I bought ThinkPad Yoga just a month ago. Few points to notice: 1. Battery life is 3 hours (on "Baanced" mode, simple watching a movie or browsing, no hard duties). 2. Right touch-pad button is not working on Chrome links sometimes. 3. If you are using it as a tablet - wear gloves, as it gets really hot!!! 4. USB ports with some devices (like Suunto watsh Ambit 2) act really crazy: they connect-disconnect tool every 5 s and you hear connecting-disconnecting sound... Conclusion: 6.5/10.
Lisa, thanks again for another great review! I find your reviews the best in the business BTW. I'm already an owner of a Y2PRO, and if that wasn't the case, I would definitely have this instead. I love my YOGA!
Great review all around. Spot on. Some things that I could add: Thinkpad support is a completely different level of warranty support compared to Ideapad support. This is very important to people who take their device seriously. The screen also is able to become not only very bright but very dim. This is overlooked by most but is important for anyone who may be working in a dark area. Also the back-lit keys have a dim and bright setting. The red Trackpoint feature is wonderful for situations where you are going back and forth from mouse to keys, and also perfect for those times where there is not much room for moving your wrist (ex: airplane). The comparison resolution of the Ideapad Yoga is so extreme that many programs display unreadable text and proper scaling does not take place making things difficult on the user. As for the speakers, you said that they are "from the keyboard deck area", if you look closely they are in fact in the crease of the double hinge. You will notice that ends up positioning them in an almost frontal direction when in "presentation" mode rather than firing directly into the supporting surface (ex: table, lap). I find that to be a very clever compromise by the design team. Lastly I would add that I purchased a TP Yoga refurbished recently and could not be happier so far. It appears to have had the active digitizer removed/disabled. This basically cut the price by %50 on the unit. Warranty and all. Even rang up the Lenovo Thinkpad support and they sent me a set of recovery disks to hold onto and were very friendly, but that is expected as the call center is in - can you believe this... Georgia, USA. Ideapad support is directed to a foreign land of difficult accents. Coming from an HP Folio 13 (which I was very fond of) I can easily say that every single aspect of the Lenovo is executed better. Okay maybe I wish that the back-lit keys did not auto-off with the screen timer causing them to be re-ignited. But other than that minor complaint this is a wonderful machine. Don't forget that you can easily run Android on these machines too...
I've watched a lot of your videos and they are always fantastic, non-biased, and clear. Thanks for that! You've sold me on this Thinkpad Yoga, which I had been eying for some time in addition to Sony's new Flip Fit and Duo. This will be my next choice for carry around laptops. Thanks for the reviews!
I find a great comfort zone for finding a device that can handle and do much more than i would normally need it for day to day. To me a device that can use a proper digitizer in a addition to superb specs is a must for anyone business or home use.
Great review and analysis. Truly, thank you. I had a T60 from 2006 and I did appreciate having the left/right click buttons beneath the Touchpad. IBM Thinkpads can't be beat, truly, Ravi Peiris M.D.
I bought this laptop in 2014. The best Ive ever owned. Still use it. However I realize that all laptops have a life span and at 6 years its coming up so I just bought a lenovo carbon x1. I still like the feel of the yoga better. I think I'll continue to use the yoga until it dies.
Great review,Lisa, as always! Especially appreciated the comparison with the IdeaPad Yoga 2 Pro. You have the best tech reviews that I've seen on the net....
Hi Lisa, thank you for your awesome review! Your reviews are actually my favorite. For this specific machine, how's 100% scaling? would it be usable if users don't use 125% or even 150%? Thanks!
Would you recommend this 12.5 yoga or the new 12.5 thinkpad yoga (2015). It seems like the same computer, just with updated processor, possibly better battery life. On amazon you can get the top of the line 12.5 with digitizer for 1300, but I'm sure the same configuration will be nearly $1700-$1800. Thanks for the help!
I ended up buying the Thinkpad yoga 14 from last year as an open box item as it came with the same 1080p screen, i5 processor and the graphics processor was much better. Battery life has been pretty good and the keyboard feels more natural sized. It's slightly thicker, but people who buy thinkpads expect that. The only thing it doesn't have is the stylus, but I might just invest in a capacitive one.
To Lisa (or anyone who wants to shed some light on my situation), I'm a soldier, so I'm always on the move and need a rough and rigid laptop that suits my needs, and I am extremely drawn to the thinkpad lineup for this reason, and the yoga aspect because let's face it... That's a nifty feature. I need a fairly decent laptop to handle my online courses, and don't want to sacrifice the 2-in-1 design and durability. My only question is how well do you think the core i7 model would stand up to light and moderate gaming (for the little down time we get.) I like that it has the Wacom pen, and had the yoga 14 model had this option I would have gone that route, however it does not. So I am at a loss. Please help? Thanks.
Awesome review, as always :D BTW, haven't seen your full written-review of the iPad Air...the link on your site homepage still goes to your short review page.
MobileTechReview ***** I agree. Strange they didn't go with a displayport. I'm guessing it might be because of existing licensing agreements they have.
