Lenovo Yoga Book C930 Review

Lenovo Yoga Book C930 price and configuration

It has a 1.2 GHz Intel Core i5-7Y54 processor, 4GB of RAM, 128GB SSD and Intel HD 615 GPU. If you want more storage, you can get a 256GB version for $1,049.

Specs:

CPU      1.2-GHz Intel Core i5-7Y54 processor

Operating System         Windows 10 Home

RAM     4GB

Hard Drive Size 128GB

Hard Drive Type            SSD

Display Size       10.8

Highest Available Resolution     2560 x 1600

Native Resolution          2560 x 1600

Optical Drive    None

Optical Drive Speed      n/a

Graphics Card   Intel HD 615 GPU

Wi-Fi    802.11 a/b/g/n/ac

Bluetooth          Bluetooth 4.2

Touchpad Size  2.5 x 1.6 inches

Ports (excluding USB)    USB Type-C

Ports (excluding USB)    Fingerprint Scanner

USB Ports         2

Card Slots         SIM

Card Slots         microSD

Warranty/Support         1 year limited warranty

Size      10.3 x 7.1 x 0.4 inches

Weight 1.7 pounds

Company Website         www.lenovo.com

Design:

The C930 is very thin. So thin that there is not enough room to add a headphone jack. In other words, it is ultra-thin. At 1.7 lbs, 10.3 x 7.1 x 0.4 inches, the only slimmer on the market is the Microsoft Surface Pro 6 (1.7 lbs, 11.5 x 7.9 x 0.3 inches). The Google Pixel Book is similar to the C930 bit at 2.5 pounds, but holds a similar svelteness at 11.4 x 8.7 x 0.4 inches.

But in addition to thin, the C930 is also limited and refined. The outer chassis is made of iron-gray aluminum, which masks the fragility of the system due to its slim size. The decoration is very small, with only a smooth Lenovo logo and a strap with a gleaming gear on the lower left corner.

Never using non-functional forms, the hinges enable the C930 to seamlessly transition between multiple modes, including traditional laptops, tents, tablets and collaborations, which are completely flat and allow two or more people to come together.

Display:

The C930's 10.8-inch, 2560 x 1600 (QHD) IPS touch display produces vibrant colors and is very bright. However, in an ever-shrinking border era, I hope Lenovo can adapt to larger screens by reducing thick borders.

The C930's screen can produce 144% sRGB color gamut, over 115% of high-end laptop averages. Surface Pro 6 did not fall behind 136%, while Pixelbook scored 117%.

The average brightness is 342 nits and the average brightness of the C930 is 311-nit. However, it does not have any effect on Pixelbook (421 nits) or Surface Pro 6 (408).

Audio

The side-mounted speakers of the yoga book are not very loud, but they can emit amazingly rich sounds. When I listened to Ledisi's "Anything", I heard crisp percussion sounds and clean strings and the thrilling midrange of Ledisi. Although I barely filled my medium-sized bedroom, I was pleasantly surprised by the speaker's ability to handle electric guitar solo.

In addition to the overall volume, the only drawback of the speaker is the lack of bass, which does not actually exist. When I started messing up the Dolby Atmos software, I got some hints about the low end, but it was not enough to make an impact.

Keyboard:

The Yoga Book's E Ink keyboard is still the purview of those who specialize in the much-maligned hunt-and-peck method. However, Lenovo has managed to improve the experience visually, aurally and physically. Now when you type, the keys animate as if they're being pressed down. The effect is enhanced with haptic feedback and keyboard audio, both of which can be adjusted in settings.

Other improvements Lenovo incorporated include larger keys, which made it easier to type. The keyboard also features artificial intelligence that will learn your typing habits over time. So if you tend to overextend your pinkie and hit Right Shift instead of the comma, the laptop will correct the input accordingly.

The keyboard also has two modes: classic and modern. Classic is a typical keyboard setup with a touchpad. However, In order to make room for the touchpad, the buttons are small, which has a slight impact on my typing score. In this mode, I can only play 25 words per minute in the 10fastfingers typing test. Modern mode replaces the touchpad with a round button that you can tap when you are ready to use the former. My typing speed jumped to 34 wpm, which is better than Classic, but still far below my typical 70 wpm.

Note Mode:

Lenovo's ditched the physical notepad in favor of an E Ink one beneath the main display, and the Yoga Book is better for it. Combined with the company's Precision Pen, taking notes or sketching a picture was fluid, intuitive and self-contained.

The Bluetooth-enabled writing implement offers 4,096 points, or pressure sensitivity, and can be used with either the E Ink or the regular panel. When not in use, the magnetic pen attaches securely to the C930's lid.

At 0.5 ounces, it's just as solid as a traditional pen but has quite a few more tricks up its sleeve. Clicking the button at the back of the Pen launches Note Mode on the E Ink display, while two clicks opens Windows Ink. There's also an elongated button near the pen tip, pressing the top half of the button initiates the eraser in Windows Ink, while the bottom half acts as the left mouse button in Windows and performs Copy on the E Ink panel.

Whether I was writing on the QHD display or the E Ink panel, the pen delivered a fluid experience. The pen nimbly kept pace with my fevered scribblings, whether I was doing my normal script or putting a little more effort in with cursive. Depending on how hard I pressed or how I held the pen, I saw thinner or bolder pen strokes.

The biggest difference between writing on the two screens is resistance. Writing on the glass panel was reliably smooth, which is nice, but doesn't really capture the feeling of writing on paper. Despite being just as smooth as its glass counterpart, writing on the E Ink panel offers just a slight hint of drag that makes me feel like I'm pulling my pen across an expensive grade of paper. It's soothing and made me be a bit more deliberate with my work.

Reader Mode

Sometimes you just want to curl up with a good book. For those cases, the C930's Reader mode can come in handy, or at least it will. Unfortunately, Reader mode currently only works with PDFs, so you'll have to wait until January to access other content like eBooks. For now, I had to make due with reading a few PDFs instead of Tomi Adeyemi's Children of Blood and Bone.

The experience is straight forward. After selecting Reader mode on the E Ink display, you click the Open Document button and choose your reading material. From there, your content is ready to go. There are shortcuts to capture notes, zoom in and out, and copy pages. If you change the system's orientation to landscape mode, you can place pages side by side.

Text on the E Ink panel was sharp and easy to read. Scrolling through pages was quick, taking less than a second to load. It should be a great e-reader -- when that functionality becomes available.

For $949, the price of the C930 is too high and will eventually be used as an auxiliary device. At this price, it should have a current processor, especially since the price range makes it directly compete with the $1,299 Microsoft Surface Pro 6, which offers better performance, battery life and typing.