Review: Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 13 Windows 8 convertible Ultrabook
To be fair to Lenovo, reviewing the IdeaPad Yoga shouldn't really be all about Windows 8. After all, this touchscreen Ultrabook – that bends over backwards to become a fully fledged tablet – is a well crafted piece of hardware with engineering merits of its own. So what, if it runs Windows 8? So do a lot of PCs these days. The …
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Re: "what's your excuse for Ubuntu's inability to detect a wifi card?"
@Eadon
The thread might be 8 months old, but the wifi problem still *clearly* exists, in spite of your feeble attempts to claim otherwise. That's testament to what passes for "support" in the linux world, even for the major distributions like Ubuntu.
Re: "what's your excuse for Ubuntu's inability to detect a wifi card?"
>The *only* thing keeping Linux from being much more popular on the Desktop is that Microsoft tell OEM's that if >they put Linux on a PC then they will lose "discounts".
No one denies MS haven't played dirty, Eadon, but another reason not everyone uses Linux is software support; be them gamers (though 'watch this space!' as they say), power Office users (there are some idiosyncrasies* with Open and Libre office) designers, engineers or video editors.
*just off the top of my head: The behaviour regarding data being deleted from hidden cells (devs said it was a feature, not a bug... see the Reg Article about it). EBay doesn't accept CSV files made by OpenOffice for bulk uploads.
Re: What a surprise!
I'm afraid you've been reading old stories. Every machine I've had over the past five years running Linux detected wifi out of the box. Even ancient PCMCIA cards can be used with "ndiswrapper" which uses Windows proprietary wifi drivers. The latest Linux distros will handle this automatically. Best to try a FREE linux distro on your machine. No command line, just point-and -click.
Re: What a surprise!
My (original) Asus 701 runs Mint 9 wonderfully fast and perfectly stable. Even squeezed LibreOffice and the Gimp on the 4GB SSD fo 3.5 hrs. My 901 runs Mint 13 MATE perfectly for 7 hrs on a charge. What am I missing?
Re: What a surprise!
@garbo
I'm afraid you appear not to have read the very article on which you've placed a comment.
"The biggest disappointment was that Ubuntu didn't recognise the Wi-Fi hardware and, having no Ethernet either, hampered the usefulness of a Linux Yoga install."
Re: What a surprise!
If you think Windows 8 is hostile to keyboard/mouse input, then you haven't tried using Android with a keyboard/mouse
http://www.reghardware.com/2010/11/03/review_netbook_toshiba_ac100/
But then Google don't claim that it is suitable for use with a laptop.
Re: What a surprise!
Ive said this on more than one occasion. For the limited staff we have in our department rolling out linux or even maintaining linux across a domain of 500 pcs is impossible for us. It is not flexible enough nor accessible enough for this purpose. The administrative burden is far higher than windows. GPOs simply work. WSUS works. WDS works. I have tried alternatives for many things - even FOG but linux is simply a no go for the majority of companies.
Give me
such a thing with the innards of the Nexus 7 and an 11" screen, running Android, for about $350 and I'll buy it.
Personal experiences
I picked one of these up near the end of November and have a couple of experiences that expand on some points mentioned in this review.
The screen is a fingerprint magnet, much like all smart phones and tablets with glossy screens. My fiancée plays Wordament on it and whenever I go to use it, there is inevitably a 3"x3" square of solid finger smudges where the board shows up in the game. I keep a small microfiber rag in a nearby drawer and wipe it down occasionally, not a big deal and no chemicals needed to clean up simple smudges.
It is definitely too heavy to hold in one hand in tablet mode for more than a minute or two. My solution is to place it in stand mode with the screen forward and keyboard face down. The weight is supported on my lap or body this way and all that remains is the ergonomic neck stretching issue that goes with all tablets.
