Lenovo Yoga C940-14IIL Review
Disclaimer: I’m a member of the Lenovo INsiders customer advocacy group. I am not a Professional Influencer, or employee of Lenovo, I am a super fan. ;-D Opinions are my own. I paid full retail for the Yoga C940, ordering it as quickly as I could, before any discounts or sales were available. I wanted it that bad, haha.
I haven't been reviewing hardware on my Tumblr or YouTube lately because I have simply lacked the desire. I'm writing this mostly out of a primal need for people to know more about this product. I feel like what Lenovo has done with the Yoga C940 14" model is different enough to warrant talking about.
Especially for mobile creatives.
Hardware
Intel hasn't really made a decent thing since their 6th Generation chipset. That changed with the 10th Gen SoC (System on a Chip) platform that resides in the Yoga C940. Intel’s 10th generation has the same deceptive marketing, and tech babble chicanery, but there is value, and stability that hasn't been there for 3-4 years.
Intel's i7-1065G7 with Intel Iris Plus Graphics is a worthy thing to seek in an Ultrabook, provided the laptop manufacturer designed a chassis to house it properly. The aluminum build of the Yoga C940 and cooling system therein, is ideal for pushing the thermal threshold. Yes, get the i7-1065G7, and get 16GB of the 3733MHz LPDDR4x RAM that can come soldiered to the systemboard.
You are probably used to seeing 2133MHz LPDDR3 RAM or similar. My understanding, and feel free to correct me, is that the LPDDR4x is the Low Power version of DDR4, with 15% performance gain with 17% power savings (according to Samsung). And yeah, my laptop feels like it multitasks, while pushing to multiple displays, more capably, than anything in a 14″ chassis I’ve used before.
For content creators, it's well worth having the extra power, especially if this is going to be your only rig, and you plan to use the Intel Iris Plus Graphics, and the Yoga C940's two Two USB 3.1 Type-C Gen 2 / Thunderbolt 3 (with the function of Power Delivery, DisplayPort) to connect to up to two external displays. (Max resolution: 5120x3200@60Hz via USB Type-C).
I was able to push a 4k display, a 4k television, and the C940′s own display for displaying content, running a video conferencing app, while having several other windows, apps, and documents open at once.
Get the 14.0" (356mm) UHD (3840x2160), glossy, LED backlight, IPS, HDR 400, 500 nits, 16:9 aspect ratio, 90% DCI-P3, DolbyVision display option.
Get the version with 802.11ax,2x2, Wi-Fi + Bluetooth 5.0, M.2 Card Bluetooth 5.0 wireless, integrated in Wi-Fi + Bluetooth combo adapter.
Looking at the savings one gets going with an i5, 1080 display, and 802.11ac Wifi, it just isn't worth it. What you lose for the little money you save, naw, get the upgrades. The value of upgrading in this case is pretty significant I think. And, that isn't my usual stance. I very rarely see the point of upgrading beyond Intel's i5 Processors for 90% of use cases. But, in this case, the premium options for the Yoga C940 are, actually, premium, at a less than premium price.
For input, the Yoga C940 comes with a Lenovo Active Pen, garaged in the chassis, with Lenovo Pen Software on board. The trackpad is great, the keyboard is good, not Thinkpad good, but I find the typing experience enjoyable all the same.
There is no trackpoint. I was pretty sure I could do without the trackpoint that comes standard on Thinkpads in exchange for the various other features that come with the Yoga C940. The jury is still out on that. Premium options preferred by content creators, on a Thinkpad Yoga, haven't been available for years.
That may have changed with the Thinkpad X1 Yoga Gen 5. I'll review that device as soon as I can get one.
Aesthetics
The Yoga C940 is gorgeous. I've seen and held both the Iron Grey, and the Micah versions. Definitely, get the Micah. Pictures do not do it justice.
Someone poured a lot of love and attention into the Yoga C940. Relative to the placement of ports, vents, speakers, the pen accessory, and other features, I struggle to think of how I would have done it differently. Everything is just so, where it should be, where I need it, and not in the way. Lenovo could just make all their 2-in-1 Ultrabooks like the C940 and I'd be good.
It's awesome to look at, feels great in the hand, and carries extremely light for the power and features packed into it.
