Ideapad Yoga?

Awesome that Crucial has the Yoga in their database! I'd be cautious... I have the U300s, and I know their SSD recommendation for it is wrong. It's SSD is msata or mini-pci-e.

You may have seen my post earlier, check out this video that shows replacing the SSD in the Ideapad U300s, predecessor to the Yoga 13. Go to the link and open FRU Videos then Solid state drive:
RCW09 IdeaPad U300s Service Training

 

http://www.lenovo.com/psref/pdf/ipbook.pdf doesn't state what type of glass is used in the display. Anyone know? Probably not gorilla as there would be no reason not to advertise that.

 

Nice video, thanks. That's a lot of remove to get to the memory module. I was about to order i7 with 8GB but then I started thinking that I can settle for the i5 and save $200. But then I thought I could pick up the Best Buy version at $100 cheaper than the Lenovo online price with 4GB memory instead of 8GB. I can upgrade the memory for <$50 so I come out ahead - and more importantly I don't have to wait the 4 weeks or more that Lenovo's website currently says. I was in Best Buy this morning and they had them in stock. I think I might go in the morning and pick one up. I really liked the laptop, great size and weight. I currently have a Macbook Pro 13 and I think it falls about halfway between that and the Air. The keyboard and touchpad were nice which was one of the major things I was worried about. The screen was great. The tablet functionality is just a nice side benefit.

I think I'm going to go ahead and grab one. I'm fairly certain that Crucial mSATA drive should be compatible, but I'm going to open up the laptop when I get it home and test it out. I'll report back my findings...

noxxle99, you do bring up a good point, I also don't think it has Gorilla glass because I've seen some articles where they talk about the the Yoga along with other models and they mention the GG for the other models but not for the Yoga. That's a shame for a tablet, but I don't think it is enough to deter me from buying it.

 

Pretty impressive that the 8gb stick is only $38. Computer memory upgrades for Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 13 Laptop/Notebook from Crucial.com

Anyone else notice all the screws on the bottom of the Yoga? Torque screws.

So, midnight came and went and I don't see any new models for sale. It does look like Lenovo.com raised their prices $100 across the board. Glad I placed an order yesterday! Still not eta on the 4 week shipping.

Some of you are bound to bring one home from BB today. Post pics and tell us about it!

 

Just be careful they aren't using a weird proprietary shape for the currently installed drive like Asus did in the UX31a. It had the same model number but didn't look at all like the SanDisk or Adata that it was supposed to be..because of that it was not upgradable at all. If I were you I would wait the extra couple of days until somebody actually looks.

Actually, I just looked it up again and it says it is a msata SSD in there currently and that means there is less of a chance it is not standard.

http://www.yosungroup.com/yosun/org...U-000L1&brandID=73&orgID=63&familyName=MODULE

 

Somebody did a complete breakdown on what is involved in changing the SSD on a Samsung S9 (Yeah, I had one of those for a couple of weeks too). The process won't be the same but if it is msata in the Yoga it gives you an idea of what is involved. I would look it over as it is probably similar and it too uses 10 torq screws to hold it together.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/samsung/672173-series-9-owners-third-party-msata-upgrades-17.html

 

Yeah, well looks like they raised the price $100 but added a $100 eCoupon. Lame. I plan to pick one up from Best Buy today around 11 (assuming they have any left) and I'm going to open it up immediately. I'll post the results.

 

I am too but BB now says on their site it is not available in stores, only direct ship or ship to store. I know yesterday my store had 5 so I will see what is going on this morning.

 

I had my first chance to look at the Yoga in person yesterday. Here are my initial observations...

The Good
- Overall feels very high quality
- Nice choice of materials, fit & finish
- Bright screen, folds 360*
- Touchpad seems good enough

The Questionable
- It's no ThinkPad keyboard. While it is certainly better than a lot of the competition (Toshiba, Acer, etc), it is still lacking compared to ThinkPad keyboards. I guess I've been spoiled.
- It is a bit on the heavy side. I now know that I would never use this as a tablet unless it was laying on my lap. Laptop and Stand mode only.
- When folding the screen back 360* to tablet mode, it does not 'snap' to position as it would when closing it the opposite way. In fact when holding it in hand, the two halves wanted to gap instead of pull together.

