Lenovo Yoga 13 Review

The IdeaPad Yoga 13 was one of the first hybrid Windows 8 systems that consumers got a look at. Lenovo unveiled a near-finished prototype at CES nearly a year ago – well before Windows 8 was finished and ready for prime time. Since that time we’ve learned a great deal about Lenovo’s flagship touchscreen convertible but perhaps the biggest question was whether or not a convertible notebook/tablet makes sense at a time when dedicated tablets are arguably the hottest trend in consumer electronics.

Despite multiple attempts from manufacturers over the past several years, hybrids never gained much traction, not necessarily because of hardware issues but simply because the software to support such an environment hasn’t existed until just recently. Previous iterations of Windows did support touch in a limited capacity but the UI was never built with touch in mind.

Evidently that has all changed with Windows 8 which adds a touch friendly environment front and center (but not everywhere) and Lenovo looks to capitalize early and often with the do-it-all Yoga 13. Priced from $999, this system was one of the first portable systems to launch alongside Windows 8. I’ve spent the past several weeks learning the ins and outs of this hybrid Ultrabook and without jumping right to the conclusion from the get-go, I will let you know that it’s a very capable all-around system that doesn’t compromise on that it is first and foremost: a notebook.

Our evaluation unit arrived with a third generation Intel Core i5-3317U processor clocked at 1.7GHz, 4GB of RAM (systems in this class now ship with 8GB of memory), Intel HD Graphics 4000 and a 128GB solid state drive. True to its name, the Yoga 13 utilizes a 13.3-inch HD+ LED Multitouch display operating at 1,600 x 900 resolution – a bit sharper than many other 13-inch panels in its class. The price for the system price as tested here today (with 8GB RAM) is $1,099.

Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 13" - $999

• 13.3" 1600x900 IPS LED multi-touch display
• Intel Core i5-3317U (1.7 - 2.6GHz)
• Intel HD Graphics 4000
• 4GB of DDR3 RAM
• 128GB SSD
• SD/MMC card reader
• 1 USB 3.0, 1 USB 2.0, HDMI, audio jack
• 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0
• 1-megapixel webcam
• Chiclet keyboard
• Glass trackpad with integrated buttons
• 4-cell Li-Polymer battery
• 13.4 x 8.85 x 0.66 inches, 3.4 pounds

Upon first glance there’s no indication that the Yoga 13 is anything outside of a standard Ultrabook. The outer portion of the lid is coated with a rubber-like material that’s silver / grey in color. A Lenovo name plate is affixed in one corner which gives the system an overall modern and classy look from the exterior.

On the front edge of the Yoga is a backlit power button, battery indicator and a tiny recessed reset button that admittedly didn’t do anything when pressed. On the right edge we find a button to lock the screen rotation when in tablet mode, an SD card reader, a USB 2.0 port and a unique looking charging port that more resembles another USB port than anything else.

The back edge of the Yoga is lined with discrete ventilation slots between the two sturdy screen hinges. On the left side of the Ultrabook is an HDMI-out port, a USB 3.0 port and a combination headphone / microphone jack. Closer to the front of the left edge is a volume rocker and what appears to be a tiny hole for a microphone.

There’s not much to see on the underside of the Yoga 13 aside from four small rubber feet. Upgrading internal components will take some work as there are eight tiny six-sided screws that look to hold the bottom cover in place. You’d certainly need some sort of special screwdriver to remove them so if you are planning to add more memory to the system, it might be best to let Lenovo handle that when you place your order.

Raising the lid reveals a screen that other manufactures would call an Infinity display. That is, the screen and the bezel are covered with a single piece of glass to give the illusion that the two flow together seamlessly. With the display powered on, however, you can see that the bezel around the screen is a little on the thick side. Normally this would be frowned upon but given the fact that the Yoga doubles as a tablet, this actually is good because it gives you some room to hold the system.

A 720p webcam sits centered atop the display and below it is a finger-sized button with the Windows logo in it. Pressing this button performs the same task as pressing the Start button which in Windows 8, switches you between Metro-style view the traditional Desktop UI. Its placement is especially handy in when using the system as a tablet.

The island-style keyboard sits slightly lower than the surrounding area / palm rest. This is done on purpose as to minimize key presses when using the system in tablet mode (more on that in a bit). The keyboard itself has a nice overall feel albeit a few of the keys (the right Shift key and to a lesser extent, the Backspace key) are a bit shorter than usual. Neither of these bugged me at all as I realized I never use the right Shift key and the Backspace key wasn’t short enough to cause any problems.

Unlike some other Lenovo systems I have used, the company decided to place the left Ctrl button in what most would consider the appropriate location – the bottom left of the keyboard. The Fn button is just beside where, where most would expect to find it. And speaking of, the function keys just above the number keys default to their alternate use, meaning you have to hold down the Fn key to press F5 for a refresh, etc.

Lenovo elected to use a glass trackpad that integrates both mouse click buttons. I’m typically not a fan of this implementation, instead preferring physical buttons like those found on the IdeaPad U260 but I must hand it to Lenovo as they have done a fine job with the all-in-one trackpad on the Yoga 13. One of my biggest complaints with similar setups is that clicking the mouse button also moves the cursor. That didn’t seem to happen very often on this system thankfully. The overall size of the trackpad seems just right too – there’s plenty of room to manipulate the cursor yet I still had enough room to type comfortably without my palms causing the cursor to go haywire.

