Customer Ratings & Reviews

Lenovo’s marketing and promotional material for the Yoga C630 series laptops has been marketed to professionals. Showcasing the laptops in executive environments, these machines are ultrabooks by any other name. Thus one would expect their battery life and ease of use to be key selling points. The C630 WOS achieves an astounding battery life by its use of a completely new set of hardware underpinning the Windows 10 experience, but its limitations become apparent quickly. The platform has incredible future potential, but buyers will need to spend some time with a machine like this to determine if the time is right to buy this or any other Snapdragon-powered Windows computer. - Preamble What makes this machine unique from most other computers on the market is its choice of processor. Nearly every computer sold today comes with an “x86” CPU, and Microsoft has programmed Windows 10 to use it. The Lenovo Yoga C630 instead uses a Qualcomm “Snapdragon” processor; the same kind used in high-end smartphones. It uses the “ARM” core and thus can’t run “x86” Windows out of the box. Microsoft recently rebuilt Windows from the ground-up to support these ARM chips, which means this experience is akin to an early-adopter one with some bugs and compatibility issues that do not exist on the mature “x86” Windows. That said, some technology experts consider ARM processors to be the future of laptops and desktops as they’re extremely power-efficient, using less than a tenth the power of even the most efficient x86 processors at the same level of general performance. To achieve this, software must be written to explicitly support it, and the two types of processors are too different for a quick re-write. This means ARM processors can’t run x86 software, which is the overwhelming majority of computer software that exists in the world. Microsoft cleverly addresses this with an x86-to-ARM translator that works on the fly, allowing older apps to run on these machines, albeit with a performance penalty. - Build Quality The first thing I noticed about this machine is how sturdy it feels even without the use of premium materials. The Lenovo C630 is very much on the thin side and is weighted perfectly. The plastics are dense and smooth, almost giving the air of a metal alloy in the hands. Keyboard flex is nearly nonexistent. The hinges hold the screen tightly yet are easy to set a desired angle. Without any visible cooling ducts, the impressively smooth chassis exhibits nearly zero flex under use. The only area that could use improvement is the screen, which is also plastic. The Lenovo’s plastic screen depresses some to the touch and is not smooth like a modern tablet or cell phone using Gorilla Glass or similar. This complaint is minimal if the machine’s being used primarily as a laptop, but those who opt for the Lenovo Pen intending to use this for graphics and handwriting may find the experience underwhelming. - Keyboard, Touchpad Lenovo’s keyboard is a winner. The backlit keys have a short throw and are a joy to type on with a firm actuation force. These membrane style keys don’t compete with some mechanical keyboards up further in the pricing spectrum, but they feel fantastic in every sense and are very quiet. The layout is a full-size, US standard keyboard with good positioning of function keys. The touchpad is not nearly as impressive, but uses the Windows precision driver set for an accurate, gesture-enabled experience. Physical buttons are set under both lower corners of the trackpad, which did lead to some frustration attempting to right-click in a good number of instances. Detection is otherwise fairly spot-on with no major complaints leveraged. One of the more premium features on the laptop is the fingerprint sensor, which allows use of Windows Hello for a rapid login experience. After about a minute of initial calibration, I came away impressed by the touchpad’s sensitivity, managing to log in with a quick press of the finger at nearly 100% accuracy. The sensor worked from several different angles and pressures, making unlocking the device smartphone-fast and easy. - Screen, Sound The 13-inch, 1080p screen on this device is gorgeous. Colors are vivid and details crisp, and the IPS panel’s viewing angles are excellent. There is no discernable backlight bleed, and ghosting during gaming was minimal. Watching videos on this screen is a great experience. The speakers on this machine are par for course. They don’t get terribly loud, but they are positioned to the sides of the keyboard and are upward-firing, delivering an adequate experience. Bass is lacking, making the sound tinny, but it seems optimized to highlight vocals for web-conferencing. The dual microphones next to the webcam had no issue picking up voices from any direction at a reasonable distance. Certainly bring a conference speaker when you can, but this works well in a pinch. The webcam is also