Battery life is good. I have the Intel RST timer set for 5 minutes after sleep to go into its deep sleep. It gets used for an hour or so each day and I plug it in every few days to charge it up. Wake up from RST mode is a couple seconds. In the normal sleep mode before it goes into RST, the power LED blinks too fast and too bright and annoys the piss out of me as it lights up the wall next to bed.
It was briefly mentioned in the review but Lenovo's hard drive partitioning is awful. Nearly half the 128GB SSD drive is hidden for the recovery partition. Lenovo released a tool not long ago to maximize the available free space on the drive by messing with those partitions. If you're technically inclined there is also post on their forums for how to delete the recovery partition entirely and free up most drive (Intel RST needs a dedicated partition the size of your RAM). I did this immediately after uninstalling most of Lenovo's software as when it comes time to reinstall windows, I'll want fresh and clean.
There is an open SSD bay for a 256GB drive and the i5 model I bought with 4GB of memory can be user upgraded to 8GB (single stick).
Again - no Ethernet socket
Stopped reading at that point; there is zero excuse for omitting an Ethernet socket on a device that size (or even considerably smaller.) And for the ten billionth time, a USB Ethernet dongle is NOT an acceptable option. I need a device I can grab on my way out the door, or leave in the boot without fear of things getting snapped off, falling out or being left behind.
I am actually interested in a slightly smaller device (10 or 11" would be fine) which is reasonably robust, not Linux-hostile, has an Ethernet socket and isn't stupidly expensive. Basically a very slightly larger convertible netbook to replace the aging one I have. Even a nice thick solid tablet with the required sockets would do. Not holding my breath for it though...
Re: Again - no Ethernet socket? Socket to me, baby!
WRONG.
It does not need an IEEE 802.3 or (LOL!) an 802.3z port. Wi-fi is good enough.
STOP reading at this point. Zero Excuse.
Are you planning to attach a couple of terabyte drives to your Yoga? WTF do you need a "real" cat5 cable for?
OMG! perhaps you use only Cat6?
Lissen: 802.11n will satisfy all but your most perverted needs. O/W, get an Ethernet USB dongle.
If poor li'l you cannot handle wi-fi or bluetooth, or your dinosaur company cannot, then perhaps you should be sitting in front of a desktop CRT, running WinXP. But that's where you are now, n'est pas?
Re: Again - no Ethernet socket? Socket to me, baby!
@ aqk
Some application using on the corporate level cannot be accessed over a unsecure LAN. This means cert-based authentication via SSL channel to a virtual App session over closed wire connection.
Lenovo = corporate, so this is indeed an omission. 30 bucks per adapter x the total users in the department in question = lots of money.
Helicopter...because some app need to be really REALLY secured from prying eyes.
You didn't answer the only question required:
Is it better than having a good laptop for work, and a tab (like a nexus, say) for couch time?
Its certainly more expensive than those, almost by a factor of two, so it had better be.
Given the amount of cr*p that builds up in a normal keyboard...
...turning the thing upside down on a regular basis may actually be an improvement
WTF? YOU DO NOT NEED those "big" touchy-feely icons.
You seemed to show here only the "touchscreen" aspect of Win-8.
I've been using Win-8 for almost a year now, and quickly found out how to load it in its "classic" Win-7 / XP presentation. Just like Win-7 or (LOL) XP, but faster.
I DO NOT NEED THOSE "BIG UGLY" ICONS on my desktop or laptop! But I can quickly switch (top-left or bottom-right corner of screen) to them if I wish to check Win-8 apps such as the Register's Hey! Looks cool!) or apps that I am developing now (Stay tuned).
I suspect TheRegister is, like tired old Slashdot, still in the days, the throes of Micintosh and its legion of non-technical nerds.
No Ethernet??
I was considering one to replace my ageing Lenovo for work but the lack of Ethernet port is a deal breaker.
Win 8 is OK despite what everyone one else's gripes are.
It's easy, if you don't like it, don't use it but don't moan about it you just end up sounding like Apple fanbois.
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