***Yoga 2 Pro Owners Thread***

Mark@lenovo has said they will look into why the adaptive brightness is on by default in Energy Manager High Performance Mode.

 

FWIW, Skinomi has screen protector, Decalrus has touchpad protector and does not have the funny seam right down the middle of the keyboard/touchpad. Pros and cons

 

I wouldn't be surprised if it's the same thing happening to me lol. I'm constantly brushing hairs and eye lashes off my keyboard. Maybe ill give that a try

 

That is great, thanks for posting.

Somebody posted in another forum before and after the updates pictures that shows the color improvement, so for those that need more than words, here it is.

Before: http://i.imgur.com/5ASUnky.jpg

After: http://i.imgur.com/lxWwLxu.jpg

The yellow on the After pic looks similar to how it looks in competitors like the Active 9 plus.

One more thing. It appears that after updating switching to power saver in the windows energy profile makes the yellow go bad again. Can someone test this?

I'm still afraid that this updates' fix, just like the initial temporary fix, may reduce the time the machine can run on a full battery.

 

I just tested it and you are absolutely correct. When I set it to powersave mode in with Windows control panel settings for power, it gets dark, when I set to high performance, it lightens up. I took photos with my phone but the phone doesn't show it as drastically as the eyes do. I just googled "RGB test pattern" and opened one of the samples and swapped between power profiles using Windows' as opposed to Lenovo's. So I tried it with Lenovo's energy manager, and I can see the same change when I switch between performance and stable modes.

 

That justify my fear that this fix reduces battery life. Just like with the original temporary fix, in order to get a good rendering o yellow, you have to have settings in a way that crate an otherwise unnecessary high consumption of power, hence reducing battery life. Is my theory wrong in any way? Anybody willing to do some test?

 

I don't think the proves that battery life will be as bad as with high perf mode, which changes more than just the display settings

 

Power Saver and Performance are extremes. There is a balanced power plan in Windows too. How do Yellows appear in Balanced mode?

 

Just playing devil's advocate here, and I don't have my Y2P yet to see what you're saying - but, if you turned on the power saving mode, that turns down the brightness...isn't it expected that the yellow (and all colors) would get darker?

 

On the RGB palate I was using, there was no similar disparity for the other colors. They dimmed a bit but didn't change color as obviously. And greyscale was not changed at ALL by the power change, not even dimming.

 

That is right, the problem is not only the darkness, the problem is that the yellow changes in a way that kind of want to go back towards the way it use to look before the updates. If after the updates you leave the power settings in Windows and the Lenovo's Energy Manager setting alone, then the yellow looks good, if you try to tone down any of this setting to create a lower power consumption and get more juice out of the battery, then the yellow looks bad. So for me it looks like a trade of: high power consumption and good yellow vs low power consumption and bad yellows. High power consumption = less battery life, low power consumption = more battery life. I my missing something here? Is there something that I didn't understand correctly?

 

Does anyone else have a problem with this thread where occasionally one or more pages takes back you backwards? For instance, since this morning I could see that there were 86 pages, but if I click on either page 85 or 86 it would take me to page 79. There seems to be no way to view those pages. I'm sort of new to these forums so maybe this is common? Hopefully its not unique to myself.

 

I don't find this to be true. If I turn off adaptive brightness in balanced mode then I get real yellows. If I go in power save mode then I get the old ugly yellows regardless of AB settings.

Also, if I change settings in Energy Manager to Cinema or Daily modes the yellows are fine and those settings tell you how many more minutes you can expect to get.

 

Thanks for the reply. but I didn't think say that it proves that battery life will be as bad as with high perf mode. My point is that in other to display a good yellow you have to keep power settings in windows and energy settings in Lenovo at a certain level, which will be otherwise unnecessary, if you lower those setting you get a bad yellow. If those settings are at high level, they will consume more power than if they were at a lower level, hence reducing battery life. If this really reduces battery life and by how much we won't know until somebody test it. That is why I said it was just a theory base on the info we have at hand at the moment.

 

Mine is the same, essentially. I certainly hope they beat this date!

