Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2017/02/09/review-lenovo-yoga-book.html
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does it have a subwoofer?
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I would like to pipe up here and tell you that the Surface 4 Pro keyboard cover is flat out fucking amazing. It is astonishingly good, they refined it in every version of the Surface (1,2,3) and it shows. What they arrived at blows away the official iPad Pro keyboard cover from Apple and is damn close to a real laptop in feel and performance.
Say what you will about the Surface 4 Pro hardware, Windows 10, whatever, but the keyboard cover? It is legit amazing.
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I keep trying to like it, tested it again last night, and again it felt like it was too bendy. I’m sure I can get work done on it, and I am in love with the form factor, but it feels like a compromise to me.
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I’m about to attempt to make an iPad Pro my main machine. I was planning on getting a nice wireless mechanical keyboard for it since the iPad Pro keyboard is $150 anyway.
I bring this up because it just struck me that the reason I didn’t even think of the Yoga Book the same way is because it already has a keyboard that I can’t use, but which can’t be removed. Even though it’s so compact and well-designed that folded shut it’s still a really nice tablet!
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How much malware and unremovable bloatware is pre-installed?
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I work a lot with Excel; replacing an old MacBook with a Dell XPS 15 (Kaby Lake). Good reviews; if asked will say how it goes!
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I’d love to read a detailed review of how the iPad Pro works out for you. I’m especially interested in what you think about the pencil. I’m so very tempted to get one myself.
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Good god that sounds absolutely terrible.
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But…but…Star Trek!
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None that I noticed, on the Android edition.
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I very nearly bought one of those, but decided to try and ditch computers as far as possible!
It’s the pencil that really sold it for me.
First big hurdle is having to touch it to interact with it meaningfully. This is fine for painting, where the work requires proximity, but is a massive pain in the ass for writing, where you want to sit back and type and not have to reach forward and fatfinger the fucking screen to housekeep the work environment
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The thing that makes writing on an iPad most difficult for me is the whole way it handles moving the cursor, selecting, cut/copy/paste. I can’t stand iOS controls for those, nor can i use them with any remote sense of efficiency. (whether that is just me or the way it works on mobile is another discussion…hee hee)
If you are willing to JailBreak, your call to weigh those pros/cons, then you can install BTStacks which gives iOS a full un-hobbled Bluetooth stack. This allows you to use any bt keyboard and any bt pointing device like mouse or trackpad. With a keybord and mouse writing on the iPad is great and i can select text with great speed and ease.
I wish apple would allow this without jailbreaking.
The regular macbook, not pro, is the same size and worth considering if you want to go apple and portable, and you use the ipad pro as a second monitor. programs such as astropad then allow you to use the pencil on the pad monitor for any full program on the macbook, like photoshop, painter, illustrator, etc. both fit together in one case smaller then most laptops.
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I read somewhere that lenovo computers have some kind of [insert tech] that prevents the installation of Linux to replace Windows. Is that the case with this?
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If I can’t check code into github, it isn’t a real computer.
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I’d love to ditch computers! Most of my non-Excel life is on my ipad and iphone!
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Website work arounds. I want a local repo which I can check in. These toy operating systems don’t allow for it.
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Yoga book owner here, I have the Android version. There were a few things that weren’t really brought up.
- You can use the Real Pen on the screen you just have to turn on the ‘Anypen’ function in the settings. But not all different pens that will work on the writing serface.
- The note taking app that comes pre-installed is called note saver. It works well for the most part, and is better to use than any other app, because it is more built into the computer. There are two main problems I have with it though, the first is everytime that you switch from the keyboard it launches a note page that you have to close before you can use the pen. The second is much more of a major problem everytime you try to move a note from one virtual notebook to another, ALL of the pages previously in the notebook you are transfering too will be DELETED.
- The keyboard definently has a learning curve, and as someone who was never a touch typist it was a bit challenging to learn on. Just using it how you would use a normal computer and you will adventually pick it up. The other thing is I found that I type faster in physical keyboards now.
- The pens are expensive, $40 a piece for the ones with the interchangable tip but there are other pens that work with it. I have 3 Thinkpad syluses that I have put in ballpoint pen casings that work really well for just writing on without paper, the downside is they do not work on the screen.
TL;DR: 1. You can use the pens. 2.The note program works well but there are some problems. 3. The keyboard has a learning curve. 4. There are other pens that can be used.
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