Fate Lenovo #ThinkPad #Discount for #Father days On: amzn.to/1F0TsSx Lisa Gade reviews the Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga. This is Lenovo's business oriented Yoga with a 360 degree hinge and a 12.5" IPS display with 400 nits brightness. It's available with 10 point multi-touch or with both touch and a Wacom active digitizer and pen. The 3.5 lb., 19mm (.75") thin Ultrabook convertible ships with Windows 8.1 64 bit and Intel Core i5 and i7th generation Haswell CPUs with Intel HD 4400 graphics.
Hey Lisa, Unfortunately I didn´t quite catch whether you can simply buy the version without the pen, buy one seperately somewhere else and still use it the same way? Or doesn´t the non pen version support input from a pen at all?
I've been using this laptop (8gb RAM 500GB HDD, i7 model) for almost 6 years and it's still rock solid. Might get 5-7 hours of battery depending on the workload (for super intensive work, don't expect more than a few hours of battery). Not the best multimedia laptop (might as well get a used Macbook pro for that) with the ok speakers and screen that gets 67% srgb/52% adobe rgb (response time might be between ~35-50 ms, so not the most ideal gaming experience for twitch gaming), but it'll excel as a business ultrabook that beats out almost every chromebooks without a sweat. Might as well upgrade the hdd to an Samsung 850/860 pro SSD when you get the chance. Keyboard might last you 4-5 years before a super important key pops off, so you'll have to replace the onboard keyboard (forget individual keycap replacement). Once in a blue moon, the laptop won't go to sleep after closing the lid, but it doesn't happen often and it'll resolve itself after closing/opening the lid a few times like it's a tribal dance. Absolutely take advantage of that trackpoint as the trackpad might not pick up your touch when it runs a bit hot. Overall stellar for something that came out in 2013/2014
@@SimGunther thanks for the info on what to expect. So far the only issue am getting is less battery hours, I have to keep charging since am using it for transcription purposes. Then it kinda heats up. Otherwise. am enjoying the tablet tent and laptop modes they suit every situation.
Notebookcheck.com has the first full review of the XPS 15 available on the internet. Use G-translate because it's a german site. www.notebookcheck.com/Test-Dell-XPS-15-9530-Late-2013-Notebook.105963.0.html
Hello, I just want to ask at 1:20, is that a pen? and if it's a pen how to remove it? 'coz Im having a hard time to remove it. thank you for answering!
Another great review as always, Lisa. I was drooling over this at Fry's and would have bought one there if it had the digitzer, a bit heavy though for more "tablety" use though (still waiting for Surface Pro 2 256GBs to come in). When you get the TPY with the digitizer, can you check out the Black Hole problem some users have reported having with it. There seems to be a magnetic field somewhere either in the screen or the body that distorts the digitizer in the upper right section of the screen. I'm just wondering how annoying it would be IRL. Thanks!
Someone has probably already said this but WHY doesn't Lenovo offer the higher res screen from the IdeaPad Yoga on the thinkPad version - It would have been my ideal machine! O well...
I am going to wait for your review of the thinkpad yoga with the pen/stylus to make up my mind on picking this one up. I enjoy your reviews, Thanks Lisa.
Hi Lisa. Very informative review, thank you. You made a reference to the colour gamut of the Lenovo T440s. Do you have specific data on this? I haven't been able to find it.
Excellent Review! Gave me a wonderful overview on whether to decide to buy this Thinkpad or not! Is this the successor to the Thinkpad Twist? One of the main drawback of the Twist was the mediocre battery life and the low-res screen. Did the Haswell refresh make any difference? Thanks, and I can't wait for the smackdown between the two Yoga!
All your videos are such a treat! The best review one could hope for. Pro, deep, in depth. GREAT! Thanks for these. Do you know when you might get your hands on the new Dell XPS 13 for a review? Looks promising... thanks!
Absolutely superb review!! I have it on order since day 1. Due to production delays, hopefully should get by next week. I was disappointed with wifi in Sony Vaio Pro 13 & Flip 13A (apart from fan noise in the Flip), so looking forward to this one!!
Hi Lisa, if I buy the version with digitized but no pen will the pen hole/slot still be available? I know the version without digitizer, the pen hole/slot is closed shut.
Lenovo ThinkPad T450s Ultrabook vs Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 12 Ultrabook for gaming and using basic apps like Microsoft word, PowerPoint etc. Im given the opportunity to get either computer for free from my college and I'm curios on to which laptop is better for gaming? Please let me know! Thanks, Nick
Nick Coppola idk, i would say the thinned but it's graphics card is intel iris pro graphics HD which kinda sucks hard dong but if you're willing to bring down the graphics settings and not play super demanding games I think it'll do fine
Hi Lisa, thank you for this great review! It sure looks like a great every day business machine! I was wondering, do you think this laptop would be powerful enough to run CAD apps such as CATIA V5 or AutoCAD? Since lots of features like the Intel HD Graphics 4400 are new, I can't seem to find any review about that and I need to be able to run them for my engineering studies. I know the HD Graphics 3000 were not good enough for this kind of usage but what about the 4400? Would I still need a dedicated GPU? Thanks for your help :)!
Lisa this was a great review and almost convinced me to purchase this laptop, however I am seeing hundreds of complaints about a ghosting/watermark issue with the FHD screen for the yoga. Is there any fix out there? Would I be better off with the downgrade of the 1366 x 768 HD screen?
I've read that the problem should be fixed with the newer thinkpad yogas, as well as you can return the old ones with panels that have the ghosting issue.