 

Well if this is true, then my theory of the software fix being implemented at the bios level was true. I will await proper battery testing reports on this new bios.

 

Thanks Led Zappa. Another good post. So if Lenovo does nothing else about this, do you think that as it is right now after the updates, the yoga can be tweak in a way that would be possible to achieve a good balance of good yellow color rendering and battery life. Would you be willing to experiment and do some test. Battery life is very important for me, even before the updates and with the bad yellow, according to reviews, the battery life of the yoga was not supper impressive, but I'll be OK with that. I know that there are good regular ultrabooks with good specs and very good battery life, but I want a convertible. After much search I narrowed down to the Sony Vaio flip and the Yoga pro 2. The sony's fan makes an awful noise, and last I check, Sony have no even acknowledged it, despite numerous complains in the forums. And being that Sony have launched several different models in the past with the same problem and has done nothing about it, I don't have much hope they will fix the Vaio Flip. So hopefully there is a good fix for the Yoga. Otherwise, I guess I'll keep waiting for a more suitable convertible.

 

Hey everyone. Don't have my Y2P yet but I thought I'd add my thoughts on the battery discussion that seems to pop up a lot. Lenovo says, I think, 'up to 9 hours' and gives some brightness setting, etc. It seems like most are getting around 5 - 6 hours with their systems. A few things to note. They system can have anywhere from an i3, i5, to i7 processor. The lower end the processor the less power it burns. It also comes with 4G or 8G of RAM and 128G to 512G SSD. All of these also burn various amounts of power. I think I also read in the thread that the CPU gets throttled in tent and tablet modes (by default) and I don't think I saw on the up to 9 hours if it was notebook mode or not. All that said, isn't it quite possible that an i3 w/ 4G and 128G SSD running in a CPU throttled state would quite easily get the up to 9 hour runtime while the i7 w/ 8G and 512G SSD would be expected to get somewhat less, especially if running at max clock (unthrottled). All that said, I suspect that the graphics, screen and backlight are the most power hungry components on the system and managing the brightness and resolution are the best bet for managing power. Hope the yellow fix doesn't drastically affect this! Thanks everyone for sharing their thoughts here. It has been a big help to stay connected while I wait on my system.

 

I don't know is a i3 w/ 4G and 128G SSD running in a CPU throttled state would get up to 9 hour run-time, but regardless of how many run-time hours that system gives, it is expected that the i7 w/ 8G and 512G SSD will give less hours.

Regardless, the question remains, does the fix reduces battery life?
Is it possible to set power (windows), energy (Lenovo) and brightness settings in a way that will give you good yellows, while maintaining an acceptable amount of battery run-time hours, similar to the one that the machine would give without the fix?

 

So,

Realistically if you are not using power savings mode from Lenovo software the fix won't work.. If you have power savings mode from windows it display the ugly Yellow again.

So to go a little bit further, if you decide to uninstall the Lenovo Power Management software you are out of luck with color reproduction.

So someway they made the BIOS and the Lenovo Software work together.

This is a cheap fix.

 

It does not seam to be much better than the original temporary fix, before the updates, you have to adjust the settings yourself, possibly reducing battery life. After the fix, the updates adjust the settings for you (and who knows what else), possibly reducing battery life as well. Lenovo rushed a quick fix to demonstrate they care and that they are on top of it, maybe they also decided to let the consumers test the units and wait for responses rather then send the unit to the lab and prolong the wait, I don't know, at least they are trying. Let's hope this gets resolve.

 

And this is my problem. From a reliability and quality standpoint, there's really only two laptop manufacturers I'd ever consider - Apple and Lenovo. I've still got more than a month left on this from Best Buy for a return policy, and I'm hoping they get the Thinkpad Yoga released before this expires, so I can consider if I want to return this and go with the lower res active digitizer version... The yellow issue doesn't bother me for what I actually use the laptop for. But this power software and bios update really made my fans go psycho compared to what they did before, and unlike the yellow issue, this fan psychosis is something I won't put up with.

