Lenovo Yoga 9i - great "2 in 1" device

Most of the updates Lenovo has made for its flagship 2-in-1 device are inside, from 11th-generation Intel Core processors and integrated Iris Xe graphics to support for Thunderbolt 4. In addition to these upgrades and slightly rounded corners, the Lenovo Yoga 9i remains similar to the previous Yoga C940. 

That's not necessarily a bad thing.

Like the Yoga C940, the Yoga 9i delivers a slim and lightweight yet durable all-metal body, a satisfying typing experience, and all-day battery life. The biggest drawback of the Yoga 9i is the aspect ratio of the screen. 

At 16: 9, it is wide with less space from top to bottom than a 16:10 screen offers. More vertical space means less scrolling through long documents and websites and provides more space to work in general. 

And when you switch from laptop to tablet mode, the 16: 9 screen seems awkward for anyone who has used an iPad with a 4: 3 "box" screen.

Fortunately, we won’t have to wait long for a higher screen. Lenovo announced at CES that the next version of the Yoga 9i will have a 16:10 aspect ratio screen. As it’s currently put together, the Yoga 9i is a great 2-in-1, but it might be worth waiting for the update to come out this spring if you’re intrigued by the idea of ​​a higher screen.

Good sound output, spacious screen

Lenovo offers two color options for the Yoga 9i, one of which comes with a leather cover. If you choose the Shadow Black model, you will get elegant leather upholstery. 

With the extra layers required for a touch screen and solid 360-degree hinges, 2-in-1 devices weigh more than a laptop of comparable size, and the Yoga 9i is no exception to this rule. This model weighed just over 1 kg (1.13 kg to be exact). Still, the all-metal case works pretty solid.

The cover is positioned just off the center of the keyboard deck so that when the laptop is closed, it overhangs the front edge to create an edge that makes it easier to open the screen. However, when the screen is rotated all the way into tablet mode, the mismatch between the cover and the case is less appealing when the system is caught in tablet mode. 

One feature that works equally well in transfer mode and tablet is what Lenovo calls the Rotating Sound Bar, a speaker cleverly built into a 360-degree system hinge that projects sound toward you regardless of mode. With the speaker grilles on the front and back of the soundtrack, the sound is always moving towards you.

The sound of the Yoga 9i has an impressive difference between treble and midrange that you don't normally hear on a laptop.

The FHD screen looks sharp over its 14 inches and bright enough at its rated 400-thread brightness. The colors looked accurate and vivid, and the contrast was great with deep black and bright white.

After using a range of laptops with 16:10 screens in the past year, the higher screen is much better for general use and productivity.

The Yoga 9i has a standard 720p webcam but produces an extraordinarily well-balanced image. The colors and tones of the skin looked accurate, and the image was mostly devoid of graininess. 

It lacks IR capability, but Lenovo includes a fingerprint reader for biometric applications. Finally, the webcam has a physical privacy shield that provides peace of mind when the camera is not in use.

Fast and very responsive keyboard

The keys are flat with a shallow stroke, providing a quick response that is firmer than that on the ThinkPad. The only keys that are abbreviated are the up and down arrow keys. Everything else in terms of looks natural. 

You also get a two-level keyboard backlight, but you’ll need to keep it off during the day because you lose the contrast between each silver key and its icon when the backlight is on and you don’t type in a dark room.

The Yoga 9i has four connectors and they are all arranged in a neat row on the left edge of the laptop. There are a pair of Thunderbolt 4 ports with a USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 port and a combined audio port. 

Capabilities and performance

While models with the Core i7-1195G7 are not currently available, you will see some with the Core i7-1185G7 chip. Both are quad-core processors from Intel’s 11th-generation Tiger Lake family of processors that are almost identical.

We compared the Yoga 9i to other top 2-in-1 devices. 

HP gets two inputs in the HP Specter x360 14 based on Intel and the HP Envy x360 15 based on AMD. We also included Dell’s premium XPS 13 2-in-1 and Dell Inspiron 14 7000 mid-range 2-in-1. 

The first has a Core i7-1165G7 and the second is a Ryzen 7 5700U. 

It completes the scale of the business-oriented convertible from Lenovo in the form of the ThinkBook 14s Yoga based on the Core i7-1165G7. Each laptop has integrated graphics.

The Ryzen 7 5700U has twice as many processor cores and threads as the Yoga 9i Core i7-1195G7 chip and allowed the Dell Inspiron 14 7000 and HP Envy x360 15 to complete the test in approximately half the time.

The Yoga 9i doesn't offer the best performance when measuring multiple tasks at once, but it did great in our 3DMark test. The first place among the group of laptops with integrated graphics, however, does not make it good for gamers. 

While Intel’s integrated Iris Xe graphics are surprisingly good, as our tests have shown, you’ll need a graphics card with a separate memory if you plan to use your laptop for gaming.

The 4-cell Yoga 9i, 60 Whr battery lasted almost 16 hours, which is an extremely impressive result.

Concluding remarks

Lenovo Yoga 9i has a lot to do with it. It really meets its "premium" requirements with an all-metal body, which is both beautiful and solid. Its screen is bright and lively. The innovative speaker bar emits a very impressive sound. The keyboard is spacious and comfortable. The battery works all day and night. As a clean laptop, it's great. 

The wide 16: 9 screen of this model looks cramped and awkward in tablet mode. The taller screen will allow you to view more content on the screen with less scrolling and provide more space to juggle open windows during multiple tasks. 

It should also feel more natural when you rotate the screen all the way into tablet mode. The new model will also feature a thicker pencil for a more natural grip for drawing and scribbling. 

The current Yoga 9i is good, but the next version coming soon looks even better.

Device specifications

Lenovo's 14-inch Yoga 9i line starts at $ 14,632.00 for a configuration that includes an Intel Core i7-1165G7 16GB / 512GB SSD Win10 and a Full HD (1920 × 1280) touch screen.