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The ThinkPad emblem is synonymous with unswerving and top rate laptops, typically of the Windows selection. For some time now although, some have include ChromeOS put in, as is the case with theThinkPad C13 Yoga Chromebook from Lenovo.
So, how does the exchange in running gadget impact the revel in? Here’s the total Tech Advisor assessment of the Lenovo ThinkPad C13 Yoga Chromebook.
Design & Build
Anyone who has noticed a ThinkPad within the remaining decade or extra will know that they arrive in black liveries. But, marking an peculiar departure from shape, the C13 Yoga Chromebook is decked out in Abyss Blue, which is a type of steel military hue that appears very fetching at the aluminium chassis.
It nonetheless proudly claims its noble heritage although, due to the ThinkPad emblem, in conjunction with the purple sparkling dot over the i, which occupies the highest left space of the lid. Opposite that is the Chrome emblem, denoting this a Chromebook, and there’s additionally steel plaque at the proper decrease facet with the Lenovo emblem.
While this may all sound somewhat busy, it’s all tastefully performed and assists in keeping the environment friendly, business-like aesthetic for which ThinkPads are identified.
Twin, angled hinges enhance the rear edge, offering a complete 360-degrees of rotation for the 13in show, whilst the flanks have the ThinkPads same old large number of ports. These come with 2x USB-C, 2x USB 3.0, HDMI, a microSD card reader, 3.5mm headphone jack and Kensington lock, along dual audio system.
Inspecting the decrease fringe of the entrance segment unearths a small indentation. This is a stylus that lives throughout the frame of the C13 Yoga and can be utilized at the touchscreen show. A notched edge makes it simple to extract after which change, which is superb as little such things as this are at all times simple to lose. There’s additionally a fingerprint sensor to the suitable of the trackpad, which provides every other layer of safety to the extra business-orientated ThinkPad person.
The backside plate is house to higher rubber ft to raise the instrument off the table and make allowance the fan vent space to dispel warmth, making sure the Chromebook stays cool.
Opening the lid lands us in acquainted territory, with the vintage chiclet keyboard replete with the purple button within the centre that acts as a pseudo-mouse controller for the cursor. Love it or hate it, it wouldn’t be a ThinkPad with out such a.
Tright here’s additionally a trackpad with 3 buttons above it, cameras within the space immediately above the show and likewise on the best of the keyboard, so you’ll be able to both take a look at your self or the arena round you when in tent mode.
It’s a fairly compact development, measuring 308 x 212 x 16mm and weighing in at 1.5kg/3.3lbs. Lenovo states that’s been examined in opposition to 12-military grade necessities and a barrage of high quality tests. Oh, and the instrument is in a position to live on liquid spillages (as much as 330ml). As I stated. It’s a ThinkPad.
Keyboard, Trackpad & Stylus
Keyboards are a robust level on ThinkPads, and the C13 Yoga continues this custom in taste. Easily one of the crucial ideally suited typing surfaces I’ve used, with company keys that fall properly underneath the palms.
At first, they in reality seem like they’re no longer full-sized, most likely because of the curved decrease edges, however instantly I used to be as much as my customary typing velocity and the letters that gave the impression at the display have been about as correct as on any keyboard I’ve skilled over time. It’s additionally back-lit, which is at all times a plus and no longer at all times a given on a Chromebook.
The trackpad could also be a effective exponent of its craft, even if it kind of feels somewhat small when in comparison to the massive floor introduced by way of my same old MacBook Pro. Finger monitoring is speedy and correct, with both faucet or clicking the buttons executing instructions. The 3 buttons are peculiar on Chromebooks, and it’s just right to have the suitable click on to be had for contextual menus. The center one is much less glaring, however clicking on web-links with it opens the vacation spot web page in a brand new tab, which is in reality fairly at hand.
Taking out the stylus activates a pop-up menu to look with quite a lot of choices, together with a magnifying glass to magnify the portions of the display you contact. It all works neatly and whilst I feel you may no longer succeed in for the stylus too ceaselessly, this is a great little further characteristic to have to your locker.
One instrument that may well be helpful is the laser pointer, which places a purple dot at the section display you contact with the stylus. This can then be dragged round to intensify sure main points at the display. On a Zoom name or different video convention platform, this will have to make it simple to direct other people to main points in a report, spreadsheet or chart when the usage of the Presentation mode.