adequate for videoconferencing with a 90-degree field of view to the shot, but the video quality is only passable otherwise. Face detection is average as a result. Again, “workable” best describes it. - Connectivity Physical connectivity is lacking. With only 2 USB-C ports, a headset jack, and a SIM tray, your experience with the device depends heavily on whether you’re using mostly wireless and USB-C devices to connect to peripherals, as the lack of standard USB ports is a dealbreaker for business use cases at this time. Both USB-C ports do support full-speed charging, however. On the other hand, wireless connectivity is fantastic as is expected from the Snapdragon processor with radios for all the major standards and a 2x2 antenna array. Wireless AC support allows insane data throughput, with a very strong WiFi connection as a result that out-ranges all other devices I own. Bluetooth range, similarly, is very long and the signal quality excellent. What makes this laptop unique is the option to remain always-connected via use of a CDMA SIM card. This means data plans from the major wireless carriers, namely Verizon, are available for this laptop that allow for cellular data connections anywhere. I was unable to test the cellular data on this machine, but I have used other modern Snapdragon devices with much smaller radio antenna arrays and always found great 4G speeds and reliable connections. - Performance For all the praise I’ve heaped on the Lenovo C630 thus far, performance is where this ambitious device struggles. The Snapdragon 850 is a powerful processor for smartphones, but the Windows on ARM experience at this time is quite taxing. Using ARM-compiled apps included with Windows or found on the Store, performance is reminiscent of late-life netbooks, where the system is plenty usable but clearly nowhere near as snappy as a full x86 laptop or desktop. The system starts off great with its SSD making boot and app load times minimal, but once under way small hiccups are ever present like the system is hurting for memory. With 8GB of DDR4 onboard, however, it is extremely unlikely that the memory is a bottleneck. While ARM-compiled performance is fine, the app selection is quite limited, but Microsoft mercifully integrated an ARM-to-x86 translator that activates seamlessly when someone tries to run a traditional Windows app. This is quite the feat, as it indeed allows for the seamless use of most 32-bit x86 applications on this Windows build as if they were native, but compatibility is mixed. You’ll want to do some research before leaning on the translation layer. Unfortunately, “passable” ARM performance becomes “marginal” x86 performance. The on-the-fly translation adds a lot of additional overhead and it shows, with most apps taking three to five times as long to perform the same functions they would on an x86 laptop of similar caliber. They do work, however, and thus mission-critical office, mail, and other apps should be usable as needed. The Snapdragon’s integrated graphics chip (the Adreno 630) performs quite well for what it is. Sitting on-par with Intel’s HD Graphics, the DirectX-compatible GPU does a good job rendering low-intensity games and some casual eSports titles without issue. I wouldn’t recommend competitive sessions by any stretch though. GPU support for the latest H.265 video codecs means full-screen 4K video playback is smooth. - Battery Life, Charging The flip side to mediocre performance on an ARM chip means the gains are made elsewhere, and it shows in battery life. This is the longest-lasting notebook battery I have ever used. After a full charge, it took 20+ hours of mixed use (video, office, web browsing, some gaming) at moderate brightness to see a low-battery warning. Lenovo’s 22-hour claim may actually be understated in this regard. Charging times are acceptable using the included AC charger (about 3 hours), but the versatility of USB-C means any charging brick can recharge it, making it very convenient to carry around one less charger when traveling. Speeds may not be nearly as fast, but the convenience outweighs the time in my opinion. - Conclusion A laptop lives and dies by its weakest link, since even the best feature set can be marred by a single glaring issue. With many victories, the Lenovo falls just short of perfection simply due to the Snapdragon processor, as Windows on ARM is in its infancy and isn’t well-optimized for the current offering. This will very likely change as Windows on ARM matures and receives updates to boost performance, but at this time it’s difficult to recommend caveat-free. Early adopters are taking a gamble on this future support, but so long as the performance is acceptable to the buyer I can see this becoming a worthwhile purchase. Spend some time with this one at the store, because if it meets your needs and expectations, you’re getting a quality device with unmatched battery life and connectivity.

