Yoga 2 Pro Release Thread

That's what I'm hoping. I started to consider the XPS 12 over the last couple of says. Perhaps with the HD 5000, which would be ~40% better on average than the Yoga 2 Pro's 4400 if it only has single channel memory. It'll cost about ~$1750, but I might be able to get 20% off if I use a friend's company discount.

Truth is, I prefer the design of the Yoga 2 Pro...

That's a great deal you got on the Zenbook touch. My netbook is an Asus and I'll be honest, for a netbook from 2008, it's great. Asus isn't a bad brand, although quality varies depending on what series you purchase. I'm surprised to hear that the keyboard isn't all that great.

What happened with your Yoga is unfortunate. I'd be pretty unhappy if that happened to me, but faulty products do slip past quality control ever so often. Not much you can do about it. Hopefully it was all covered.

Earlier we were talking about Google Products and Windows 8, well perhaps I'm buying into the ecosystem at the right time. Google's Dev Channel has a buggy implementation of a Chrome OS like interface. So perhaps they are going to begin supporting Windows 8? Hopefully this isn't some cruel joke on Google's behalf. (They might only be testing the idea)

I only learned about the empty mSata slot in the original Yoga last month. Was it made for a WAN card? - Either way, I thought that was awesome when I read about it.

A second mSata slot in the Y2P is unlikely. We really won't know until someone does a tear down.

At this point in time, I'd be happier if the RAM was soldered. (I want my iGPU performace)
The Y2P may have "user-upgradeable" RAM. The reason for the quotes is that Lenovo will probably deny it, but all you need to really do is pop the back off and replace the SO-DIMM. Like Dan75 said, they pulled the same thing with the oriignal Yoga. The max of 8GB and GPU tests are pointing towards a single channel. (Although XPS 12 has 8GB max soldered) It'd be pretty stupid if Lenovo soldered 8GB of RAM to the MoBo and left it in single channel mode. But I'm no hardware engineer and am only making an assumption based on what we know as fact.

As far as release dates goes... It's technically pre-orderable now. isme.com has it listed for £999 for the base model. It's ship date is October 25th.
One thing to note is both the Orange and Silver models are the same price, although this could be a typo.

Other tech sites are still reporting October 18th as the official release date, but they all may be copying Gizmodo's post.

And you can't compare the isme.com price to the US model because of import taxes. Hopefully Lenovo nails the $1,099 price point for the US.

I understood what you said about the memory being more efficient. I had never heard a direct statistic on efficiency. - I knew LPDDR3 was more efficient, just not how much more.

It's impressive to say the least.
This is my first real time digging into the laptop field with a concern for efficiency, so I had no idea there was such a difference when it came to memory.

And I agree, paying more for something that is so cheap is worth it.

I really think Microsoft went overkill trying to be as minimalistic as possible with Metro. (I don't like calling it "Modern UI")
As you mentioned with Skype and how difficult is was to find search in the store, they really kill functionality for the sake of style and keep things simple looking. Which is kind of sad, seeing as Metro isn't the best looking UI anyways.

I do web design and developing and am pretty meticulous/anal when it comes to building something people are going to use on a daily basis. Normally what I do is think of the most intuitive way to navigate the site or application I'm building, then designing the look and feel of the site around the site's function. Microsoft took the other route and designed a UI, then built navigation around it. Which has created some real problems.

I've used Metro on my netbook with hacked intel drivers and I wasn't impressed, but I'm convinced that I can't really make a judgement call until I use it with touch. Hopefully it'll improve with time.

Using touch on desktop in clamshell mode is something I could probably get use to. I'm a "If there's a will there's a way" type of person. Although I'm pretty quick with hotkeys, the ability to use Touch, Clickpad or Hotkeys is welcome. Nice to know its at least functional.

The XPS 11 looks like the best Tablet first, laptop second machine.
I didn't realize there was some travel on the keyboard. I read that there was none, but I didn't see any videos of anyone typing on it - I personally couldn't deal with it, I'm a really hard typer and a keyboard snob. But that's just me. I also need a bigger screen because I'd like to be able to do more work than what I'm currently capable of on my 10.1" netbook.

Overall, the XPS 11 looks awesome. It's light, the screen looks great, the keyboard works and the size if perfect for a tablet.

If I wasn't looking for a work horse I'd get it.


