Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 12-inch review

11 Comments

  1. Vladimir

    January 24, 2014 at 8:07 pm

    I have the digitizer version with the SSD and love it. The laptop is very sturdy and very quick. Mine boots from dead off to ready to use in under 10 sec. It goes from sleep to ready to use in about 2 sec. My battery life is pretty good although I have not given it a torture test. The only thing that I would say negative about the computer is the web cam (it sucks). The rest of the laptop rocks.

    • John Evans

      May 25, 2015 at 1:43 am

      I have one also and like it very much but the speakers are fairly horrible. Especially when going into tablet mode or presentation mode. The sounds emits from the keyboard. Front firing speakers on the LCD and slightly longer battery life and it would be perfect.

  2. Vladimir

    February 1, 2014 at 10:08 am

    Hello,

    Nice review. I am really fond of this ultrabook. I like the Yoga flexibility and the Thinkpad characteristics (design, robustness, keyboard, trackpoint). I would like to buy the high-end version of the Thinkpad Yoga, but it pisses me off that it doesn’t have any discrete graphics card option. If only it had at least intel Iris Pro graphics… Furtermore, it only has dual-core (i5/i7), so in the long term I don’t see this as a viable option.
    Just a few questions:
    1. Does it have backlight keyboard?
    2. How does the new Trackpoint work (compared to the older versions)? I preffer the Trackpoint.
    3. Would you recommend this ultrabook (the high-end version) to a student who also needs Photoshop/Corel/Adobe Premier? How well does it work when graphic/video editing is needed?
    4. Does the omission of the discrete graphics card affect the overall performance of this ultrabook (e.g. light gaming – League of Legends, light to medium graphic/video editing)?
    5. Will the dual-core CPU turn to be viable in the medium-to-long term (3-4 years)?

    Thank you. Really like your reviews. Looking forward to hearing from you (especially the answers for my question). Keep up the good job!

    • Andrei Girbea

      February 4, 2014 at 3:53 pm

      1. Yes
      2. It’s more or less the same as before, but the click buttons are different. I preferred the dedicated click buttons, but the clickable surface is alright too, I got used to it fast
      3. Haven’t tested the digitizer equipped version, so can’t say much about it. As for graphics/video, as long as you’re not working on huge projects, it should be ok. Otherwise, the ULV platform and the 8 GB of RAM tops are going to bottleneck your experience
      4. light gaming is possible, see my Sony Vaio Pro 13 and Vaio Duo 13 reviews here on the site, where I’ve included some gaming results on the Intel 4400HD chip
      5. I’d say yes, especially if you go for the core i7. But it really depends on what you’re going to do with it. For heavy tasks, the ULV platform might not be the ideal pick. For everyday use and only occasional humphs, it will do fine

  3. Vincenzo

    February 23, 2014 at 3:54 am

    Dear Andrei,
    thanks for the accurate review. I would like to ask you if during the review you met any of the wifi connection issues of whom forums are filled up: short range, frequent disconnection, etc…
    Regards.
    Vincenzo.

    • Andrei Girbea

      February 23, 2014 at 1:02 pm

      Not with this test unit, but yes, I’ve been reading about those as well, so they are for sure a reality with some versions.

  4. Santiago

    March 7, 2014 at 12:07 pm

    Good review. Where can I get the 1 TB HDD with 16 GB SSD cache version??? I have only seen it in the Lenovo site in the UK. I have been waiting for months in the US, but no signs of it. Thanks

  5. Chris

    March 23, 2014 at 2:17 pm

    Hello Andrei,
    thanks for your review. I have a little question : is recognition of handwriting really good?
    I know Surface Pro is relly good (so I believe Surface Pro 2 is at least at the same level) but I’ve no idea about Thinkpad Yoga.
    Thanks

    • Andrei Girbea

      March 24, 2014 at 6:47 pm

      Hey Chris. I haven’t tested the digitizer model, my unit lacked this feature (was the basic configuration), so I can’t comment on that

  6. Chris

    October 24, 2014 at 9:03 am

    Hello Andrei, thanks a lot for the exhaustive review. I am currently looking for a reliable and stable travel ultrabook, so I would mainly using it “on tour” which could be anything from business trips to back packer travel. I need it mostly for business use and picture/video editing, also editing raw files with lghtroom, using several business related applications like payroll software and others. Win 7 would be my preferred OS. So I was looking out some current available options in Germany, at the end 3 are left in my mind and I would highly appreciate your advise for which you would go. 1. Toshiba Portege z30-19AL (PT243E-08404YGR) or z30-A-15M (PT243E-03L01LGR) or TPY 20C0006EGE. Flexibility of TPY is a nice to have but not a must have. I am more looking at capability for business use /picture/video editing and stability. Prices in Germany for all 3 around 1500 EUR where as TPY includes 3 years warranty already. Any alternative suggestion is very welcome as well. Thanks in advance

    • Andrei Girbea

      October 24, 2014 at 1:11 pm

      HI CHris. You could also consider the standard THinkPad, the T440 and X240 lines. Especially the latter. The TPY is a decent laptop, but I’m not so sure it will be as reliable as a standard non-convertible device on the long term.

      I haven’t reviewed the Toshiba Z30s, so can’t say much about them. I do know they advertise massive battery life, but they obtain that my seriously capping the CPU to the point where the computer becomes very sluggish. I Believe notebookcheck reviewed the Z30s, you should check their German site, they are perhaps the best reviewers out there.

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