I have this computer, I just bought it 2 days ago from Best Buy. I am having major issues with the display. First the display automatically dims itself even when all of the auto dimming features have been turned off, and all of the energy saver features are turned off. When the computer is connected to the power supply it doesn't have any issues, but when its running on the battery it auto dims and acts very chopy. Also I have watched many YouTube videos about this computer and it seems that the display on everyone else's computer is very bright. Mine isn't all that bright. I know the specs for this computer and i am well aware that the display is average but even in that case my unit in particular seems below average compared to others who have this computer. I don't know if my unit is defective or other people have this same issue. I am not concerned too much about the brightness, my main concern is the auto dimming on battery power and how i cant find a resolution on how to stop it. I have tried everything. Please help.

I was skeptical to purchase Snapdragon processor laptop, but it is a good light weight laptop, I use it for photoshop. Adobe photoshop works smoothly without any delay. Haven't tried to play heavy games on this though.

This works well for me, very simple to use. Thanks again!

I love this laptop , I also purchased and Lenovo monitor to use while working from home. This laptop makes everything easier , fast processor, ram is amazing. a nice size memory with a great feel of quality. Backlight it nice and strong while using in the dark or low light areas, keyboard feels amazing this is a must have for work, school, entertainment this laptop is a must have. I have use my mobile internet service when I’m in non hotpot or internet areas . My only problem with this beauty is the screen size. A+++++ product purchase with confidence !

I was skeptical going into the review of this device. I have not heard many good things about the previous generation of WOS devices but the promises of long battery life and constant connectivity sounded amazing so I went for it. There is not a whole lot in the colorful box it comes is. You will find the device, power cables, documentation a sim ejection tool. I did not receive my device on contract so there was no SIM inside. Hardware quality: I found the overall feel to be premium at first glance. The entire device is made out of metal that looks very appealing. I was thoroughly impressed by the keyboard as it feels extremely intuitive and comfortable to type with . If you push the middle of the keyboard you will see some flex in the frame, looks like the thickness of the metal was designed in a cot saving fashion. The screen stays pretty stable with a little bit of wobble when touching, nothing too drastic though. The design is very comfortable in a lap or folded back in tablet mode. It is easy to over long periods of time and never gets hot (more on that later). Weight is a little on the hefty side but it is lighter than many competitors. Display: The display is overall in the above average range. I tested for P3 Gamut support, none to be found here. It seems to be pretty good with sRGB reproduction as far as my eye can tell. This is not an HDR display so don’t expect colors to pop. The brightness is good as I keep it on 25% most of the time and it is more than bright enough at home or in my office. I noticed a tiny bit of ghosting when you move the mouse quickly over a dark display but it is rarely noticeable. Sound: This is my main complaint. The speakers sound tiny to my ears. There is very little bass and seems to emphasize on vocals in music. This is good for podcasts but I am much happier using it with headphones. It appears to support 24bit 48kHz (via speakers) but it is nothing to write home about over the tiny speakers. Over Bluetooth I believe (couldn’t confirm) that it supports APT-X HD but it does appear to support APT-X via Bluetooth as far as I can tell. Performance: This is hit or miss. Using a Snapdragon 850 processor, the device works extremely quick if the app is compiled for ARM Processors in the Windows store. If it is compiled for X86 (Spotify, iTunes), it will be a little sluggish. Most of the main apps I use for business have ARM or ARM64 versions available so I have little complaints here. I usually do benchmarks but these are hard to compare since to install most of them you need to take the PC out of S mode and find a Win32 app to use. I didn’t bother since most benchmarks seems to be Win64 these days. The only App I tend to use a lot that I couldn’t install from the Windows store was Photoshop Elements since it is x64 only which is not supported (currently) by Snapdragon emulation. Battery: WOW!!! After using it for two days, I have been greatly impressed. Today I used it at work with constant use and it is showing I am at 84% with about 14 hours remaining, this seems to get cut in half with the battery at 50% (which is still 9 more hours!). This is with the screen at 25% and wifi/cellular on. This is the first laptop I have ever owned with zero anxiety of it lasting the whole day. Wireless: Another WOW!!! Wi-fi is as expected with a normal 866mbps connection in my house vis 802.11AC. Where I was impressed was when I popped a T-Mobile SIM inside. The T-Mobile people were amazed since they had never seen a laptop with a SIM card. They ogled over it for a while then got me up and running. In my house with three bars via cellular, I got a ping of 26ms, 75mbps down and 13mbps. The laptop is designed for Verizon so I do not know if you will get better or worse on that networking but on T-Mobile, it is great! I have to say, I was not expecting such a change with cellular on a laptop but this is one liberating experience! I never had to hunt for Wi-Fi, never had to enable hotspot on my phone, never had to do anything! It was always connected and downloading emails and messages just like a phone. This is truly cool if your job is road warrior related. I drive a hundred or two miles each day and work out of different offices… it feels like complete freedom! Other: Since it is using a mobile phone chip, when you play music or podcasts and shut the lid or push the power button (in laptop or tablet mode), the music and podcasts keep playing! Just like a cell phone! Turning it on is truly instant, no waking from sleep or hibernation here! The fingerprint reader is one of the fastest I have seen on a laptop. Conclusion: I had a few faults throughout this review, but overall I still give it perfect score. If I could make one change, it would be for better speakers. Other than that, it is the perfect laptop for my work needs. I would not bother to do any graphic design or gaming on this but for documents, internet, email, music, presentations, reading, it is perfect! If you are in the Microsoft ecosystem, this is the work laptop for you. Great job Lenovo!

