Ideapad Yoga?

I'm impressed with the sound on this thing. Granted I'm coming from a MacBook Pro with crappy crappy sound, but I'm honestly surprised at the quality of the sound out of such a skinny laptop.

 

Good to hear about the speakers, that's always a nice bonus. Plus I bet Dolby 4 sounds pretty great when it's plugged into some decent speakers.

I think I will sit tight a little longer, at least to see if prices drop after Christmas, and potentially wait for Haswell devices to arrive.... that seems like the reasonable thing to do. I was just imagining a 15" backlit keyboard Yoga that's just as thin and somehow not any heavier... that would be epic... although when I did use the Yoga, 13" seems like a good size, and the keyboard was accurate and not cluttered. The 900p screen looks really good with those 300 nits of brightness. It feels very responsive with the i5, 4gb ram and 128 gb SSD... the 128GB SSD it comes with is a Samsung that's $400 alone... I wonder how much more it will be stock from Lenovo... I'm thinking $200.... although it's a $280 option o the X1 Carbon

 

So to the lucky few that have one can you post temps and comment about fan noise?
Really digging what I have seen so far but would be great to know how hot and loud it runs doing everyday stuff and under load.

 

I don't know about the CPU temp, but the fan is pretty annoying. I might return it just because of that. It never EVER shuts off. It just goes between constant background drone sound to loud and back again. Kinda disappointing. I like the form factor, keyboard, screen, and windows 8 (even though I will probably put Linux on it if I keep it). I _really_ don't like that of the 128gb they give you, over 50% of it is taken up by various factory partitions. There's only about 40 gigs left for personal use. Most of those extra partitions are even completely empty.... but I don't know what they all do, so I'm hesitant to screw with them.

But yeah... the fan noise is obnoxious to me. Too bad, it could've been a very nice machine.

 

Regarding installing linux... It appears that it won't be a straightforward and easy matter. The linux mint live usb wouldn't even detect any wifi adapters, and this thing doesn't have any ethernet ports, so... yeah, not happy about that either. This is the same live usb that I just used flawlessly on my samsung laptop.... I may go for the samsung series 9 instead--but no touchscreen on that! Or I might just have to wait for a better computer.

== Observations ==

Negatives:
* Noisy fan that never stops
* Stock system comes with over 50% of its SSD used up and is partitioned very awkwardly
* No ethernet for those emergency situations
* Can't install linux easily (I may be able to find a way around this one)
* No keyboard backlight (not so easy to do bedtime computing without it when your significant other has dozed!)

Positives:
* Excellent screen, holy cow!
* Comfortable keyboard
* Faux-leather is actually kinda nice
* Windows 8 is pretty fun--needs more work, but it's a great start and looks nice
* Battery life ~= 6 hours
* Compact and lightweight
* Only gets slightly warm

 

I guess you got lucky. I bought one of these at BB yesterday and the first thing I noticed was that one of the speakers sounded busted and distorted (even noticeable with just system sounds). Second thing I found was that the bottom case at the rear was slightly warped. Third...running my finger across the front edge of the case also indicated a non linear edge (not bent or warped but machined incorrectly with a wavy edge). Needless to say, it was returned.

Guess I got a lemon but it was very disappointing as the quality control must really be poor on these for such obvious issues to get through. I expected the exceptional quality of the Lenovo Ideapad U260 which I bought for my wife a few years back but I guess Lenovo is no longer producing this range of computers to that standard. Other than these issues, the Yoga is petty nice. Great keyboard, though the lack of back-lighting is frstrating (feels about the same as the U260). The IPS screen is very sharp with great color and contrast. The only negative with the screen is back-light bleeding at the bottom with a black screen. The touch sensitivity is perfect and very responsive. Trackpad felt good as well. To make this thing perfect, Lenovo should have used the superior build quality of the U260 (extremely stiff but light magnessium top and bottom) and included a backlit keyboard.

 

Thanks for the quick answer but the fan noise is a little dissapointing the one thing that turns me off is a loud laptop, understandably things have to be kept cool but still not a good thing.

 

yes this is overall a bit disappointing... I guess we keep waiting for the perfect W8 device to rival Apple as far as build quality is concerned. I will sit tight with my current laptop... I feel like with Haswell we'll see perfect ultrabooks released.

