***Yoga 2 Pro Owners Thread***

I have used the Yoga 13 charger with a Yoga 2 Pro without incident.

 

The advantage that the Y2PRO has over these other clumsy convertibles (flip, HP split x2, etc.) is that when it is on laptop mode it FEELS like a normal laptop. That and besides the beautiful screen.

 

I agree y2p is the best convertible solution. The split x2 looks bulky, the Sony flip looks like it will be the first one to break. The only other one I like the Dell xps 12. But it has like 2 full pounds on the y2p.

 

The only serious competition will come from the Dell XPS 11. However, it has a smaller screen, it's a Dell and the stylus that works with it has gotten off to a bad start with the Venue 8 Pro. It is also $200 more for comparable specs. Oh yeah and the keyboard is weird and not very responsive according to reviews.

 

I tried an Ivy Bridge XPS13 earlier this year, and had to return it. The trackpad was terrible. I've been following ultrabooks closely ever since. This one seems to have the fewest compromises.

The color problem, especially with the fix, is a non-issue for me. The battery life could be a little better, but honestly - I come from a time where getting 2 hours on a laptop was pretty good. So I'm fine with that.

I think some people expect a dead perfect machine when you're dropping $1000+ on it. And I don't really blame them. But that's just not the reality of the market right now. Maybe someday.

 

Agreed on the flip. Tried all sizes of the Flip at Best Buy and wasn't terribly impressed. Seemed very "plastic". The base has a really weird overhang where it is completely flat but sticks out near the edges. And the fact that the "flip" hinge is just rubber just doesn't really scream longevity to me. The Flip 13 was the nicest to me, simply because it had very little overhang and the keyboard flex was minimal compared to the larger ones.

Also tried the Duo 13 at the MSFT store and while it seemed nice, there were a few issues with the design. The mini-sized trackpad was impossible for me to use easily and when in tablet mode, the edges were sharp to me. It was just really uncomfortable to hold.

I still have to applaud Sony for taking chances with their design as their devices look very nice (the Tap 11 looks great in person as well). But overall, the Yoga just seems to be a more thought through device.

 

So it has been exactly 3 hours in this battery test. It shows I have an 1 hour 05 minutes of battery left meaning just 4 hours on battery. That is pretty disappointing to me. Now granted I did not close a lot of other programs that I probably could have and did not tweak any other settings and if I did that I could probably run longer. If I turn off WiFi and exit the Lenovo Energy Manager (as yellows don't seem to be affected that much in videos for me) I'm hoping the battery life would be longer.

I'm going to let the test run until the 10% warning as the battery meter just jumped to 1 hour 53 minutes left.

 

The battery meter on Windows has been very erradic for me ; when I check it it will say something like 10 hrs remaining, they I check it a minute later and it says 5hrs remaining?

 

Thnx twhite for the update. With time more input will let us know the consensus on what the new battery life is with new bios.

 

Yes the battery meter in the Energy Manager is quite flaky. Jumps around a lot, especially right after waking. Considering this shuts down almost instantly and turns back on almost as fast as it wakes, you could honestly just turn it off when not actually using and extend your battery life dramatically.

 

So now at with 7% battery left and 14 minutes left, that gives us right at 4 hours with the new BIOS and Lenovo Energy Manager updates. If you turn off the Energy Manager while watching movies I think you would get more battery life.

 

Yep, 4 hours with a Haswell processor kinda blows hard. I guess they need to tweak this a bit more. My Surface Pro was supposed to get 6 hours and I normally got maybe half that if I was lucky. I think these battery estimates are long on marketing and short on truth.

BTW, tried out a Skinomi Carbon Fiber skin on my Y2P and to be honest, I think I prefer it just naked. Such a good looking laptop without anything on it so after an hour of carefully putting it on I tore it off. Live and learn.

 

That skin didn't protect the touchpad anyways right? which is what I want to protect. BTW, are you going to return your Y2PRO because that guy on the other site told both of us that his SP2 is way better than our machine? Lol.

 

Well the SP2 is a fine device if you don't mind overpaying for a smallish tablet with only 2 viewing angles. It does have a good stylus that I found i rarely used since typing is faster and easier to read. If i was in an environment where i needed to carry my hybrid a lot and write (like a doctor or shop foreman) the SP2 might be better. Really depends on your use parameters.

