- [Narrator] When I first saw the Yoga C930
in a pile of Lenovo laptops, I glossed over it.
After all, this was the same meeting
at which I first saw the new Yoga Book,
with that futuristic frame and the crazy keyboard.
It was distracting.
But, I'm really glad I opted for a Yoga C930
review unit instead because I've now spent
over a month with it and when I wanna use a Windows
notebook, this is my new go-to.
(upbeat techno music)
To appreciate this machine, you've gotta look past
that forgettable iron gray color scheme.
I do wish Lenovo would offer bolder color ways
to go with its hardware designs.
I say that because this chassis, to me,
is close to perfect.
It's lightweight and trim with lines that are,
at once, modern and sleek and also restrained
enough that it doesn't feel like it's showing off.
Pop the lid and the first thing that catches the eye
even before the screen is the Dolby soundbar
built into the hinge.
The dual woofers are located in the body
but the twin tweeters are built into the bar,
which rotates, so the sound is radiating outward
whether you're in laptop, tablet, or presentation mode.
I'd have like a bit more bass.
When streaming songs from across a room,
I had to crank the volume, which pushed the speakers
slightly into tinny territory, but watching a TV
episode from about three feet away,
the sound was rich and enveloping at 3/4 volume.
By the by, the new season of Star Trek Discovery
is great, you should watch it!
That 4K IPS display on my review device is,
in a word, stunning.
You can save some dough by opting for an HD panel instead,
my friends at Windows Central reviewed that one.
But having tasted Windows in 4K with this kind of
sharpness and color saturation, I couldn't go back.
The picture is tuned by Dolby Vision and set to the bright
color profile by default.
I didn't even think to play around with the vivid
or dark modes until I sat down to write this review.
Out of the box, the display looks incredible.
Whether you go for the 4K or full HD,
you get a touch screen, which also means
you can make use of the stylus.
Normally, folks, I wouldn't be putting a pen
in the pro category.
Typically they cost about a hundred bucks extra
and, in the case of something like the Surface,
you've gotta click them magnetically
to the outside of the casing,
which means they often fall off in a bag.
But with the C930, the stylus comes included
and it's got a nice little silo to live in,
that charges the pen while it sleeps.
Now, I do think the Surface pen and Apple pencil
are the better styli, in general.
This one is on the small side
and there's no tilt support for shading.
The silo's location also has the effect
of moving all the ports to the left side of the laptop.
One USB-A, two Thunderbolt 3, and a headphone jack.
While you get a standard Lenovo brick on a string
for the charger, the tip is USB-C, which makes me happy.
And it charges from 0 to 50 percent in just a half hour,
which makes me happier still.
Battery life, too, was more than serviceable.
Watching a two hour episode of MST3K
at about half brightness pushed me down from 95 to 75
percent and on my various writing heavy workdays,
I never felt like I wouldn't make it to 6 PM.
Goin' all the way to bedtime though,
might be a bit of a stretch.
Now the best way to ruin the look of a nice laptop
is to slap a sticky note on your webcam.
But, in today's world, it pays to err on the safe side.
So, Lenovo took a note from it's own Google smart display
and it added a sliding cover to the webcam.
Like the silo for the pen, its these little bits
of attention to detail that I appreciate
every time I open the machine.
The act of popping it open is one of the not so
great parts of the Yoga C930.
So, let's start there for the downsides.
It doesn't quite pass the one handed opening test.
Some folks will also be bothered by the wasted space
below the display and the decision to ditch
face unlock for a fingerprint sensor.
But neither of these bothered me as much as
the bloatware.
The McAfee anti-virus package that Lenovo
pre-loads is one of the more aggressive I've seen.
The pop-ups take up a full quarter of the screen
and they persist until you uninstall all
of the McAfee processes.
The combination of these, with Lenovo's
own security pop-ups, makes for a tacky,
annoying experience.
At least it gave me a reason to use the pen, though.
Also, I found standby battery to fluctuate substantially.
Sometimes it would drain at about 1% per hour
while asleep and other times I'd open it up
to find a low battery warning when I didn't
really expect one.
This, along with the always frustrating
Windows update shenanigans, is something
I complain about on every Windows machine.
And I really wish Microsoft would get its OS
in order, in these respects.
Wrapping things up, the webcam is fine
but maxing out at 720p, it's not the greatest you can get.
And just to be greedy about it,
I'd like to have seen some more features,
like an SD card reader or a dedicated graphics card.
That last bit speaks to my perception of this device
versus the reality.
And that reality is that this is an ultrabook,
built with portability as paramount.
And me being Mr. Mobile, of course I love that.
But it also brings so much capability
across the processor options, the great display
and soundbar, and little touches like the pen
and webcam cover, that I see it as
more of a do everything PC.
The only thing stopping me from making this
my go to for writing and gaming is the lack
of a dedicated graphics card.
And even here, you've got the option
of connecting an external graphics unit,
thanks to the four lane PCIe Thunderbolt ports.
Of course, that would add more cost
to an already pricey package.
But given how much it does and how well it does it,
I have no hesitation recommending the Yoga C930
to anyone looking for an attractive Windows laptop
that's feature-packed and also, easy on the back.
Comin' out of a slow CES into a packed MWC,
coverage is pickin' up speed folks.
So if you don't wanna miss the next Mr. Mobile video,
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Until next time, thanks for watching
and stay mobile, my friends.