswell. Your high-end workload battery life will be significantly better too because of the much reduced TDP.

Of course, I came to accept that Lenovo's designs suck in battery life per WHr. Still, even with the 44WHr thanks to the Core M Yoga 3 Pro should achieve 10% more battery life than Yoga 2 Pro. If it can achieve 8-9 hours on general web browsing, it'll be fine. Whats disappointing about the Y3P is that what other Haswell ultras got 8-9 hours on it got 6-7.

Update on battery: Testing using BAPCo® MobileMark® 2012 benchmark
Battery Life Score= 9 Hours

This is promising. MobileMark 2012 is a pretty good indicator of battery life in general usage. The Y2P according to Lenovo gets 9 hours in IDLE. The Y3P can get 9 hours running MobileMark 2012(runs at 150 nits). 9 hours in idle probably equals to 7 hours in MobileMark 2012.

They have to in order to make it this portable. 12.8mm and 2.5lbs in a convertible is a big thing. The only other contender was the Dell XPS 11, which had to use FLAT keyboards to achieve 11-15mm thickness and 2.5 lbs weight. If its going to be a convertible its crucial that its portable. I don't use my XPS 12 for Tablet function much because its way too heavy. The Vaio Pro 13 at 2.34lbs is really light though so this should be awesome.

Can't happen. You gotta see what sacrifices the XPS 11 used to fit in a 11.5W TDP CPU. That's significantly lower than 15W. Flat keyboards man! Still wasn't fanless. Based on my little research I was doing for LED heatsinks(personal project) 15W is going to need a mighty big heatsink to be fanless, and heatsinks are heavy!

I am liking the Y3P so far. Broadwell-Y is awesome! Core i5 performance in a fanless form factor and 4-6W.

 

Lenovo gave these out at their launch event in London!

I just uploaded a ton of pics

Lenovo Yoga 3 Pro: 13,3 Zoll großes Edel-Ultrabook im Hands on- und Unboxing-Video | Mobilegeeks.de | Net-/Ultrabooks

and a video including an unboxing and a tour around the device (shot this at 3-4 am so excuse any weirdness ):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FYj0hx5Hbg

 

From some of the hands on videos posted, it seems like the yellow color issue has been fixed... The yellow looks normal to me. Anyone else?

 

it does look way better than on the y2p... comparing my y2p with the corrected color profile from around the net with the unmodified y3p, the y3p does have a slight yellow tint to it... will try out the alternate profile and report back. i actually think the panels are the same... but.. no way to find out, is there?

 

I'm thinking of buying one, my first new laptop in several years. The hinge sounds great but I hope the yellow screen problem is fixed. The battery life sounds fantastic (my current laptop barely lasts 15mins on battery). The crippled keyboard is annoying though, I will definitely miss some of those keys.

Will the RAM and SSD be upgradable? (even if it voids the warranty) I want 8gb of RAM and an absolute minimum of a 1tb SSD, ideally a 1.5 or 2tb SSD. How's the design of the SD card holder - can you safely leave a 512gb SD card in the laptop all the time for extra storage as well or does it have a stupid design like some do where the SD card sticks out and would get damaged while carrying it around?

 

Disclaimer - I didn't read through the 9 pages (yet)

How does this processor stack up against an i5-4300u? Is it more like the i5-4300y? The Y series has been ok for me on my XPS 11, but the integrated video is really lacking and the throttling is real.

 

First: There is a frikking fan in this device. It's in the upper right corner, hums along at a low frequency and isn't anywhere near as annoying as on the y2p or (even worse) the first gen yoga 13. I actually believed what Intel said about no fans - but I guess that requires more metal on the casing or a better heatpipe or whatever. bummed about the y3p having a fan cause I was actually soooo stoked about having a fanless ultrabook - finally. well, it ain't happening - yet.

the SD card only goes about half way in - just like it did on the y2p.

regarding the question about the SSD: mine has a LITEON L8T-256L9G which is one of the new M.2 SATA SSDs, so that should actually be replacable. But, are there even M.2 SSDs with more than 512 GB in retail yet? RAM won't be upgradeable, soldered to board, though I'm not gonna open it up to check

PS: I am experience a serious audio issue. Any sound played starts crackling as soon as you switch tabs in the browser for example or tax the device in other ways just installed/reinstalled all the drivers (realtek is a real pain) no change :/

 

That entirely depends on the manufacturer too. At least that means they are taking advantage of 6W cTDPup and perform very good. The fan won't be needed that much though. Also, the 3W Atom Z670 was said to be a limit for thin Tablets for fanless so its entirely possible depending on the platform even 4.5W requires a fan.

To be fanless...
http://www.extremetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/intel-core-m-fanless-sweet-spot.png

Strange, since every article says Y3P doesn't have a fan.

 

Yeah i was totally surprised to realize this - lenovos public relations guys even say so... but, there definitely is a fan... you can hear it, feel the warm air and everything... it's there

 

Sorry, I've been a little busy. Well, good work on the thread, everyone. I surmise someone will be starting an owner's thread in the next few weeks, hehe.

About the Broadwell-U reference: yup, it's not for sale. It's intentionally packed in with everything and the kitchen sink because it's a software development target for app developers. No matter what hardware your app is using (active digitizer, RealSense 3D cameras, front-facing or rear-facing cameras, etc.), you can use that laptop to test it.