 

Lenovo's twitter handle said the the orange and 256gb drives will be on their site mid november for those interested

 

Woah, that's big news!! Thanks for the find and for telling us. I'm actually considering cancelling my order and waiting on this one...

 

No problem. Heres the link

https://twitter.com/lenovo

 

My yoga has arrived from BB.com. If you guys want me to post specifics let me know

 

Two questions:

1.) Drivespace - how much is free on C and D

2.) Power connector - Tell us more about that odd yellow connector... we haven't heard much about it.

Thanks!! ..and lucky you!

 

Well, I just came back from BB after picking one up. The first disappointment is no sleeve included with their version. I would disagree about the keyboard though, I think it is at least as good and probably better than any other ultrabook ever made including the MBA which I have been using for the last 18 months.

As I am still setting it up I will let you know more later.

Power connector is bigger than the Asus or MBA but not as big as Dell's or Samsung's.

It has 7 partitions, 5 are hidden. The ones that matter are the recovery partition which is 20GB, C which is 64 and D which is 25. C has 43.9 GB free and D has 23.3 GB free.

Fan or fans seem to run more than I would expect and can be heard although not too loud.

 

I'm trying to get the back cover off and even with all screws out it is not coming off easily. I can't really figure out what is hold it on. Trying to be very careful with it.

 

Question: How is the power adapter? Is it the same as the Slim AC Adapter Lenovo sells or is it chunky?

 

Read the link I posted earlier today about the Samsung S9, it is probably similar and needs to pried apart gently.

 

Great info, thank you... keep it comin!

What about the actual power connector. From the pictures it looks yellow square and strange... plastic and fragile?

 

Slim................

 

more screws may be found under the little rubber feet!

 

It's yellow and surrounded by metal..not fragile at all.

 

the power connector, the actual yellow end piece just feels like a usb connector almost. It doesnt feel cheap nor does it feel exactly high end. Probably not much help to you but its ok by me. The power supply is nice and slim. The adaptor plugs in fairly firm. Its not like that magnetic click or anything from macbook. I had a macbook pro before this.

 

I've watched the video, but it is very different. I did remove the 2 back feet (the front has opened up easily, the resistance is in the last 3/4) but found no more screws. Unlike the video, several parts, including the battery, seem to be secured to the back cover. Completely different beast unfortunately. I have tried to slide the back cover like they did in the video and that also hasn't helped.The resistance seems to be right around the USB ports.

 

Agreed, very much like a USB cable

 

They have the maintenance manual at their site:
http://download.lenovo.com/consumer/mobiles_pub/ideapad_yoga13_hmm_1st_edition_oct_2012_english.pdf

 

Oh and here is the owners manual:
http://download.lenovo.com/consumer/mobiles_pub/ideapad_yoga13_ug_v1.0_jul_2012_english.pdf

 

Could you tell us more about the noise and temperature of this machine? How loud is the fan at idle and
loaded/stressed? Does the machine get really warm or hot when running benchmark? Thank you.

 

Thanks, I was just going to post that it feels like the inside portion covering the keyboard is what wants to come off and it seems like that is the case - after I remove the keyboard first. Back to it!

 

Keyboard is out, the DIMM slot is right underneath it, that will be a pretty easy upgrade.

 

I need a crash course in windows 8, this is driving me crazy. I have had 8 installed on one of my desktop partitions for awhile and I guess I should have played with it more. When they said it could be a frustrating experience they weren't kidding. I am wondering how the touch screen would work with windows 7..

 

What's the sound like? Do SD cards protrude much/at all? Some pictures would be great if you get a chance.

 

5 more screws under the keyboard then the keyboard cover comes off (after loosening a couple cables). I'm to the SSD drive. Looks standard mSATA. About to pull it.

 

Are the edges more susceptible to scratches in tent mode? It looks like the edge would be resting on a surface without any rubber stoppers.

 

Anyone know the brand/model of the wireless card? It's listed as "Lenovo BGN Wireless" on Lenovo's site. The ipbook.pdf also isn't specific.