 

Yes, that's the one I have on order at $1,090 ($1,149 minus credit for late shipping)

 

Ultrabooks can get way over $1,000 pretty quick. Macs are no longer expensive in comparison.

 

Yes, nobody wants them anymore..in fact BB is discounting all MBs by $150 on black Friday but not any other laptops.

 

guys i know im going off topic here but please help i have ordered a i7 with 8gb of ram and 256 ssd but will be waiting at least 4 to 6 weeks but i have to option to buy a i5 with 4 gb of ram and 256ssd for 150 euro less and could have it delivered within 3 day so my question is as i only use my laptops for downloading movie and music light web browsing emailing and other light stuff would i notices a difference in speed of this i5 setup and are there any down walls that i don't realize im sorry for the stupid question as im only a novice thanks for your patient in this matter and would appreciate anyone help p.s my old laptop was a dell xps 15 (502) with second gen i7 8bg of ram and 750 hhd so this would be my first ssd

 

In most cases, i7 is overkill. For your uses an i5 will be more than sufficient. Even a Bay Trail Atom would do what you want to do. Just get the i5.

 

He's absolutely right. With your use any processor would do the trick and 4gb is more than sufficient.

 

I checked Lenovo's website and the i5 with 256GB/8GB is now $1400, I didn't see any ecupons for this one . The i7 with 256GB/8GB is $1500 and no ecoupon either. A few days you could get the i7 with 256GB/8GB after using ecoupon for $1200 (same as Best Buy). They may be getting more orders despite the complains. What is going on?

 

Hi

I own the i5/8/265 version of the yoga 2 pro.

When my yoga is not charging I hear a very high pitched noise. It's most noticeable when you place your ear right where the fans are placed (fans not running).

Can others confirm this, or has my yoga some sort of defect?

 

A high pitched noise is the sound a bad capacitor can make - sort of like a dog whistle. Something like that would be quite unlikely with this advanced of a device but possible. I would recommend contacting Lenovo Tech Support and giving them remote access to your machine to see if anything is amiss.

 

I am looking to buy a high end lightweight notebook for travel. I have one main requirement on whatever I buy. It must be able to connect to a projector via VGA. I cannot find anywhere whether it supports VGA (through an adapter cable) or not. The only conclusion I can come to currently is that it does not because I have not seen anywhere that is says it does. Can anyone here answer that question for me? Does it support VGA?

 

There are so many things I LOVE about this hybrid but the following really stands out for me.

I enjoy sitting up in bed with my back against the headboard and typing on my laptop. Because the Y2P hinge offers unlimited viewing angles, I can have my knees up with the keyboard against my lap and the screen still facing directly at me. Other laptops with limited hinge travel force me to have my knees flat and the screen further from my face which is not as comfortable.

 

While I am certainly happy for you I am disappointed with Lenovo as I ordered the exact same configuration on 10/22 a full 8 days before you and it still shows a ship date of mid-December. They should be filling the orders in the order received! Guess I'll be talking with them to see what gives?

 

I don't own the machine, but I played with one at BB, and I've been getting information on the forums from users like you.Thanks for posting, by the way. I really like a lot about this convertible too. But what is holding me back from buying are the conflicting battery estimates that some people have posted after the color fix. Some said 7 hours, others 4. Can you tell for how long your yoga goes on a full charge? If so, what are your power, energy and screen brightness settings? Which tasks were you performing in battery mode? I would really appreciate if you can answer. Thanks again.
It wold be really great if more people report their experiences regarding battery life. For me, after the color fix, short battery life is the only possible flaw that this machine could have, even with than shortcoming, it is the best that the convertible ultrabook market have to offer right nowt. Unfortunately I need it to give me like 7 hours, and as much as I want this beauty, if it is not capable to deliver good battery life I'll have to pass.

Can you tell for how long your yoga go in a full charge

 

I completely agree. I have the I7/8gb/256 configuration, but only because I got it from BB for 1199. My usage is similar, and I could easily have gone with the I5 and had absolutely no problems. I dont regret getting the upgrade, because the price was right, but you should be just fine with 4gb and the I5 processor. Everything should still be very smooth and more than adequate for day to day browsing, video, email etc. Just my opinion.

 

Hello Ryano89,

Thanks for posting. Can you tell for how long your yoga goes on a full charge? If so, what are your power, energy and screen brightness settings? Which tasks are you performing in battery mode? I would really appreciate if you can answer. Thanks again.

