Yoga 13" - New Owner - Review

Question

All,
I am new to this forum but the knowledge shared by other members was immensely helpful in deciding whether to purchase Yoga 13". I'm glad I purchased this laptop.
i7, 1.9GHz, 4.0 GB RAM, 128 GB SSD
Some pointers if in case other people are still evaluating:
Lenovo bloatware + Hard drive partitioning woes: Easily rectified, used the lenovo support site to download the partition patchfix. Removed all other pre-installed software with the exception of drivers/Energy Mgmt/Transition.
Fan Noise: Not at all loud for me. Hums away at a few decibels.
WiFi: No issues whatsoever, using the pre-installed wifi patchfix (also available on the lenovo website)
Weight: Can lift easily with one hand in 'normal laptop' mode. In 'Tablet' mode' its still definitely usable although after few minutes you would probably rest it on your lap. Keyboard-at-the-back 'weirdness' thats reported in some places in the tablet mode is not uncomfortable for me.
On Screen Keyboard: Very good. Missing 'arrow' 'scroll' keys which for some reason I found myself searching for always. Fairly Responsive.
Trackpad: Routinely misses about 10-20% of my 'gestures'. Installed latest synaptic driver from synaptic website(16.3.15.1) but that worsened the problem. My recommendation is to stick with lenovo provided latest drivers for trackpad (16.2.21.4). Trackpad scroll really weird on some sites(ex: google search results) - where it selects the text instead of scrolling (same even if you use the touch screen) on FireFox v20; works ok on IE 10. Two finger scroll satisfactory but not always responsive.
Windows 8 OS Windows Update issue: Wouldnt install any windows updates. As recommeded elsewhere, "run > msconfig > services > uncheck all non-windows/non-intel services and reboot and retry" approach worked for me. Re-enabled it after it installed the first set of updates and dont seem to have any issues with windows update now.
Laptop Boot time from shutdown (to login screen): <5 seconds.
I will be upgrading the RAM to 8GB and adding a second 256GB mSATA drive in a few days' time.
In some reviews, the fact that it is not a '1920 x 1080' screen was marked as a negative -- i dont find this an issue at all. HD videos look perfectly fine in full screen mode and for me its more than satisfactory.
Backlit keyboard (lack of it)- Major issue for me as I keep fumbling to see where the keys are at night. The supposedly 'flourescent' keys are not bright enough for me.
Battery Life: ~ 5h 30 mins on normal browsing/'office work'. Have not tested streaming videos on battery alone, yet.
Battery charge time: It does NOT seem to me that this has the lenovo rapidcharge feature in it (upto 80% charge in 30 mins time) -- for me it takes considerably longer, whilst simultaneously using the laptop, for it to charge from 50% - 80% (example scenario): ~50 mins. More testing probably needed to confirm.
Trackpad does get disabled when you tilt the screen beyond 180 degrees. However, for some reason, the keyboard sometimes stays active especially in 'tent' mode.
Keyboard key size/comfort: Very nice keyboard, slightly smaller keys than what i am used to. Typing errors due to small keys, in my case, is less than 10% of the words typed. Small backspace key not an issue for me. Function keys being merged with other hot keys (top row) not an issue for me so far.
Stylus input: Works fairly well on the touch screen with my Bamboo stylus. Although, the iPAD defintely seems to have a much better accuracy. Fantastic to use stylus with powerpoint/word documents to annotate, especially in tablet mode.
Brightness: I wanted a screen with very low 'minimum' brightness and this laptop is perfect. I use the laptop mostly in 'Min Brightness + 1 level' setting during the day and 'Min Brightness' setting during night.
Speakers: Decent sound, satisfied. For anything that is an aural extravaganza, I use a headphone.
Have not tested it as a gaming rig yet - but will update the review once I do.
Hopefully this should help those of you who are on the fence.
Use Cases:
Great device to read long PDFs on. a) Open the PDF in Adobe Acrobat (desktop app, not the Metro app). b) Transform the Yoga into 'tablet mode' c) Hold the Yoga such that its in a 'portrait' tablet position. d) Within Adobe Acrobat, go to 'Read Mode' - Acrobat hides all the UI and gives you a full screen view of the PDF document. This way, I can see more than 1.5 pages in full length at 100% as its as though you have taken a printout of the document. Great way to read portrait textbooks or other documents without scrolling within a single page.

Answer 1

RE: Stylus, I am using the Wacom Bamboo stylus. I already had this stylus for my iPad so didnt bother purchasing another one just for Yoga.
I strongly suggest that you have a look at the various stylii reviewed here -> http://www.theverge.com/2012/4/10/2925937/best-stylus-ipad-review
(Obviously, the above may not be only/best review around; but this is what I consulted when purchasing the stylus I currently use.)
I have not used any other stylii apart from Bamboo. However, it seems like Adonit Jot Pro is the most accurate one, from a 'precision' perspective. But, looking at couple of reviews of it elsewhere on the web, it seems that some screens are susceptible to minute scratches when using Adonit; so I would definitely have a screen protector. Bamboo is fairly simple and works as advertised and since it has a normal rubber tip (albeit smaller than others, which I like), I dont have to worry about scratching the Yoga display. Like I mentioned in my first post, I think the iPad is much more responsive (in terms of the stylus 'pressure' and accuracy, compared with Yoga) but nevertheless it is usable. It looks like Windows comes in-built with a 'Journal' application which is specifically meant to support stylus. However, I personally am looking for something similar to an 'infinite canvas' application where I can have infinite white-board-like space to draw my thoughts/flowcharts etc. - this is to be researched in the Windows App Store whether such an app is available. (I used it regularly on my iPad)
Another use for the stylus I personally find is that I can use it whilst in Desktop mode to accurately 'hit' the small buttons/options/check-boxes on various windows without multiple retries, as would have been the case had I used my fingers.
RE:RAM, I really don't think you should spend too much time in evaluating whether 8Gigs will be beneficial or not, simply because the cost is fairly low (~$60) for the 8GB RAM stick with no additional installation/equipment costs. I dont know whether it has something to do with the Windows 8 updates I installed recently or not, but now my Yoga boots from shutdown state to the login screen in <2 seconds which is comparable to using a tablet device. I never imagined that a windows OS would be able to boot up that fast - however I suspect that the SATA III 6Gbps hard drive has something to do with it rather than the RAM. If you are running multiple RAM intensive applications at the same time(e.g. Eclipse for software development etc.), then it will be beneficial to have 8Gigs of RAM.
Hope this helps.