Playing with tech - the Yoga 3 Pro

[Joelist]

The procedure seems pretty easy - manipulate the Start Menu and other elements into whatever form you like then use PowerShell to save it out as an xml file which you use the Group Policy Object Editor to point everyone to. When they login it sets everything as desired and enforces it.

 

[Overmind One]

The procedure seems pretty easy - manipulate the Start Menu and other elements into whatever form you like then use PowerShell to save it out as an xml file which you use the Group Policy Object Editor to point everyone to. When they login it sets everything as desired and enforces it.

I prefer to use the Group Policy Management Console because of the cool tree structure it has. Policies are much easier to write using it, and it is well implemented in Server 2012 (gpmc.msc). Once the policy is written (using simple menu trees), you can create an OU (Organizational Unit) in Active Directory and apply the policy to the OU. To apply the policy to a computer or a group of computers, simply drag the computer into the OU in the Active Directory console. At least that is the way I do it.

But I do not know how Windows 10 will allow me to create policies in Server 2012 which can be enforced by the domain controller.

 

[Joelist]

On a related topic, one other thing the pictures show is the physical build of this puppy. To be frank it is outstanding.

The chassis is all aluminum and it feels like a harder alloy than that used in (for instance) the MacBook Pro. The interior is aluminum covered in the palmrest area with a black rubber grip coating that works pretty well. The keyboard is typical Lenovo which means excellent - the keys have good travel and register properly whether struck squarely or with a side/corner blow. Their shaping helps avoid wrong key typos when typing fast and the backlighting works well too.

The hinge is very unusual and effective - it is made of steel and resembles a watchband. It gives a full range of motion and locks properly in any position. It also feels very stable and like the whole machine there are no creaks or flexing.

The screen is encased in Gorilla Glass 3 and is at a very high resolution and PPI. At 3200 x 1800 on a 13.3 inch display it clocks in at 276 PPI. By comparison the Retina MacBook Pros clock in at around 220 PPI. Color calibration is also excellent with brilliant whites and correct colors.

Basically the build quality and screen and such exceed Apple's MacBook Air and it costs $200+ less.

 

[Joelist]

I prefer to use the Group Policy Management Console because of the cool tree structure it has. Policies are much easier to write using it, and it is well implemented in Server 2012 (gpmc.msc). Once the policy is written (using simple menu trees), you can create an OU (Organizational Unit) in Active Directory and apply the policy to the OU. To apply the policy to a computer or a group of computers, simply drag the computer into the OU in the Active Directory console. At least that is the way I do it.

But I do not know how Windows 10 will allow me to create policies in Server 2012 which can be enforced by the domain controller.

I'm sure that is in the works if not already in play. What I described is how to do it right now on pre-beta versions of the OS.

 

[Joelist]

Now I am on build 10049 (fast ring as opposed to slow ring). We finally get a whole copy of Spartan as opposed to switching IE to use the Spartan rendering engine.

Screenshots later. But for now I will say I am liking Spartan. It's clean, simple and fast. The version in this build is still incomplete and will have functionality added in subsequent builds (like browsing history).

For those not in the know, Spartan is the new browser coming in Windows 10. Yes, IE is starting to be sunset and Spartan comes with a completely new engine that is a very radical forking of Trident. As a result, it has ditched legacy technologies like Active X and Browser Helper Objects and also all the old cruft that caused standards compliance issues.

 

[Joelist]

Here it is.

 

[Bluce Ree]

My policy is to torch Windows 8.x and treat it like the Highlander II of the Windows series.

 

[Overmind One]

Now I am on build 10049 (fast ring as opposed to slow ring). We finally get a whole copy of Spartan as opposed to switching IE to use the Spartan rendering engine.

Screenshots later. But for now I will say I am liking Spartan. It's clean, simple and fast. The version in this build is still incomplete and will have functionality added in subsequent builds (like browsing history).

For those not in the know, Spartan is the new browser coming in Windows 10. Yes, IE is starting to be sunset and Spartan comes with a completely new engine that is a very radical forking of Trident. As a result, it has ditched legacy technologies like Active X and Browser Helper Objects and also all the old cruft that caused standards compliance issues.