Hi ! Would you rather go for a Vaio MultiFlip or this ThinkPad Yoga ?... By the way, Sony is telling me that the vent problems on the multiflip has been solved, is that true? Thanks a lot.
Shall i wait for an Update version of thinkpad yoga. Like Thinkpad yoga 2? On the other hand i am still not sure if yoga is exactly for me or shall i buy a x230t or fujitsu t904? I dont know:((
awesome work, Lisa! Your attention to detail and your delivery - great! Keep them coming :) a quick one: What model number do I look for when I want to purchase the LTY with the Wacom digitizer and pen? Thanks again Cheers!
Hello, im planning on using this for school. If I get this.with the I5 configuration, how long do you think the laptop will last before I would need to get another? Also is the yellows on this as bad as the Yoga 2 Pro?
I find the trackpad the single most annoying part of all devices. It is really great to see that this new thinkpad has retained the trackpoint. The trackpoint gives a high degree of accuracy while navigating. Try moving the cursor from the top left corner of your screen to bottom might corner of the screen. With the trackpad this can only be achieved with multiply replacement of the finger. However, with the trackpoint this operation is seamless, effortless & compared to the truckload, mouse or any other alternative a total pleasure. The trackpad is responsible fon the cursor being unintentionally relocated when typing documents on applications like word. This is so to the user, especially if they touch type & do not need to look at the screen to type. If a function key was introduced to quickly turn off & on the trackpad it will go a long way into restore some usefulness of the otherwise irritating trackpad Now my rant is over, can anyone please tell me how to permanently disable my trackpad on my thinkpad T420 before I throw it out the window.
Ayo04Soul If you want to disable your trackpad on the Thinkpad you can try pressing function key and F8 which displays the UltraNav Device settings. To disable the touch pad, select Enable TrackPoint only and then close settings.
Sony Vaio Duo 13 Vs Lenovo Thinkpad Yoga would be very interesting as they are both designed with different types of mind setup how a hybrid should function. Very similar and would be interesting to see them compared with both having a stylus and overall impression regarding, speed, responce, sturdiness, impression etc.... BTW you are doing a splendid work. You are my favorite reviewer :)
Lisa, thank you for the great review. I apologize in advance for a stupid question - will a version that came without a digitizer work with one (provided it is of the right kind)? In other words, is it a question of having the right digitizer or screen? Thanks.
Thank you. I love your reviews and I have been waiting for someone to review the Thinkpad Yoga. Up until now, people have only done "first looks" and impressions. I think you gave the first full review on this device! One question I had was about the color gamut. You reference the other top models and that it scores lower (much lower?) but then you mention that the colors are quite vibrant. Vibrant = saturation? Gamut = # of shades? I apologize if that is a basic question but it stood out as one of the "weakness" of the Thinkpad Yoga compared with some of its competitors. Another piece that I hope you have a chance to revisit soon is the digital pen. I would like to see how it compares to other systems. The most notable is the Wacom with the Surface Pro. Thanks again!
Looks like its a really solid road warrior. My son chose a Macbook Air 13" to use on his University course trip to Venice. Major deal breaker was the Haswell processor and battery life. Are the walcom pens only useful for graphic artist people?
How does this compare to a thirteen inch macbook? Performance and battery wise? How well does the touchscreen fare? How does it compare to, for instance, a macbook with a wacom digitiser? What other ultrabook would you recommend for travel/photography? Reasonable performance and good batterylife?
Hello Lisa, I know it doesn't have to do anything with this review, but will you be doing a video-review of the sony vaio tap 11? The major competitor of the surface pro 2 which no one really seems to know about... (very little information about it on the web) It would be awesome if you would be able to do one since the multi-flips have huge fan issues which still exist after BIOS-Update...(I just returned mine yesterday) I would be really curious how the tap 11 performs (core i5 or i7) Thank you Lisa and continue with these awesome reviews! Greetings from Austria
God ! Why can't I get one with the pixel density of the IDEAPAD and the pen; and convient storage of the THINKPAD, with the external ports of the THINKPAD? I'm underwhelmed by this unavailable option.
Sweet! Great stuff Lisa, now to wait for CES 2014 to see if anything tops this. If not i'm getting this to do my 3D and 2D work. Wish Sony Flip used Wacom, just having that Wacom makes a difference for artist.
Sounds pretty nice.. I've always loved lenovo for their great build quality. Im a student currently doing 3D modeling and rendering, using a Pavilion DV6 from HP. I picked up the laptop for $265 2nd hand, and it features a quad core 1.5ghz (2.4ghz turbo boost) AMD A6 APU with the 6520g GPU. It works great for medium-high poly meshes and even can handle some modern games on lower settings for a solid framerate. The downside is I need to use my Motion LE1600 Graphics tab for any concept designs and later transfer it over to this laptop. The yoga with wacom seems nice, but mabye not the complete workstation im looking for.. Running the weak intel HD series onboard GPU simpily wont cut it, and for close to $1000 im really hoping Lenovo has a well built setup with wacom, and a CUDA enabled gpu that will cut render times in half. (but hopefully keep a similar form factor to the yoga).
Hey Lisa, nice review. Unless the US model is different, I think you forgot to mention this machine has a M.2 (NGFF) slot which, at least on the model I just ordered, holds a 16GB chache disk if you didn't order a SSD. I plan to later upgrade this 16GB cache SSD to a 'full-size' SSD and install my OS on it, which gives me a fast SSD + also storage on the 2,5"disk. A great feature I think!
