Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 13 13.3-Inch Convertible 2 in 1 Touchscreen Ultrabook (Gray) 2013 Model

I have been wanting a convertible for some time and as a computer professional, I know Lenovo is a well-respected technology company that got their start making Thinkpads for IBM many years ago. When I saw this Yoga 13 for sale at a good price, even though it was a refurb, I decided to take the plunge.I have had several refurbs in the past but those have always been from the D*** Outlet and never once had an issue. Naively, I assumed that this was a Lenovo factory refurb and that was my mistake. A third party to the selling vendor did the refurb and it definitely was not up to Lenovo factory standards.The look and feel of the Yoga 13 was outstanding, thin and lightweight. It promptly booted up thanks to an Intel i5 CPU and a 128 GB SSD. When Windows prompted me to "Activate", it would not accept the Product Key because it was not valid. Looking further into the software, none of the Lenovo software was installed or present indicating to me that this was a generic Window 8 reimaging of the laptop and was not specifically designed for the Lenovo Yoga 13. Further, the reimaging did not use a proper configuration of Windows 8 which would have included a unique Product Key but rather they used one Product Key for many different laptops and Microsoft probably recognized the first laptop that activated but after that, they began denying anyone else who tried to activate. Basically, it was a software piracy issue and I do not blame Microsoft for protecting their brand.Also, I could not simply change the Product Key as is the usual case with most Windows installations. Something about the reimaging process did not allow this procedure.I did work with the vendor's tech support people and they offered to refund my money and were very courteous but would not just send me a valid license for Win 8. Since I really like this ultrabook, I decided to keep the product but that would mean I have to purchase a new copy of Win 8 in order to use this computer for longer than 30 days.Evidently, good karma came my way because another person from the vendor's customer satisfaction department called quickly credited my credit card for the cost of a new license for Windows 8. May faith in Internet shopping is restored.Once I reinstalled Windows 8, installed the appropriate Yoga 13 drivers which I downloaded from their website, I was in business.This is a solid well built ultrabook that has a touchscreen that can be used in regular laptop mode, folded back and setup as a movie screen or folded back all the way so that it can be used as a tablet. Very cool.I plan on upgrading the RAM from 4 to at least 8 gb and I may eventually upgrade the SSD from 128 GB to 256 GB. The Lenovo Yoga 13 Users Manual (get it from the Lenovo website) has detailed instructions on how to do this and there are videos on YouTube on how to do this as well.I plan to use this as my training device to help me learn Windows 8 which I really do no like but realize that I have to eventually come to accept the inevitable.Another well-built Lenovo product.*********** Update ***************7/25/2014Upgraded RAM to 8 GB and switched the SSD hard drive from 128 GB to 256 GB. Very good laptop / tablet. I like it alot with the exception of Windows 8.1 but I am getting used to it. I did add one of the many Windows Start button restorer addons and that makes it much better to use. The size and feel are nice. Lenovo does make good products.

Asus has been my choice the last time I purchased a laptop about 4 years ago, and about a year ago I also purchased an Asus tablet. Both the laptop and tablet has worked great without any issues. But due to a recent house fire, I lost both and was in the market again for a new laptop. After evaluating my computer usage, I decided to get a hybrid laptop since my tablet didn't get a whole lot of use and I already have a work laptop that I used during work hours. Long story short, I decided to take a chance and purchased the Lenovo Ideapad Yoga 13. Upon receiving it, I noticed the slight screen wobble that others have mentioned in their reviews. Also when flipped into tablet mode the on-screen keyboard wouldn't work properly from time to time, another thing others have also mentioned in their reviews. Both were a little annoying but not a major deal for me. After about 4 months or so of use I started noticing the screen would flicker and sort of "fade out" from time to time, but usually after I signed out or restart the computer the problem would go away, that is until about a month later...This time the screen went out and when it came back, all I could see were random vertical lines of various colors. Nothing I could do would get the screen working. So I plugged the laptop to my TV via HDMI, and the screen would show on TV, so I know it's a hardware issue. After calling Lenovo, the tech insisted that it's probably a corrupted driver and wanted to log into my laptop to fix it. Long story short, she was unable to fix it after trying several things and hours later finally agreed that I can send it back for repair. That was over a month ago. As I'm sitting here writing this review, the repair status portal still shows that repair is on-hold due to a "parts shortage". Now, this is a fairly new product in the market and still being produced and sold by Lenovo as well as other vendors, so one should be able to safely assume that the same part that my broken laptop needs is also being installed into the new laptops being sold. So why is it that I can order a new Yoga 13 on the Lenovo website where it states the laptop could be shipped out within 2 days and yet they can't get the parts they need to repair my laptop for over a month? So naturally I called Lenovo to find out what's going on. The rep told me they will have the repair department call me within 2 days to let me know the specifics of my repair status, or at least let me know when it will be fixed. Well, that was last Wedesday, and I still haven't heard from them as of yet.At this point, my confidence in Lenovo products and their willingness to stand behind their product is next to non-existent. As I stated earlier, this was my secondary laptop that only got a couple hours of use a day, and on some days didn't even get used. Yet the screen when out on me after less than 6 months. I understand sometimes you just get a product that happens to be defected. Even Toyota can produce a defected Camery from time to time. All I'm saying is this, if you do decide to purchase this product, don't expect it to be perfect. The wobbly screen hinge and the on-screen keyboard glitch and the flex in the body and the touch screen register incorrectly all seem to be pretty common issues as many other reviewers have mentioned them. But let's hope these are the only "issues" you'll have, because if it needs to go back to Lenovo for repair, good luck, because at this point I have no idea when I will get my laptop back.