Enhanced Lenovo Yoga Book C930 with E-Ink Dual-Display Unveiled at IFA 2018
With the Yoga Book, Lenovo has already gained experience with a dual-display tablet. Now it’s moving to the second round: the Lenovo Yoga Book C930, presented at IFA 2018, again features two screens, but this time it uses an E-Ink screen as a secondary display and input method. Unlike the previous model, the new model, partly due to its high price of 1,200 euros, no longer falls into the tablet segment, but more into the notebook category.
The Yoga Book C930 has two 10.8-inch displays: The primary LCD screen has a resolution of 2,560 × 1,080 pixels (257 ppi), while the E-Ink display boasts Full-HD resolution (203 ppi). The LCD screen serves as a regular display for Windows 10 and can be operated through touch on the touchscreen.
Thanks to the hinge mechanism, the two screens can be flipped over in opposite directions, allowing you to use the Yoga Book like a normal tablet. Alternatively, the displays can be folded together, like the screen and keyboard on a regular notebook.
Secondary E-Ink Display as a Unique Selling Point
The E-Ink screen has three different modes:
- Keyboard: A standard QWERTZ keyboard is displayed (and can be adjusted in layout, e.g., QWERTY, AZERTY, etc., as required). It simulates the look of a regular physical keyboard with a 3D appearance. When typing, there’s also haptic feedback and a small animation that shows the keypress. Some people who have already tried the device report that these small measures make handling better than with the previous dual-LCD Yoga Book. However, whether you can comfortably compose longer texts on such a display remains to be seen.
Beneath the virtual keyboard, you can click to show a touchpad. This allows you to control the mouse pointer on the main screen. - Notepad: Using the Wacom pen, you can also create handwritten notes on the E-Ink screen. These can be directly converted into regular Notepad text, allowing you to further process the notes later.
- eBook Reader: At the start of the device, PDFs can also be read on the E-Ink screen. With a diagonal of just under 11 inches, even large-format documents are easy to read. Support for the MOBI and ePub file formats is expected to follow later, according to various media.
As the CPU, you can choose between an Intel Core i5-7Y54 or a Core m3-7Y30. The working memory is 4 GB LPDDR3 RAM. The Yoga Book C930 also features built-in WLAN, two USB-C ports, and Stereo Dolby Atmos sound. The 35.8 Wh battery is supposed to last for 8 to 9 hours. Which E-Ink technology is used is currently unknown.
Extremely Slim, Lightweight
Of course, the dimensions and weight are particularly interesting: The dual-display device measures 260.4 x 179.4 x 9.9 mm, making it as slim as many dedicated eBook readers. With a weight of 799 grams, it naturally can’t compete with an eReader. It’s about twice as heavy as a DIN A4 college notebook.
The Lenovo Yoga Book C930 is expected to be available in stores for around 1,200 euros starting in November.
Image source: YouTube/MrMobile