---

Edit: I just heard from Nick Reynolds of Lenovo Consumer Marketing and he confirmed that memory is indeed on-board. He didn't say "soldered" or confirm dual-channel. So this may be a play on words. I'm not sure.
Source

 

Sorry for the lack of replies; I've been busy packing for a long trip (I won't be back until the 20th, unfortunately, so I apologize if the OP becomes stale).

But, I did just see the review of the Haswell XPS 12. They got seven hours and 58 minutes with it! ( Review: XPS 12). The Ivy Bridge one only got 5 hours and 0 minutes ( Review: Dell’s acrobatic XPS 12 is the Windows 8 convertible to beat | Ars Technica). That's a nice 60% increase in battery life.

They did upgrade the battery from 47 to 50 WHr. It's just with basic internet use. But, guys, that is awesome and hopefully points towards good tidings for the Y2P.

 

So, only one video about the Yoga 2 Pro has come out so far? No other hands on reviews/real life usage reviews?

 

Well, it's not been released yet.

We at least have these two videos

Ultrabooknews.com
Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro Hands-On « Ultrabook News and the Ultrabook Database

Nicole from Mobile Geeks
Nicole Compares the Lenovo Yoga Pro 2 to the Yoga 13 - YouTube

 

So I'm pretty excited about getting this bad boy...but I need some help.

I haven't purchased a new laptop for a couple of years...so not to familiar with the newer processors, esp. Haswell and how RAM effects the whole picture...

1. I am having difficulty deciding between the i5 vs the i7

2. Not sure if to get 4GB RAM vs 8GB (and not sure about the ability to upgrade SSD and RAM like the original Yoga)

My uses are nothing crazy, no plans on gaming etc, but I would want a device that will run smoothly for 2-3 years...

Thoughts guys? Any help would be appreciated... (Also do you guys think the Orange will be very hard to get?)

 

I have heard about terrible hinge problems from the previous YOGA generation. Is this something we can expect to be fixed for the Y2P?

 

What? I've had my Yoga for almost a year (on 10/26 it will be a year) and the hinges are the strongest most durable part. I've also been following and part of the Yoga owners thread. Not one mention of hinge problems.

 

The 3200x1800 resolution will be mostly interesting for photography editing, video work and other creative endeavours.
For business/office work / internet browsing the screen scaled to 1600x900 will probably be the best option.

 

Well I was curious on the durability of the hinge and so I just googled it and found this

Yoga 13 hinges loose? - Lenovo Community

Certainly I will be more than happy to hear from you that the hinge is nothing to worry.

 

There has been some discussion about soldered RAM versus non-soldered RAM. The purpose of this comment is to put a vote in for non-soldered RAM in case Lenovo uses a forum like this for market research. We plan to get a Yoga 2 Pro instead of a Vaio Duo 13 precisely because the Yoga has (probably) removable RAM. Upgrading the RAM in a notebook is something we have found useful in the past - 8 GB may seem like a lot now, but in two years 16 GB may be very desirable. Also, a RAM problem can be fixed easily - with soldered RAM you have to replace the whole motherboard. It is unlikely that there is a real-world performance difference of more than 5% between single channel and dual channel anyway.

 

Notecheck.net did a review of a similar spec machine, the Samsung ATIV 9 Plus. The ATIV 9 Plus has i5-4200U, 4 GB RAM (soldered dual channel), HD 4400, and SSD. The Yoga 2 Pro performance should be in the same ball park (+/- a few % points here and there) given the similar hardware. This review reaffirms what I suspected: the Yoga 2 Pro should be able to run modern games at low-to-medium res. :thumbsup: But is a far cry from a gaming rig (which we already knew).

Also of note: the battery life was also reaching ~6ish hours on WLAN test, similar to the Yoga 2 Pro MobileMark 2012. It seems the Yoga 2 Pro is in the same ball park as other Haswel Ultrabooks and Levono did not have some major design flaw that drains the battery too fast.

Review Samsung ATIV Book 9 Plus 940X3G Ultrabook - NotebookCheck.net Reviews

 

We're still not 100% sure the Yoga 2 Pro has dual channel memory. I know I linked that tweet from Nick at Lenovo Consumer Marketing, but it's a bit cryptic. He mentioned on-board memory, but that could go either way and just be marketing bs, avoiding the question.

The ThinkPad Yoga has been confirmed to have dual-channel memory, so Nick proved right there.

The weird thing is the 3DMark 11 benchmark we saw from Nicole at Mobilegeeks. Granted the test was a pre-production unit, it only scored 681. The Samsung Ativ Book 9+ got 827.