I think 4GB is too outdated in this day and age. I have heard the 8GB paired with the i5 is the way to go, as the i7 gets too hot in this chassis. I am picking up and i5-4200/8GB ram model hopefully today and am genuinely excited for it.
This is nice, I think I want to get this for engineering school next year. I have a question though. Would getting a 256 SSD be much better than 500 HDD +16 SSD? I'd still be getting 8 GB RAM and i5. The price difference is 1496 vs 1698, and I think 1500 is where I'm at. I currently have an i5, 750 GB HDD +24 SSD, and I like having the storage available, although I didn't use all of it so I think 500 would be great.
@ Skyler shutts core i5 or I7 will handle about any game with enough ram, and the yoga does have enough. However being a thinkpad owner I can tell you they are rugged but there are tougher machines out there. like Panasonic tough book's but they will set you back in cost quite a bit. yoga is great but also look at others like thinkpad x230t Lenovo doesn't build them any more but there are still several around. this was a flag ship machine upgradeable and very tough and also supports the pen. on the cheaper side thinkpad twist we use these in the field and I can tell you the are very tough with intel core I 5 after a few improvements like upgrading the hard drive to sdd the twsit is nothing to scoff at but it does not support a pen.
Great review as always Lisa, also it would be great if you can review the following Ultrabooks 1) HP Spectre 13t-3000, 2) Asus Zenbook UX301LA & UX302LG
the refresh rate flickering not visible to the naked eye? I see them clearly on real pc, many pc at school hurt my eye and I have trouble focusing on them due to their refresh rate, so some people can ree the refresh rate clearly when other dont or need time to notice it.
It's caused by pulse width modulation that they use for back-lighting. Apparently not visible to naked eye, but it can cause headaches and apparently gets worse with lower brightness levels.
Anviification , well I have noticed that my android device does that when in powersaving mode, that why I resist going to powersaving mode (I don't need it as I like the standard CPU, GPU clock and screen refresh rate), but instead activate a app designed to lower the brightness by placing a tint effect, it does not flicker that way, but the cpu speed does slow down a bit, some people report massive lag when gaming with it, but I mainly use it to lower the brightness to a level lower than the standard minimum brightness for comfortable reading in darkness. It true that it is a backlighting modulation, but device with slow one really hurt my eye very quickly, faster ones are comfortable for my eyes and unnoticeable even with standard 60fps slowmo cameras. but some are in between, comfortable for short amount of time, then hurt my eyes.
NOOOO!!!! STAY AWAY IF YOU'RE USING IT FOR GRAPHICS. The graphics on this laptop even the 1080p one was horri-fucking-ble. The pen is slightly inaccurate and cramps up your damn hand.
I bought ThinkPad Yoga just a month ago. Few points to notice:
1. Battery life is 3 hours (on "Baanced" mode, simple watching a movie or browsing, no hard duties).
2. Right touch-pad button is not working on Chrome links sometimes.
3. If you are using it as a tablet - wear gloves, as it gets really hot!!!
4. USB ports with some devices (like Suunto watsh Ambit 2) act really crazy: they connect-disconnect tool every 5 s and you hear connecting-disconnecting sound...
Conclusion: 6.5/10.
Lisa, thanks again for another great review! I find your reviews the best in the business BTW. I'm already an owner of a Y2PRO, and if that wasn't the case, I would definitely have this instead. I love my YOGA!
Great review all around. Spot on.
Some things that I could add:
Thinkpad support is a completely different level of warranty support compared to Ideapad support. This is very important to people who take their device seriously.
The screen also is able to become not only very bright but very dim. This is overlooked by most but is important for anyone who may be working in a dark area. Also the back-lit keys have a dim and bright setting.
The red Trackpoint feature is wonderful for situations where you are going back and forth from mouse to keys, and also perfect for those times where there is not much room for moving your wrist (ex: airplane).
The comparison resolution of the Ideapad Yoga is so extreme that many programs display unreadable text and proper scaling does not take place making things difficult on the user.
As for the speakers, you said that they are "from the keyboard deck area", if you look closely they are in fact in the crease of the double hinge. You will notice that ends up positioning them in an almost frontal direction when in "presentation" mode rather than firing directly into the supporting surface (ex: table, lap). I find that to be a very clever compromise by the design team.
Lastly I would add that I purchased a TP Yoga refurbished recently and could not be happier so far. It appears to have had the active digitizer removed/disabled. This basically cut the price by %50 on the unit. Warranty and all. Even rang up the Lenovo Thinkpad support and they sent me a set of recovery disks to hold onto and were very friendly, but that is expected as the call center is in - can you believe this... Georgia, USA. Ideapad support is directed to a foreign land of difficult accents.
Coming from an HP Folio 13 (which I was very fond of) I can easily say that every single aspect of the Lenovo is executed better. Okay maybe I wish that the back-lit keys did not auto-off with the screen timer causing them to be re-ignited. But other than that minor complaint this is a wonderful machine.
Don't forget that you can easily run Android on these machines too...
Your reviews are always helpful!
I've watched a lot of your videos and they are always fantastic, non-biased, and clear. Thanks for that!
