I got this after a real Odyssey searching for a new ultrabook. I owned the Samsung series 9, np900x3c, and my girlfriend has a Macbook Air (MBA), so I can also compare them to the Yoga.At this price, the Yoga is a great product if:
you want a great quality ultrabook (parts are solid and well made and it is not as fragile as the Samsung 9).
It is not as light as others but unless you really need an ultraportable (like the Samsung 9) then the Yoga fares well as it weights just 0.3 lbs more than the MBA although it is a little bigger.
About the latter, it is sturdier in some sense than both the MBA and Samsung. The MBA actually delivers a good solid feeling (the Series 9 not much so, I felt like you can break it easily, especially the hinges of the screen) but I feel like I could drop the Yoga without having to say goodbye to it. I believe this is in Lenovo spirit, their laptop are renowned to be sturdy and long-lasting.
good quality control (my first the Samsung 9 came with a dead pixel, the second one had a crappy trackpad which selects things at random while you move the cursor and statics from the speakers and audio output!).
a great touchscreen, also in terms of quality of the LCD display (IPS with decent resolution). Notice that touchscreens reduce battery performance. The Samsung 9 has a brighter screen and more battery life, especially compared if you use the screen at the same level of brightness. That was a drawback for the Yoga to me, because I don't care about the touchscreen. However, overall, considering features and design, quality control, and price (!!) the Yoga wins easily.
a good keyboard. It is not as good as the X1 Carbon, but it definitely beats the MBA (which has a decent keyboard but shallower than the Yoga) and wins hands down the Series 9 (stiff, shallow and noisy).
IT IS RELLY A GREAT ULTRABOOK FOR THE PRICE with the competition out there at the moment.
You can also upgrade the RAM and SSD easily enough (especially the RAM, it's trivial).
What I would like to see improved in the future, in order of importance, are:
battery life! If you use 80-85% brightness and use it constantly (I mostly browse, type quite a bit -coding for example -and listening to some music) you might even wipe it in just 4 hours. That's not awesome. The Series 9 would last 1 hour longer. However, the battery is decent, don't let yourself down because of this. The OS and features drains the battery, the MBA would last 3 hours if it had a touchscreen like this and was running Win 8!
more brightness and bigger screen (the MBA has a slightly bigger screen but worse resolution and quality, that's for sure).
An even better keyboard, like the X1 Carbon thinkpad (with the nipple please!)
I would prefer a metal case in terms of design. It would make it just awesome.
Back-lit keyboard.
NOTE: I don't use the touchscreen much but the factor forms are really useful. Many times you are in a vehicle, or on the plane, or in a situation where you need to bend the laptop and use it with the screen closer to you, taking up less space and such. It is really useful! I love to use it on the couch and bed as tablet (otherwise a little heavy). Even if you don't love the touchscreen and would rather have a better battery life and lighter product (like I do), the Yoga still wins to such product like MBA and Samsung 9 because of its features and quality, for that competitive price!
Design (9 out of 10)
The 360 hinge works as it should, with one minor complaint. The screen is a little bit "bouncy" when you have the laptop open at all and try to write on it with a stylus, which means you need to either have the screen "open" all the way and flat on a surface or you need to stabilize it with your other hand to use a stylus well. The Dell XPS 12 hinge does not have this same problem. However, overall, I slightly prefer the Yoga 13 design to the Dell XPS 12 design. In fact, I now find it silly to have a laptop with a touch screen that doesn't open all the way. The double joint feature that allows the fold back really can't cost more than $20 or $30; every laptop should have it. The criticism about the keys being exposed is blown way out of proportion. It feels a little funny at first, but that's it. Don't set your laptop down on a dirty, wet, or sticky surface and the keyboard will be just fine.
The one main advantage of the Dell XPS 12 design is that you can leave the base completely stationary and flip the screen. If the laptop is plugged in, this is handy. Still, the flip screen design on the Dell feels a little gimmicky (although it's still a fine alternative design to the Yoga 13 and much better than the Twist, in my opinion).
The overall feel of the Yoga is nice. It is not "premium" like the Dell XPS 12 carbon fiber, but it's not worth paying extra money for a slightly nicer texture, in my opinion. I actually prefer the interior texture on the Yoga 13 -very comfortable typing handrests that don't get cold or hot.
Screen (9 out of 10)
The screen looks very nice; the 1600x900 resolution works very well for a 13 inch screen. Side by side with the Dell XPS 12's 1080p, it's clear that the Dell has a better-looking screen. However, the resolution on the Dell is a bit high for a 12 inch screen, which means you need to increase font sizes for most text to be readable without squinting.