Is the 6W cTDPup availabe on 3W and 4.5W Core M parts? It looks like Lenovo selected the 4.5W TDP, not the 6W, option for the Y3P, as noted by Anandtech. From what I have read, OEMs select a TDP for each Core M chip. But, maybe, all Core M chips retain the ability to ramp up to 6W?

Hmm.. That is surprising. Everybody has been saying fanless.

--

I'm glad the inclusion of USB 2.0 was not at the expense of fully utilizing the USB 3.0 ports on the Core M chipset. And, heh, it saves me from buying the Dart power adapter, too, if I got it. Always felt weird to have an ultraportable lapotp with a bumbling AC adapter.

And it uses LPDDR3, too! I'm with IntelUser...cautiously optimistic that the Y3P will have better battery life than the Y2P (not that that is saying a whole lot, but still an improvement).

In other news, Lenovo put a better webcam (78% more pixels, 1.6MP vs 0.9MP) on their new 8" tablet than on the Y3P. What?

And, Razer used the IGZO QHD+ (3200x1800) panel in their 2014 refresh vs. what is likely the PenTile in the Y3P/Y2P. Anandtech had this to say:

Welp. With the $1,350 starting price of the Y3P, IGZO would've been dope. But, alas. Another generation, maybe, hehe.

 

I am having serious issues with the sound on the Y3P... no matter what power plan, no matter if with or without the realtek drivers, no matter if with or without that stupid one click optimizer software they pre-install... keeps crackling or even hanging on the lower performance modes... and in the lower ones it tends to hang when playing video. Really pisses me off big time. Real big time.

The screen is again a Samsung PenTile panel, model number went from SDC424A to SDC434A. Has the same issues regarding picture quality/sharpness but looks great overall - yellow tint isn't as present as on the Y2P.

 

How do we know if they will release the Y3P in Corei7/i5? Is there any way to know or expect this?

Also, the Core i7/i5 would be more powerful than the Core M (from what I read) but what does this mean exactly? Does it mean it would be faster? Able to handle multitasking more efficiently? Or..?

 

Can you run some of the benchmark test notebookcheck did run for Review Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro Convertible - NotebookCheck.net Reviews to be able to compare the performance of both?

 

Not all three can, but the 5Y70 for sure can be configured with 3 TDP settings: cTDPdown at 3.5W, nominal at 4.5W, and cTDPup and 6W. Its something that can be dynamically configured too, so maybe in Tablet mode its 3.5W, its 4.5W in stand mode, and 6W in laptop mode. That's just my guess though on the possibilities. It could even be set at static 6W. The 4.5W is the nominal figure which is why Anandtech quotes it. The fan should be quite minimal even at 6W though.

I'm pretty sure the battery life will be good this time at 8-9 hours. The idle battery life test on the Y2P probably dims the screen down after 1 min, and it runs NOTHING. The MobileMark 2012 test at default sets it at 150 nits regardless of machine(don't confuse with the much worse MobileMark 2007, which runs is less demanding and screen is at 60 nits). That's what Y3P is tested at.

The Sony Vaio Duo 13 is rated at 18 hours with JEITA 1.0(similar to MM 2007), 11-13 hours with updated JEITA, and 10 hours with MM 2012. 9-10 hours is pretty realistic for that machine.

I don't know why they jacked up the price though. Perhaps they should have a 128GB version for $1149. Still SSDs should be cheaper after all these years. Why can't it be a $1149 256GB and $999 128GB?

I agree. If you are ok, can you run Cinebench R11.5 after doing some intensive work? Maybe gaming if you do such things?

Performance is not so promising: http://nb.zol.com.cn/483/4835521_all.html

Y3P's performance is ~10% better than the Core i5 4202Y and the graphics performance is identical.

 

Cinebench 11.5 Open GL 16.77 fps
Cinebench 11.5 CPU 1.82
Cinebench 11.5 Single Core 0,96

without any gaming or something like that though. will try again now after rendering 30 min video in powerdirector. will update this post after that.

Update, here you go, even got a little better:

Cinebench 11.5 Open GL 17.25 fps
Cinebench 11.5 CPU 1.97
Cinebench 11.5 Single Core 0,94


There seems to be some serious throttling going on to keep temperatures in check (though the fan never get's anywhere near as loud as on the Y2P):

Geekbench 3 scores confirm this:

1: Single: 2354 - Multi: 4042 http://browser.primatelabs.com/geekbench3/986872
2: Single: 2149 - Multi: 3586 http://browser.primatelabs.com/geekbench3/986898
3: Single: 2093 - Multi: 3520 http://browser.primatelabs.com/geekbench3/986928
4: Single: 2044 - Multi: 3300 http://browser.primatelabs.com/geekbench3/986979
5: Single: 2359 - Multi: 4111 http://browser.primatelabs.com/geekbench3/987037 (After letting it cool down again)

First and last run are mostly going thru at 2.58 ghz, others are going down as low as 1.30/1.46 somewhere around there.

PCMark7:
1. 3480 http://www.3dmark.com/pcm7/872379
2. 3509 http://www.3dmark.com/pcm7/872381

3DMark06
1. 4743 http://www.3dmark.com/3dm06/17668626

Besides, I think there are still TWO fans in this... the one on the right is louder than the other, while the one in the left half of the device is almost not audible - but it's there. There are a couple of fan outlets just above where the hinge connects to the base of the system.