Yoga C940 - Quality Control

RandomStyuf · December 2, 2019

Hello everyone...

Almost 2 months ago, I bought a Lenovo C940 (14 inch model, with the Ice Lake i7 1065G7, 16GB of RAM, an FHD display and 1TB SSD).

I've been dealing with quality control issues since, and am now on my 3rd laptop (second replacement unit) which also has an issue.

I'm writing about this here for two reasons:

1) Throughout my issues I've been searching online for other people who experience problems with the C940, and haven't found anyone with similar issues, which is part of the reason I've continued to replace the laptops and not just request a refund. Recently I realized though that just like I haven't been posting about my issues online, I assume many others haven't either so it's probably a good idea to put this out there for Google to see (and this is the only relevant forum on which I have an account) and for people to make informed decisions.

2) To hear from other C940 users if they've experienced any of the issues I have.

(Note: In general other than the QC issues which are different in each laptop, and the hassle that comes with them, I'm very happy with the laptop. I bought it immediately upon release and all of the 3 laptops are from the first batch to arrive in my country, and judging by the dates, probably the first manufacturing batch or close to it. If I choose to replace this 3rd replacement because of the issues, the replacement should be new stock that just arrived in the country so I'm thinking that it might be a later manufacturing batch)

Issues I've encountered:

Laptop #1) The keyboard arrived with the "5" key on the keyboard not registering unless it was pressed at specific angles (as I found out when trying to connect to a wifi network with a '5' in the key right after un-boxing it). Otherwise it was great.

Laptop #2) Everything seemed great until 6 days into the laptop being with me, it started blue screening on boot. I tried to enter both the Windows repair mode and the Lenovo recovery, and both of them would blue screen or freeze up on boot. I also tried booting from an Ubuntu live USB and it got a kernel panic while booting. I'm not sure what caused the problem but it's clearly a hardware failure. The only time I managed to boot it for long enough to recover some critical files I had just worked on was on a cooling pad, but then later I could not reproduce getting into Windows on a cooling pad again.

Laptop #3) (Current laptop): This laptop has a number of issues:

a) And the major one which is the reason I'm not keeping it either way, is that after 11 days of the laptop being with me (mostly static on a desk) the hinge started to make noises that sound slightly like clicking and creaking. This is both annoying and worrisome for the lifetime of the product. (I attached a video with the sounds it makes). There is also a slight change to the feeling of opening and closing the hinge relative to the previous two laptops (from the beginning it was different) and even relative to the laptop when it .

b) For a few hours there was a creaking noise when pressing down on the bottom right corner of the palm rest. I'm not sure how or why it stopped though, which is also worrying.

c) The pen input has occasional jumps, as if it registered a pen input somewhere else on the screen suddenly. This has happened to me only 5-6 times over the 11 days, but it didn't happen even once with the other two laptops.

d) In general, something about the build quality feels a bit less when compared to the first two, but I can't quite put my finger on anything specific. It could be the way the hinges feel (or even felt before the noise) and that the touchpad feels just a touch looser than the previous one, but I think it's mostly because I have the ability to compare so directly between them and it could just be regular variations and tolerances between machines.

So this is the current situation. I'm currently trying to decide if to send the laptop back to Lenovo for DOA (and a replacement laptop) or if enough is enough and I should fight to get my money back and look at other options.

Do any other C940 owners have any issues like these? Or did I just have really bad luck?

(Edit addition: I still haven't sent in the laptop but a representative told me that "Hinges are usually not covered by the warranty". I hope that's not the case here because if it is it's unacceptable)

liopag2 · December 11, 2019

Hi there! Created an account on this site just to answer this post. Can confirm, my Lenovo c940 14 inch UHD does this same creaking sound, but not as drastic to the hinge as in the video. Mine does it when converting it to tablet or tent mode by holding it by one of the edges give it a flip. The chasis is the one making the noise more than the hinge, since everytime I hold it up in one hand it makes the sound. Something is definitely not glued inside there well.

And to add, this is my second Lenovo c940 I have, since my first one had incredibly slow recharge speed (3 hours to max charge it) and suddenly it didn't want to wake from sleep unless I restarted it. Going to go soon to Best Buy and have it changed yet again because my old made absolutely 0 creaking sounds at all, and to get a replacement laptop more faulty than the original is just a no deal for me.