Touch/Tablet mode (10 out of 10)
This is where the Yoga 13 demolishes the Dell. If you plan to use a stylus and are considering the Dell please read this, since I've not seen it come up in any reviews. The Dell XPS 12 is unusable in stylus mode. I tried two different Dell units with the exact same results: jagged lines, missed lines, and illegible text if I tried to write anything small. This occurred in every program (One Note, Word, Corel Draw, Note Anytime), and 6 hours with tech support could not fix it (new OS, new drivers, etc.). The Yoga 13, on the hand, works quite well (although I would pay an extra $150 for a active stylus with digitizer -Lenovo, are you listening?).
Tablet mode has worked great, with no problems. With the Dell, I had problems with auto-rotate and auto-keyboard pop-up failing to work on two different Dell units. The only fix was a complete re-install of windows.
For some who have noted that there is sometimes a lag in the touch screen if you haven't used it for a while, follow these steps (found on a message board):
Open device manager
Expand Human Interface Devices
At the bottom of the HID list are two devices labeled "USB Input Device" On my system, the one we're concerned with is the second one, so the last item in the list, but just to make sure it's the right one:
Open the device properties
Click the Details tab
In the drop down menu, select Hardware Ids
The one we want will say USB\VID_04F3&PID_000A on the second line
Move to the Power Management tab
Uncheck "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power"
Keyboard/Trackpad (9 out of 10)
Trackpad is great (I updated to latest drivers). Not sure what the mixed reviews are about. The Dell XPS 12 was not good. Keyboard on the Yoga is also great. I liked the feel of the Dell's keyboard a bit more, but I've had no missed keys on the Yoga.
I don't understand the criticism of lack of keyboard backlight. I've never had a scenario where I needed keyboard backlighting. In completely dark room, the computer screen illuminates the keyboard enough to see the keys. But if you really love keyboard backlighting, be aware that the Yoga 13 doesn't have it!
Wifi (7 out of 10)
While it sounds like some people are having bigger problems with wifi, my failure-to-reconnect on log-on issue was solved with this simple fix: Go to Device Manager (Charms Bar --> search for "Device Manager" in settings), Go to Network Adapter, Right Click on the RealTek, Click on Advanced Tab, Then set Selective Suspend to "Disabled."
Since I did that, I've had zero problems. It annoys me that Lenovo could ship a product that needs a fix for wifi that automatically reconnects at log-on, but the range issues people have been reporting are non-existent for me. In fact, for both my home network and work network, I have 3-4 bars of wifi in places where my Dell XPS 12 had 1-2 bars and would fail to connect at times. Since my fix, I've had zero wifi problems in the past 3 weeks.
Ports/Other Features (10 out of 10)
I like the full-size HDMI port. While DisplayPorts might be the future, everything in my house has HDMI (and HDMI to DVI cables are $6 on Amazon, if you have a monitor without HDMI). No VGA port, though, which is fine for me since it is no longer 2005.
SD card slot is nice. Seems silly that Dell left it out of the XPS 12.
Expandable SSD slot is amazing. I have a 128GB Yoga now, but it's nice knowing I'll be able to add a second SSD in the future as prices drop (see YouTube for instructions). Also, I plan to expand to 8GB of ram, although I've had no problems with 4GB for the time being.
Not happy about the charger (the unique style means I have to pay top dollar for a replacement, since I like to have two), but it works fine.
Final Thoughts
The upcoming Helix could rival the Yoga in terms of design (detachable screen, 10 hours of batter life, stylus), but if you're like me and do a decent amount of typing, an 11-inch screen is just too small. The Yoga 13's 13-inch screen is just right for productivity, and in tablet mode works really well on your lap. No, you can't hold it with one hand comfortably, but you can prop it up in a variety of ways. I find the 9-11 inch tablet size to be nice, but also too large for one-handed use. I hope the next version of the Yoga has an active stylus.
Buy Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 13 13.3-Inch Convertible Touchscreen Ultrabook (Gray) Now
I am a big computer enthusiast, and I have went through a lot of laptops/ultrabooks over the past few years. I have owned:-Macbook pros and airs
-Asus Zenbook ux31a
-Dell XPS 13
-Dell Latitude
-netbooks and other lesser known notebooks.
My favorite out of the bunch was the Asus zenbook ux31a, and it still is if I am talking solely about ultrabooks. I prefer the yoga because of the touchscreen and future-proofing Windows 8 OS. I never really owned any powerful gaming laptops because I have a very powerful desktop sitting at home.
