Lenovo - Yoga 2 2-in-1 13.3" Touch-Screen Laptop - Intel Core i5 - 4GB Memory - 500GB Hard Drive - Black

I first purchased this laptop as a replacement for my previous 17" powerhouse. I was tired of having to lug the big behemoth around, and wanted something a bit more portable, without sacrificing too much on the performance end. Once I started looking at ultrabooks, the Yoga series started to seem more and more appealing. I didn't need the higher resolution model, especially with all the quality issues they were having with the QHD screens (at time of purchase), and the specs for this mid-range model seemed good enough for what I would be using it for, so I made the purchase. The first one was faulty. I'm not sure if this reflects on Lenovo's current product standards, but it seemed to run poorly, and some of the screws kept falling out from the bottom of the chassis. I was also having occasional problems with getting past the Windows 8 boot screen, but I'm convinced that was an issue with a specific Windows Update patch that rolled out around that time. Regardless, I decided to return it after a few days. Then, the associate convinced me to give the product another chance, and since I usually have such good luck with Lenovo, I was eager to agree. The new one is fantastic. I've had none of the hardware problems present in the first one, and since I've decided to avoid that patch altogether, none of the boot issues, either. The start time is fast enough for me to justify taking it pretty much anywhere I'll need to sit down for a few minutes, and since it's so portable, I find myself coming up with excuses to go to the park and type something up. I originally wasn't sold on the tablet transition aspect of the laptop, but it makes content much easier to show or pass around, and I've actually been using that feature quite a bit. The trackpad is nice, but takes a bit of tweaking with the software settings to be truly great, and the speakers are surprisingly good for such a small notebook. Since Lenovo kept the exhaust vents along the back, rather than placing them where they could be blocked by your legs, it handles long stints of Netflix and simple gaming just as well as browsing around the internet for a few hours. The performance is actually pretty good, as long as you won't be rendering any intense graphics (4 gigs of RAM is still only 4 gigs, after all), but it handles things like Civ V well enough, as well as some casual programming. The screen does wobble a little bit when you poke the touchscreen while in laptop mode, but since the only way to fix this would be to increase overall resistance in the hinge, I think I'd rather have it as is. The battery lasts long enough for me to go a few days between charges (I generally use it for an hour or two each sitting), and they keyboard is extremely comfortable to use. There is an issue with the way Windows 8 interprets screen resolution, however. On a 1080p screen this small, leaving the text scaled at 100% makes it almost difficult to read. It can be managed, but since the screen usually sits somewhere around 3' from my face, I leave the scaling at the default value, which is slightly higher than 100%. Unfortunately, Windows 8 hasn't quite figured out how to do this consistently, so while the operating system and most of the apps look fine in this mode, some of them get pretty blurry (Google Chrome windows appear slightly fuzzy, for instance). This is more of an annoyance than an issue, and it's probably something that the various companies will fix as Windows 8 gets more and more popular, but it's something you need to be prepared for, until then. Overall, I am happy with the purchase. I enjoy being able to take the laptop out and not feel like I'll be glued to a charger, and the touchscreen and keyboard make it a joy to use. I would recommend this to anyone looking for something portable, for everyday use.