I actually....um...I like Windows 10. I really like it a lot. It runs as fast as Windows 8, but is desktop-centric (the way it should be). The "metro" interface has been capsulized and can be minimized and maximized like a program instead of feeling like you are switching from one UI to another. I still do not see any use for those tiles in the Enterprise, but the policies available allow you to hide the tile part of the Start Menu altogether. They fixed the control panel interface and function, they did some thoughtful enhancements to Windows Explorer and the console interfaces...even regedit is pretty now.

I will start complaining when there is something to complain about, but right now, Im totally on board with Windows 10.

 

[Joelist]

I like it too. I also saw that the latest fast ring build added the ability to suppress the tiles in Start Menu to the Group Policy engine.

 

[Overmind One]

I like it too. I also saw that the latest fast ring build added the ability to suppress the tiles in Start Menu to the Group Policy engine.

You can use policies to control just about everything in Windows 10. Im liking that a lot. Something disturbing though, Spiceworks can no longer completely audit the software on the machine (I use Spiceworks in the infrastructure).

 

[Joelist]

Report that into them; finding stuff like that is part of the reason for the technical preview cycle

 

[Bluce Ree]

So, I finally got tired of the Yoga 3 Pro's performance. It's just terrible under Windows 10. The interface is twitchy and there is absolutely nothing I can do about it. Under Linux, it runs smooth but video refresh can still get twitchy if you have animated GIFs or anything that's processing in another tab.

So, I just came home with a new Yoga 900 housing a Skylake i7 processor with 16GB RAM and 512GB SSD. It runs Win 10 very smoothly and Linux flies at light speed on it. NOW i feel like I have a real workhorse.

 

[Joelist]

Let's remember the Yoga 3 Pro was an ultralight, and they tried using the Core M and just like Apple on the MacBook did not provide proper cooling so it kept on throttling. The 900 is a totally different beast, as an i7 is in a different performance class.

 

[Bluce Ree]

Let's remember the Yoga 3 Pro was an ultralight, and they tried using the Core M and just like Apple on the MacBook did not provide proper cooling so it kept on throttling. The 900 is a totally different beast, as an i7 is in a different performance class.

Mine wasn't stuttering due to heat. It was stuttering right from powering on and some apps made things worse, like Skype.

Under Linux, all was smooth except for the circumstance I mentioned above. That performance hit was only felt in the Chrome browser. When I would run Firefox with multiple tabs opened to the same pages as Chrome, however, the video never stuttered, which indicates to me that Chrome's multimedia code is not well optimized under Linux.

 

[Joelist]

Interesting. mine never behaved like that and the only time it did the throttle behavior was when I had it cranking a 3 million record database through a series of transformations. I'm glad the 900 is working better for you.

 

[Bluce Ree]

Interesting. mine never behaved like that and the only time it did the throttle behavior was when I had it cranking a 3 million record database through a series of transformations. I'm glad the 900 is working better for you.

The Yoga 3 didn't come with Win 10 initially. The stuttering started after the Win 10 upgrade following a few updates, as I recall. Under Win 8.1, it performed fine.

 

[Overmind One]

The Yoga 3 didn't come with Win 10 initially. The stuttering started after the Win 10 upgrade following a few updates, as I recall. Under Win 8.1, it performed fine.

Are you gonna keep Windows 10 on it?

 

[Bluce Ree]

Are you gonna keep Windows 10 on it?

My Yoga 3? Yes because I'm gonna give it to my dad after I remove the Linux partition.

My Yoga 900 is already dual-boot configured for Win 10 and Ubuntu 16.04. By the way, Ubuntu 16.04 actually fixed its resolution out of the box! No HiDPI fiddling!

 

[Overmind One]

My Yoga 3? Yes because I'm gonna give it to my dad after I remove the Linux partition.

My Yoga 900 is already dual-boot configured for Win 10 and Ubuntu 16.04. By the way, Ubuntu 16.04 actually fixed its resolution out of the box! No HiDPI fiddling!

I kinda miss Ubuntu, but I really love the Windows-like feel of Mint. I believe you can install the Cinnamon desktop on Ubuntu 16.x, no?

 

[Bluce Ree]

I kinda miss Ubuntu, but I really love the Windows-like feel of Mint. I believe you can install the Cinnamon desktop on Ubuntu 16.x, no?

Yes, we discussed this in the Mint thread. I'm running Cinnamon on Ubuntu 16.04, which also fixes itself to handle HiDPI.

I left Mint for Ubuntu because Mint was falling behind in updates and packages.