Too Thin For A Keyboard: Lenovo Yoga Book C930 Hands-On

– [Michael] Back in 2016, I
called the Lenovo Yoga Book the most interesting
laptop I’d ever touched, and it just got a sequel. From IFA 2018 in Berlin, I’m Mr. Mobile, and this is the new laptop of the future, as long as you don’t
need any physical keys. (techy music) Lenovo’s calling this
thing the Yoga Book C930, which brings it in line with the rest of the company’s branding,
but in my opinion, isn’t quite flashy enough
to do this product justice. After all, where else are you
gonna get a Windows 10 laptop that’s only 10 millimeters thick? Maxes out at 800 grams? One that pops itself open
with a little knock knock on its casing. There are a lot of minor
changes to the new Yoga Book, and also two major ones,
which I’ll cover first. I said Windows a second ago, and that distinction is important. Whereas the 2016 model came in both Android and Windows models, this C903 is only offered
with Microsoft’s OS. This is no great loss in my view. Android on tablets is, if not dead, then at least on life support, and from what I’ve heard,
the old Android variant didn’t sell well anyway. With full Windows 10, this thing seems like it would be a great platform for the new always connected PC devices running on Snapdragon, but nope. Instead, this runs on either
an Intel Core I5 or M3, with optional LTE in some markets. That apparently doesn’t
include the U.S, though, so American buyers will have to settle for wifi only for now. Lame. Lenovo says the battery
should last up to 8.6 hours. Let’s talk about the other
big change: the keyboard. It’s just as flat as last
year’s frosted glass, and you still get audio and
haptic feedback when you type, but now, instead of a
backlit stenciled touch pad, the keys are e-ink. That means you can change
the way the keyboard looks, or change the language,
and, this is a neat trick, you can call up the track
pad only when you need it and discard it when you don’t. Once again, you have the option to use the keyboard as a memo pad, too. There’s a built in MyScript engine to convert your handwriting to text. The one thing there isn’t,
and this is kind of huge, is a keyboard back light. Lenovo said it didn’t have the room given the tolerances here. Maybe it won’t be a big deal for everyone, and maybe the light wash from the screen will be enough to keep
the keyboard visible in a darkened plane, but if not, this is gonna be a big deal
for frequent travelers. I mean, there’s also a reader mode here, so you can throw pdfs
onto the e-ink panel. It’ll be great to use
this thing as an e-reader, but again, not without a back light. Thankfully the other changes are welcome. From the bigger display
with a higher resolution, to the addition of a fingerprint sensor, to the updated USBC ports, two of them. And I’m eager to get this new Yoga Book back in the studio for some testing ahead of its official release,
which is due in October, for the starting price of a
penny shy of 1000 U.S. dollars. Is that too much the pay for
the kind of extreme portability this little guy promises? My early thoughts, after
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to sign up with this link will get two months absolutely free. Folks, I was entranced
by the first Yoga Book because I love products that look like they just walked off the
set of a sci-fi movie. But I gotta tell ya, the second
I wrapped that review video, that Yoga Book went
right back on the shelf. Part of the reason was
I had the Android model, but if I’m honest, I just don’t think I was willing to take the time necessary to retrain my fingers to
accommodate a touch keyboard. Well, things have gotten weird since 2016. In 2018, I’ve retrained my thumbs to get used to a Blackberry again. So I might be more willing
to go the long haul for the Yoga Book 2 C903, especially given the switch to Windows. Seeing as how other laptop manufacturers are reintroducing the concept
of dual-screen notebooks as well, maybe it’s just the
early part of a new trend? Subscribe to theMrMobile on YouTube, so you don’t miss my full review, presumably coming some time
in September or October, and follow me on Instagram
at the same handle for all the smaller stuff
that I’m seeing every hour here at IFA 2018 in Berlin. Until next time. Thanks for watching, and
stay mobile my friends.