So now you know my techy background, here is my list of pros and cons for the Lenovo Yoga 13 after using it for about a week.
PROS:
1. Windows 8 on a touchscreen. I used Win8 on my XPS 13, which does not have a touchscreen, and I absolutely hated the experience, especially considering the XPS has a subpar touchpad. I think Win8 gets a lot of hate because people use it on a non-touch laptops. Using Win8 on a touchscreen laptop is very fluid and natural. Even in the traditional desktop mode, I can tell they made a lot of adjustments in the OS to make it work well. I do have some problems with the virtual keyboard not popping up sometimes when I needed it to. At rare times, it would even pop up when I don't need it.
2. Screen. 900p IPS glossy display. Not as good as the zenbook's 1080p IPS matte display, but the difference is not noticeable.
3. Touchpad. Some reviews say the touchpad is terrible. I actually like it quite a lot, and this is coming from someone who used the Macbook's touchpad for years. I like the zenbook ux31a's trackpad more, but just by a hair.
4. Construction. There are cons in the build quality (listed in cons section), but overall, it is a solid design. The entire laptop scheme of the construction is rubber. You can feel the rubbery friction on the top and bottom of the laptop, as well as inside on the trackpad and even between the letters of the keyboard. I am guessing they went with rubber instead of aluminum or some other metal is because the laptop is already heavy enough, and they did not want to add more weight to it especially since it's an oversized tablet. Also, the rubber makes for a good grip in tablet mode, something necessary for such a large tablet.
5. Battery life. Yoga 13 has the best battery life out of all the ultrabook/tablet hybrids to date (according to my knowledge at least). This is one of the main reasons I bought this over the XPS 12. HOWEVER, the battery life is still subpar compared to non-touchscreen ultrabooks like the zenbook or macbook air. I get about 5-6 hours, but I have pushed it to close to 7 hours if you use it very conservatively.
CONS:
1. Construction. As I said in the PROS section, there are pros and cons about the construction. I like the rubber scheme design, but there are some flex in the keyboard, making the overall product feel less premium. The size of the screen bezel is thick for my taste (I am spoiled by the XPS 13 thin bezel). The bezel size also increases the overall size of the laptop, and the width and length makes it much larger than my old xps 13, and is also actually larger than my old macbook pro 13. The size combined with the the thickness makes it noticeably heavier than my old zenbook and macbook air.
2. No backlit keyboard. The keyboard itself is alright, I am typing this review on it right now. The top of the keys are straight while the bottom is curved, which feels kind of weird to me, so my touch typing feels slightly off, but no biggie.
3. Bad factory partitioning, easy/automated fix can be found online. Google "Yoga 13 hotfix"
4. Fan. It does seem to be on all the time, but you won't notice it because it's a quiet hum. I only noticed it when I'm alone in my room, and even then it never bothers me. There may be a "fix" online, but I never looked into it.
5. Hard for User Upgrades. This can be argued to be a PRO considering a lot of ultrabooks doesn't even give you the option to upgrade anymore. Anyways, It's kind of complicated to upgrade the SSD. I haven't read too much into it, but I think it's doable, just not your traditional HDD/SSD swap. Also, it only has 1 RAM slot, so the max you can upgrade to is 8gb right now.
6. Hard to open! This is probably my biggest everyday gripe about it. I'm not sure what Lenovo was thinking. When the yoga is closed, there's a strong magnet to hold it in place. You definitely can't open it easily with one hand like you can with macbooks and the new zenbook. You'll probably have to use 2 hands. Furthermore, there is no LEVERAGE for you to hold onto! You basically use one hand to try and keep it down while using your other hand to pry it open, except they didn't make any sort of space you can get your fingers under for a good grip. It's a very slipper experience. This might be the hardest laptop I have ever used to open, mainly because of the strong magnet. I actually have to give a little attention to and focus whenever I want to open it up.
*I did not experience any bad wifi problems.
OVERALL, I do enjoy this Yoga. The PROS still outweigh the cons. The 2 biggest thing I look at in a laptop is the trackpad and screen because that's what people use the most, both are outstanding on the Yoga. While in laptop mode, it looks like a normal 13inch laptop, kind small and portable. But as soon as you use it in a tablet mode, its perception becomes a super huge tablet with tons of screen real estate...mind tricks. Anyways, I do like the machine a lot. I picked the yoga over the microsoft surface because I believe the keyboard and trackpad is an essential part of using a full-fledged windows machine. I can't see myself playing games or doing real work on the Surface even with the keyboard cover, too small and cramped.