 

On the driver section of Lenovo's site for this product it calls it a:
Realtek Wireless LAN & Bluetooth Driver for Microsoft Windows 8 (64-bit) - IdeaPad Yoga 13

 

Probably one of the following under the BGN link. Realtek

 

I pulled the keyboard out using a credit card, it came out easy enough but it doesn't seem to be laying super flat when I put it back in. I'm not sure how much flex it had in it to begin with. There was also some double sided sticky tape on the back and that probably isn't as tacky as it was. Sigh.

Anyways, I've got it back together. My recommendation is that people who don't know what they are doing (maybe you can argue that is me since I can't get the keyboard back in properly) shouldn't be going into this thing. The cables that need to be disconnected are very delicate and likely very easy to screw up.The DIMM can be accessed without pulling any cables if you have someone hold the keyboard in place while swapping it. This is the first laptop I've had that I have felt uncomfortable being inside. Things are getting so damn small, making it harder and harder for peeps to upgrade components on their own. I'll post some pics later for anyone interested.

 

Yea makes me nervous. I just wanted to upgrade the RAM.

 

Mine lasted about 5 hours before I took it back. Too big and too heavy to use as a tablet which we expected, lack of backlit keyboard was annoying for me as is Windows 8 but there probably isn't much that can be done about that. I liked a touch screen but I will probably now just look for a conventional 11.5 or 13.3 that works strictly as a laptop. I wish anybody other than Acer would make a couple that were lightweight and SSDs. So far there aren't any except that one exclusive BB Asus which they don't have yet.

 

ya this is a bit concerning.... interesting how the manual shows a 256 and even 512 GB SSD in the works....

If I could get the i5, 4GB RAM, 128GB SSD for $999 and upgrade the RAM and SSD later down the road I would buy it today.... but it sounds rather difficult from your posts, and I don't have any experience taking laptops apart... let alone a more cramped ultrabook... what are we to do woolooloo?

 

So far Im very happy with the yoga; however I didnt buy it for tablet mode really at all. I bought it as a laptop first and liked the multiple screen positioning options. Windows8 has a little learning curve, but once you get the hang of it, its pretty nifty. Only thing that worries me is the upgrading of the RAM now.

 

Wow, THAT was fast!!

Yes, I think buyers should consider this a laptop purchase, and forget the word tablet. If the machine is approached with this attitude there shouldn't be much disappointment.

Keep the reviews coming!

 

Thanks, glad to hear you like it.

Side question... What do you people need to do that requires 8 gb of ram instead of 4? Is the performance sluggish? We all know double memory does not equal double speed, so I'm just curious.

 

Its sufficient, not sluggish at all. I guess its just piece of mind knowing you could boost the ram in the future if need be.

 

It really wasn't that fast, it was always my intention to get this and the Taichi and return the one I didn't like. Unfortunately, I returned this and cancelled the Taichi even before I saw it and now I am back to the drawing board. This morning the Microsoft store had unbelievable sales on Windows 7 leftovers but they were off their site a couple of hours later. A couple of days ago the store itself had some big sales too but I don't know what they may have left either.

 

As a laptop only the lack of a backlit keyboard is a huge mistake on their part for something costing $1000. Asus got killed for that in the reviews of their initial zenbooks by the critics and made sure to include it 6 month later, Lenovo will too, but as a tablet you can overlook that and use the onscreen kb instead. Too bad it's awkward as a tablet in a 13.3 size.

 

I agree, if it had a backlit keyboard I would already have it... seems like such a minor thing to be such a dealbreaker... c'mon Lenovo... at this point I feel like keeping my gaming laptop, getting a Surface RT, seeing how I like it, and then either get the Surface Pro, or hopefully a cheaper Yoga

 

My Lenovo.com order status was just updated... Estimated shipping date: 12/10/2012. Not diggin that.

 

Honestly I can't say, I could live with the 4GB RAM, it is the small hard drive that is the deal breaker. I like the Yoga so far, I like the size and weight - as a laptop which is how I intend to use it, the tablet functionality is just a bonus. I have a Nexus 7 that I use as a tablet, very portable, the Yoga isn't going to be my primary tablet. Anyways, my point is the hard drive is too small for my purposes. If I weren't comfortable upgrading it I would wait for Lenovo to release a 256GB version. Don't risk killing your $1000 ultrabook. Wait a bit for the new versions and maybe you'll even come across a different model that you like more.