So now it comes down to whether I'll go with the Thinkpad or this, provided they release the Thinkpad version in time. I'm thinking I'm going to spend some time with a POS Dell laptop I have sitting here that my mother used to use before I sold her my old MacBook, after returning this Yoga 2 Pro to Best Buy and waiting to see how things settle out... The yellow I could live with, but this fan insanity I can't stand after the last 10 days prior to their "fix" that had the fans just about totally silent and completely unobtrusive. After these fixes that really didn't fix the yellow, now my fans go full speed for no apparent reason...

I *really* want to keep this despite the problems with scaling and such, but I don't want to keep it only to end up finding that the fixes I want either never happen, or take a long time. I'd rather put my money into something that I will enjoy from the beginning, rather than buy a unit that my time is spent HOPING that a fix will come at some point...

And as much as I've been saying all along that no other system has these specs for this price point, I'd rather spend more and get something that is what I want and can use, rather than settle for it and put up with problems simply because the price was so compelling...

 

Maybe shouldn't have messed with this bios update, since you mentioned that you could have lived with the original yellows and the fan not running all the time. Now it sounds like you are worse off no? Damn that sucks.

 

when I learn about the color issue with the yoga, I took a look at the Sony Vaio Flip, and found out that everyone that owns o tested one complains about the fan issue. Way to go Lenovo, color problem not completely fix, uncertainty about battery life and know fun noise, now you are just running behind Sony, I also use to put Lenovo in line with Apple. What a shame!

 

Well, I am starting to think Lenovo rushed this product into the market without proper QC testing. High fan noise with the new bios is not right if this is what is occurring.
However, what seems really strange is that major reviewing sites have had an embargo put on them not to release the review of this unit until Lenovo fixes certain issues or is there something else going on?
I know some websites have started to release their reviews(generally positive) in the last few days, but I am speculating as to why other major review sites have nothing on this unit.
Seems all a little strange.

 

Fans are quiet here. Make sure in task manager that McAfee or some other thing isn't grinding your CPU and making the fans run.

PF.

 

Apple has QC issues too with some of their MBP. Some people are having issues with unresponsive screens and touchpads, Sony is having issues with fans, etc. No company is immune to QC. Off topic, but my wife's iPhone 4 home button stopped working after 3 months(she barely uses it).

 

That is true. I was just venting, and went a little too far with my comment against Lenovo. But that is because we are talking about the Yoga. The truth is that a lot of companies are coming out with products that should not hit the shelve, at least at the price they are trying to sell it for. The bottom line is that no laptop, ultrabock or convertible over $1000 should have this kind of issues.

 

I've run the BIOS update along with the Energy Manager update (make sure you ran this too) and my Y2P runs perfectly, no running fans, no weirdness at all. Absolutely perfect.

 

I totally agree with you. I'll be honest and say that all companies have this issue (QC). Heck, when I used to work for Nissan, you don't want to know how many QC issues we had with the new models. It happens everywhere! But I'm not making excuses for Lenovo; they should keep an eye on QC.

 

Not the issue - as I said, for the last 10 days it's been dead silent - BIOS and power management update, and it's like a whole different machine. Same software running that had no impact prior to the updates. And just as a humorous sidenote, I"d never install crapafee on anything I own.

 

Can you reverse this bios update? Maybe that would work better for you.

 

Update for those of you who, like me, are still waiting for your unit to ship! I spoke with customer service today to again relay my disappointment with the speed of the order and was told there were 1600 units shipping on 11/18 and "several hundred more" on 11/25. She also mentioned that they were trying to get all of the orders out before December. Didn't specify which model, but I'm assuming she was referring to the i7/8GB/256SSD (silver) since that's what I ordered!

 

Lenovo's site, for Bios, says "Bios update is not required for this product." Can't find any place to get the old version.

 

Regarding ship dates:

I ordered my i7/512GB silver on 10/30, and was given a ship date of 11/25.

On11/6, I received an email with a ship date of 11/7 and delivery of 11/14. And - sure enough, it arrived yesterday.