My PC background includes laptops from Acer, Asus, Gateway, Sony, Toshiba, and IBM. The Yoga 2 13 is the best of the lot. My previous best notebook is the Portege R835 from BestBuy. My notebook search criteria included price, portability, quality build, flexible usage, battery life, vendor support rating, storage options, backlit well designed keyboard, full HD screen resolution, and a good CPU. I chose the Yoga 2 13 over the Yoga 2 Pro for price, display, and storage. The Yoga 2 13 full HD display has better test numbers in contrast and color fidelity than the Y2Pro. The numbers include a color fidelity delta value of 3.2 compared to 7.6 for the Y2Pro (lower is better), a contrast ratio of 1350:1 compared to 730:1 for the Y2Pro (means colors stand out). The Y2 13 has a higher Windows Experience Index number of 5.3 compared to the Y2Pro's 4.6. The build is several months newer than the Y2Pro with fewer bugs and problems. To be fair, the Y2Pro is 8 ounces lighter and 2 mm thinner and has a quad HD display. I have not encountered any problems in two weeks of ownership. Removing the included anti-virus improved performance. The backlit keyboard is great. All of the normal keys and functions are single key presses including home, end, pgup, pgdn, vol+, vol-, mute, brightness+, brightness-. Other keyboards require FN+key to access pgup, vol+, and so on. The thoughtful design includes a power button accessible in all modes (laptop/stand/tent/tablet), a screen orientation lock button, a hardware volume control, and a boot button. The boot button lets you boot up to a menu to select bios, boot device, and recovery. My other PCs require hitting a key at the right time during boot. With the Yoga shutdown, just press the boot button to get to the menu. In addition, I found a vibration notification feature by pressing the Windows start button. Nice feature. The touchpad works well. There is an option to swap the scroll direction. The touchscreen brightness ranges from barely readable at night to daytime brightness. There is an adaptive brightness function that works with the current brightness setting unlike the auto brightness of smartphones that overrides your brightness setting. The build quality is excellent. The notebook feels solid. The keyboard does not flex during use. Pressing firmly on the back of the screen does not distort the display. The notebook edges are rubber coated. Painted edges tend to get scratched and worn. The AC adapter power cable is thicker than normal. The adapter is quite compact and charges the notebook very fast - less than 3 hours. The battery life is good. Normal web browsing battery life is 6 to 8 hours. Maximum battery life is 13 hours (minimum brightness and doing nothing). Internet pictures of the Yoga 2 13 internals show an empty M.2 Sata SSD 80mm slot that can hold up to a 480GB SSD. Some owners have added a 240GB SSD in addition to their current 500GB hard drive. The internal 500GB drive is a WD drive that is 5mm in height. Do not expect to upgrade the hard drive any time soon. Consumer drives come in 9.5 mm and 7 mm sizes. In one support survey, Lenovo rated second only to Apple in quality rating. Minor nits would include having only 1 USB 3.0 port, an SD card slot that leaves the card sticking out, a short right shift key, a single backlit keyboard brightness level, and no RAM upgrade path.

The touch screen that can be used as a laptop or tablet is great for both personal and business use. The device boots quickly and is fast and easy to use. The only issue that has been a negative is that one of the USB ports did not work; however, I didn't know that the port was not working within the 15 day window that I had to return the device and instead brought it to Best Buy 34 days after my purchase and was told that even though my laptop and various other accessory purchases made me an Elite member, that since I was not an Elite member prior to the purchase I only had 15 days to return the device. Therefore, even though the USB port NEVER worked,the laptop had to be sent off for repair after it being barely only a month old! Since the device is used for business purposes it was quite inconvenient and bad service in my opinion that Best Buy didn't work harder to try and exchange the device since the device was only about a month old and past purchases had made me an Elite member in the past few years too. Also, it should be noted that a call was made to the Geek Squad just a couple weeks after the device was purchased about the inability to use an external DVD drive that was purchased with the laptop and connected via USB and was told to try connecting the USB to a different port, which worked. When that worked it seems like they would have suggested that the device be brought in to make sure the USB Port was working properly for other purposes, rather than making it seem like that port just didn't work for the DVD drive!

I bought this laptop about a month ago and so far have been satisfied with the performance, size and most of all the value for price. From the very first day it struck me as being able to use and set up easily. Now, Windows 8 did take me some getting used to but once you know how to use it is a breeze. The display is excellent, the touch screen works really well. The computer itself is easy to use because it has a few different modes: laptop, tablet, stand. You can find the best no matter where you are. Now I did not want a big heavy laptop which is why I chose 13.3" screen. Which to me was a perfect size: easy to carry around but big enough for watching a movie or surfing on the net. It seems like Yoga is a little heavier than some competitive products out there but it is not too heavy to use as a laptop and take it to places. The keyboard does not have a backlight for typing in the dark and feels a little flimsy because you can feel more than just the keys go down when you try to type. The only other issue is the sound, which even though is of good quality but just too quiet so if you plan on watching something besides action movies you should get speakers as well. One of the best things is the speed at which it turns on or wakes up after the sleep mode. So overall I am happy with Yoga it is definitely a good deal considering the price and the value you get.

