Yoga 2 Pro Release Thread

yeah, you're right. the other popular issues for returns seem to be.. screen flickering, bad wifi (even after updates), poor battery life, and cheap camera. and the business users don't like the keyboard. some are even complaining that the trackpad surface grip rubs off quickly.

personally, i think the biggest marketing aspect of the Yoga (tablet mode) is a very overrated feature for a device that weighs this much. it's fun to play with it in that mode a few times here and there, but it's not feasible to hold with one hand (for any real period of time) while navigating with your other hand.

the lack of a premium look and feel has been another factor once you hit the $1200+ level. people are saying they'd rather spend a few hundred more and get a sleek looking Samsung or Asus.

the ThinkPad X3 will clearly be Lenovo's top product, hopefully they do that one right.

 

My main reasons for returning my Y2pro were due to the QC issues that I had with it, and the 6hr(barely and all settings turned down) battery life that I could squeeze out of it. Lenovo straight out lied about this thing having 9hrs of battery life, and I could not live with a lie like that when we are talking about a machine that costs more than $1200! They are not alone either; We all have noticed that this false advertisement exists with other PC manufacturers too, when it comes to how long a battery lasts on laptops(or am I wrong?). This crap needs to stop. Well, at least I'm happily reunited with my hard earned cash.

 

I've been following this thread for a while as I've been looking for a high end ultrabook. Initially I've been waiting for the ASUS UX301LA (aka Infinity) i7 version... but they have been taking forever to release it since it's announcement. Looks like it's finally coming out now with prices for the i5 at $1799. The i7 is rumored to be $2k+. Yikes!

So when the Yoga 2 Pro was released with the i7/256GB at $1200... As much as I wanted the Infinity (as, DisplayPort, and 802.11ac were important to me), I just couldn't justify paying $800+ more. So I ordered the orange Yoga from Lenovo on Oct 17, where the ship date was eventually pushed to Nov 14.

As DisplayPort and 802.11ac were important... I took a risk with a couple alternative solutions.

I have the 30" Dell U3011 monitor which runs at 2560x1600 and I'll be using the Yoga to run it. Unfortunately only way to pump that res direct from a laptop is via DisplayPort. HDMI on this monitor doesn't support it's own max resolution. Blah! So I purchased the Belkin USB 3.0 Dual Video Docking Stand (Newegg had the best price at $180 for those interested). I'm worried about video performance, but felt the risk was worth trying it out.

Second, as I got a new 802.11ac router several months back, getting a laptop with 802.11ac is a must. Again, the Yoga 2 Pro surprisingly only has an "N" card (Intel 7260 N). I found that Intel has an AC version of that card, the Intel 7260 AC. Keep in mind that this Yoga is NOT mini PCI-e. It's a smaller M.2 type of wireless slot/card. It's model #7260NGW. I bought it on a site I never heard of, Mfactors.com for $36.

So all said and done, that brought my grand total to $1540 (including shipping and taxes)

I haven't received the Yoga yes, so my little AC card and dock are sitting on my desk here. Once I get the laptop, I'll report back with an update on how well those upgrades work for me.... just in case anyone else is looking to do either of them.

I really can't wait to get the laptop. It's too bad about some of the problems people were having with wifi and "yellow" fun. Since I'll be doing my main work on the 30" I may be ok with the color. But I'll find out in a long few weeks. Hopefully the AC cards works too.

Oh, I do have a question for the people who already got theirs... What is the material of the outer shell? Is it metal, plastic? Thanks!

 

Oh crap I totally forgot the flickering... When I started to use the battery.. I thought it was my eyes playing tricks on me.. so I disabled adaptive control for the display...
I loaded the Lenovo forum app on win 8.... On two notches from total dimness the screen was flickering like crazy.. Turned it up and it went away.. Lowered it down again and bam it came back..



If this laptop was about 700-800 bucks okay fine... but for 1199.99 on bestbuy.com or 1499.99 on lenovo.com without a coupon YOU expect quality, not some penny pushing laptop.