From reading the various shipment date problems in this forum, my suspicion is that Lenovo is manufacturing batches of a particular model, i.e., i7/512 GB, shipping all of that model, and then switching to a different model and manufacturing all of them. And, since the i7/512 is the most costly, and probably has the highest profit margin, I suspect they get priority.

I'm still loading software and playing, but so far I'm very pleased. Moving from a 2009 MacBook Pro that I was running Windows 7 on, the Lenovo seems really, really fast in comparison. (I know, why did I buy a MacBook to run Windows? Dumb move!)

One additional note: the power supply for the Yoga and the Yoga 2 Pro are NOT compatible - they use different tips. I was led to believe in an earlier post that they were the same, and I'm now having to return the older model to Amazon for a replacement. Be careful!!!

 

Unfortunately more bad news, somebody with the user name of ericptek post the following on the Lenovo community forum:

" It is an improvement.

Is it a fix, not if color fidelity is important to you.

It is also not consistent and blows out other colors in favor of attempting to produce yellow's correctly.

Neon greens are blown out pretty hard, come out white now instead of having any contrast to them. Emoticons from a web forum I use are uniformly yellow on my other monitor, with the Y2P a few are correct, a few are not.

The Best Buy yellow is still a few shades too dark.

Orange has not been brightened enough. The standard Orange theme in SharePoint 2013 was very dark before, its lighter, but still far from being correct.

I am a Lenovo Partner and Reseller and I thinkt they went cheap on the screen. Some may find it acceptable to get the resolution but what are they going to do on the new W W540 with the same resolution panel? No one is going to find this acceptable at $3,000.

Unless I missed something. I did the complete BIOS update, installed the new energy management patch, put it on high power, and turned off adaptive brightness.

They also seemed to crank up the brightness a bit and when you step it down you lose more contrast then before. I'll be able to compare better on Sunday, I have a few Y2P's sitting here that I'm going to unbox and compare, pre and post fix.

 

How is this "more bad news"? I also ran the BIOS update and completely disagree with this person's assessment. My screen colors look wonderful. I have not seen another hybrid screen which gets close to the quality and clarity of the Yoga 2 Pro.

He is entitled to his opinion, but I suggest you run the update and form your own, assuming you own the device.

 

So after finally getting my Yoga...and installing the fix (which I haven't been able to really test yet) I am hoping to sit down and do some photo editing (a huge reason I wanted this particular device) this weekend.

I noticed LR 5.x, which I installed would be kinda difficult to use with a finger (esp at the default resolution)

Do you guys have suggestions on a great Capacitive stylus? How about tips on setting the device up?

 

HELP
I installed the Bios fix, and after it was restarting I got the update page but after that it is now just just a Grey screen.
What do I do? Has this happened to anyone else???

I'm freaking out!

 

Yes - I don't have the link right now but in the Lenovo forum they said this is common and DON'T PANIC! easier said than done, right?

They said just do the hard shutdown (hold power for 10 seconds) and it should be fine on reboot

 

Thank you so much!!!!!!
That worked. I have yet to notice a difference in color without the new energy manager installed, so they really must work in conjunction.
I really hope that another fix is coming, but I doubt it

 

After preforming the updates:
Fan noise does indeed seem to be increased a little bit, but they're definitely not always on.
Yellow looks YELLOW. Just google search for it.
Other colors actually seem to be a little worse though.....but I'm not sure. Anyone else? It seems to me like they fixed the yellow but sacrificed some other colors.
No clue about battery life yet, someone run a test (and post your model with the results)!

Overall, install the update! It fixes the yellow issue as much as it possible can

 

If using a stylus is a priority for you I'm not sure I would have chosen the Yoga 2 Pro. A better choice might have been the Surface Pro, or even better yet, the Dell XPS 11 which has just been released. That also has a qHD screen although it is only 11.6 inches.

The issue is not just having a stylus but also having palm rejection which can be a big deal. At this point no capacitive stylus offers palm rejection in Windows.

I wish Lenovo had offered a wacom stylus with the Y2P. Oh well. Viao Flip is another option although I do not care for the build quality as much.