You've sold me on this Thinkpad Yoga, which I had been eying for some time in addition to Sony's new Flip Fit and Duo. This will be my next choice for carry around laptops. Thanks for the reviews!
I find a great comfort zone for finding a device that can handle and do much more than i would normally need it for day to day. To me a device that can use a proper digitizer in a addition to superb specs is a must for anyone business or home use.
Great review and analysis. Truly, thank you. I had a T60 from 2006 and I did appreciate having the left/right click buttons beneath the Touchpad. IBM Thinkpads can't be beat, truly,
Ravi Peiris M.D.
I bought this laptop in 2014. The best Ive ever owned. Still use it. However I realize that all laptops have a life span and at 6 years its coming up so I just bought a lenovo carbon x1. I still like the feel of the yoga better. I think I'll continue to use the yoga until it dies.
Great review,Lisa, as always! Especially appreciated the comparison with the IdeaPad Yoga 2 Pro. You have the best tech reviews that I've seen on the net....
My school is buying these for all the students!!! I am looking forward to getting them!!!
hello, I am choosing between T440s and the thinkpad yoga both at i7, 128SSD, and 8G memory, which do you recommend? many thanks!
review the active wacom stylus please
Lisa, thank you so so so much for review this!!! I would have totally bought the wrong one without the digitizer!
Hi Lisa, thank you for your awesome review! Your reviews are actually my favorite.
For this specific machine, how's 100% scaling? would it be usable if users don't use 125% or even 150%?
Thanks!
Omg u just get to the point and I love it. Thank you for explaining everything beautifully!!!
Would you recommend this 12.5 yoga or the new 12.5 thinkpad yoga (2015). It seems like the same computer, just with updated processor, possibly better battery life. On amazon you can get the top of the line 12.5 with digitizer for 1300, but I'm sure the same configuration will be nearly $1700-$1800. Thanks for the help!
I ended up buying the Thinkpad yoga 14 from last year as an open box item as it came with the same 1080p screen, i5 processor and the graphics processor was much better. Battery life has been pretty good and the keyboard feels more natural sized. It's slightly thicker, but people who buy thinkpads expect that. The only thing it doesn't have is the stylus, but I might just invest in a capacitive one.
Awesome timely and generous review Lisa. You are a really great reviewer, nice to listen to, thorough and informative. Thanks so very much.
To Lisa (or anyone who wants to shed some light on my situation),
I'm a soldier, so I'm always on the move and need a rough and rigid laptop that suits my needs, and I am extremely drawn to the thinkpad lineup for this reason, and the yoga aspect because let's face it... That's a nifty feature. I need a fairly decent laptop to handle my online courses, and don't want to sacrifice the 2-in-1 design and durability. My only question is how well do you think the core i7 model would stand up to light and moderate gaming (for the little down time we get.) I like that it has the Wacom pen, and had the yoga 14 model had this option I would have gone that route, however it does not. So I am at a loss. Please help? Thanks.
very thorough look and review of this laptop. Great for getting a feel for how the laptop is built and such.
Awesome review, as always :D BTW, haven't seen your full written-review of the iPad Air...the link on your site homepage still goes to your short review page.
why not a full sized hdmi :\ such an inconvenience
Probably not enough room on the motherboard for a full size HDMI port.
MobileTechReview ***** I agree. Strange they didn't go with a displayport. I'm guessing it might be because of existing licensing agreements they have.
Get a super cheap cable
Fate Lenovo #ThinkPad #Discount for #Father days On: amzn.to/1F0TsSx
Lisa Gade reviews the Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga. This is Lenovo's business oriented Yoga with a 360 degree hinge and a 12.5" IPS display with 400 nits brightness. It's available with 10 point multi-touch or with both touch and a Wacom active digitizer and pen. The 3.5 lb., 19mm (.75") thin Ultrabook convertible ships with Windows 8.1 64 bit and Intel Core i5 and i7th generation Haswell CPUs with Intel HD 4400 graphics.
don't need DP or MDP, is not gaming laptop
Hey Lisa,
Unfortunately I didn´t quite catch whether you can simply buy the version without the pen, buy one seperately somewhere else and still use it the same way?
Or doesn´t the non pen version support input from a pen at all?
Just bought this laptop and it is amazing for sure
I've been using this laptop (8gb RAM 500GB HDD, i7 model) for almost 6 years and it's still rock solid. Might get 5-7 hours of battery depending on the workload (for super intensive work, don't expect more than a few hours of battery). Not the best multimedia laptop (might as well get a used Macbook pro for that) with the ok speakers and screen that gets 67% srgb/52% adobe rgb (response time might be between ~35-50 ms, so not the most ideal gaming experience for twitch gaming), but it'll excel as a business ultrabook that beats out almost every chromebooks without a sweat.
Might as well upgrade the hdd to an Samsung 850/860 pro SSD when you get the chance. Keyboard might last you 4-5 years before a super important key pops off, so you'll have to replace the onboard keyboard (forget individual keycap replacement). Once in a blue moon, the laptop won't go to sleep after closing the lid, but it doesn't happen often and it'll resolve itself after closing/opening the lid a few times like it's a tribal dance. Absolutely take advantage of that trackpoint as the trackpad might not pick up your touch when it runs a bit hot.
