IMPORTANT NOTES: The Lenovo Yoga C930 is on loan from Lenovo Malaysia, and will be returned after the use for review. I am not associated to Lenovo Malaysia and this blog article and my subsequent review articles pertaining to Lenovo products are done independently. I am not a tech or gadget writer, hence I will not be doing the usual laptop reviews found elsewhere online. I will be using the laptop as a practising photographer - for image post-processing and also blog article writing.
This is a hands on preview blog entry, and I will have a follow up full review on how the Lenovo Yoga C930 performed as a photographer's tool after I come back from my travel to South Africa.
Lenovo Yoga C930
In case you do not know, I have been using a Lenovo Miix 510 (a Surface-like clone) for almost two years now. All my blog articles here as well as the ones I published on Ming Thein's site are written on the Lenovo Miix and it is currently my daily driver, as I work from location to location away from home. When I am at home, I have my much more powerful desktop PC for all my photo post-processing and gaming needs, so I do very basic and quick touch up on photos when I use the Lenovo Miix 510 on the go. It has been a faithful companion and has accompanied me to many of my travel. I am very happy with the performance of the Lenovo Miix 510 though I do not mention much about it in this blog.
I have always wanted an actual high performing laptop that is lightweight and compact enough to carry around everyday that I can actually perform heavy-duty post-processing on it too. I am not looking to replace my desktop, but being able to take my work with me everywhere I go to makes sense as I am a full time photographer now. I got the Lenovo Miix 510 when I was still working for Olympus Malaysia (almost 2 years ago) and since then my life has changed a lot. And then the thought of contacting Lenovo came to mind!
I reached out to a Lenovo contact (found the email on their official site) and to my surprise my email was answered! I was seeking for something extremely light and portable, yet powerful enough to handle photography heavy tasks. The Lenovo people suggested the Yoga C930, which features the latest 8th generation Core i7 processor and ultra slim design. I immediately said yes and I just collected this review unit this morning!
Though Lenovo Yoga C930 has full unibody metal chasis, it is still super light - 1.38kg only. And look at how slim it is!
It is either the Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II is huge, or that is a small laptop.
I was provided the Iron Gray variant for review purposes. I think it matches all my other gadgets and items.
After collecting my review unit of the Lenovo Yoga C930, I went to a nearby cafe to unbox and set it up immediately. I also planned to take some lifestyle and casual product shots of the Yoga C930 so that I can do a quick hands on preview blog article about it (as you are reading now). I initially wanted to just have 2 to 3 usable shots, but as usual, I was too enthusiastic when clicking the shutter button and got carried away. I think I enjoyed shooting a laptop because lets face it, I have been doing too many camera and lens reviews over the years, hence it was nice to review something else for once.
The first thought that came to mind - how incredibly slim the laptop was! I know technology has advanced so much and this was nothing unbelievable by today's standards, but I was still in awe at the sheer slimness of the Lenovo Yoga C930. Although this was technically a 14 inch (13.9 inch to be exact) screen laptop, it felt smaller due to the extra thin bezels (though not quite bezel-less). I was concerned about the size because I wanted a 13 inch or smaller laptop to better fit into my camera bag, but it turned out that the Yoga C930 fitted perfectly! The 1.38kg weight was also a plus point for Lenovo, as I have tight baggage restrictions.
I shall be sharing how I pack for my coming photography trip in the next coming blog entry. Yes that includes all the camera gear that I will bring along for the ride.
I need to comment on the build quality. The laptop body is constructed from aluminum and is reassuringly solid. I am worried about handling such a slim device, as I am a rough user and may accidentally bend the laptop body. Thankfully, the body is robustly built and can withstand good amount of daily use pressure and handling. Since this is a full metal body, there is the smooth feel to the touch and the Yoga C930 feels really premium.
All metal body laptop and all metal body camera
Having used Lenovo extensively, I have come to expect high quality built in keyboard.
The Lenovo Yoga C930 comes in a few variations of specifications. My review unit has:
8th Gen Intel Core i7-8550u processor
8GB DDR4 RAM memory (running on dual channel)
512GB PCIe SSD Hard Disk
13.9 Inch Full HD IPS Touch Screen (there is also a 4K screen variant on the market)
2 x USB C ports (charging via USB C) and 1 x full sized USB 3.1 port
Up to 14.5 hours battery life (claimed by Lenovo)
For full specifications and feature highlights, go to the official product page here (click).
In terms of specifications alone, I am expecting the Yoga C930 to be able to run everything I throw at it smoothly, and I will put it to torture during the coming photography trip. I shall come back with full report in my coming review blog entry.
The Lenovo Yoga C930 is also a tablet convertible, meaning the screen can be turned 360 degrees and become a tablet for entertainment focused activities, such as gaming or watching movie. Furthermore, there are a host of cool features which I have yet to test - Lenovo did something really smart by having a soundbar built directly into the hinge between the keyboard and screen. Another thing that Lenovo got right, they managed to securely tuck away the stylus pen at the back of the laptop, making it carrying around the pen such a convenience without worrying about losing it accidentally.
I was secretly hoping to get the 4K screen variant of the Lenovo Yoga C930, but I guess the Full HD screen will have to suffice for now. To be fair the screen is bright and crisp, and I'd prefer to work with much larger 4K screen (22 inch or larger). Viewing my own images on the Yoga C930 so far, I have no issues with the color and contrast. There is however a very slight green cast, which is easily remedied by proper color calibration, which I have not done yet.
Lenovo Yoga line of products is known to be able to bend to weird positions.
Super smart decision by Lenovo to securely and discreetly tuck away the stylus pen at the back of the laptop! You will never lose the pen again and carrying it around is no fuss at all.
When I powered on the Lenovo Yoga C930, it has only 15% power left, so I naturally drained the battery so I can estimate the time needed for a full charge. The charging was faster than anticipated, the laptop went from 5% to 100% within 1 hour and 15 minutes being plugged to a wall socket. If the device truly can last as much as 14 hours (I was expecting maybe 10-12 hours of normal use) then I will be impressed. I shall find this out very soon.
Things that I intend to test - screen quality in multiple viewing scenarios, the use of keyboard for typing several full articles, to be published both here and Ming Thein's site, the performance of the laptop during post-processing with software such as Olympus Viewer 3 and Capture One Pro, and maybe a little bit of gaming. I am an active DotA 2 player.
I understand that many photographers tend to lean toward Apple line of products. I was probably one of the few who stayed with non-Apple ecosystem. For those of you who use PC environment, do share with me what your requirements and must-have features you seek for in a laptop. Do you need 4K screen? How much RAM do you think is sufficient for heavy image editing work? What is the best screen size (13, 14 or even larger screens?) you are working with? What are the priorities, do you think portable and slim design are more important than sheer performance of the device?
Do share your thoughts! Oh and this article was written on the Lenovo Yoga C930.
Love to hear your views on the pen please Robin?
ReplyDeleteUsed Lenovo for 5 years, looking for a drawing 'surface' and wonder how this pen / tablet compares to the fruit option :-)
I have not used the Pen extensively yet, but I am a traditional keyboard and mouse user when it comes to post-processing my images. I don't draw that well! Shall see what I can do with the Pen.
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