I liked the material around the keyboard, the rubbery texture, but com'on .. once you hit the 1000 + at least get quality control working for you..... I have played with cheaper valued laptops like the asus u41 that felt better , and had better battery life, as a fraction of the cost.


I hope LENOVO gets this fixed up ASAP, because I really liked the form factor of this laptop..

and 9 hours ? on IDLE how can you advertise this and be proud of it ugh.

 

Welcome to the thread.. fyi, at least a couple people earlier on the thread have already installed that 7260 AC card and reported good results, so you'll probably be happy to hear that. (Mine should be arriving shortly also.)

I've also got that Dell U3011, btw, connected to my desktop PC and haven't as yet had cause to try to attach to it, but curious to hear how that goes.

 

I've had the machine for two days and I'm about 90% certain it is going back. Besides the yellow issue, my fan is now on constantly, and my battery life is horrible. I'm not running in the high performance mode and yet I'm only getting a little over two and a half hours. Right now I'm at 51% battering with an estimated 1:09 hours left. That is unacceptable battery performance. My cruddy Asus X54C that I upgraded to a Core i5-2450M from a Pentium 960 gets more than five hours. I terribly saddened by this since I wanted to like the Y2P. I'll bet someone at Lenovo is in the deep end of a septic tank over this snafu.

 

Re the estimated battery life left, I wouldn't base too much on it yet if you've only had it briefly, as it may take a little bit first for the software to calibrate those values properly (a number of people reported similar wackiness that leveled out after some use). You might want to run it down from max to low power at least once to see if that makes a difference (not good general practice for Lithium battery lifetime, but useful for getting the battery life in sw working properly).

Edit: Just saw you said though that you're only getting just over 2 and a half hours.. if that's the case and that persists, you almost certainly got a lemon -- no one else is reporting numbers anywhere near that low (usually people are reporting results in the 6 hour range).

 

Not sure what you did there but you didn't set it to high performance in Energy Manager because it would no longer look green if you did. Then again maybe that specific unit has problems the rest do not.

 

I've had mine for a while now (i7, grey from BB).I bought mine even though I was fully informed about the battery and yellow issues. At $1,200 I couldn't find anything that came close to the Y2P - keep in mind that I bought the Y2P specifically for it's size and hinge. At 6 - 7 hours per charge, the battery is fine for me. In fact I use it at work all day and I don't bother to bring the charger home with me (unless it's a weekend). The screen is ok - I would've preferred a more battery friendly, lower resolution screen but it works. Any color fix will be welcome whenever (if) it comes.

For me, the form factor makes this more usable than any of my previous devices. Yes, tablet mode isn't really usable for more than a few minutes due to its size. But it's fantastic when laying down or lounging on the sofa with it propped up against my knees - no keyboard in the way. I rarely use tent mode. Stand mode is where this shines. In meetings I can have it resting on the conference room table with a small angle (maybe 15 degrees). In that mode, it doesn't interfere with the flow of the conversation or create a wall between me and the others. That is much more important to me than color accuracy. If there is not a table, it rests nicely in my lap, out of the way, but still very useful.

The processor/memory/ssd is certainly fast enough for anything I throw at it. I haven't had any wifi problems, but if I did the cost to change the card still keeps the price very low. I am not saying this is a perfect device, but it fits my situation better than anything else that's out there. There are better options out there if you only want an ultrabook, but the yoga hinge improves my workflow. If you don't need it, don't buy a yoga.

 

Just a quick fyi...Costco is selling a dell xps 12 for 1,199. I7/256GB/8GB and dual band-ac and I believe it has a mini-display port. I believe it is online only as well.

 

wow, not a bad deal. are they 12.1" or .5? I was looking at it when I got the y2p but I couldn't justify replacing my main laptop with a sub 13" screen. Also they're much heavier than the y2p like a full pound more or so which make the hybrid modes much less appealing. Also once you go QHD, you dont go back to FHD.

 

Here's a link
Dell XPS 12 Touchscreen Convertible Ultrabook

I think it weights 3.35lbs.

 

the whole point is, that u shouldn't have to run it in high performance mode to get correct colors.

both laptops were run in power savings mode.

if you haven't been following the ordeal check the lenovo forums.

