Just got me a Lenovo Yoga 13....what to do now?

andrewkeith5

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Hi,

So, after 4 and a half years I have finally got around to upgrading my laptop to the Lenovo Yoga 13, IMHO the best implementation of Windows 8 I've seen.

I've had a brief look around the Store, and have already downloaded a few apps, but I'd love to hear your recommendations on the best apps/games you've seen so far?

Also, is there a general consensus on the best Facebook app for the Metro/Modern UI interface as yet?

Looking forward to hearing your recommendations!
 

WavingReds

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Do some yoga with your Yoga?

But seriously though, I like TrackSeries, it's a nice Mordern app that tracks your TV shows you watch.
 

andrewkeith5

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Thanks, they all sound like great suggestions! Particularly like the series tracker ... is Dev Tycoon a SIM City style game? I've been looking for such a thing for ages...
 

enthuz

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I have been debating the purchase of the Y13 with Win8Pro. Can you provide a detailed review of your experience with it soon? TIA
 

andrewkeith5

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I have been debating the purchase of the Y13 with Win8Pro. Can you provide a detailed review of your experience with it soon? TIA

I will certainly try and put something together for you, but my free time is limited during the week - I have a 2 hour commute to work each way!

If Ive not posted anything or got in touch by the end of the week drop me a quick reminder in a PM :)
 

bawboh86

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Here's my own personal review (whether or not you wanted it) that I posted to Amazon a while back (updated to be more relevant to today):

This is a great laptop/tablet combo. Now, because of the size and weight of the laptop when it's in "tablet mode", you'll mostly be using it as a laptop, and sometimes finding it convenient to use it as a tablet (I do so for "Angry Birds", "Skulls of the Shogun" and other gaming sessions).

The screen is nice and bright, and the viewing angles are superb (granted, I'm coming from a Zenbook Prime, where if you tilted your head too far, the colors went weird and you didn't have a good viewing experience). The touchscreen is usually very responsive, but I did find that sometimes it wouldn't pick up a swipe. I did learn that's because Windows defaults to turning off the driver after so much time of no-use and that you can turn it off from doing so (with a slight, and mean very slight, hit to battery).

Coming from a Zenbook Prime, this keyboard is a definite step up. The keys have nice play, but aren't mushy. They also have a nice click and feedback to them, but aren't difficult to press down. They're spaced just right for my hands and fingers to do long sessions of typing without needing a lot of breaks. I only wish they'd put more work in the touchpad. Physically, the touchpad is GREAT. It's big enough to allow you to go from one side of the screen to the next without having to lift your fingers. It clicks well, and is, well, a touchpad. The problem is in the drivers. I find myself frequently needing to restart the touchpad drivers. It's not a problem, as the touchpad still works, but you lose some of the mutli-touch support and Windows 8 gestures. It's not a huge problem, but definitely an annoyance.

The build quality, while pretty good, isn't "excellent". After a few months of owning and using it, it creaks sometimes when I pick it up at weird angles. Also, sometimes, there's a gap between the screen and the bottom when I put it in my man bag. It's nothing noticeable unless you're extremely OCD and looking for issues, but it is there. The laptop has held up to a beating in my bag, though, so it's still a very sturdy laptop and should be able to withstand almost anything you throw at it.

I bought this laptop/tablet because I do development work and wanted something with a touchscreen that I could use to develop on the go. This definitely as the power already to run through all of my work, including debugging in Visual Studio 2012, web browsing, and having a few Word Docs open at the same time. I did update the RAM myself (a fairly quick and EXTREMELY simple thing to do with this laptop) and that may be worth the extra $40 to do so. I highly recommend it as everything seemed to pick up speed and responsiveness from there.

The only serious problem I had with this was the wonky partitioning scheme that Lenovo used. You can go into the disk management and backup/remove any partitions they don't want, but I'm also not the average consumer. For example: I can't imagine my mother knowing that that's even an option. I also wouldn't want to try and walk her through doing it. I think this partitioning scheme was a mistake, but at this point, has no effect one me. UPDATE: Lenovo has released a patch that will clear out some of the space for you and redoes the partitions. The link escapes me at the moment.

So, in conclusion, if you want a solid laptop that also makes a pretty good tablet, this is your machine. I really enjoy using it. Just know going in that you may have to frequently restart touch pad drivers (unless Lenovo has updated them) and/or you may have to work with the partitions.
 

andrewkeith5

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Do some yoga with your Yoga?

But seriously though, I like TrackSeries, it's a nice Mordern app that tracks your TV shows you watch.

Hmm....I have downloaded TrackSeries, but I can't seem to get it to work - I've tried a few series I'm interested in but it doesn't seem to be finding anything?
 

Laura Knotek

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Here's my own personal review (whether or not you wanted it) that I posted to Amazon a while back (updated to be more relevant to today):

This is a great laptop/tablet combo. Now, because of the size and weight of the laptop when it's in "tablet mode", you'll mostly be using it as a laptop, and sometimes finding it convenient to use it as a tablet (I do so for "Angry Birds", "Skulls of the Shogun" and other gaming sessions).

The screen is nice and bright, and the viewing angles are superb (granted, I'm coming from a Zenbook Prime, where if you tilted your head too far, the colors went weird and you didn't have a good viewing experience). The touchscreen is usually very responsive, but I did find that sometimes it wouldn't pick up a swipe. I did learn that's because Windows defaults to turning off the driver after so much time of no-use and that you can turn it off from doing so (with a slight, and mean very slight, hit to battery).

