'Lenovo ThinkPad' Yoga Review

Lenovo has popped up with a handful of new products recently, among them being the ThinkPad Yoga, a flexible hybrid laptop with a touchscreen panel that can fold all the way back into a tablet-like mode. This follows the ThinkPad X240 we reviewed last month, and rather than sporting the X240's extremely long battery life and somewhat thick body, Lenovo elected to give the ThinkPad Yoga a more conservative, universal appeal -- namely, a thin, flat profile and a slightly less no-nonsense design, something accompanied by a high-end 12.5-inch FHD touchscreen display. Read on for our full SlashGear review to how the ThinkPad Yoga fared.

Hardware :
The ThinkPad Yoga is available with both a fourth-generation Intel Core i5-4200U and a Core i7-4500U processor, with the former up to 2.6GHz and the latter up to 3GHz. This is accompanied by 4GB of memory and either a 128GB or 256GB SSD. There's Dolby Home Theater version 4, as well as enhanced audio for VOIP usage. The keyboard is a lift-and-lock backlit offering, and the webcam is a familiar 720p HD unit.

As far as size goes, the ThinkPad Yoga is fairly small, though heftier than some of the ultrabooks out there. Measurements come in at 12.46- x 8.7- x 0.76-inches, and the weight sits at a decent 3.52 lbs. The system, unfortunately, doesn't come with a hot-swappable secondary battery, so while thinner than the newest T and X series models, the battery life isn't as mind-blowingly long. Based on our usage, between six to eight hours is what you can expect, with the variation being dependent on how you use the system -- cranking away at media or games will naturally lower the number.

Ports include two USB 3.0 ports, one of which is powered, as well as a combination 3.5mm MIC/audio jack, a OneLink Dock, mini HDMI, VGA/RJ45 with the OneLink Dock, and a 4-in-1 card reader. There's both a TrackPoint and a 5-button trackpad, and connectivity includes both WiFi (b/g/n/ac) and Bluetooth.

Touchscreen and Stylus :
As mentioned, the ThinkPad Yoga comes with a touchscreen, as well as an integrated stylus and hinges that allow the display to be folded entirely backwards. Because of this, the Yoga presents itself as a bit more than the average touchscreen-enabled laptop that does not have such flexible hinges and an included stylus. For this reason, we tested out the stylus and touchscreen with more than simple handwriting, using it to draw some pictures.

As far as handwriting goes, you'll get about what you expect from a touchscreen -- something precise enough, but obviously not up to par with a physical pen and sheet of paper. There's nothing wrong with it, but penning the next great American novel by hand with the system isn't something you're going to do. And branching this out a bit, there's the included stylus, which is lightweight and thin, though not so small that its size is a nuisance. Overall, I found the stylus to be very pleasant to sketch with, though perhaps a touch too small for comfortable handwriting -- likely more so for men who have larger hands.

And then there's drawing. Check out the video above to see some drawing in action, which will give you a pretty good idea of what the Yoga offers. As a frame of reference, I do quite a bit of drawing with a Microsoft Surface with the same application -- Autodesk's Sketchbook -- which I find to be very comfortable and precise, and it is that experience I compare the Yoga to. For the most part, the stylus and the touchscreen are up for the task, but sketching is often hit-or-miss, with the setup favoring harder amounts of pressure. As you can see right in the beginning of the video, I have trouble getting the machine to register some light sketches on the screen, eventually giving up for a darker line, and the same issue presents itself when trying to shade in the ribs and the right arm.

To see if the problem was more or less universal, I swapped out the included stylus with my Microsoft Surface Pro stylus, and surprisingly found that it handled the task far more effectively, and sketching lightly became a non-issue. With that hardware, I found the ThinkPad Yoga to be as effective and pleasant of a drawing tool as my Surface and other competing products.

