My Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro 13-3332 multimode ultrabook laptop

I was searching for a new laptop suitable for home use recently. My selection criteria are:

• Portable lightweight ultrabook not more than 1.4kg
• Convertible to tablet with multitouch screen
• At least 4GB RAM
• Using SSD storage
• Windows 8.1 operating system
• Price slightly more than RM3000 (for optimum income tax relief)

I ended up with Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro 13-3332 (3332 is grey and 3333 is orange) multimode ultrabook laptop which has the following specs:

• Intel Core i5-4200U processor
• Integrated Intel HD Graphics 4000
• Intel Wireless-N 7260 2x2 2.4Ghz 300Mbps WiFi adapter
• Bluetooth 4.0
• 13.3" QHD+ (3200x1800) LED screen with 10 points multitouch sensor
• 8GB RAM
• 128GB Samsung SSD
• 2 USB ports
• Keyboard with backlit
• 2 years limited International Warranty Service (IWS)
• Light weight of 1.39kg

I like the premium feeling of this Lenovo laptop, from the moment of its unboxing. The material used in its packaging, and the care taken to protect it in the box is really good. Even the sleeve that comes together with the laptop looks nice and classy.

The key unique selling point of this Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro laptop is of course its 360-degree flip-and-fold design. It is said to be a 75% laptop and 25% tablet, easily convertible into one of its 4 modes of Laptop, Stand, Tablet and Tent.

Its keyboard will only function in Laptop mode, and will be automatically locked in the other 3 modes. I find the keyboard a bit cramped, confined by its 13.3" form factor. I like the backlit feature of this keyboard, beautifully illuminating the keys in dark condition.

Tent mode has a small footbase and good for doing one-to-one presentation, small group discussion, watching movie, etc.

Tablet mode turns it into a 13.3" tablet, powered by the full 64-bit Windows 8.1 operating system.

I can't find any practical use of Stand mode yet. Stand mode is just like Laptop mode without the keyboard in front.

Its QHD+ 3200x1800 super-high resolution screen is superb. But having too high resolution sometimes is not good too. At that high resolution on a relatively small screen of 13.3", the font size need to be enlarged 250% or else will be too small to read and/or touch. However, certain applications are not well tested with this quad HD resolution, and might appear small, or the text overlapping after the 250% enlargement.

I ended up scaling it down to the HD resolution of 1920x1080 (1080p) with 125% font size enlargement setting, and all the applications look OK with this lower resolution (yet better than the 1366x768 resolution in many other laptops in the market).

With this lower screen resolution, its battery life improved too.

This Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro supports motion control and voice control, something fancy to play around with.

Being an ultrabook, this laptop only has 2 USB ports (1 USB 2.0 and another USB 3.0) and doesn't have a CD/DVD drive. Nowadays, we can easily use either USB thumbdrive or external harddisk to replace the CD/DVD, so not a big deal without the CD/DVD drive.

The storage capacity of its 128GB SSD is a bit small. In fact, quite a large portion of it already allocated as recovery partitions and some other system usage, leaving even smaller usable capacity of around 100GB only. Anyhow, this kind of storage capacity is still sufficient for normal use.

There is one important thing that I would like to warn all the Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro buyers. This laptop sold in Malaysia comes with 2 years international warranty, but if you don't register your purchase with Lenovo, its warranty actually started from the date when Lenovo shipped it to the distributor. That date is printed on its box, and could be a few months before your purchase.

You can check for its warranty information with the Lenovo Companion apps, which you can find in the Metro screen of the Windows 8.1 in your laptop. You can also check this warranty information online by visiting to: http://support.lenovo.com/us/en/warrantylookup

To update the warranty start and end date of your Lenovo laptop, you just need to send an email to  their Services Sales Registration team at nasr@lenovo.com with information of your laptop model number, serial number, date of purchase and attach with proof of purchase (the sales invoice). I received their reply with warranty date updated within 2 hours after I sent out my email to them.

I have been using this Lenovo multimode ultrabook laptop for more than a week now, my experience with it has been wonderful.

There is a higher end version of Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro with Intel i7 processor and 256GB SDD, but the price is also a bit high for that model.

4 channel RC Skywalker quadcopter aerocraft drone

My kid has a new toy, a remote control (RC) Skywalker quadcopter aerocraft drone which I bought at the price of RM110.

This is an ideal RC drone for beginners, as the quadcopter is protected by its cage, so that it is less likely to hit on something and break its blade(s). In the event of a crash landing, it is cushioned by the cage too.

With this kind of design, it can be set to flying mode or rolling mode by adjusting its battery position. In rolling mode, its cage acts as its wheel.

This is its remote control system.

The drone operates on a 3.7V 300mAh rechargeable battery, while its remote control system operates on some AA size batteries. Each charge can last the drone to fly for about 6-10 minutes. When its battery gone weak, the drone is intelligent enough to gradually land itself instead of a sudden crash.

The left RC stick controls its flying height and facing direction, while the right RC stick controls its movement (forward, backward, turn left, turn right). You can also see there are several fine tuning switches to adjust its position.

To take off, gently push the left RC stick upwards. Landing is more challenging. You cannot land too fast and have to slowly pull the left RC stick backwards, or else it will have a sudden drop and crash. Landing on a designated spot will need some practice, but it is not that difficult.

The more challenging part is when there is wind blowing. You'll need to control the drone to counter the wind and fly according to your desired direction.

Enhance Windows 8.1 usability with Classic Shell 4.1.0

I have replaced the IObit Start Menu 8 in my Windows 8.1 PCs with Classic Shell 4.1.0.

Classic Shell 4.1.0 is more stable, and more feature rich than IObit Start Menu 8. The Classic Start Menu in Classic Shell 4.1.0 can also display properly in high screen resolution of 3200x1800, but the IObit Start Menu 8 appears tiny in such high resolution screen.

You can download Classic Shell for free here.

The key component of Classic Shell is Classic Start Menu, which brings back the Windows Start Menu in Windows 8/8.1 similar to IObit Start Menu 8.

There are many settings you can play around in Classic Start Menu 4.1.0.

Besides, Classic Shell also includes Classic Explorer which will add a handy toolbar to Windows Explorer.

This Classic Explorer toolbar is configurable too.

The 3rd component is Classic IE, which adds the following functions to Internet Explorer:

Adds a caption to the title bar so you can see the full title of the page

Shows the security zone in the status bar

Shows the loading progress in the status bar