Screen & Speakers
Lenovo hasn’t scrimped at the feature-set simply because it is a Chromebook. In truth, this may well be essentially the most kitted out one I’ve come throughout thus far, which is befitting of the emblem title it carries.
The company has opted for a 13.3in Full HD 1920×1080 IPS panel with multi-touch features for the C13, and for essentially the most section, it’s a just right show.
The most brightness of 300 nits way you’ll with regards to have the ability to use it open air on a somewhat vivid day, however even if Lenovo says it has an anti-glare coating, the sleek, shiny nature of a touchscreen way you’ll nonetheless struggle with reflections in robust daylight.
Otherwise, it’s a transparent panel with robust colors and eye-burning brightness when used indoors. The contact responses are all cast, as are the stylus choices that I’ve already discussed.
Twin audio system at the flanks supply good enough audio from the ThinkPad. It’s loud, however the tones are skinny and tinny with a touch of reverb. Of route, there’s at all times the three.5mm headphone jack that lets you connect a beefier speaker or bypass the revel in totally with a couple of headphones.
Cameras
As I stated previous, the C13 Yoga comes with no longer one however two cameras. An peculiar prospect for a pc. At least the assessment fashion I examined did, as the second is an non-compulsory further you’ll be able to configure from the Lenovo retailer.
The customary webcam located above the show is a 720p unit that gives satisfactory video. On Zoom and Duo the consequences have been fairly grainy and soft-focussed even in a fairly vivid room. It will do for normal conferences, however you may need to put money into an exterior webcam if you wish to glance your ideally suited.
One safety characteristic that’s a welcome boost is a bodily lens duvet that may be slid in from the suitable of the digital camera. This is a great way to give protection to your self from would-be virtual peeping Toms.
The non-compulsory 5Mp digital camera is fitted simply above the keyboard, which most effective actually comes into play while you use the pc in pill or tent mode. It’s very similar to the primary unit, even supposing I’m moderately confused as to what you may use it to seize.
Connectivity
As it is a ThinkPad, you’ll in finding quite a few ports to be had. Two USB-C ports is usual fare nowadays, however those are accompanied by way of two USB 3.2 (Type-A), a HDMI 2.0 port, microSD card reader, 3.5mm headphone jack and the ThinkPad stalwart Kensington Lock.
It’s a effective assortment for a small and skinny instrument, which will have to keep away from desiring to debris about with dongles or hubs.
Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) is the order of the day, this means that you will have to have the ability to download the upper connection speeds as long as you’ve a Wi-Fi 6 router. There’s additionally Bluetooth 5.0 for peripherals and wi-fi headphones.
To accompany the bodily lens duvet and Kensington Lock discussed previous, Lenovo additionally bestows the C13 Yoga with a fingerprint sensor. This is changing into extra common on top rate Chromebooks however, not like at the HP Chromebook X360 14c, I couldn’t get this one to in reality release the instrument or log into my account.
Using the ChromeOS settings I used to be ready to scan my fingerprint fairly thankfully, however after that, there used to be no popularity of it when looking to release the instrument. Not certain what’s happening with this, as Lenovo has clearly selected to incorporate it as a part of the instrument, however all over my take a look at length I simply couldn’t get it to paintings in any helpful method.
Specs & Performance
While I’ve grown acquainted with seeing Intel Core processors in Chromebooks in recent times, that is the primary one I’ve used that has the brand new AMD Ryzen 3 sequence of chips. The one, specifically, is a 2.6GHz 3250C, which options 2 cores and four threads, plus a spice up as much as 3.5GHz when the going will get tricky.
This is aided by way of 4GB of DDR4 RAM and a 128GB M.2 PCIe SSD. The former feels somewhat stingy by way of trendy requirements, with 8GB typically deemed extra appropriate for gadgets on this value vary.
For nearly all of the time I had with the C13 Yoga, it used to be snappy and responsive. Unless you’re enjoying video games, then Chromebooks don’t actually have apps that push them that tough, as you’re not likely to be enhancing video or rendering high-res graphical photographs. It used to be somewhat of a wonder then after I encountered some severe slow-downs, to the purpose of freezing up and lovers beginning to kick, with just a handful of browser home windows open.
It came about on a couple of events, however gave the impression to forestall after I’d carried out a brand new replace to ChromeOS. This signifies it will had been a coding factor within the running gadget moderately than the {hardware}, and that the patch fastened the issues. Another chance is the 4GB of RAM struggles with the weight of contemporary methods.