Imagine this if you will:

- 10 Watt Haswell chip capable of double the graphics performance of current ivy bridge ulv (1080p skyrim for crying out loud)
- this lower wattage should also mean cooler chips which hopefully also means lower/unnoticeable fans
- I have no gripes with the current 900p Yoga screen... but I don't see it getting worse
- A chassis similar to the IdeaPad U510, I want to see the yoga bridge the gap between ultrabook and laptop more... I don't ever expect to use something larger than 10" as a tablet. A propped-up all-in-one is a much better prospect... especially if it were on a 15" 1080p screen
- slightly larger chassis means ethernet, HDMI, and DisplayPort, and a DVD drive for those who want it
- and finally a backlit keyboard!!!! If it had a backlit keyboard now I'd be all over it

 

Does it have a light near the top of the screen bezel, like to the x220, to illuminate the keys?

 

That's a Thinkpad feature so I'm pretty sure the answer is no (and I don't remember seeing one in the brief time I had the Yoga).

 

ive been using the yoga a good amount and can hardly hear the fan. Additionally, it hasnt got hot at all not even very warm in my opnion.

 

As promised I've attached some pictures of the innards. Let me know if you have any questions about anything. I stand by my assertion that you shouldn't be messing around in here if you don't know what you are doing. Too much to screw up

 

Standard size mSata SSD. Awesome.

Did you have to go through any "warranty void" stickers to reach the SSD?

Does the wireless card look user-replaceable? Don't see it in your pics.

 

Negative, I wouldn't have done it if there had been.

 

Woolooloo, do you think the aluminum edge will scratch or dent easily if used in tent mode often?

 

A few notes:

* 6 seconds from complete shutdown to the Windows startup screen that you can click on to get to your password screen. After all these years of slow booting computers, I almost wouldn't believe it if I hadn't seen it. It is almost as fast as coming out of standby. I don't know how much of it is this computer versus Windows 8 vs the new hardware infrastructure, but color me impressed.

* The fans do seem to run continuously but I can't comment on how bad the noise is as I haven't used the computer in a quiet room so I can't hear it unless I put my ear up to it. I haven't done anything CPU intensive, just web browsing and general putzing around, but the laptop hasn't gotten more than mildly warm. I may go into the BIOS and see if I can adjust the fan settings.

* The lack of a keyboard backlight is a serious oversight for this computer, I can't excuse it. I am a touch typist so it won't affect me too badly (especially once I get used to the keyboard layout versus my Macbook) but for the occasional function key I don't use very often it could be a problem. I'm not happy about it, but not enough to return it.

* Windows 8... Don't like it. Closing Metro apps is ridiculously difficult. Getting to the computer apps list from the desktop where I'll spend most of my time means several key presses plus at least one click of the touchpad. I'm buying Start8 and getting my Start button back. What were they thinking?

 

A couple things - first I'm not sure there is any aluminum. The cover kind of looks it but feels plastic - although I don't really think it feels cheap.

In tent mode it will sit on the inside edges, not on the cover. That feels plastic to me on the inside edge of the keyboard half, it feels rubbery on the inside edge of the monitor half. I don't think noticeable scratches will be a big problem, I'd be surprised.

The palm rest has a really unique feel to it, almost leathery. After years of resting my palms on the cold aluminum of my Macbook, I much prefer this feel. How well it will hold up over time compared to aluminum is a different question though.

 

In the following image it appears to be resting on the outer edges/cover in tent mode. ideapad-yoga-tent | Games | Geek.com

 

I bought the Yoga at Best Buy on release day. I just wanted to respond to some of the negative comments mentioned in previous posts. I understand everyone's situation and level of tolerance is different.

No backlit keyboard: I do not have any issues with the keyboard, as is. In terms of using the keyboard at night, the screen brightness lights up the keyboard for me. The markings to distinguish the letters/numbers/symbols for the keys are highly reflective. Even when the brightness is at 50%, I have absolutely no issues with seeing the bright white markings on the keys. In addition, the keyboard has the standard position queues on the F and J keys. Everyone has their must have feature, but for me, it is like your ignoring a nice car because it lacks a map light.

