Lenovo Yoga C930 vs. Lenovo Yoga Book C930: Which should you buy?

These two Lenovo laptops have similar names, but they're actually quite different. The Yoga C930 is best suited for anyone who needs a powerful premium laptop day in and day out, while the Yoga Book C930 is better for those who need a supplementary device with a focus on inking. Let's take a close look at what sets these two devices apart.

Lenovo Yoga C930 vs. Yoga Book C930 tech specs

Design and features

The 10.8-inch Yoga Book C930 is a convertible laptop with sturdy watchband hinge, altogether designed to fulfill a portable role. It weighs nearly half as much as the Yoga C930 and is just 0.38 inches thick and made from a magnesium-aluminum alloy. Like the larger 13.9-inch Yoga C930, it can be rotated around into tent, stand, or tablet modes depending on the task at hand, but it also makes for a fine premium notebook.

Instead of a physical keyboard and touchpad, the Book C930 has a second E Ink display that can display four different types of virtual keys and a touchpad. The virtual keys provide haptic feedback to best mimic a true physical feel, but it's still best for quick bursts of typing, like emails or forum posts, rather than an entire manuscript.

The Yoga C930 is likewise a premium laptop, complete with a new soundbar hinge that pumps out full audio not generally expected from an ultrabook. It has a sleek design with plenty of room for performance hardware inside, and it has a true physical keyboard and touchpad. In our testing, the keyboard was up to snuff with comfortable and uniform travel, while the touchpad was a bit underwhelming due to some sticky corners. It's still a fine device for everyday use, especially up against its virtual counterpart.

Ports can be considered limited on both laptops due to size constraints, though the Yoga C930 does have a bit more versatility thanks to two Thunderbolt 3, a USB-A 3.1, and a 3.5 mm audio jack. The Book C930 only has two standard USB-C 3.1 ports (no Thunderbolt 3), as well as a microSD card reader and SIM tray (the latter available only in select markets). There's no 3.5 mm audio jack on the Book C930, which could be a problem if you hate using USB-C dongle to listen to music.

Both laptops have a fingerprint reader for quick and secure sign-ins through Windows Hello, and both have a front-facing HD webcam for video conferencing. For a bit of added security, the Yoga C930 has a shutter that covers the camera when not in use.

Display(s)

The Yoga C930's traditional design means a single 13.9-inch touch display available in FHD or 4K. The FHD version we tested has near-perfect sRGB color reproduction for a full picture, as well as limited bezel that leaves enough space to get a hold when used in tablet mode. It has significantly more room than the Book C930's 10.8-inch display, and it too is compatible with an active pen.

Here, Lenovo has built the pen into the laptop, with a silo on the back edge that charges the pen when not in use. It has more of a slim pencil style than a full-sized stylus, but it still has two programmable buttons and hits 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity for a natural inking experience. If you need to jot notes or do some sketching, the Yoga C930 can accommodate.

The Yoga Book C930 has a standard touch display with a 2560x1600 resolution, which supports inking (also 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity) thanks to Wacom AES technology. The secondary E Ink display — in lieu of the physical keyboard and touchpad — has an FHD resolution and serves multiple roles.

A number of proprietary apps are available for the E Ink display, including Note, Keyboard, and Reader, which makes it easy to switch on the fly. It can be used as a virtual keyboard and touchpad, to comfortably read PDF documents (much like a Kindle or Nook), and it also supports inking with the included full-size active pen.

Performance

The hardware available for the Yoga Book C930 — including 7th Gen Intel Core i5-7Y54 processor (CPU), 4 GB of DDR3 RAM, and 256 GB solid-state drive (SSD) — is much better than the first-gen Yoga Book and is capable of handling a modest amount of work. You won't be able to get into any specialized tasks, but word processing, web browsing, video streaming, and other light jobs will be handled easily.

The downside is in the 35.8 Wh battery, which realistically delivers only about five hours of life from a charge. Considering the size and design of the Book C930 makes you want to take it on the go, this could pose a problem. In some European markets 4G LTE support is available for the Book C930, which is completely missing from the Yoga C930.

For better all-around performance and battery life — as well as far more configurations to choose from — you'll want to go with the Yoga C930. It has up to an 8th Gen Intel Core i7-8550U CPU, 16 GB of DDR4 RAM, and a 1 TB PCIe SSD, making it better suited to multitasking and productivity purposes. The larger 60 Wh battery in the Yoga C930, in our testing, lasted about nine hours going about regular tasks. If you're going back and forth from the office, you should be able to leave the charger at home.

The Yoga C930 is a better all-around choice for most people

Thanks to plenty of hardware configuration options, a 13.9-inch touch display available in FHD or 4K resolution, comfortable keyboard, built-in active pen, soundbar hinge, and all-around premium design, the Yoga C930 is better suited for most people. It's a convertible laptop that keeps things relatively simple while offering stellar performance and all-day battery life.

The Yoga Book C930 will no doubt find a niche audience

The Yoga Book C930 is a concept device available for anyone who likes to push the boundaries of what a laptop can be. If you love inking and need a convertible that can handle basic tasks, this is definitely an interesting option that brings a premium build and otherwise well-rounded set of features.