I teach online and I also travel, so I needed a tablet that I could grade my online class with, and that was convenient for travel. I have a Surface RT that I liked that wasn't quite powerful enough for some of my applications, so I bought the Surface Pro in Jan, used it 2 weeks and took it back for various reasons - mainly because it was HEAVY and ran hot. My Best Buy salesman suggested the HP Split that could be a tablet or could be attached to a keyboard and become a laptop. Again, I used it ONE week, but it froze all the time, was heavy, and I just didn't like the way it worked, so I took it back. By this time, I was frustrated - all I wanted was a small form factor tablet that I could add a keyboard to easily if I needed to do more than just hunt and peck to type sometime, and I wanted it to have good performance. My BB salesman (different one this time!) listened to me, and the suggested this Lenova Yoga. At first, I really was turned off at the price, but I realized that if I had specific needs, I may need to pay for them. I haven't been disappointed. In fact, I have found myself using this at home on the couch or in the bed, instead of going to my desktop to work daily. It has four positions you can put it in, and the display is great. Further, it weighs very little and is easy to hold when I need to (I have a torn rotator cuff, and that is important). I like to fold it back and use it as a tablet, but sometimes, I just need to type a long email (or a review, like this) and I like turning it into a laptop. The LARGE screen that I can use when I have it in tablet form is wonderful also, as my eyes are getting bad and it is harder to see little screens. In addition, using the MathPad program that is included, I can work problems by simply writing on the touch screen, and it converts to a jpg that I can send my students (or better yet, that I can use while skyping with them). I also downloaded lots of pictures to it recently, and I sat on my couch and edited all 100 of them that afternoon and resaved them with no lag time or feeling that I was stressing it. I highly recommend you purchase this - bite the bullet and try to ignore the price, because after you get it home, you will find it is the best bargain for the price you have gotten in a while.

I have had this computer for about a month and use it for at least a couple hours every day. The screen resolution and brightness are excellent. I love how it wakes up from sleep and hibernation. The backlit keyboard is very good. However, the touchpad is a bit weird. Sometimes it seems to hang-up, but this doesn't appear to be a processor issue since the touchscreen still responds. My touchpad experience has improved immeasurably since I turned off the the Windows 8 screen edge swipes that were automatically set up on the touchpad. Overall, this is a great computer. Oh, the battery time is excellent, too.

The computer does everything I need it to do. Windows 8.1 can be a hassle at times, but otherwise start-up, shut down, and going to and from sleep mode are incredibly fast. The only issue is that sometimes the computer may hang. In addition, the screen could be considered TOO HIGH DEF. How is this possible you say? It's like watching analog TV on an HD tv. Everything looks a little more blurry, and that's the case with this computer and software that can't go HD. It's not the computer's fault, but it can be noticed every once in a while.

Overall, a good computer and I have no major complaints (after several months). I like the slimness, light weight and speed (compared to my much older, heavier, slower, and bulkier laptop.) I love the touchscreen. I haven't used it much as a tablet yet as I'm concerned about the unprotected keyboard in that mode. Will probably get the keyboard sleeve to use in the tablet mode. I initially had some issues with the computer occasionally stalling/locking up while booting up, although I think the problem may only occur after not allowing the computer to fully turn off. The right-hand side light needs to go off before closing the lid (after shutting down the computer). I don't like the Windows tiles--usually use the desktop mode. Sometimes the screen disappears and other apps pop up, but I believe that's because I hit the wrong key and am not yet used to the program.