It is very good laptop, perfect performance, great touchscreen. The only issue is has no USB port and you should use a USB-C to USB adapter.

The concept is still lacking in contrast to intel powered computers due to lack of support for applications on Snapdragon processors (limited to apps in the windows store); but when it comes to literally performing a marathon of media consumption, web browsing, emailing, and light tasks, there is no laptop or tablet that will outlast it... this is THE BEAST to best. Bottom line is: this is a fantastic piece of travel gear, once one is aware and comfortable with the inherent balance of pros and cons of it. “If You Judge a Fish by Its Ability to Climb a Tree, It Will Live Its Whole Life Believing that It is Stupid.“

This laptop is easily fast enough for the work I do, and light enough to be easy to travel with. And it feels very solid, so it should be relatively rugged.

This is a very well designed laptop, bright screen, and easy to use. I couldn't be more happy with what I got and the value it was.

Bought this laptop for my daughter for college. I was worried about spending to much but this machine was the right price and offers everything she needs!!

This is a better value than any tablet. It's windows based and runs off my Xtra sim card. Very fast. Enough of what you need to be portable yet productive.

Everything I was looking for in a laptop to take on the road. Lightweight and compact. Works with any Verizon tower, which means everywhere I travel.

Purchased laptop(s) for business users working at home during pandemic. They were the only ones available and work good for home use but lack 'business' tools (USB ports).

It’s a little slow and it didn’t come with a Lenovo pen, plus it didn’t have a ups port which was one of my biggest necessities, but it’s still slim, kinda cute, and good enough for the moment

Really happy with the laptop. Only negative is the lack of USB ports for using other items such as card readers, portable storage etc.

Bought to start working from home in March 2020 because of COVID-19. Its fast enough at 8GB, lightweight. Love it.

It does what it’s supposed to, but it’s slow and easily lagged down, and I just use it for general daily use. If you want one wait till it’s on sale. Not worth the full price

Really great laptop and will meet college requirements for our son. The processing speed is not fast enough to play many of the games he likes to play online but it is a workhorse for basic use and simple gaming and streaming.

Having a SIM and eSIM available on a laptop is great. It's also light enough for travel at over 2.5 lb, yet still quite sturdy... Before purchasing, be aware that: * generally MicroSoft apps and apps from the store work fine * it's running an ARM processor so not all apps work, though * some apps will work, but run slower Some technical details: * virtualization is not enabled, so WSL 2 will not run * WSL will run however * there's very limited Linux support at the moment (basic functionality works, but touch, wifi, camera, etc. may not)