The wrist rest and the surrounding area around the keyboard appear to be constructed of a soft leather-like material. The overall look is extremely classy although as I found out later, this surface is prone to picking up smudge marks and other debris when it’s lying face down in tablet orientation.

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Windows Phone 8 will support 1080p displays by the end of the year

Microsoft is planning to update Windows Phone 8 to support 1080p resolutions. Sources familiar with Microsoft's Windows Phone plans have revealed to The Verge that the company will issue an update later this year that brings support for the 1080p resolution and new 5-inch and higher devices. Windows Phone 8 currently supports WVGA, WXGA, and 720p resolutions. 

The update, known as a General Distribution Release (GDR3) for Windows Phone, will set the stage for new devices set to debut for the holidays. HTC had originally planned to release a "Zenith" flagship device with a 4.7-inch display and quad-core processor, but the company reportedly cancelled its plans as the device would have a lower resolution than its competing Android models. We understand that the GDR3 update will also provide support for new Qualcomm processors, allowing manufacturers to opt for quad-core devices with Windows Phone.

Microsoft's update will arrive as part of the new devices, but we understand that it's not directly related to the company's Blue plans for Windows Phone — a codename for a future upgrade. Windows Phone Blue is tentatively scheduled for early 2014 and will help bridge the gaps between Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system and Windows Phone 8. The software maker is planning to enable additional points of synchronization, including the browser, to further integrate both operating systems.

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Review: Norton Internet Security 2013: Solid performer with a polished interface

Symantec’s 2013 edition of Norton Internet Security ($50 for one year and three PCs, as of 12/19/12) is a solid performer with a polished, touch-optimized user interface. This security suite didn’t totally dominate its competitors, but it did completely block, detect, and disable all malware in our real-world tests, and it performed well enough overall to snag second place in our roundup.

Norton’s excellent showing in our real-world attack test indicates that it should be effective at blocking brand-new malware attacks as it encounters them in the wild. As noted in the F-Secure review, of the security suites we tested, four others were also successful at completely blocking 100 percent of attacks: Bitdefender, F-Secure, G Data, and Trend Micro.

Norton produced stellar—though not absolutely perfect—results in detecting known malware. In our malware-zoo detection test, the program successfully detected 99.8 percent of known malware samples. Norton Internet Security also put up a perfect score in our false-positive test: It didn’t mistakenly identify any safe files, out of more than 250,000, as being malicious.

Norton does an acceptable job of cleaning up a system that has already been infected, but it missed some infections completely in our evaluation. In our system cleanup test, the program detected and disabled 90 percent of infections, and completely cleaned up 60 percent of infections. This is a decent but not fantastic showing—seven of our tested suites detected and disabled 100 percent of infections, and six cleaned up all traces of infection at least 70 percent of the time.

On the other hand, Norton Internet Security is a relatively lightweight program that won’t bog down your system. It added about half a second to startup time (compared to a PC that had no antivirus program installed), and also added 3 seconds to shutdown time; in all of our other speed tests, it was faster than average. Norton is faster than average when it comes to scanning speeds, as well. The package required just 1 minute, 19 seconds to complete an on-demand (manual) scan, and 2 minutes, 55 seconds to complete an on-access scan—both are times that represent better-than-average results.

Norton’s interface is very polished and simple, and the program installs with just one click. The main window has tilelike buttons, which look designed to work well with Windows 8 touch systems. You’ll find four tiles on the main screen: a tile that shows your protection status, along with information about your CPU usage; a ‘Scan Now’ tile; a LiveUpdate tile (which you’d use to install any updates to the suite); and a tile for advanced settings. You can also access the settings via the Settings tab, which is located at the top of the screen.

The settings menu is relatively easy to navigate, though it has more options than a beginning user really needs. Still, Norton does a good job of explaining different features and toggles, and a little help button (which takes you to Norton’s online support site) is always located next to confusing terms.

The 2013 version of Norton Internet Security is definitely worth a look, especially if you’re a Windows 8 user.

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Windows 8 sucks for desktops....

Search is actually the one area I feel Metro is really a downgrade; what used to be a single centralized Start search is now segregated into Apps/Settings/Files. That's my only real gripe about Metro - possible because it's damn near the only aspect of Metro that I use.

Now, do I wish that MS had spent the man-hours they expended on Win8 Metro on improving Win8 desktop instead? Yeah, I suppose I do... but, regardless of whether I find it more useful that a pile of dog **** or not, Metro *is* appreciated by a large number of the unwashed masses who inhabit this planet and (somewhat unfortunately to those of us who prefer our machines free of botnet-generated spam email) use PCs. From that perspective, even though this initial PC incarnation is, in fact, pretty awful... I think it's good that they have taken those steps.

Does it bother me to have it on the desktop? Not in the least, because it's optional and I don't use it. I also don't use Sound Recorder, Telnet server (or client), IIS, ODBC control panel, Print Management, SQl Server, Office for Mac, Bing Desktop, Windows Movie Maker, the Language Bar, or a huge number of other Microsoft products (including many that are built into Windows). Am I upset that Microsoft spent resources on them? No, not really at all.

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