Lenovo Says LaVie Z 360 Won't Operate Properly In Tent Or Stand Modes, Offers 5% Refund

We were all hyped up about Lenovo’s latest LaVie Z series of tablets and convertibles, which both went on sale this week. After all, both models — first announced at CES — offer 13-inch QHD displays, a Core i7 processor, 8GB of RAM, and a 256GB SSD. Even more impressive is that the LaVie Z (notebook) weighs in at just 1.87 pounds while the LaVie Z 360 (convertible) weighs only slightly more at 2.04 pounds.

However, the Consumer Reports have taken a little bit of wind out of our sails with some troubling news regarding the LaVie Z 360. The folks at Consumer Reports ordered a brand new LaVie 360 and eagerly awaited its arrival. Instead, the publication received an email from Lenovo indicating that it made some “missteps” in its attempt to bring the product to market.

Now keep in mind, the LaVie Z 360 and its notebook counterpart were first unveiled in early January, and are now shipping four months later. Yet, the company has just now discovered that when operating in Tent Mode, the “image on the display does not auto rotate, causing the image to present upside down.” That’s right, something as simple as screen orientation was not properly assessed from the factory.

But it gets worse, Lenovo also indicates that “the keyboard does not deactivate” when operating in Stand Mode. The company goes on to state, "A user may be okay in Stand Mode with LaVie Z lying flat on a table, but if it were on your lap for example, the keys may depress and once again cause an unsatisfactory user experience." Whoops!

To remedy the outstanding issues, Lenovo is offering a 5 percent refund to customers that have already ordered the convertible. For anyone else that is still considering the LaVie Z 360, Lenovo has removed references to the using the convertible in Stand and Tent Modes.

For customers that have choose to accept the 5 percent refund and not return the device, it is unknown if there will be a future firmware update to restore proper functionality when operating in Stand and Tent Modes. We have reached out to Lenovo for clarification and will provide an update once the company responds.