Coming from a Zenbook Prime, this keyboard is a definite step up. The keys have nice play, but aren't mushy. They also have a nice click and feedback to them, but aren't difficult to press down. They're spaced just right for my hands and fingers to do long sessions of typing without needing a lot of breaks. I only wish they'd put more work in the touchpad. Physically, the touchpad is GREAT. It's big enough to allow you to go from one side of the screen to the next without having to lift your fingers. It clicks well, and is, well, a touchpad. The problem is in the drivers. I find myself frequently needing to restart the touchpad drivers. It's not a problem, as the touchpad still works, but you lose some of the mutli-touch support and Windows 8 gestures. It's not a huge problem, but definitely an annoyance.

The build quality, while pretty good, isn't "excellent". After a few months of owning and using it, it creaks sometimes when I pick it up at weird angles. Also, sometimes, there's a gap between the screen and the bottom when I put it in my man bag. It's nothing noticeable unless you're extremely OCD and looking for issues, but it is there. The laptop has held up to a beating in my bag, though, so it's still a very sturdy laptop and should be able to withstand almost anything you throw at it.

I bought this laptop/tablet because I do development work and wanted something with a touchscreen that I could use to develop on the go. This definitely as the power already to run through all of my work, including debugging in Visual Studio 2012, web browsing, and having a few Word Docs open at the same time. I did update the RAM myself (a fairly quick and EXTREMELY simple thing to do with this laptop) and that may be worth the extra $40 to do so. I highly recommend it as everything seemed to pick up speed and responsiveness from there.

The only serious problem I had with this was the wonky partitioning scheme that Lenovo used. You can go into the disk management and backup/remove any partitions they don't want, but I'm also not the average consumer. For example: I can't imagine my mother knowing that that's even an option. I also wouldn't want to try and walk her through doing it. I think this partitioning scheme was a mistake, but at this point, has no effect one me. UPDATE: Lenovo has released a patch that will clear out some of the space for you and redoes the partitions. The link escapes me at the moment.

So, in conclusion, if you want a solid laptop that also makes a pretty good tablet, this is your machine. I really enjoy using it. Just know going in that you may have to frequently restart touch pad drivers (unless Lenovo has updated them) and/or you may have to work with the partitions.

Thanks for your review. I'm considering getting this particular ultrabook.
 

AaHaa

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I have been using it for a few months now, it's awesome. One little tip I can give you is to download (or purchase) Decor8. It's an desktop app that lets you customize your Windows 8 theme, so you're not limited to the few options Microsoft gave you. It looks very "native", like the app comes standard with Windows 8 (despite it being a desktop app) and it just gives you a lot more freedom to costumize your personal interface.
 

bawboh86

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I have been using it for a few months now, it's awesome. One little tip I can give you is to download (or purchase) Decor8. It's an desktop app that lets you customize your Windows 8 theme, so you're not limited to the few options Microsoft gave you. It looks very "native", like the app comes standard with Windows 8 (despite it being a desktop app) and it just gives you a lot more freedom to costumize your personal interface.

Would you please provide a link? ��
 

tfracs33

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Has anyone found a digital pen that works in the 13 inch yoga? I know I can write with my finger and its not made to work with a digital pen...looking for a work around. Thanks. BTW, the Yoga is awesome
 

jhguth

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Any capacitive stylus will work, but don't expect the same performance you would get on an iPad or something, the drivers just aren't that good yet.
 

coip

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When did the Lenovo Yoga 13 first launch with the i5 and I7 Intels? I'm thinking of buying this but I'm trying to figure out the product cycle--i.e., if a brand new model is launching in a few weeks, I'll wait it out. Any ideas? The "Clementine Orange" model seems especially fun.
 

ajst222

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Hi,

So, after 4 and a half years I have finally got around to upgrading my laptop to the Lenovo Yoga 13, IMHO the best implementation of Windows 8 I've seen.

I've had a brief look around the Store, and have already downloaded a few apps, but I'd love to hear your recommendations on the best apps/games you've seen so far?

Also, is there a general consensus on the best Facebook app for the Metro/Modern UI interface as yet?

Looking forward to hearing your recommendations!

Congrats! I am seriously interested in the 11 inch Yoga. What kind of apps are you looking for? In all honesty, I haven't used a Facebook app. I have just used the browser for that
 

stephen_az

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When did the Lenovo Yoga 13 first launch with the i5 and I7 Intels? I'm thinking of buying this but I'm trying to figure out the product cycle--i.e., if a brand new model is launching in a few weeks, I'll wait it out. Any ideas? The "Clementine Orange" model seems especially fun.

The Yoga 11S was only recently introduced and is still a Lenovo.com and Best Buy exclusive. Personally, I would not expect to see a new model too soon. Given the XPS 12 is still the only convertible machine available with a 4th generation processor, my bet is the other manufactures are still working on designs or are waiting on optimized hardware, and are closer to a holiday season release than Labor Day. The fact that Lenovo's initial 4th gen machines in their other lines barely match battery life for 3rd gen, and they released the Helix with 3rd gen technology, makes me think the new processor versions are still on the drawing board. With respect to the current generation Yoga's keep in mind that while they use I series processors, performance is a bit lower than Surface Pro or Dell's XPS 12. For some reason that only makes sense to Lenovo, they used single channel RAM in the systems instead of dual channel. In addition the 11S i5 version uses a hamstrung version of the processor with lower turbo boost speeds. That is a difference I found very noticeable under heavy load tests. In spite of using a much lower resolution screen, the 11S also barely matches Surface Pro and falls short of bother the 3rd and 4th generation processor XPS 12s for battery life. Finally, although Lenovo improved the storage usage a bit, they still take too much of a 128GB drive for their system partitions. It is still a good mid range performer but those are the key limitations in my experience. BTW, you can get good deals on the Lenovo 13 from their outlet but regardless of outlet of Lenovo.com main online store, they have a really lousy return policy (15% restocking fee unless they made a mistake in the order).
 

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