Do I recommend you to buy this? I never recommend buying a first generation product. They are usually glitchy and highly priced. If you know you want a touchscreen laptop, get this. Buy the Surface if you really want portability with less battery life and screen estate. Otherwise, I would say to wait for the 2nd or 3rd generation. I can see Yoga 13 #2 having a thinner bezel, and a thinner body, lighter design, and longer battery life, maybe even a higher res screen. Hopefully, retail pricing will also start below 1k.
Read Best Reviews of Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 13 13.3-Inch Convertible Touchscreen Ultrabook (Gray) Here
Cons:I think this model only supports SATA2 drive speeds. I have not seen this published anywhere and so I cannot confirm. I tried using the ATTO benchark32 app and can only get speeds below 300MB/S, which is the SATA2 maximum. SATA3 is the newer standard and can go up to 600MB/s. I tried this on both drives (read below).
The keyboard is a bit flimsy. It's not really bad but definitely sub-par for a high end machine. If you're picky about keyboards it might be an annoyance for you.
The proprietary power adapter is expensive, if you want extras.
The tablet form factor is cumbersome and heavy. This is really more of a ultrabook with tablet-like qualities. Don't get it if you want a lightweight tablet-like device with notebook-like power. There are other products that might come closer to achieving the latter description.
No VGA or Ethernet ports
Pros:
It's still lightening fast despite being SATA2. I'm not really sure if this matters when it comes to the user experience. I do advanced stuff like booting virtual machines in HyperV and they boot and run super fast.
It charges really fast. You can get to 80-85% in 30 minutes and get a full charge in an hour
Screen is very nice
Solid construction
The "yoga" hinge aspect is handy. I like having a good ultrabook that can be tablet-like (read con above)
Upgrading to 8GB RAM is easy (look for youtube videos)
It has a second MSATA slot so you can buy a $200 256GB MSATA drive for expansion and not have to replace the primary drive. It's a bit more challenging to install than RAM but not bad. I got it done in 15 minutes. (see youtube videos and make sure you got the right tools)
Overall, I like this machine despite the shortcomings. Knowing what I know now, I would still buy it if I did not own it.
Want Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 13 13.3-Inch Convertible Touchscreen Ultrabook (Gray) Discount?
Update: I have used this computer for about 1 week and the versatility really exceeded my expectation. I actually like the 13.3 big screen for tablet compared to my asus transformer prime, which is about 10 inches. The keyboard is not that bothering on landscape mode for the tablet. The screen is also very bright. For the fan noise, it is really not noticeable if I do not put my ear to the keyboard. The computer is always below 50 celcus degrees. So I am confident that the computer will not burn,compared to my dell xps m1330,which can lead to 90 celcus degrees easily. So really happy with my purchase and I will keep it as my main computer. I would like to upgrade the hard drive for another 256 gb in short time.-----------------------------------------
original review:
I have been waiting for a windows 8 laptop since last June when my dell xps M1330 dies of heat. Many windows 8 ultrabook is out since last October. I mainly target for the laptop but occasional tablet (because windows 8 is VERY short of good apps). For a laptop, I do not want the screen to be too small . So I leave out Samsung Smart PC and MS Surface Pro. I also leave out Asus Zenbook Prime and Samsung Series 9 because they are not able to be served as tablet at all.
Thus, the only left option is actually Yoga 13 and Thinkpad Twist. However, the twist is too old styled and do not look cool. Therefore, I finally decided on Yoga 13, which I have researched a lot online. The main cons are not-so-good tablet because you grab to keyboards and the fan noise. The fan noise could be just bios stetting but also could resulting from the fact that the fan hitting the metal housing (which make a very loud noise). Keyboard is not my concern but fan noise does, because a flawed fan can in the long-term burn your machine. I thought that lenovo should have updated their fan because the the laptop has been out about 3 months. So I ordered from Amazon when it is first out.
I got it yesterday and clearly, the fan noise is still there. The FAN runs 100% all the time. I can also hear that the fan is hitting something if I stay in a quiet room and listen carefully. Lenovo clearly has not updated their bios or fan design at all.
I am not sure if I will need to keep this one or not, because clearly it has some flaws in the model (fan design), although the form factor is great. I will wait for a few days and update my experiences. Because Amazon does not have the model in stock, I will not be able to exchange for another one.
Except for the fan noise design flaw, the YOGA 13 is mainly for people who want a new laptop but with occasional tablet function. It has many GREAT things as follows:
1) slick design;
2) ideal laptop and tablet combination;
3) very bright screen with IPS;
4) really nice keyboard with deep punctuation and curved edges;
5) very easy to upgrade with larger SSD and memory.
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