Fan noise: The fan is on constantly. For someone that assumes they have pretty good hearing, I can barely hear it. My nonscientific study (using SmartTools decibel meter on my phone) had the decibels at 60-62 when held next to the vent and 25-30 when held at my normal distance from the computer during use. Other factors that play into those readings are the fact that I have clock that has an audible tick every second and the whole house AC was going at the time. If fan noise is your pet peeve, you will dislike this one. But again, you have to be really listening to even distinguish it from the other background noise you would probably typically hear while in use.

Free space: Atrocious. I mean it is bordering, if not over (give me a week), on false advertisement. To use another car analogy, it is like they touted a 20 cubic feet cargo space and then when you open the trunk you notice 16 cubic feet id used up by the spare tire, car battery, and some box that has "hidden" written on it. Granted, you can remove some of that stuff, but your probably SOL if something goes wrong. However, this is not a deal breaker for me. I do not use that much space, as I either stream it or save things in the cloud or my home server. In addition, I have the option for using a SD card. But I fully understand anyone that has a situation that cannot get around this problem. There will be the larger version later. And, in that same time, someone will post step-by-step video or pictures with how to do your own upgrade.

Temperatures: Under normal use was 45C and while watching HD video it rose to 65C. If there is a specific program you want me to use, and it is free and I am comfortable installing it, I will give it a go for you.

Quick notes on other topics: Screen - bright, visible at wide angles; Construction - Very sturdy, feels substantial without being overweight; Heat - As with any laptop, I recommend a buffer if using on your lap (but I would not worry about burns); Webcam - Poor in low light, acceptable for occasional/informal use

Let me know if you have any other questions or just disagree with my assessments.

 

ALT+F4, Drag to the bottom of the screen, or use the menu to close. Of course, there's really no need to close apps unless you are obsessive compulsive, probably like most of us reading this forum ;-)

Just start typing while on the Start Screen and it will start filtering apps, hit Enter when you find the one you want.

 

Is it possible to make recovery discs and reinstall win8 without Lenovo's partitioning? Or how about installing win8 with a vanilla installation disc and your serial.

 

Duh, you are right, brain fart... So yes, I think scratches would be possible, not sure how likely.

 

I much prefer to use the trackpad to close apps. I don't want to use the keyboard, and I don't really see me using the touchscreen much when using the computer in laptop mode. The dragging to close is clunky with the track pad, start dragging with a single finger, then switch to two fingers to pull it off the page. Ugh.

I do tend to be OCD about closing programs. The first thing I do when I grab the remote control on my Windows Media Center PC is hit the exit button a bunch of time to get back to the start menu from all the screens my wife has been on. Clear the stack so to speak. Not really necessary but it really bugs me

So, when you say to use the menu to close, do you mean go to the upper left, slide down the left to show all open programs, select the program and right click on it and select close? Is doing any of these really better than hitting an "X" in the corner to close the app? I guess I just don't get it.

Thanks for the tip on just typing to get to the program I want, that is great. I just installed a trial for Start8, but maybe I don't need it... I'll continue to play around with it.

 

I'm looking into this now. I was trying to find a Windows 8 ISO to do a clean install from but haven't found one yet (I don't have MSDN or Technet at the moment). If anyone knows of a legitimate source (you can get the Win 7 ISOs from Digital River) please let me know.

I'll boot into the recovery manager and see what the options are... back in a few.

Ok, just checked, I don't see any way to create recovery disks. The recovery software is very basic and only lets you restore from the recovery partition to initial state or to a user saved backup. I need to solve this.

I also went into the bios in the hopes that the fan settings could be tweaked but no dice.

 

I've been keeping an eye on this forum for about a week now, have to say I'm a little worried now! I'm in Australia and am using a freight forwarder to send my Yoga to me, ETA next week. Has anyone else has problems with the quality control of the Yoga, or was it only the one guy? Returning would mean a charge of another $200+ to me, not that great.

@woolooloo, this is copied directly from a site, I was going to test it when i got my Yoga, let me know if it works:

Windows 8 makes making a clean install simpler than ever. Just go into PC Settings > General. Scroll to the bottom, and you’ll see two options: Refresh your PC without affecting your files and Remove everything and reinstall Windows.
The first option will retain your music, photos, and other personal files, while the latter option will just give you a toasty fresh install of stock Windows 8. That’s it. No discs, no hassle.

 

Now I think about it, not sure if 'toasty fresh' means that you still have bloatware on it.

