Anyone looking forwards to the ThinkPad yoga 14?

What are your thoughts on it? I like the 840m and the amount of USB ports compared to the first model.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

It's nice, but the lack of a pen kinda kills it for me as a university student and occasional drawer.
Others on the sister forum TabletPCReview seem to share the same sentiment: ThinkPad S3 Yoga 14 | TabletPCReview.com - Tablet PC Reviews, Discussion and News

 

I agree about the lack of a pen. I was excited for it and then totally bummed out about the lack of Wacom or NTrig.

 

i'm debating between the TPY and this for my first hybrid but yeah, the lack of a digtizer will probably make me go with the TPY but i still will wait until this is released to make a decision

 

ThinkPad Yoga 14 is on sale now: ThinkPad Yoga 14 | 14" 2-in-1 Business Ultrabook | Lenovo US

For now, available only in one configuration, which costs 1099 $.

 

Are my eyes deceiving me or can you actually order one in silver?

 

In general, yes, there is an option to choose silver - but not for now.

Note that the original 12.5" ThinkPad Yoga also had an option to choose a silver lid, but this option was only available in Asia-Pacific - my guess is, you won´t find a silver Yoga 14 in the EU or the US.

 

Well thank you very much for mentioning that, now I have to go hunting for a silver Yoga lid because of you.

 

So right now, I have a Gigabyte P34G that I use exclusively for gaming (since it will die after about 2 hours of use away from an outlet) and an Acer Aspire S7 for traveling (amazing battery life and normal use, not good for gaming). This new Thinkpad Yoga 14 may be the first machine I can use for all my needs.

My question: The P34G I have has a 765m, and this new Thinkpad Yoga has a 840m. It looks like these chips are DRASTICALLY different, especially in 3DMark scores. Does anyone have any experience with the 840m in another machine? Any opinions on gaming with that chip? I won't be playing the newest A+ titles on max resolution, but I am looking for a steady MMO / Indie game / FPS workhorse.

 

It's hard to say really, it just depends on the game. Using the 3D mark scores as a rough guideline, I'd say you might even be able to play newer games, albeit it on lower settings. Then there is the issue of throttling. Since the CPU will create at least 10W of heat, if not more (the package is specified at 15W but you are using the 840M instead of HD4400) and the 840M will create about 25W, which is quite a lot considering what kind of machine the Yoga 14 is, throttling is to be expected.

There's a list of gaming benchmarks here: NVIDIA GeForce 840M - NotebookCheck.net Tech

As you can see, it actually fares quite well and you might even be able to play Battlefield 4 on medium to high settings.

 

How did you get that lenovo link? I don't see it on the Canadian site.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

its not on the Canadian site yet apparently.

 

Played around with one in Best Buy. Definitely a little heavier than I was expecting, but the build quality is astounding. I've never owned a Thinkpad before, and I'm in love with the keyboard / trackpad.

I may give in a buy one soon...

 

I tried it out at Bestbuy today as well. I found it to be plenty light with great build quality! The only reason I didn't buy it on the spot is that I'm not an impulse buyer. I really wanted to see some professional reviews before I pull the trigger. However I think it's going to work great for my needs!

 

I'll have to check it out a local best buy as well. Seems OK. IPS screen. Rest of the stats minus the yoga stuff are much like the t440s. I wonder how upgradable it is.

 

So I caved and bought one...

So far, I like it. Like I said earlier, I'm planning on using this as my one and only notebook, so no more gaming rig + ultraportable. Seems like it could handle anything I throw at it.

I'll try to answer some questions if you want. I don't plan on opening this baby up before anyone else, but I took a look at the service manual online. Looks just as upgradeable as any ThinkPad, but the disassembly is unique (unless you've opened up another Yoga product, then it's very similar.)

 

How is the keyboard? Still good with no flex like a regular Thinkpad? Curious since the space around the keys is supposed to raise up when in different modes?

 

Keyboard feels great, like a typical ThinkPad. The raising bezel does not affect key travel or spacing at all.

 

I like this better than the pro 3 for the simple fact that it has dedicated graphics. Sad that it looses the wacom option, but extra screen real-estate is always good. I look forward to owning one of these very soon.

 

did the new thinkpad yoga 14 have another model with core i7 proc and gt840m or just single model with core i5?

 

I believe that at the moment there's only one option (Core i5) available.

 

There is only the one model at this time, however two different Lenovo reps have confirmed it will be customizable on their website sometime in the future. No idea when that will happen.

 

Right now on Bestbuy and on Lenovo's site there is only 1 model; no extra configs, although the pics do show a silver model

 

Review by Mobiletechreview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqRYtI9u24I

 

It looks interesting, easily upgradable. I think this is really close to the T440s.... so now in a dilemma...lol.