 

Hi guys, I've been lurking around this forum for a while now with the hope of being able decide which laptop to buy between the YP2 or the Samsung AB9+.

Since there is no news on the AB9+ i7/8/256 in the UK I decided to buy the i7 YP2 on release day from Amazon - on the understanding that the yellow rendering issue can be remedied to some effect.

My new toy (and hopeful replacement to my venerable HP dv6-2106 i7 laptop) arrived today and my first impressions are that it's a beautiful bit of kit - even drawing admiration from my pro-Apple friend (on first inspection).

However, it would appear that the display on my unit is more defective than most, with a vertical strip of dead (or stuck) pixels on the right hand side. I presume they're stuck on RED since they show up over blue and green backgrounds but not red.

Has anyone else seen pixel defects like this with YP2s? (apologies if I've missed it being mentioned in this thread).

Also the yellow issue is worse than I thought - as a Chrome user it's quite evident, all of the time. I've arranged for a refund from Amazon and am seriously considering waiting for the fabled i7 AB9+ instead.

 

I am having a tough time even finding where I can adjust the power settings.

I understand it has to be done in Lenovo Energy Manager, but all that app will do is allow me to set it to a preconfigured Max Setting, I see no option to customize this setting, as some instructions say you need to do.

Help?

 

The rest of the settings need to be done in the Windows Power Manager. Click the Battery Icon in the bottom right of the Task Bar and click More Power Options unless I'm misunderstanding what your trying to do.

 

Return it! you got a lemon!

 

That's what I thought. Should the fan be running all the time, even at its lowest setting?

 

Led Zappa:

Got it...thanks.

 

We all know what the point is but until they push out a fix you do if you want truer yellows. So what was your point with that?

 

the point is , even in full performance mode, on the lenovo forums people are still getting slight color fix on the yellow, but but still a ways off.

many in there believe it is a panel issue that is what the point is.. and If you want full color or i should say Proper looking colors why should one have to sacrifice battery life ? this should of been check prior to releasing the notebook to the general product.

QC fail.

 

check the AB9+ thread.. there's a couple UK posters that pre-ordered their i7's and will be getting them soon. the i7 version is out in the States now.

 

Although, remember that the AB9+ and Yoga2P both use the EXACT SAME SCREEN! I'm still trying to find out whether the color problem (in total, both on battery and max performance) is much more pronounced on the Lenovo (ie. Lenovo didn't do something to counteract it like Samsung did) or simply that the Y2P is so much more popular that the very expensive AB9+ simply hasn't had time to develop the same reputation...

 

Thanks, I will bear that in mind and keep an eye on both forum threads. The yellow issue really is a deal breaker for me (and even without the pixel defects, I'd think about returning the unit because of it). It's such a shame because the YP2 is otherwise superb.

For reference I've attached a couple of shots, both showing the stuck pixels and one with the Chrome icon in view showing how yellow is rendered - I can't seem to change this with any of the OS or Lenovo power settings.

 

The panel really doesn't have a yellow issue. The Yoga has three display issues:
1) Not 100% sRGB coverage. Most laptop displays fall into this category. Yellow is the least saturated color. Other laptops have other colors less saturated.
2) Not calibrated. The yellows shift green by default. This can be adjusted by reducing Green brightness.
3) RGBW displays have a power saving mode which is enabled by default. Perhaps it is possible to look good in power saving mode, but this Yoga really doesn't. Non-power saving mode is just fine, but Lenovo's Energy Manager forgets the settings after sleep.

See my post in the lenovo forums: Re: Yoga 2 Pro 13 Yellow Color Issues - Page 62 - Lenovo Community

 

This is really helpful, thanks. Which software did you use to change the RGB values?

I will try and spend some time calibrating and familiarising myself with the work-arounds as I'd really rather replace than get a full refund.

 

I just used the Intel HD graphics control panel. Go to 'Display', then choose the color adjustment page.

 

I don't think so. My fan would only run after using it for a while on my lap(I was also using it under lower settings).