** The Adonit Script is a bluetooth stylus which gives excellent detail quality; however it is currently configured to work with the iPad only, Bummer.

 

Make sure you turn off adaptive brightness in power settings. The BIOS turns it on by default and it will darken your screen.

 

I've read several posts that say this works well "Musemee Notier V2 (Black)". I don't have much need for it, but might try it for fun.

Amazon.com: Musemee Notier V2 (Black) - The World's Most Precision Stylus for iPad, iPhone etc: Cell Phones & Accessories

And if someone wants a digitizer I would wait for the Thinkpad version. It is a little smaller screen, thicker and heavier, but it does work with the Oneport dock and has the keyboard that sinks into the body. If I were using this for work that's what I'd get since it would be hooked up to a monitor for the most part and I could deal with the smaller screen for data center/lab work.

It's also built to withstand more abuse

 

His are more bad news, just as much as yours are more good news. I was simply informing people about one more person's experience and opinion regarding the fix. There are already many conflicting opinions regarding the fix. Some people like that guy are very unhappy with how the color looks after the fix and also the level of brightness on the screen . Others said that although they are happy with the color, the screen is dimmer than before even at 100%. Some even want to go back to the way things were before the fix, they rather have bad yellows than a dimmer screen. Others like you are happy with the color and the brightness of the screen. I, like many others don't own the machine, otherwise I would had posted my own experiences. I'm just trying to get and post as much info as possible to help others and myself to decide weather to by or not this machine, and in some cases to return or not. Fortunately I can wait until a suitable convertible present itself, but if I would have to buy a convertible ultrabook right now, I would get the yoga even without the color fix. There is nothing else in this category that give you that much for the money. Still no laptop, ultrabook or convertible over $1000 should have this kind of issue. And that is why, before I buy, I want to make sure not only that color and brightness are very good, but very importantly that battery life is good as well. I really like all the other aspects of the Yoga and wish it would not have this issues, so I can buy it.

 

As bizarre as this is, qHD is actually different from QHD. qHD is 960×540, QHD is 2560×1440 (aka 1440p). Some people apparently call the 3200x1800 QHD, and others call it QHD+. Apparently, still others call it WQXGA+. So, that's weird. But I figured I'd share the knowledge.

(My gut says that, as these kinds of screens become more common, we'll come up with better resolution naming schemes!)

 

I believe wqxga+ is the term for 3200x1800 according to Wikipedia



I knew qhd was wrong since that's what my Motorola atrix was 2 years ago as the highest res smartphone at the time

 

I've been using the Musemee Notier v2 and have had fairly good luck with it (it works great but had some problems with palm rejection. Mitchellvii suggested the smudgeguard glove so I ordered that and it arrived today. It REALLY WORKS. I am able to make handwritten notes in OneNote and have no problem with the palm rejection issues now. I may look like a cyborg while wearing it but it is worth it. Between the pen and the smudgeguard, I invested about $40 and it was soooo worth it!!

Link to Smudgeguard: SmudgeGuard - Eliminates smudges and hand friction for Artists, Left-handed children & adults, Wacom and Tablet PC Users! I ordered the 2 finger glove at Mitchellvii's suggestion.

 

I def understand if you thought I meant I wanted a true stylus (which I would've loved if there was an option on the Yoga) but I actually have owned about 5 Tablet PC's including the original Surface...and my current need for handwriting recognition is pretty much gone....

I am just really looking for something to allow me to handle the smaller elements of the UI... and the Adonit Script woudl've been great...

I'm thinking I might choose between these two...

Amazon.com: TruGlide Pro Precision Stylus with Microfiber Tip for new iPad, iPad Mini, iPhone 5, iPhone 4, Kindle Fire, Samsung Galaxy Tablet and Smartphone, Nook, all Touch Screen Tablets (Matte Black w/Slate Silver Tip): Kindle Store

Amazon.com: Wacom Bamboo  Solo Stylus for Apple iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, Android and Other Capacitive Touch Surfaces (CS140K): Computers & Accessories