 

As much of a techie as I am, I am left with one question.

I'm already going to upgrade the HD to a 1TB SSD. There's still the M.2 16GB drive being used as a cache drive. What are the odds I can put in a larger capacity M.2 drive in its place and find an option to use as a data drive?

 

I got mine on the 29th, already replaced the 2.5" drive with a Crucial M500 and the M.2 with a Transcend 256gb as a secondary, works perfectly.

 

Extremely excited about this laptop. Looks like everything I was hoping the ASUS UX303LN was going to be, until ASUS decided not to bring the 1080p model to the US (and it ended up with a host of typical ASUS technical and release management issues). I agree completely with the MobileTechReview video that QHD makes no sense for non-Mac OS at this point. Only possible complaints about the specs are glossy screen, no pen, and no battery extender. Shaving a few more ounces would be nice too, but really, 4.2 lbs seems fine for a do-everything road warrior business-and-gaming laptop. I do wonder if Lenovo is going to iterate quickly, or offer a Core M version in the near future. Wouldn't mind seeing that 8 hour claimed battery life pushed up a little further so you could hit all-(business-)day with real-world use.

Now the only question is do I give in and buy one right away, or wait a bit to see what else shakes out of the lineup? I can't honestly claim to _need_ a new laptop right now, but I do really _want_ this one.

 

Keep in mind MBGat, that so far the only 2 manufacturers with Core M machines, Lenovo with the Yoga 3 Pro and Asus with the UX305, have decided to go the super skinny and light route and cut battery capacity, so runtimes aren't any better. The Core M that's available in 2014 is designed for tablets and ultralights, with performance somewhere between a Y and U series Intel Core Haswell. For a machine like the Yoga 14, I would rather have the power of the Core i5. I don't see Lenovo refreshing the Yoga 14 until next year sometime when U series equivalent Broadwell is available, or they might wait for Skylake.

 

Hi Lisa,
Nope, Broadwell Yoga 14 models will come - maybe as soon as January, and very likely available in February.

See the Yoga 14 parts-list: http://download.lenovo.com/parts/ThinkPad/tp_yoga_14_fru_list.pdf Broadwell mainboards are already listed here. New CPUs are:
- i3-5010U
- i5-5200U
- i7-5500U

UMA are planars with Intel CPUs, SWG with dedicated graphics. Note that all models with TPM are Broadwell and UMA. A TPM chip is required for a Fingerprint-Reader. As announced here (under Technical Overview), models with Fingerprint-reader will be available in January (also note that they have developed a new Touch-Fingerprint reader).

 

Um, that's what I said-- until next year

 

Yeah, right - but you also speculated that they might skipp Broadwell altogether for the Yoga 14. Skylake is still a bit away, since Intel seems to be delaying it (so thats its not too close to Broadwell), maybe to give the OEMs more time to sell their Broadwell inventory.

BTW: Awesome reviews - keep up the great work. :thumbsup:

 

Broadwell is so delayed at this point and seems so troublesome for Intel, and Skylake dev is supposedly going well, that there is speculation that we might see fewer Broadwell refreshes and a jump to Skylake for holiday 2015. It's a real shame that Intel missed their usual fall refresh for 2014... I can't remember seeing so few new laptop models for the fall to holiday season (less work for me, I suppose, but I like working). As to what ends up happening-- who knows! Glad you like the reviews

 

Enjoyed the review! Definitely a great machine! If it came with a big ssd, that'd seal the deal for me.

 

The cache is definitely a M.2 sized SSD, right? In the service manual, it certainly does not look like that, the shape looks more like a standard mSATA SSD.

Just want to make sure I'm buying the right parts. Any chance you can send me a link to the specific SSDs you put in?

 

The service manual makes it look like mSATA but it's in fact M.2 (as the manual states, despite their conflicting illustration). I'm looking at the caching drive right now-- sitting on my desk since I removed it and put a Samsung EVO in the 2.5" drive bay.

 

Hey Lisa, thanks again for the info! Definitely a fan of your videos!

I think I'm just gonna cave and buy the 1TB EVO, eliminating any need for the M.2 drive for the forseeable future. Even with every single bit of data I own, I'll only fill half of that 1TB drive.

I really am blown away by this computer. After playing with a laptop for a week, I usually have at least one major gripe with it, but I can't find any fault in this. It meets all my needs, and that's asking a lot. Hope everyone else is just as happy as I am!

 

Any guess what difference in battery life you'd see between the Haswell i5-4210U and a Broadwell i5-5200U (for a "business" workload: 50% brightness or less, wifi, browsing, document editing, Eclipse/compiler)?