 

Just realize that this is last year's XPS, i.e. not Haswell, and new ones are coming soon. If you want a good deal and don't need QHD, then last year's Yoga 13 was/is discounted heavily also.

 

How's the build quality on this machine? When I inspected one in BestBuy I noticed there was a very large amount of screen flex. Are the top and bottom panels plastic or metal? I know they look silverish but when I inspected it they looked like either coated metal or textured plastic.

 

When I click the link it shows a I7-4500U is that not Haswell? Pretty sure it is. Definitely not an QHD Screen though.

 

anyone having issue accessing their order status?

 

Yup it just gives me an error page. I tried calling in this morning and the person I spoke with said he was transferring me to someone to help, but after 40 minutes on hold I had to leave and haven't had time to call back since.

 

i called and they told me it will be fix by end of day today... we will see.

 

Yeah. QHD screen. Then what does everyone do? Lower it down to a lower resolution, since most applications can't even be used.

 

To answer my own post : I went to BB today and compared the Y2Pro resolution at 1920 x1080 to other displays on the store and found out pretty quickly that text on this QHD screen still looks amazing and better than all the other native 1920x1080 resolution screens! The other screens from Sony, HP, Dell, etc all looked nasty, even the FHD ones, compared to the Y2PRO. I think I'm going to get another Y2PRO, but this time it would be a clementine one.

 

Just ordered the Clementine I7 256GB 8G model from Lenovo, so I'm back in the club! $1,381.33, 2yr accidental protection included. I could not find anything even close to this price with the specs of the Y2P. And once I saw how the display just blew away the other displays at BB like I mentioned before, I fell in love again and couldn't resist!

 

Nice one.. !! i too have ordered same specs but in silver. its currently with fedex and exptected delivery tomoorow.!!

 

Cool! I'm glad you are getting yours tomorrow!

 

Mark just posted that the target fix release is 11/8!
Re: Yoga 2 Pro 13 Yellow Color Issues - Page 69 - Lenovo Community

 

Thanks for the heads up!

 

Let me know if you have screen flickering and touchpad issues, since I have learned how to fix those through tips from other users! You can send me a private message so that we don't clog the current thread.

 

I would like to resolve screen flickering and touchpad issues on mine. Could you post the links please?

 

I would like to resolve screen flickering and touchpad issues on mine. Could you post the links please?

 

are there any coupons available for the i7 256 from lenovo site?

 

You need to call or use the instant messaging. That's the only way that they would honor it last Monday. It's supposed to be expired, but pretend like it's not. They will probably honor it (they have done it before)
Here : EMAIL4YOGA2PRO. It brings the I7 256 version down to $1199, even the Clementine one

 

I'm at work right now, but let me see if I can link the flickering from my phone. Shhhh. I have to hide to do it.

 

I believe this is it. If not someone please let me know.
Yoga 2 Pro - Auto brightness feature and how to di... - Lenovo Community

 

It's kind of similar to what I did, but you actually have to go into more than one place to get rid of the auto function completely.

 

[a person suggested this for the screen flickering and it went away for me:
I had the same issue with the screen brightness/backlighting. The first thing I did was to make sure that the automatic brightness control that uses an ambient light sensor to adjust the brightness was turned off. I did this by going into the control panel on the desktop and selecting Power Options. It will display the different power modes and on the right is an option to "change plan settings." Click on that for the power mode that you are in and then click "change advanced power settings" at the bottom of the window. Scroll down and click "Display" and then "Enable adaptive brightness" and turn it off.

Doing that kept the display from changing due to the ambient light but the backlighting would still change by itself, especially when switching between light and dark images, which sounds like what might be happening to you. I found a fix for the Yoga 13 that seems to fix this problem. Right click on the desktop and select "intel graphics properties." Select the "on battery" tab and turn off "Display Power Saving Technology." It seems like this attempts to reduce power consumption by adjusting the backlighting depending on what's being displayed but I found it extremely irritating.QUOTE=bmlad;9439237]I would like to resolve screen flickering and touchpad issues on mine. Could you post the links please?[/QUOTE]