Overall stellar for something that came out in 2013/2014
@@SimGunther thanks for the info on what to expect. So far the only issue am getting is less battery hours, I have to keep charging since am using it for transcription purposes. Then it kinda heats up. Otherwise. am enjoying the tablet tent and laptop modes they suit every situation.
will you review the new xps 15 and 13. great video
Notebookcheck.com has the first full review of the XPS 15 available on the internet. Use G-translate because it's a german site.
www.notebookcheck.com/Test-Dell-XPS-15-9530-Late-2013-Notebook.105963.0.html
Hello, I just want to ask at 1:20, is that a pen? and if it's a pen how to remove it? 'coz Im having a hard time to remove it. thank you for answering!
Great review. When will the active digitizer demo be available?
I'm hoping we'll have an active digitizer version of this model in a week.
Another great review as always, Lisa. I was drooling over this at Fry's and would have bought one there if it had the digitzer, a bit heavy though for more "tablety" use though (still waiting for Surface Pro 2 256GBs to come in).
When you get the TPY with the digitizer, can you check out the Black Hole problem some users have reported having with it. There seems to be a magnetic field somewhere either in the screen or the body that distorts the digitizer in the upper right section of the screen. I'm just wondering how annoying it would be IRL. Thanks!
Lisa can we get a smackdown between this and the Surface Pro 2?
Someone has probably already said this but WHY doesn't Lenovo offer the higher res screen from the IdeaPad Yoga on the thinkPad version - It would have been my ideal machine! O well...
after 8 years..
now i can buy this thinkpad
pray for me
im start self bussiness and had to buy this one
I am going to wait for your review of the thinkpad yoga with the pen/stylus to make up my mind on picking this one up.
I enjoy your reviews, Thanks Lisa.
Hi Lisa. Very informative review, thank you. You made a reference to the colour gamut of the Lenovo T440s. Do you have specific data on this? I haven't been able to find it.
Excellent Review! Gave me a wonderful overview on whether to decide to buy this Thinkpad or not! Is this the successor to the Thinkpad Twist? One of the main drawback of the Twist was the mediocre battery life and the low-res screen. Did the Haswell refresh make any difference? Thanks, and I can't wait for the smackdown between the two Yoga!
All your videos are such a treat! The best review one could hope for. Pro, deep, in depth. GREAT! Thanks for these. Do you know when you might get your hands on the new Dell XPS 13 for a review? Looks promising... thanks!
great review! is the ram upgradeable?
Absolutely superb review!! I have it on order since day 1. Due to production delays, hopefully should get by next week. I was disappointed with wifi in Sony Vaio Pro 13 & Flip 13A (apart from fan noise in the Flip), so looking forward to this one!!
Lisa, are you going to make a review of the OPPO N1?, it's a pretty interesting phone and i wish you could review it!
Hi Lisa, if I buy the version with digitized but no pen will the pen hole/slot still be available?
I know the version without digitizer, the pen hole/slot is closed shut.
Lenovo ThinkPad T450s Ultrabook vs Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 12 Ultrabook for gaming and using basic apps like Microsoft word, PowerPoint etc. Im given the opportunity to get either computer for free from my college and I'm curios on to which laptop is better for gaming? Please let me know! Thanks, Nick
Nick Coppola idk, i would say the thinned but it's graphics card is intel iris pro graphics HD which kinda sucks hard dong but if you're willing to bring down the graphics settings and not play super demanding games I think it'll do fine
Nick Coppola I have the same options from my school. I have until next Wednesday to report my decision.
Hi Lisa, thank you for this great review! It sure looks like a great every day business machine!
I was wondering, do you think this laptop would be powerful enough to run CAD apps such as CATIA V5 or AutoCAD? Since lots of features like the Intel HD Graphics 4400 are new, I can't seem to find any review about that and I need to be able to run them for my engineering studies.
I know the HD Graphics 3000 were not good enough for this kind of usage but what about the 4400? Would I still need a dedicated GPU?
Thanks for your help :)!
Lisa this was a great review and almost convinced me to purchase this laptop, however I am seeing hundreds of complaints about a ghosting/watermark issue with the FHD screen for the yoga. Is there any fix out there? Would I be better off with the downgrade of the 1366 x 768 HD screen?
Thanks for pointing this out Theo!
I have the 1366x768 yoga. It has terrible burn in/ghosting.
I've read that the problem should be fixed with the newer thinkpad yogas, as well as you can return the old ones with panels that have the ghosting issue.
Hi !
Would you rather go for a Vaio MultiFlip or this ThinkPad Yoga ?... By the way, Sony is telling me that the vent problems on the multiflip has been solved, is that true? Thanks a lot.
Thanks!. Also, What's the difference between SSD and hard drive? Is it just speed?
Shall i wait for an Update version of thinkpad yoga. Like Thinkpad yoga 2? On the other hand i am still not sure if yoga is exactly for me or shall i buy a x230t or fujitsu t904? I dont know:((
Great review! Does it game and do light video editing well?
Hi Liza. Can I ask what kind of ssd does thinkpad yoga use? Is it the 2.5? Is it upgradable?
Hope you can give me feed back.
Thanks
Hey Lisa!
On the Internet I have found folks complaining about ghosting issues...
Have you experienced display problems, too?
where is the DVD tray in this laptop ??
i have but nowhere found it....
plz tell ..
I need one of these for college.
im returning my asus ux301la for this baby =]
awesome work, Lisa!