 

How tight are the hinges? With the screen at about a 90 degree angle from the keyboard, does the screen wobble when tapping it?

 

One of my biggest hesitations about the Yoga is that it doesn't have a TrackPoint. I have become addicted to it on my X220. Drag-to-bottom is simple with the TrackPoint.

You don't need to slide down. Just mouse to the corner, right-click, and choose Close. So that's one less step for you ;-)

This is "better" than the X because now there doesn't need to be an X, i.e. more screen real-estate for content, less for chrome. It says so right in the Windows Store app User Experience Guidelines so it must be better.

 

I played with it at Best Buy today (and also the Twist at Staples)...

Yoga: Disappointed with the lack of a backlit keyboard or anything resembling a Thinklight. I think I would miss that a lot. I also think 128GB is just not nearly enough. I also miss the Trackpoint, but maybe that will become obsolete due to touch screen, hard to say. I love every other aspect of the machine, though. One question - I turned the camera on in tent mode and it did not recognize the orientation enough to flip. I would think that I would want to skype in tent mode, but that doesn't seem to be possible based on what I experienced. Anyone with the Yoga at home care to comment?

As for the Twist: It was okay. I avoid lower-res screens, but it wasn't so noticeably bad - I think when I try to put Word docs side-by-side, I will notice that more, though. I think the hings is just too clumsy, and I can't see a benefit to it over a full flip like the Yoga. And it seems less "Thinkpady" than even the Yoga, so I just don't see it earning the Thinkpad name - not that I'm even a Thinkpad snob.

The Yoga is sooooo close to what I want - it seems the oversights are just so obvious.

 

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Check this. You don't need know to read the Chinese. From the pictures, you can see the quality of the build from inside. Second, it appears both memory and SSD are replaceable.

 

@woolooloo Great info and pics! Thank you for that. So, actual msata it is... I was actually thinking about swapping the 256ssd I have in the U300s for the Yoga 128, but that's not gonna happen. Great info on the teardown and caveats.

Mattsmyth is correct about the automatic Win8 "refresh". The question is whether or not that uses one of the several hidden partitions. If so, we've got two for the same purpose; that and the Lenovo One Key Restore partition/feature.

Keep the pics and feedback coming everyone, really enjoying this thread and learning more and more. Still waiting on my Lenovo.com order est 12/10/2012... may try and cancel it and go for a BB unit. Or wait for the orange 256 in late Nov!

 

Not able to access the link .. Seems to be down.I am split between Yoga and Dell XPS 12 . Today evening went to BestBuy and spent some time with Yoga there. Liked it , but i want to wait for i7 / 8GB / 256 GB .

 

Best Buy has that model in their system already. They can find it if they look. I'll try to get a SKU number or at least more info tomorrow.

 

The 256gb version will likely cost at least an extra $250. You can buy a comparable SDD and install yourself for less.

 

I bought the Best Buy version of the 13" Lenovo Yoga today. I like it a lot, much better than the my early 2011 13" MBP and the base 13" Retina MBP that I bought yesterday (not worth the money, only good thing is the display's screen resolution and its really bad for Windows).

What I like about the 13" Yoga are these things:
1. The screen is great
2. The Dolby Audio quality is excellent coming from my Creative Gigaworks T20 II Series speakers.
3. Build quality is good.
4. Love the touch screen.
5. Fan is not too loud, but not at annoying levels.
6. Keyboard has little to no flex and touchpad are both very good.
7. Windows 8 is very good.

There are a few things that I are very minor to me and they are:
1. I have to get use to Windows 8.
2. I have to get use to the keyboard.
3. Fan is always on.
4. Not enough storage space, but can be solved by using an external hard drive, or a high capacity SD Memory card, or using the cloud.

This might laptop be a keeper for me.

 

How do you feel it performs as a tablet? I understand this device is probably 70/30 laptop/tablet, but the thing that irks me is the exposed keyboard. Any thoughts?

 

I owned probably 5 ThinkPads over the years before I bought my MacBook Pro and swore by the trackpoint. Just a little time using the MBP's trackpad with multi-finger scrolling, click anywhere, etc quickly made me a fan. I'd never go back to a trackpoint. The trackpad on this so far seems equivalent to the MBP quality which was one of the things that made me hold off on the Asus Zenbooks for a long time.