This isn't to say that light sketching isn't possible with the included stylus -- there are various degrees of pressure represented in the sketch above, and you certainly can get fairly light lines by using little pressure. The problem is that it isn't consistent, and you might find yourself at times not getting any lines, only to suddenly get a very dark line when you increased the pressure only a very slight bit. This isn't a problem for those who only use the stylus to hand write, and for those who casually sketch, the problem would be minimally bothersome at best. Those who are looking for a setup to do some serious and precise drawing should hesitate, however, before going with the Yoga if they want to use the integrated stylus, as the drawing process will be interrupted regularly by overly-dark or non-registering marks.
Performance

To see how the ThinkPad Yoga held up against some of its brethren and competing models, we ran a Geekbench benchmark on the system, which showed scores about what we expected given the hardware running on the system. Performance was solid at all points while using the laptop -- no issues were experienced in tapping, swiping, drawing, or usage in general, whether doing media-centric activities or just browsing the Internet.

Wrap-up :
The ThinkPad Yoga is a hybrid machine with a lot to offer users as both a laptop and as a tablet, though in slate mode it is thicker than what you'd get with a traditional tablet. There is nothing ill to speak of regarding the ThinkPad Yoga -- everything about it is solid, with the exception perhaps being a lower quality stylus than what an artist would need. The construction feels solid and durable in the hands, the keyboard is comfortable for typing in long duration stints, and the hardware is capable for a variety of tasks.

The ability to fold the display completely gives the ThinkPad Yoga additional functionality over a standard touch-enabled laptop, yet the hardware is nearly identical to what you get from the latest T-Series model, the T440s. That makes the Yoga an attractive option, and for those who would find use for the slate-mode, this model is certainly worth considering.

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MiiPC Android kid-friendly desktop review

Kids and computers can be a beautiful mix or a disaster waiting to happen. Education-based applications and popular games are some of the biggest reasons kids get on the computer, and the various dangers of the Internet are one of the biggest reasons parents shy away from granting free-reign access. Such is where the MiiPC comes in. This small desktop PC, which is a cube scarcely larger than a softball, is aimed at families with young children, and offers, among other things, parental controls and runs on Android Jelly Bean. Read our full SlashGear review to find out what all the MiiPC has to offer.

Hardware :
The MiiPC is a very simple desktop. Starting with the design, users get a cube with top and bottom plates that are angled inwards -- while it makes it slightly awkward to place in a setup that contains other oddly-shaped set-top boxes and whatnot, the shape effectively disperses light: blue on the top from the power button, and green on the bottom from a large LED light bar.

The entirely unit is made from plastic, with an SD card slot being the only port on the front. The rest of the ports, of which you get three USB ports, one HDMI port, Ethernet, an audio-out jack, and a microphone-in jack, are located on the back in a vented plastic grille. The entire bottom of the MiiPC also features a grille plate that allows for additional ventilation, as well as four rubber feet to keep it stable.

Neither outer edges feature any ports, and the top is home only to the power button, which is smooth and touch-activated. As far as the power button goes, this is my only complaint of the otherwise wonderfull little device -- it is touch-activated, but the activation part of that equation isn't always so simple. I found myself tapping, touching, and swiping in different manners and lengths of time to get the PC to turn on, at one point even changing outlets in wonder of whether the present one was faulty. After turning the device on and off a few times, I've mostly got the activity of turning it on down (using my thumb, pressed flat and held still, for about three seconds seems to do the trick), but turning it off is still a task I'm yet to master, and the last time I tried, I found unplugging the power cable from the back to be a more convenient option.

As far as physical setup goes, it is as easy as plugging in an HDMI cable, USB mouse, and turning the computer on.

Interface
When you first turn the device on, you're asked to choose between either the standard Android launcher or the MiiPC Launcher, and to then select the familiar "Always" or "Just once". I chose "Just once" for the MiiPC Launcher so I could go back and try later with the other launcher, but choosing this option caused the dialog box to keep reappearing, starting the process over. After three times of this, a little advisement box showed up telling me that I had to click "Always" to proceed. C'est la vie.

At this point, you'll be prompted to sign in to your MiiPC account, or to create one if you haven't already. You'll need to be connected to the Internet to do this if you haven't connected an Ethernet cable already. For this part, I exited the screen instead of making an account and pulled up the connection settings, which are easily accessible in the bottom right corner. Connecting to WiFi was as simple as it is on any other device -- click the network, and using the on-screen keyboard that appears or a USB keyboard that you've connected, enter the password and give it a couple seconds to connect. After that, I exited that screen and returned to the sign-on page. Creating an account involves the parent's name, email address and password, and upon completion it will register the MiiPC to that account. Very simple, taking only a couple minutes overall.