Your attention to detail and your delivery - great!
Keep them coming :)
a quick one: What model number do I look for when I want to purchase the LTY with the Wacom digitizer and pen?
Thanks again
Cheers!
Hello, im planning on using this for school. If I get this.with the I5 configuration, how long do you think the laptop will last before I would need to get another? Also is the yellows on this as bad as the Yoga 2 Pro?
Hey Lisa,
Do you do reviews on Workstation Laptops like the Dell Precision M3800?
I find the trackpad the single most annoying part of all devices. It is really great to see that this new thinkpad has retained the trackpoint. The trackpoint gives a high degree of accuracy while navigating. Try moving the cursor from the top left corner of your screen to bottom might corner of the screen. With the trackpad this can only be achieved with multiply replacement of the finger. However, with the trackpoint this operation is seamless, effortless & compared to the truckload, mouse or any other alternative a total pleasure.
The trackpad is responsible fon the cursor being unintentionally relocated when typing documents on applications like word. This is so to the user, especially if they touch type & do not need to look at the screen to type.
If a function key was introduced to quickly turn off & on the trackpad it will go a long way into restore some usefulness of the otherwise irritating trackpad Now my rant is over, can anyone please tell me how to permanently disable my trackpad on my thinkpad T420 before I throw it out the window.
Ayo04Soul If you want to disable your trackpad on the Thinkpad you can try pressing function key and F8 which displays the UltraNav Device settings.
To disable the touch pad, select Enable TrackPoint only and then close settings.
Sony Vaio Duo 13 Vs Lenovo Thinkpad Yoga would be very interesting as they are both designed with different types of mind setup how a hybrid should function. Very similar and would be interesting to see them compared with both having a stylus and overall impression regarding, speed, responce, sturdiness, impression etc.... BTW you are doing a splendid work. You are my favorite reviewer :)
Lisa, thank you for the great review. I apologize in advance for a stupid question - will a version that came without a digitizer work with one (provided it is of the right kind)? In other words, is it a question of having the right digitizer or screen? Thanks.
Thank you. I love your reviews and I have been waiting for someone to review the Thinkpad Yoga. Up until now, people have only done "first looks" and impressions. I think you gave the first full review on this device!
One question I had was about the color gamut. You reference the other top models and that it scores lower (much lower?) but then you mention that the colors are quite vibrant. Vibrant = saturation? Gamut = # of shades? I apologize if that is a basic question but it stood out as one of the "weakness" of the Thinkpad Yoga compared with some of its competitors.
Another piece that I hope you have a chance to revisit soon is the digital pen. I would like to see how it compares to other systems. The most notable is the Wacom with the Surface Pro.
Thanks again!
Do you have any suggestions for screen protectors for the Thinkpad Yoga (stylus version). ?
can this computer run autodesk inventor and solidworks?
If you get the model without the pen does it still have the pen hole and can you buy a pen later?
Any idea if hdmi will go above 1080p on this for an external display? Thanks.
Looks like its a really solid road warrior. My son chose a Macbook Air 13" to use on his University course trip to Venice. Major deal breaker was the Haswell processor and battery life. Are the walcom pens only useful for graphic artist people?
Folks who like to take notes enjoy the pen as do math and science types who need to input equations.
Thanks Lisa
Lisa when will the new Dell XPS 15 review will arrive?
How does this compare to a thirteen inch macbook? Performance and battery wise?
How well does the touchscreen fare? How does it compare to, for instance, a macbook with a wacom digitiser?
What other ultrabook would you recommend for travel/photography? Reasonable performance and good batterylife?
I'm going into computer science and not sure to buy the 450s or this one :/ Any advice?
Will you do a review of the ASUS zenbook infinity? What about the MSI Gs70 Stealth?
Hello Lisa,
I know it doesn't have to do anything with this review, but will you be doing a video-review of the sony vaio tap 11? The major competitor of the surface pro 2 which no one really seems to know about... (very little information about it on the web)
It would be awesome if you would be able to do one since the multi-flips have huge fan issues which still exist after BIOS-Update...(I just returned mine yesterday)
I would be really curious how the tap 11 performs (core i5 or i7)
Thank you Lisa and continue with these awesome reviews!
Greetings from Austria
Love the reviews keep them going!
Your reviews are so detailed that we can have a clear picture in our minds before buying.
Please can you review dell inspiron 15 7000 series laptop.
And if you get a pen will you compare it to the ms surface pro 2?
God ! Why can't I get one with the pixel density of the IDEAPAD and the pen; and convient storage of the THINKPAD, with the external ports of the THINKPAD? I'm underwhelmed by this unavailable option.
Great review as always Lisa! Like I posted earlier, can you do a vide review on the Dell Inspiron 7000 series? Thanks
How hot does it get? And where does it get hot?
Great review Lisa - as always! What is Lenovo's currently strongest Thinkpad machine that comes with an active pen?
Sweet! Great stuff Lisa, now to wait for CES 2014 to see if anything tops this. If not i'm getting this to do my 3D and 2D work. Wish Sony Flip used Wacom, just having that Wacom makes a difference for artist.
do you recommend this for student use?