Furthermore, thermals and clock speed also matters and that will differ.

As far as GPU performance, we need to wait for a final unit to get real numbers. Nicole is suppose to post a real-world GPU test on her pre-production unit sometime soon. But that's still going to be iffy.

She really needs to open up CPU-Z and check her memory to see if it's dual or single channel. I'm leaning more toward dual, but I'm not holding my breath.

Battery life is a good comparison though. 11.5hours without WAN and min brightness isn't bad, nor is 6h with light usage. I wanted better, but I guess this is normal with these specs.

 

Of course it's not tick-for-tac comparison between these 2 ultrabooks. Everyone who follows this thread knows there will be differences (possible dual vs single channel, clock speeds and thermal difference, 8 GB vs 4 GB, etc.). With basically the same hardware (CPU and HD 4400), the ATIV 9 Plus and Yoga 2 are more similar than dissimilar. Thus the performance should be pretty close. It's not like I'm trying to compare a 17" beast with a i7 QM to the Yoga 2.

 

Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro Performance Tests - YouTube

For those worried that the SSD is not interchangeable, if you look at this part in the video you can see the model of the SSD is:

SAMSUNG MZMTD256HAGM-000L1

Which I found on Samsung's site:

SSD Product Catalogue | Samsung Semiconductor Global Website

Here it shows it's an mSata drive. Also other sites on Google say this drive was used in the Yoga 11S (maybe the previous 13 as well, I don't know just speculating, I don't have a Yoga but for those that do you can check).

Of course knowing that they used an mSata drive doesn't necessarily guarantee that it's user replaceable, but there are good odds. I'm hoping it has an open mSata slot for expansion like the Yoga 13.

 

Played around with the Yoga 2 Pro at BestBuy today...left disappointed.
+ Screen is amazing and quite flexible; it's obviously the highlight of the machine (BestBuy employee attached the bulky anti-theft lock on the backside of the screen near the middle of the base, thus preventing the tablet mode, but I was still able to bend the display quite aggressively and it didn't distort the image one bit).
+ Thinness/overall size is MBA tiny; very portable
+ Chassis is solid and can take a fair bit of abuse
- Keyboard is terrible, minimal travel, no feedback
- Trackpad is okay but the trackpad button (entire trackpad clicks) is annoying/useless - lenovo should just put the TrackPoint on this beast and completely remove the trackpad

I'd buy one for $700-800, not $1200 as listed.

 

There's no way you played with a Yoga 2 Pro. It's not even out on the Lenovo site yet, and won't be until Windows 8.1 is released. You were most likely playing with last year's model.

 

Additionally, the original Yoga's keyboard is pretty great. I've compared it to many other laptops, and the only thing that beats it is a thinkpad.

Compare the Yoga's keyboard to a nice mechanical one, and yeah, you're going to be disappointed, but that's not what laptops are about. Compare it instead to other laptops. Try the keyboard on the Zenbook, MacBook, or any Acer, then try the Yoga, and you'll see what I mean. I hope the Yoga 2 Pro's keyboard is at least as good as the old Yoga's. With the addition of the backlight, it should be pretty great. We'll soon see.

 

I haven't seen it mentioned in this thread yet, but the Lenovo US site has "Up to 8GB DDR3L 1600 MHz, 1 SO-DIMM slot (2GB / 4GB / 8GB)" listed in the memory section of the tech specs, so it looks to be confirmed that some of the memory as least will be user changeable. Which I would think will make the SSD user changeable too, the flash is more likely to fail than RAM.

 

Best Buy is selling the Yoga 11s with Haswell before it is out on the Lenovo site so strange things do happen!

 

I was equally surprised that it was already on the display floor, however, I know just about every laptop lenovo carries and it was the Yoga 2 Pro. I get the impression that if lenovo wants these consumer products on BestBuy's showfloor (there was a lenovo section, like Apple or Samsung), they have to provide samples asap and bestbuy can display whatever they want (maybe not sell necessarily). Given the placement of the anti-theft lock, I doubt those BestBuy employees even knew the device or its differences with other ultrabooks. In addition to the obvious Yoga 2 Pro label, the specs confirmed everything...I've used the previous Yogas and this was definitely the Yoga 2 Pro. I didn't ask to buy one so I can't confirm same-day ownership, but I'm sure anyone seriously interested can call their local bestbuy and ask if they have one on display....