 

Mine runs about 5 hours but that is with non stop use. One nice thing about the Y2P is that it charges very quickly.

The only thing missing for me in the Y2P is the lack of an active digitizer.

 

Have been debating between buying the Y2P or the TPY and think I'm going with the Y2P i7,8,256, but I have a question. Has anyone hooked this up to a docking station (like the Belkin USB 3.0 Dual Video Docking Stand) just curious as to how they work together.

 

Somebody posted somewhere that the Targus stylus works great with his/her YOGA, this was regarding the original yoga 13. There was no mention of exactly what they were using the Targus for, neither the model or series. But I thought I would mention it, because maybe Targus Stylus or another similar product out there could work with your Yoga and suit your needs at the same time.

 

What are your power, energy and screen brightness settings?
Which tasks do you perform in battery mode? Thanks

 

I went with the Plugable USB 3.0 dock - you can see it easily on Amazon. I use it for a USB 3.0 three terabyte drive for my windows file backups, a keyboard and a Logitech widnows 8 wireless trackpad, and a 25" monitor. I liked it since it has a DVI out on back and came with adapters to also use HDMI or VGA. Works well, and I have no issues with the extended monitor.

 

does anyone know if the y2p been sold since the update will have the yellow update already installed or do we still have to install it are self after purchasing because if it was not updated it would give us a chance to see if there is a big reduction in battery life and then decide weather we wanted to update it or just live with the yellow and better battery life

 

When I first saw the original Yoga 13, I loved it. The only thing that kept me from jumping in was the 1600x900 screen. I'm a programmer and I need a lot of screen real estate to see as much as possible on the screen. I can't settle for anything less than 1080p.

When the Yoga 2 Pro came out, I thought my problem was solved, 3200x1800! But I'm finding that is not true. At that resolution, for the Y2P to be useable, the OS is scaling back down which basically brings you back to a virtual resolution of 1600x900. So there is no extra screen real estate to be had because of scaling. The only benefit is when looking at photos at native resolution and maybe an improvement in some font rendering.

Additionally, I'm a heavy user of remote desktop. at 3200x1800, RDP in full screen mode changes the remote systems display to 3200x1800 also and it displays in the local machine at native resolution which is virtually unusable... everything is tiny. If you use less than full screen mode in RDP like going down to 1920x1080, the window just resizes and it is still unusable. I've played with the auto size and scaling options, but haven't been able to make it work in a usable fashion. Any thoughts on this?

What are the thoughts on running this thing natively in 1920x1080 mode? I don't like the idea of using a non-integral scaling factor... that has cause some artifacts doesn't it?

 

Is there another ultrabook offering that covers your concerns? This is the best I've ever found. Unfortunately we'll have to wait until applications catch up to the new screens.

I've heard RDP Manager solves the resolution issues Download Remote Desktop Connection Manager from Official Microsoft Download Center

 

Hi all;

I wrote a long review of my Yoga 2 Pro (running Linux)

I started a thread about it, but perhaps I should have just posted here

Review of Arch Linux on a HiDPI Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro « keithcu.com

Enjoy,

-Keith

 

Thanks, the mute botton works again.

It did not fix the headphone jack. I've tired 2 diffirent ear buds, no luck. Any ideas?

 

There are ultrabooks that are close. As a matter of fact, my perfect machine would be a 15.6 utlrabook with 1080p or higher touch screen, great battery life, SSD, good pricing. The ASUS Zenbook 15.6 is very close, but it is hard to find the touch screen version and the haswell doesn't seem to be available.

I like the 15.6 form factor at 1080p because I get the extra screen real estate in a larger display, but the Y2P is appealing because it is a convertible, not just an ultrabook. It just seems to overshoot with the 3200x1800 display on a 13.3.

 

hi

I just realized, that the squealing sound my yoga makes comes from the screen. when I turn it of, the noise vanishes. can someones please check if their yoga has the same problem. (it's almost not noticeable when ther's not toal silence)

greetings

 

I think i'm going to buy the Y2P, but i'm a little bit hesitant over the high resolution screen.
My eyesight is pretty poor, i do see about 15-20%, so i wonder if the text is very small on the screen?
I may change the resolution to ~ 1366x768 but how will it look like? I heard that there is a new scaling function in windows 8.1, maybe that is something that will help me out?

thank you guys

 

I do IT work as well and the extra weight of the 15.6 would keep me buying the Yoga. I hate small screens as well, but when I have to go back and forth to the lab I'd rather suffer, not to mention all the other times I travel with my laptop.