Once you've set your parental account up -- which is basically an admin account -- you'll be presented with the users screen, where you can click on your own icon and log in to your account, set up additional accounts for other family members, and do various parental activities like view account activity reports and such. Logging in is the most fun option of them all, finally taking you to the MiiPC desktop. From here you're presented with some familiar apps accessible on the desktop -- Email, Settings, Search -- as well as some device-specific ones like the MiiPC Browser and MiiPC Featured Apps Store.

Of course, the MiiPC Featured Apps Store is the first place I went, and inside I found access to a decent number of apps. Evernote, Flipboard, Google Translate, Hulu Plus, Dropbox, Angry Birds, and Fruit Ninja Free were among the familiar offerings, there were some others as well (Aldiko, Adobe Flash Player, etc.). Downloading an app involves only clicking a green down-arrow button, at which point the app is downloaded. You can monitor the downloading process in a status bar in the bottom right corner where the clock and network settings are nestled. A permissions box will appear telling you what the app gets access to, at which point you'll need to authorize it. The app's installation will finish and an icon will show up on the desktop. Anyone familiar with Android will be instantly comfortable using the system -- it is fair to say there is a learning curve, but it is so slight I imagine even the youngest users will find themselves adapting to the UI within minutes.

If I'm to nitpick about the interface, I'll say there are a couple issues with it that I'd like to see changed in future iterations. One example was difficulty with adjusting app screen visibility using a non-touchscreen set up. I used the MiiPC in conjunction with a 32-inch television and a USB mouse/keyboard. While this worked well, there were times I wanted to make adjustments that seemed not possible. For example, when playing Angry Birds, I could not zoom out far enough to see both the contraption to be knocked down and the Birds, which meant I had to side-scroll between the two and try to estimate my aiming. Not impossible to play, but a crippled play when compared to using a tablet or smartphone. In a perfect world, the scroll bar on my mouse would have allowed me to zoom the screen in and out. Other issues included getting a "no more room" notification when trying to add apps to the home screen, though it was only half-filled. Again, not a huge issue, but something that can be improved, and likely will be as the final wrinkles are ironed out.

Beyond this, there are mobile apps that allow parents to control the MiiPC from their smartphone, and the device can be used whether it is offline or on. There's a MiiPC Media Server option, allowing the device to function as a hub for access to one's personal media library, and given the ability to play well with big displays up to 1080p, this is a welcomed feature.

Performance:
The MiiPC runs on a 1.2GHz dual-core New Armada chip with a gig of RAM and 4GB of internal storage space (we've got a little over 2GB of available internal storage space on our stock device, so you'll want to get an SD card if you're planning on heavy usage). Obviously, you're getting something that is modest in the power department, but that doesn't mean you're in for performance issues when using the device as it is intended. Android games (Angry Birds and Fruit Ninja) played as smoothly as they do on a solid smartphone or tablet, Internet browsing with the integrated browser was snappy, and toggling between activities presented no issue.

Wrap-Up:
The MiiPC is a little device with a lot to offer, and though it is aimed at families with children, it is easy to see how anyone could use it as an inexpensive ($99) Android computer as part of their home theater setup. Once setup, integrating the Android desktop into my overall set up proved easy, and I was able to leave it running for a handful of days without issue. Using a wireless mouse and keyboard, one can control the system from across the room, pulling up games for kids to play when they're around, and using it to watch media or browse the Web at other times.

There are certainly some user interface issues that it would be nice to see ironed out. The ability to streamline certain activities the way you'd expect on a desktop -- right-clicking to set the wallpaper, scrolling through screens with a mouse wheel, etc. -- would be nice, eliminating what feels like some unnecessary amounts of hunting and pecking in the current iteration. The MiiPC is a new product, however, and so it is expected additional refinements will be made in the coming months. Overall, if you have a kid and you're looking for a totally controllable desktop that is easy to use and pretty much foolproof, you can't go wrong with the MiiPC.

SOURCE: Slashgear

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