 

apparently the yoga 2 pro can be ordered.

yoga 2 pro - Best Buy

 

I'll be damned. Best Buy says it's available at the one by my house.

BestBuy.com - Find It At A Best Buy Store

 

Wow, the upgraded i7, 8GB RAM; 256GB solid state drive version is only $200 (total $1,199 pre-tax) more than the i5, 4GB RAM, 128 SSD version.

That's a lot cheaper than I expected. I guess Lenovo is competing the MBA price point. Definitely worth $200 for the upgrade.

 

Question for w_km:

The mobile tech review noted the trackpad issue was resolved when the resolution was reduced. Did you try to reduce the DPI? If so, did the trackpad travel improve?

How much space was taken up the partitions/OS? The old yoga only left ~60 GB free of the 128 GB drive.

Thanks.

 

They wouldn't let me buy it until the 20th

 

Wow, I retract what I said. My apologies w_km. Going to take a peek at my Best Buy now...

 

Wow that really came out of nowhere! I wonder when it'll appear on amazon

 

It's my guess that Lenovo has been ready for quite some time, but can't release them until W8.1 is released.

 

The trackpad itself was not an issue for me at either resolution setting (though I was more interested in testing the display, overall responsiveness, video playback, etc...). I would highly recommend going to see the machine for yourself. The form factor is crazy nice but it eliminates the best thing about having a laptop in the first place: the irreplaceable keyboard interface. The Yoga 2 Pro felt less like a laptop and more like a super-tablet cut down the side with a keyboard crammed between the guts and the display. Don't get me wrong, the build and durability are good, but I'd much rather have an extra 1.5mm to improve key travel and chassis rigidity/durability.

As for the OS usage, I didn't care to look, but Windows 8.1 will likely take a good chunk of space (not 60+ GB though!), just another reason for google or Linux OS to take over.

 

Omg

Best Buy is selling the 11s before it even had its full specs announced. All I've heard about the 11s is that it's "Coming Soon." (Correct me if I'm wrong)
The 11s 128GB/4GB model is shipping now. (18-22nd arrival)
Comes with a i5-4210Y HD 4200 and 1366 x 768 screen.

The 13" 128GB/4GB is also shipping.

The fact any of these are listed and that you can actually buy the 128GB/4GB models is probably a mistake. That makes me worry that these prices are also a mistake. I really hope they're not!

I'd like to go in for a 13" 256GB/8GB, but it's unavailable for pickup in my area so I can't check out. I wish I could lock in this price!

Have you used the original 13" Yoga keyboard? If so, how does it compare?

I'd call my local Best Buy to see if they have demo unit, but they'd probably tell me "Yes" then show me over to a MBA and ask, "Is this what you were looking for?"

 

But the complaint you're making about the yoga 2 pro could be made with the original yoga, or any other ultrabook convertible for that matter. It's an inherent part of being "ultraportable" and "convertible".

 

I'm worried about the price as well. I purchased it online, but I don't think it's going to process until the release date, which is OK I guess as long as I get that price locked in.

 

9 Best Buys in my city and not one has the 256GB available. $1200 for an i7 is a steal.

So, you were able to buy it? No confirmation I assume? Any shipping date to the store?
What was that about you not being able to buy it until the 20th on page 13 of this thread?

I'm almost tempted to jump on the 4GB/128GB model. If you compare the current gen i3 Yoga to the i5, there's a ~$250 difference.

 

I went to the store and they would not sell it until the 20th, though they have 2 in stock. I came back home and bought it online for in store pickup. I've got the order email, but then I got a billing processing error email, so I called them and they entered it manually. I then got an email saying my payment information has been updated. At this point it simply says processing online.

I am just hoping at this point that I've locked in the cost at least.

 

Is there reason to think the prices are a mistake on the Best Buy site? Wish they had the orange one in 8Gb/i7/256Gb.

 

Did anyone look at the name "Yoga 2 Pro" and think of an Apple computer. I'm quite sure the "Pro" name is reserved for Apple computers

Didn't Apple patent the name "Pro" ?

And don't tell me that "Pro" means professional

 

Did anyone look at the name Intel i7-4500u and think of an Apple device. I'm quite sure the "i" prefix is reserved for Apple devices.

Didn't Apple patent the letter "i" ?

 

I guess they did.

Apple knows how to make money better than the other companies.

Edit: You should realize I'm not being serious. People take names too seriously.

I'm poking fun at the word "Pro."

