Lenovo Yoga C630 review: Once you go LTE, you won’t want to go back

This Always On, Always Connected PC offers all-day battery life and seamless 4G connectivity

Lenovo Yoga C630
Lenovo Yoga C630 review
Bottom Line

Ideal for frequent travelers, the Lenovo Yoga C630 is a handsome laptop that offers excellent battery life and seamless LTE connectivity, but it’s not suitable for those who require serious performance.

Design and build
Display
Performance
Features
Battery Life
Pros
Great build quality and design
Versatile form factor
LTE connectivity
Battery life
Runs cool
Cons
Performance hiccups
Poor audio
4

Laptops with built-in cellular connectivity have been around for years, but they’ve never really taken off. It looks like that is about to change now that Qualcomm has entered the PC space with their Always On, Always Connected PCs. The Lenovo Yoga C630 is the first Qualcomm powered PC from Lenovo, and it’s powered by the Snapdragon 850 chipset.

Design and build

Lenovo Yoga C630 review: Once you go LTE, you won’t want to go back 4Design-wise the Yoga C630 isn’t very exciting, but it is attractive, very slim, and business-like. We actually prefer its design to the typical laptop these days which all seem to be taking design cues from the MacBook line. Let’s just say that it’s refreshing to encounter a PC laptop that doesn’t look like it’s trying to copy a MacBook. When it comes to build quality, its aluminum chassis is excellent and sturdy. We especially appreciate that it offers the iconic and versatile Yoga form factor, meaning you can use the C630 in multiple positions, making it a true 2-in-1.

Lenovo Yoga C630 review: Once you go LTE, you won’t want to go back 5Display

The 13.3-inch 1080P display on the Yoga C630 is pretty crisp and it offers vivid colors. We also appreciate slim bezels on 3 sides, but we’re disappointed that its brightness is just 267 nits – which is well below average for this category. Also, while 1080P does get the job done, that is quite low-res for a 13.3-inch laptop in 2019.

LTE connectivity

The Yoga C630 we tested came with Verizon connectivity. The experience connecting to Verizon’s network has been seamless and very reliable – it’s pretty much as simple as connecting to Wi-Fi. While testing in New York, we’ve been seeing speeds of around 97 Mbps down and 32 Mbps up.

Which brings us to this; It’s kind of mind-boggling that we’ve been using laptops for so many years without connectivity built in. Because once you get used to having LTE built into your laptop, you’ll wonder how you’ve ever lived without it! Yes, you can easily create a hotspot with your phone, but the built-in 4G connectivity inside the Yoga C630 offers a whole new level of convenience. Furthermore, the connection is a lot more reliable than what you experience when tethering off of your smartphone.

Out of the box, the Yoga C630 comes running Windows 10 S. That limits you from running third-party applications – but you can easily upgrade to Windows 10 Home for free.

Performance

The Yoga C630 that we reviewed here is running on Qualcomm’s first generation chipset for their Always On, Always On PCs – the Snapdragon 850. While day-to-day performance is ok, we experienced occasional freezing and performance hiccups.

Furthermore, when it comes to benchmarks, most competing laptops manage to outpace the Yoga C630 by 2x-3x better performance scores. To that effect, the system earned a Geekbench score of just 3,222 and a 3DMark Fire Strike score of 744. That ultimately says to us that if performance is important to you, you’ll probably want to wait for one of the second generation Always On, Always On PCs to come out that are powered by Qualcomm’s significantly more powerful 8CX chipsets.

Battery Life

On the other hand, battery life on the Yoga C630 is very impressive. We’ve been experiencing all-day battery life averaging 10-12 hours. So many competing laptops advertise similar battery life yet can’t produce nearly that many hours in real-world use.

Keyboard, trackpad, webcam and audio

Lenovo Yoga C630 review: Once you go LTE, you won’t want to go back 6

The keyboard on the Yoga C630 is very spacious and great to type on. It’s a bit stiffer than the typical keyboards we’ve been seeing lately on similarly sized laptops, but we’re really enjoying its tactile feedback. There’s also a fingerprinter reader located near the keyboard. The trackpad is large and offers just the right amount of responsiveness. The 720p webcam, on the other hand, is very grainy, washed out and overall disappointing. Unfortunately, we continue to be disappointed with most webcams on similarly sized laptops. Audio is similarly disappointing and generally sounds tinny coming out of the Yoga’s speakers.

Bottom Line

We very much appreciate the Yoga C630’s long battery life, seamless connectivity and its well built and versatile form factor. All of these qualities make it a very attractive machine for frequent travelers. Unfortunately, its performance value is quite steep in relation to its price tag. That said, if battery life and connectivity are your priorities, then the Lenovo Yoga C630 is a worthy consideration for your travel arsenal. Pricing for the Yoga C630 begins at $756.