Premium Ultrabooks tend to be MacBook clones, or just kind of ugly. Thinkpads have sort of transcended all that, and Lenovo has tried really hard to do the same with their Yoga line of products. They tend to have a chassis and hinge assembly that sets them apart, while adding features or aesthetics that go beyond just looks. Previous Yoga Books had vibrant colors and a watchband hinge that set them apart.
In going with Iron Grey, Lenovo might be trying to get people to see their Yoga line as tools, options for creatives. I have a Yoga Book C930, and Yoga A940 AIO desktop in my workflow at either side of the Yoga C940 14" Ultrabook. Lenovo is as close to that reality as one can get without a MIL-STD rating.
Service & Warranty
Do not let anyone work on your Yoga C940 other than a Lenovo 1st party employee at one of Lenovo's service depot locations. Get the premium warranty option, but insist on mailing the device into Lenovo for support.
Do not try to work on this machine yourself. Even if you are an experienced tech with twenty years experience like I am. Watch the service videos and read the literature, for sure, if you like a challenge. I did. Nah.
Do not let a 3rd party technician touch your Yoga C940. They will more than likely fuck it up.
I educated myself on how to do a repair on my first Yoga C940 and decided that while I had the skill and the tools, I wasn't willing to take the risk. The 3rd party service person came out and murdered the laptop in trying to perform a relatively simple keyboard swap. Because of how the cooling system and hinge are integrated, the laptop is pretty difficult to pull apart without breaking it.
The story has a happy ending, though. Lenovo couldn't replace my Iron Grey model, having only Micah in the US to send me. I was curious about the color, so I went ahead and opted for a replacement with the different color. Glad I did, Micah is awesome. Remember the Clementine Orange Yoga 3 Pro? Yeah, it's like that.
Also, throughout, Lenovo warranty and service personnel did their usual five star awesome job making me happy.
Pen Input, Digital Art
As a platform for doing digital art, it's as good as it gets with a device like this. I spent most of 2018, and some of 2019 battling a serious illness. My hand still shakes, but I'm getting back to proper form with the Yoga C940. The digitizer doesn't seem to have a stylus preference, being equal to, or a little ahead of, the pen tech I have at my disposal.
I do a lot higher resolution pixel art in photoshop these days, dropping back to illustration when my hand feels steady. I don't feel like I'm fighting the machine as much as I have with other rigs. My bias toward EMR stylus tech doesn't seem to get tripped as much with the newer AES, and the Yoga C940 feels made for pen input. The soundbar hinge is good enough that I don't have to always have earbuds or headphones on, unless I'm listening to the blackest thall-festooned technical death metal.
Everything else, sounds great, headset free, in my living room, or on the balcony outside.
It could be better. It could always be better, but the pen input on the C940 is more than good enough for my purposes, often exceeding my expectations. The glossy display sometimes throws glare, but the quality of the color and depth of contrast makes me less than willing to put screen treatment film down. I'll deal with my stylus slipping a little, and some glare, to look at the display unfettered.
It's that nice.
Final Thoughts
I haven't noticed an issue with battery life. I can use the Yoga C940 for 4-5 hours, through it on the charger during lunch, and use it for another 4-5 hours, and not have to worry about managing screen brightness, or performance. In testing the device with my workflow, battery life hasn't been an issue. I didn't try to measure the exact duration of the battery, I just used the laptop as I normally would, and waited to see if I tripped over a low battery warning.
It didn't happen. With my use case, and 30 minute access to a power outlet in the middle of the day, I had power for whatever use and screen brightness I wanted.
The lack of a trackpoint, and the transposed ctrl and function key, as compared to a Thinkpad Keyboard is the thing I stumble over the most. Even with my Yoga A940 AIO, I have a wired Thinkpad Keyboard with Trackpoint, ctrl and fn key in proper place. The virtual keyboard on the E-Ink display of the Yoga Book C930 has the ctrl and fn keys arranged as I prefer.
The Yoga C940 made me realize just how much I use the ctrl key, and how much my brain relies on it being between the fn key, and the Windows/Super key. I need to remap the keys, drop stickers on them, and call it good, haha.
Thanks for reading.
