Review: Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1 Laptop
Lenovo's Latest Yoga 9i: A Flagship Laptop with Power and Elegance
Experience the ultimate in power and portability with Lenovo's newest flagship laptop, the Yoga 9i. Featuring a stunning 2.8K OLED display and Bowers & Wilkins speakers, this laptop is a tech-savvy traveler's dream.
Sleek Design with Business Vibes
The Yoga 9i combines sleek style with professional elegance. It's the perfect companion for any business setting, effortlessly commanding attention when placed on a conference room table. Unlike the bulky Thinkpad series, the 2023 Yoga 9i offers a stylish and streamlined 2-in-1 convertible design. Lenovo has truly refined its craftsmanship with this eighth iteration, delivering a laptop that is both simple and elegant.
Comfortable Typing, Stylish Colors
One of the standout features of the Yoga 9i is its comfort-centric design. The laptop boasts rounded edges, ensuring a pleasant typing experience and reducing wrist fatigue. Compared to my Lenovo T14 with sharper edges, typing on the 9i was noticeably more comfortable. Moreover, Lenovo offers two color options: a light Oatmeal and a darker Gray model. Choose the color that suits your style and make a statement with your laptop.
Unmatched Sound Quality
Prepare to be blown away by the sound quality of the Yoga 9i. Lenovo has taken it to the next level by incorporating two Bowers & Wilkins 2W tweeters into the hinge and two 3W woofers on the bottom. The result is an audio experience that surpasses any other laptop on the market. While laptops are not generally known for their sound performance, the Yoga 9i delivers exceptional audio, truly immersing you in your favorite movies and music. For optimal sound quality, simply switch to "tent" mode and enjoy a cinematic experience.
Impressive Display and Color Accuracy
The 14-inch display on the Yoga 9i is nothing short of impressive. In fact, I initially mistook the 2.8K version for a 4K screen due to its stunning visuals. The 2.8K screen offers a 90-Hz refresh rate, making it slightly smoother and more suitable for gaming compared to the 60-Hz 4K version. Lenovo claims 100 percent DCI-P3 color accuracy, and my testing confirmed that the screen supports 100 percent of the sRGB space and 98 percent of the Adobe RGB color space. These exceptional results are in line with the expectations for an OLED screen.
Versatile Connectivity
Unlike some other premium laptops on the market, the Yoga 9i offers a generous selection of ports. On the left side, you'll find two USB-C Thunderbolt 4 ports and one USB-A port. The right side features another USB-C port (non-Thunderbolt 4, but still capable of charging) and a headphone jack. However, be mindful of the power button located on the side. While not a deal breaker, it can be accidentally pressed while carrying the laptop, resulting in an unintended shutdown.
Innovative Keyboard and Touchpad
The keyboard of the Yoga 9i is a standout feature, offering a unique and useful set of one-touch function keys on the far right. These keys allow you to control performance settings, audio preferences, color settings, and even add a background blur to your webcam with a single button press. Additionally, the keyboard incorporates a fingerprint reader for convenient security. The touchpad on the Yoga 9i is impressively large for a 14-inch laptop, comparable to Apple's MacBook Pro 14-inch. It offers seamless integration with Windows multitouch gestures, ensuring a smooth and intuitive user experience. Furthermore, the laptop comes with an active stylus, perfect for note-taking and light sketching.
High-Performance Webcam and Exceptional Battery Life
The Yoga 9i doesn't disappoint when it comes to its webcam either. With a 2.1 MP camera and a 16:9 aspect ratio, it delivers 1080p video capture. Although it may not match the 5-MP quality found in some recent laptops, it is still the best webcam I have tested this year.
Equipped with a 75 watt-hour battery and Rapid Charge Boost technology, the Yoga 9i offers impressive battery life. In our standard battery test,
it lasted 11 hours and 17 minutes, looping a 1080p film at 75 percent brightness. In real-world usage, I consistently achieved around 12 hours of battery life, sometimes even more, as long as I kept the brightness slightly lower. This longevity is particularly impressive for an OLED laptop.
Verdict: Style and Performance in One Package
While the Yoga 9i may not cater to avid gamers due to its integrated graphics performance, it excels in other areas.
If you seek a laptop that combines style, power, and exceptional sound with a movie-friendly OLED display, the Yoga 9i is an excellent choice. With its sleek design, comfortable typing experience, innovative features, and long-lasting battery, it is a versatile companion for both work and entertainment.
Embrace the future of laptops with Lenovo's latest flagship, the Yoga 9i.
Related read:
Apple introduces the 15‑inch MacBook Air
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