To take a look at this out I ran PUBG, however used to be defeated by way of its emulation detection that ceaselessly occurs when the usage of Chromebooks operating Android apps. Instead, I switched to Alto’s Odyssey which ran easily, however with occasional stuttering.
To give the C13 Yoga a extra conventional barrage of exams, I ran the standard benchmarks, which returned rankings of 538 (Single Core) 1192 (Multi Core) on Geekbench 5, 463.7 for Basemark 3.0 and 71.6 on Jetstream 2.0.
These are respectable effects to your reasonable Chromebook, however don’t actually rise up to the likes of the HP Chromebook X360 14c that I reviewed just lately and which prices round the similar.
Battery Life
Compared to different fashions on this magnificence, the C13 Yoga doesn’t galvanize with its battery lifestyles. Running our usual steady streamed HD video take a look at, the Lenovo controlled six hours and fifty mins sooner than giving up the ghost. That’s 3 and a part hours not up to the HP Chromebook x360 14c and a complete 4 hours shy of the Google Pixelbook Go.
Plugging the instrument again in gets you round 43% of a complete rate in 30-minutes and 80% in an hour. For a complete recharge, the take a look at fashion reached 100% after being on rate for one hour and 40-minutes.
Software
If you’re searching at a Chromebook on this value vary, then I’m presuming you know about ChromeOS. If no longer, it’s an running gadget by way of Google this is basically web-based. Most of the apps and services and products you utilize are on-line, even supposing you’ll be able to nonetheless use the likes of Googles Docs while you’re no longer attached to the web, with the whole thing syncing up if you’re attached once more.
Android apps additionally run on all trendy Chromebooks, enlarging the collection of apps to be had. In reality, many of those haven’t been optimised for the massive displays of laptops, however they nonetheless paintings and will also be helpful additions on your paintings or recreational time.
You’ll wish to be at liberty dwelling within the Google universe if you wish to use a Chromebook, as Google services and products make up the spine of the revel in, but when that’s no longer an issue for then you Chromebooks actually are a very good possibility for many who don’t want video enhancing apps or particular device to reach their desired computing targets.
Price & Availability
There are a few other configurations for the C13 Yoga Chromebook to be had at the Lenovo web page. You too can get it from outlets corresponding to Ebuyer, Amazon, Laptops Direct and Box, ceaselessly for only £600.
My assessment fashion is the upper specced model, with the diversities being the AMD Ryzen 3 processor and 128GB of garage, which is able to set you again £619.99/$819. If you like 64GB and a 2.40GHz AMD Athlon Gold 3150C then you’ll be able to save £10, which doesn’t sound like just right monetary sense to me.
US consumers have a somewhat other set of possible choices, with the AMD Athlon Gold fashions beginning at US$599 from the Lenovo retailer, and fitted with most effective 32GB of garage. You too can purchase it from Newegg and Amazon.
In this value vary you’ll additionally in finding the very good HP Chromebook X360 14c for £599.99 in the United Kingdom or $519.99 on its US web page. Plus there’s Google’s personal Pixelbook Go for £629/$649.
Verdict
The Lenovo C13 Yoga Chromebook is definitely one of the crucial best-looking Chromebooks I’ve ever noticed. The keyboard is superb, it has a pleasing show, the stylus turns out to be useful, and the variability of ports is spectacular.
It’s a disgrace then that this sort of pretty chassis is let down by way of brief battery lifestyles. ThinkPads have a historical past of being road-warriors, however you wouldn’t need to wander too a long way from an influence supply with this actual fashion.
Specs
Lenovo Thinkpad C13 Yoga Chromebook: Specs
- AMD Ryzen 3 3250C Processor (2 Cores / 4 Threads, 2.60 GHz, as much as 3.50 GHz with Max Boost, 1 MB Cache L2 / 4 MB Cache L3)
- Integrated AMD Radeon Graphics
- 13.3in FHD (1920×1080) IPS 300nits Anti-glare, 360 hinges, Multi-Touch
- 4 GB Soldered DDR4 2400MHz
- 128 GB M.2 2242 SSD
- 4 mobile, 51Wh battery
- 65W USB-C Slim AC adapter
- 720p HD Camera with PrivacyShutter + World Facing 5.0MP
- Lenovo Active Pen (stylus)
- Fingerprint reader
- Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX200 11AX (2×2) & Bluetooth 5.0
- 308 x 212 x 16mm
- 1.5kg/3.3lbs