As for Skype, sometimes flipping orientation doesn't go quite a smoothly as it should and you have to give it kind of an extra shake. But Skype and the camera worked as expected in tent mode, no worried there.

Very tight, if you push against the screen the bottom will actually lift up.

Yeah, thanks, the problem is I need to install onto a new 256GB drive so I won't have access to any recovery partitions or to a running OS. That is a nice feature though, I do clean installs a couple times a year usually when things start to go wonky, so that will be great.

The sleeve is supposed to help with that, I guess I should check it out. They show it in this video around the 9:00 mark.

 

Click right button on the link, and try different options of opening the link. I did it from my paste or the link someone else cited and it still works.

 

you could clone the entire disk with another computer using third party software.

 

In http://www.lenovo.com/psref/pdf/ipbook.pdf, the wireless card is listed as Realtek RTL8732 (1x1). Hmm... Not optimistic about wireless performance. Anyone with the yoga have another laptop that has an intel card for comparison tests?

 

Thanks for that. Like you said from your past, I can't get my finger off the trackpoint of my z61t - but I also don't have a very functional trackpad and no touchscreen. Trackpoint may go the way of the dodo. I agree about the zenbook. The bad trackpad is the only thing that kept me from buying it. I just started law school and I really want/need a slimmer device with good battery and relatively low weight.

So, I am really just missing some form of keyboard backlight or "thinklight" (I do a LOT of work in low light situations and use my thinklight quite a bit right now), and a larger capacity drive. So, my next question if anyone wants to offer suggestions - how do I adjust to lower capacity SSDs? I swapped a 320GB Scorpio Black in my z61t and use every bit of it. I figure I can offload a lot of music to cloud-only and keep less often used material on thumb drives or other external drives. I still think that 128GB is going to be too little, especially with the peculiar partitioning I am reading about. I think I might want to wait for the 256GB, but maybe it is easy enough to swap one in (I take my Thinkpads apart all the time).

Is the 256GB version coming out only being offered in orange or are those colors / capacity options independent? I prefer silver-gray to orange (and I prefer black to silver-gray, but I don't think that's happening).

I'm still completely miffed at the lack of a keyboard backlight. I would wait for another iteration JUST for that feature, as crazy as it seems.

 

Can someone provide the screen manufacture and part number ? thnx

 

BB has all 4 Yoga 13.3s listed on their site now and they will gladly rip you off if the base model isn't good enough for you.

Yes : Laptop & Netbook Computers - Best Buy

 

I saw this notebook in BestBuy and I fell in love.

One quick question. I have an 256gb ssd. How easy it would be to replace the build in one? Would this void the warranty?

 

Look back a couple pages in this thread.

 

Only one 13" panel is listed in the maintenance manual: Panel 13.3" Panel IPS HD+ 16:9 LG LP133WD2-SLB1 HD+ AG W LED1 NB (FRU 18200248). That's from page 66 in the manual (page 69 in the PDF).

I think it's this one: http://www.panelook.com/LP133WD2-SLB1_LG Display_13.3_LCM_overview_16742.html

 

I see. I guess not then, to many things to go wrong plus I have a 2.5'' ssd.

 

In my opinion, putting the Yoga in tablet mode is not good, because its not comfortable to hold on to due to its expose keyboard. I returned the Yoga back to Best Buy, because of these issues:
1. Annoying always on loud fan.
2. Not comfortable to use tablet mode.
3. Hated the keyboard (no backlight, typing on it was not accurate).
4. About 40 GB out of the 128 GB was left for storage space. Which is not enough for me.
5. WiFi card keeps on dropping the wireless signal.
5. Windows 8 is impossible to use.

I ended up getting the Apple MacBook Air at the Apple Store. The specs on it are:
1. 13" screen (1440x900)
2. i5-3427U (1.8 GHz)
3. 4 GB Ram
4. 256 GB SSD

I'm no Apple fan boy, but the MacBook Air is better than the Lenovo Yoga. I like OS Mountain Lion better than Windows 8.

 

I'm most concerned about this right now. Can't trust Realtek wifi cards.

I can live with everything else. The fan issue will likely be resolved by a bios update, assuming lowering the speed or leaving the fan off more often can be done without overheating.

 

Bestbuy does sell models with 8GB memory and 256GB SSD.
BUT how come all models were sold out online so quickly??????