I can usually get my hands on another server and monitor to RDP when I'm going to be doing a lot of work. I just want the laptop as well because it runs all my other stuff like chat, email and ready access to documents. If I have to make do with the Yoga at times to RDP I'll suffer. It's a trade off, but I'm really happy with the Yoga Pro. The form factor of the Yoga 2 is also a HUGE bonus. When I'm at the office obviously I use a monitor, so screen issues are non-issues for much of the time.

 

Hello everyone,

I don't own the machine, but I played with one at BB, and I've been getting information on the forums from users like you. I really like a lot about this convertible too. But what is holding me back from buying are the conflicting battery estimates that some people have posted after the color fix. Some said 7 hours, others 4.

Can you guys please post for how long your yoga goes on a full charge?
If so, what are your power, energy and screen brightness settings?
Which tasks were you performing in battery mode?

I would really appreciate if you can answer.

It wold be really great if more people report their experiences regarding battery life. For me, after the color fix, short battery life is the only possible flaw that this machine could have, even with than shortcoming, it is the best that the convertible ultrabook market have to offer right nowt. Unfortunately I need some with some juice, and as much as I want this beauty, if it is not capable to deliver good battery life I'll have to pass.

 

Is the battery in the Yoga 2 Pro replaceable?

 

I bought and use the Anker USB 3.0 Docking Station for Dual Monitors: Amazon.com: Anker® USB 3.0 Dual Display Universal Docking Station with DVI/HDMI of up to 2048 x 1152, Audio, Gigabit Ethernet, and 6 USB ports (2 USB 3.0 + 4 USB 2.0) for Windows (19V / 2A Power Adapter included) - Black: Computers & Accessories

It works really well, I like that I can run ethernet through it because my desk is way down in the basement where my WiFi is weak. And I have two 1080p monitors connected to it. The mouse lag is not entirely smooth on the external monitors, but it's fine for programming.

 

I feel like you've asked this a dozen times and are not going to get a satisfactory answer because everyone uses it differently and has different configurations. I honestly feel like battery life is only a problem if you plan on regularly being away from an outlet for more than 5 hours at a time, as that seems to be the minimum that people are saying they are getting. If those conditions don't apply then in my opinion there is no reason to choose something else over the Y2P.

 

For those who missed the reference in another post, this is an interesting review -

Review of Arch Linux on a HiDPI Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro « keithcu.com

 

I have this question as well, my date is 9/22 .

 

For those of you debating the ultra-high resolution on such a small screen... I went into Best Buy today to take a look at this device. Initially they had the scaling set to 200%, which meant everything looked pretty much as it does on any laptop, just very pleasantly smooth.
I set the scaling down to 100% to see what it would look like. I'm only 24, have good eyesight, and our hand-me-down computers as I was growing up was always a 1-year-old, top-of-the-line laptop whenever my dad got a new one, so I have - for example - been using 1920 x 1080 screens for quite some time. My point being I am used to, and LOVE high-resolution. The more the merrier.
Anyway, I set the scaling to 100% expecting the result to be, "OMG AWESOME SO MUCH WINDOW SPACE," but my initial reaction was more along the lines of, "WHO IN THEIR RIGHT MIND WOULD USE THIS. MY EYES ARE GETTING CONFUSED."

It's cool and all, but it is honestly WAY too small at that size. Also you get an annoying dithering effect on 1-pixel-wide lines as a result of the screen technology that was a bit unsightly to me. I was trying to come up with scenarios where maybe, JUST MAYBE, that resolution - natively - would be useful, but I couldn't come up with ANY. I thought maybe it would be useful when looking at code, but I think everything would run together and you'd get way too overwhelmed and confused. Honestly, the only thing this resolution is good for is making the screen appear smoother and more natural. NOTHING wrong with that. They could even go to a higher resolution and you would still be able to notice a slight improvement in smoothness. I'm all for that, and I'm sure it will happen, but to be quite frank, that resolution - as a means of displaying more data on the screen - is beyond anything that would be useful for anyone unless they were scaling it up on an external monitor. It might be better on, say a 15 or a 17" laptop screen, but on this thing it is just a bit too small for everyday use.

At least, that's my opinion, for what it's worth for people who are curious.