Since the Yoga 2 Pro has "Pro" in its name , I know not to take it seriously.

 

Between the Surface Pro, the Venue Pro, the VAIO Pro, and the Yoga Pro I'm quite sure you're right. Though you probably didn't need to read past "Ideapad" to get the gist of the professional work potential of this computer. No idea why every company is being compelled to add "Pro" to their product name. Don't think it was the case before the macbook pro though I haven't looked into it at all.

 

Hey guys,

I just picked up my Lenovo Ideapad Yoga 2 Pro at Best Buy in NYC (Core i7, 256GB, 8GB RAM edition) for $1200 and here's the story:

Called Best Buy this Friday to ask when it would be available in the stores, and a clever sales representative informs me that pre-orders are accepted from Sunday (October 13th) but it wont be available for shipment or in stores until October 18th. At least that was some relevant information, compared to the useless answers given by Lenovo on their website. The day after I called Best Buy again, just to be told that she couldn't even find it in the system. Anyways, hopes high, I wait during midnight from Saturday to Sunday and yes: Suddenly it becomes available for pre-orders (and for $1200!!). But hey, wait! Best Buy homepage says that I can pick it up at Union Square, NYC, the following day. I must admit I thought it was an error, but next morning I received an e-mail saying it was ready for pick-up and without a problem I picked it up in the store.

Afterwards, I can only believe this is an error of some sort since Windows 8.1 is installed on the laptop and is due to be released on October 18th. The price also seems like it's on sale - Lenovo reported that the base model would go for $1100 and that base model was expected to incorporate a Core i3/i5, 4GB RAM and 128 GB SSD. The "upgrade" I got for $100 is a quite a bargain in comparison.

Anyways, the best of "luck" (I sure don't hope it's an error) to you in getting the $1200 model from Best Buy!

 

Wow, you really had to jump through some hoops to make that sale. I really hope you get it!

Thanks for the info crillegs and welcome to the Notebook Review forums!

Was there anything special you did to preorder it? Or did you just go to their website, add it to your cart and select store pick up at a store that had it listed as available?

If so, I seem to be SOL on the i7 model. :/

Want to do me a favor? On your Yoga 2 Pro, download CPU-Z, extract and run the exe and go to the Memory tab. Does it say "Single" or "Dual" channel memory?

 

Thanks, B3RL1N! Just like you, I have been waiting in great anticipation to buy it. And no, I didn't do anything special other than go to the website and choose Store Pick-Up. But when I did, though, only one store (out of, say 15) on Manhattan had it available for pick-up.

The CPU-Z says Dual Channel Memory. I have uploaded the full CPU-Z report here - I guess it might be of interest to you. And remember: This is the Best Buy $1200 version (Core i7, 256 GB SSD and 8GB RAM).

 

Forgot to add: Just measured cold-boot time to 7.5 seconds - from I pressed the power-button until the Windows 8 start screen with icons appears.

 

Got it! Can't believe it. These things never happen to me lol.

Got the "it's ready for pickup" email, dashed down there and sure enough it was ready

Won't be doing much with it tonight. With family, but can't wait for tomorrow.

Oh, I have 220GB Free space.

 

That's a very aggressive pricing. If that is actual not sales, then it could be a very popular product.

 

Seems I'm just going to have to wait for it to be available in my area. Great investigative work! It really paid off for you.

Thanks for the full CPU-Z readout. Dual-Channel means the HD 4400 isn't hindered by the system's memory. (Yay for leisure gamers!)
Windows 8.1 Build 9600 - Yup, that's RTM right there.
SSD: SAMSUNG MZMTD256HAGM-000L1 238.5 GB

The way the memory is showing up means it may be soldered, but I can't tell. Don't take my word for it.

Thanks again crillegs, best first few posts ever.

Nice!
Good to hear there's no screwy partitioning.

You have the patience of a Saint. I'd be playing with it non-stop.
Congrats!

 

Amazing! After playing with it for a bit, what is the estimated battery life? Is it around 6-7 hours with 50% brightness and power-saving mode?

Also, would you care to give a mini-review?

 

I ordered a Yoga 2 Pro last evening on the Best Buy website (i5 base model for $999) and it is showing Monday morning October 14th as shipped already, with a UPS tracking number and all. So, these things are going to ship before Oct 18!!

 

It won't allow you to order it anymore. Sucks. Was ready to pull the trigger.

 

i thought it was black and orange - all i see is silver....

was orange ever avail??