ThinkPad Yoga

ThinkPad Yoga is cool. Probably the first ThinkPad that has nothing ugly (=extended battery) sticking out. As sleek as MacBook, but convertible, with touch screen, 1TB ultra-fast encrypted SSD and a stylus. The convertible mode is especially great in a coach seat (where I spend most of my life nowadays :P). The AC adapter is very small (and has a 2-prong cable!). The only thing missing from my old X220 is a fingerprint reader.

Cons? Not too many. Battery life could be better too (it seems to be around 6 hours, but I have not tested it thoroughly yet). Mini HDMI is a strange decision (a standard one would not really add that much to the size...).

But the coolest thing about this laptop however is the One Link Pro Dock. This is a breakthrough in docking. One simple flexible plug to the laptop, gives access to power, 6xUSB, Ethernet and DisplayPort that drives my 4k 28" monitor at full resolution (yeah yeah I had to override the graphics chip settings defining so called custom resolution, but it is possible to have two screens at the same time: the external 4k and the internal touch - enabled FullHD).

The cream on top (or actually behind) the package is the Humanscale M2 monitor arm. It handles the 28" 4k Samsung with ease, keeping the cables organized. Thanks to the arm the monitor does not take any desk space and can be easily adjusted. The Samsung U28D590D does not have Vesa mount, so I used a double sticky tape to attach the monitor to the arm. Sounds scary, but it's been holding for three weeks now.

I also find the Windows 8.1 not that bad after all. The first encounter was a shock, but then I discovered I could get rid of most of the tiles / overlays, coming as close as possible to the Win XP look and feel. At the same time it cold boots under 15 seconds, has dual mode Bluetooth and is ultra stable. I even find *some* native Win-8 apps nice, especially in the touch / convertible mode. The Amazon Kindle is one of the best.

Now how to force the web pages to load in tablet mode when I fold the laptop out? Has anyone figured this?