ALL of the teachers in my school have this laptop.
where is your school, I wanna come! They must have alot of money
Sounds pretty nice.. I've always loved lenovo for their great build quality. Im a student currently doing 3D modeling and rendering, using a Pavilion DV6 from HP. I picked up the laptop for $265 2nd hand, and it features a quad core 1.5ghz (2.4ghz turbo boost) AMD A6 APU with the 6520g GPU. It works great for medium-high poly meshes and even can handle some modern games on lower settings for a solid framerate. The downside is I need to use my Motion LE1600 Graphics tab for any concept designs and later transfer it over to this laptop. The yoga with wacom seems nice, but mabye not the complete workstation im looking for.. Running the weak intel HD series onboard GPU simpily wont cut it, and for close to $1000 im really hoping Lenovo has a well built setup with wacom, and a CUDA enabled gpu that will cut render times in half. (but hopefully keep a similar form factor to the yoga).
You are so decent . And i like you r videos . I wonder you have less subs than i expected .
Why do some of the yoga 14s have deicated mouse clickers and some dont
Can you please do a review on the recently released dell 7000 series laptops?
Do you know where I can find the pen?
hi liza is that model with pen?
Great review. I have one question though. Is it dual or single band wifi?
It's available with single band WiFi and dual band WiFi.
Can you connect this laptop to an external monitor?
Do a review on Lenovo Miix 2 8 inch please. And compare it with the Dell Venue 8 Pro. Maybe try some gaming on them? sound interesting!
How do you stop the screen from flipping?
Can we upgrade windows 10 on this pre-installed windows 8 ? If yes then how?
Hey Lisa, nice review.
Unless the US model is different, I think you forgot to mention this machine has a M.2 (NGFF) slot which, at least on the model I just ordered, holds a 16GB chache disk if you didn't order a SSD.
I plan to later upgrade this 16GB cache SSD to a 'full-size' SSD and install my OS on it, which gives me a fast SSD + also storage on the 2,5"disk. A great feature I think!
Is this a good buy in 2019? Looking at the 4210u version , only concern is it's the 4gb version and soldered ram
I think 4GB is too outdated in this day and age. I have heard the 8GB paired with the i5 is the way to go, as the i7 gets too hot in this chassis. I am picking up and i5-4200/8GB ram model hopefully today and am genuinely excited for it.
You look so pretty with your hair Lisa.
Could you please review T440s and X240
This is nice, I think I want to get this for engineering school next year. I have a question though. Would getting a 256 SSD be much better than 500 HDD +16 SSD? I'd still be getting 8 GB RAM and i5. The price difference is 1496 vs 1698, and I think 1500 is where I'm at. I currently have an i5, 750 GB HDD +24 SSD, and I like having the storage available, although I didn't use all of it so I think 500 would be great.
@ Skyler shutts core i5 or I7 will handle about any game with enough ram, and the yoga does have enough. However being a thinkpad owner I can tell you they are rugged but there are tougher machines out there. like Panasonic tough book's but they will set you back in cost quite a bit. yoga is great but also look at others like thinkpad x230t Lenovo doesn't build them any more but there are still several around. this was a flag ship machine upgradeable and very tough and also supports the pen. on the cheaper side thinkpad twist we use these in the field and I can tell you the are very tough with intel core I 5 after a few improvements like upgrading the hard drive to sdd the twsit is nothing to scoff at but it does not support a pen.
are the usb sockets full size?
Or actually threeway comparison would be epic. Surface Pro 2 vs Lenovo Thinkpad Yoga vs Sony Vaio Duo 13.... A dream come true :)
Great review as always Lisa, also it would be great if you can review the following Ultrabooks 1) HP Spectre 13t-3000, 2) Asus Zenbook UX301LA & UX302LG
the refresh rate flickering not visible to the naked eye? I see them clearly on real pc, many pc at school hurt my eye and I have trouble focusing on them due to their refresh rate, so some people can ree the refresh rate clearly when other dont or need time to notice it.
It's caused by pulse width modulation that they use for back-lighting. Apparently not visible to naked eye, but it can cause headaches and apparently gets worse with lower brightness levels.
Anviification , well I have noticed that my android device does that when in powersaving mode, that why I resist going to powersaving mode (I don't need it as I like the standard CPU, GPU clock and screen refresh rate), but instead activate a app designed to lower the brightness by placing a tint effect, it does not flicker that way, but the cpu speed does slow down a bit, some people report massive lag when gaming with it, but I mainly use it to lower the brightness to a level lower than the standard minimum brightness for comfortable reading in darkness.
It true that it is a backlighting modulation, but device with slow one really hurt my eye very quickly, faster ones are comfortable for my eyes and unnoticeable even with standard 60fps slowmo cameras. but some are in between, comfortable for short amount of time, then hurt my eyes.
Forgot to ask. Can you use a different wacom pen on the screen that is not from Lenovo if you didn't purchase one with the laptop?
If you buy the Wacom active digitizer version, only Wacom tablet PC pens will work.
If you buy a version without digitizer it doesn't have the sensors under the display so it wouldn't work.
Can you please do review on lenovo Z501?
Does it fold back into full tablet mode
Would this laptop be good for a graphic design student, downloading adobe cs6?
NOOOO!!!! STAY AWAY IF YOU'RE USING IT FOR GRAPHICS. The graphics on this laptop even the 1080p one was horri-fucking-ble. The pen is slightly inaccurate and cramps up your damn hand.