Might be worth it to see if Lenovo does do a Broadwell refresh/model addition in the US late January/early February. That would also align well with my birthday

Lisa, thanks for the great video and feedback! Couple questions:

1) For the dock you showed, is there just one cable between the dock and the laptop, that provides both data and charging? Or is power still a separate cable to the laptop?

2) Had or heard any experience running Linux on the Yoga 14? Mainly interested in Ubuntu or Ubuntu-derivatives such as Mint.

 

The OneLink dock uses a single cable. Haven't tried Linux, sorry.

As for Broadwell and battery life, it's really too early to say. And that depends on whether Lenovo does with the Yoga 14 as they did with the Yoga 3 Pro-- reduce battery size to bring down size and weight, thereby leaving runtimes the same.

 

yeah i want to know that too. if it's m2 it will be take too long space on that case. but, from this pic i m sure its mSATA.


credit image: Mobiletechreview.com youtube by lisa

so anyone know when this unit will release to asian region? i m already give up waiting from asus ux303ln, and will move to this lenovo thinkpad yoga 14.

 

It's a half height M.2 drive. Really. 3 prong connector rather than 2. These exist, but are harder to source than the gum stick full height models.

 

i think i found something interesting about that.

check it out.

MyDigitalSSD 256GB Super Boot Drive 2242 42mm SATA III 6G M.2 NGFF SSD | My Digital Discount

 

That's exactly what you want, fayth.

 

I picked up the Thinkpad Yoga 14 last Friday from my local Best Buy and had some chance to play with it over the weekend. I must say that so far, out of the 10 or so laptops I've personally owned in the past years, this one has impressed me the most straight out of the box. An overview:

Pros:

• Feels rock-solid. The build quality is outstanding. Metal throughout. No screen/keyboard flex. No creaking sounds from body. Feels like what a Thinkpad should feel like.
• Trackpad is awesome to use. The whole trackpad clicks downwards so it sort of resembles the functionality of a mouse. Great multi-touch sensitivity (double finger to scroll up/down/sideways), etc.
• Powerful enough CPU-wise (dual core i5 + 8GB RAM) to run Photoshop/Premiere Pro CS6 without lagging a single bit.
• Quiet fans. Only slightly noticeable when you lift the unit up from the table.
• The display: two thumbs up. Great colors/contrast, decent black levels, very bright on high settings (I currently have it turned to about 40% indoors)
• Looks professional and sleek. Doesn't feel out of place in public settings (library, coffee shops).
• Battery: I've gotten about 7 hours worth of use with Firefox/Word/Photoshop open at medium brightness and WiFi/Bluetooth turned off (USB tethering). I would say the battery is perfect for my needs to last me throughout the day.
• Surprisingly fast hard drive (1TB 5400rpm + 16GB SSD). At first I was skeptical of the setup, since I usually don't use any HDD with less than 7200rpm, but the 16GB SSD seems to have no problem opening up of the most commonly used programs.

Cons:

• Very small sign of light bleed from the bottom left corner (noticeable in pitch black room during the startup black screen)
• Heavy for an ultrabook? I personally wouldn't say so. But I came from a gigantic Sager NP8265, so there's that.
• Windows 8... To be honest it's not that bad compared to Win7. Some things changed around in the UI, but after a day of getting used to it, I can actually imagine myself using Windows 8 on a daily basis now. It seems to run lighter, boot faster (from off or sleep), and most of the must-haves (e.g. quick launch) are still there, albeit hidden under different menus/UI.
• The function key (Fn) is at the very left corner (where the Ctrl key usually is), so it takes some getting used to. I keep hitting the Fn key when I'm trying to copy/paste.

Here's some pictures I took straight out of the box:

 

Great write-up Jaunderful! Have you tried any games with it? Also, how is the glare?

 

Thanks! And yeah I forgot to mention, since the display is hidden behind a single pane of edge-to-edge glass (e.g. Macbooks), the glare is definitely an issue if there's too much ambient light (harsh sunlight). Although the display's bright output at 80%+ can overcome overcast daylight or bright interior lights.

I'll probably be installing some games later this week from my Steam library, so I'll update once I've gotten some gameplay in.

 

@juanderful, thanks for great review. please let us know later how much that machine battery life when it come with heavy task such as gaming or watching dvd movie.

 

@Juanderfull,
thanks for your impressions! A nice looking machine for sure.

I hope it will be available with a matte screen. If so, I am leaning forward to either purchasing a Yoga 14 or a T450s to replace my T440s, once Broadwell is released.

 

What about user upgrades or is this guy as closed as the orginal Thinkpad Yoga?

 

Did you make a video of the upgrade process?