Lenovo Yoga 9i Consider

The Lenovo Yoga 9i is clean, stylish and sturdy, and comes with an essential show and audio system – nonetheless irritating design, mediocre Intel {{hardware}} and the underwhelming haptic touchpad all hinder this hybrid.

Execs

• Spectacular design, every visually and ergonomically
• Good-quality 4K touchscreen
• Punchy, detailed audio system
• Respectable battery life and keyboard

Cons

• Haptic touchpad is disappointing
• Intel’s {{hardware}} is crushed elsewhere
• Some irritating design alternatives

Key Specs

• Consider Price: £1699
• 14in 3840 x 2160 IPS touchscreen
• Intel Core i7-1185G7
• Intel Iris Xe graphics
• 16GB DDR4 RAM
• 512GB SSD
• Dimensions: 320 x 217 x 16.5mm
• Weight: 1.4kg

The Lenovo Yoga 9i is the company’s latest flagship convertible, and it combines wonderful mannequin with first price effectivity – and comes with some fashionable choices that you just gained’t uncover on totally different machines.

There’s hundreds to like on paper, along with a leather-based lid, haptic touchpad, a tempered-glass wrist-rest and a 4K present – nonetheless quite a lot of of these choices fall flat. The Yoga faces an uphill battle on the inside, too: whereas Intel’s internals aren’t harmful, they’re often outpaced by totally different processors.

Price and availability

The £1699 / $1789 / €1799 model reviewed proper right here is the priciest mannequin of the Yoga 9i. It makes use of Lenovo’s Shadow Black leather-based lid and consists of the glass wrist-rest and haptic touchpad. This machine has a Core i7 CPU, 16GB of memory and a 4K show.

There are further fairly priced Yoga 9i fashions with a metallic finish that drop the glass wrist-rest and haptic touchpad. The entry-level model costs £999 / $879 / €1199, and comes with a Core i5 CPU and a 1080p present.

The Yoga 9i might be on the market in a 15in configuration, with beefier Intel processors and Nvidia GeForce graphics. The two fashions worth £1499 / $1699 / €1699 and £1799 / $2314 / €2099 with Core i7 and Core i9 CPUs, nonetheless they don’t get any Shadow Black enhancements.

Lenovo’s machine squares up in the direction of the Asus ZenBook Flip S and the Samsung Galaxy E-book Flex2. The Asus is further fairly priced, nonetheless the Samsung is pricier.

Design and keyboard – Good appears to be are undermined by inconsistencies

• The Yoga appears to be and feels good, although rivals are lighter
• The keyboard is okay, nonetheless the haptic touchpad is awkward
• Lenovo’s hybrid gives sturdy choices undermined by irritating design

The Lenovo Yoga 9i has a clean physique constructed from black aluminium alloy with spectacular assemble prime quality, and its movement is clear and fixed. Undoubtedly, the leather-based lid gives class to this machine, although there shall be some who gained’t just like the idea for aesthetic or ethical causes.

Lenovo’s machine appears to be and feels good, nonetheless in several areas, it’s unusual. It weighs 1.4kg and is 16.5mm thick – which might be acceptable figures, nonetheless every rivals are slimmer and lighter.

The left-hand side of the machine is residence to 1 USB-A port and two USB-C connectors that help Thunderbolt 4, DisplayPort and Vitality Provide, with a kind of required to value the machine. There’s no card slot or HDMI output, though; every are present on the Galaxy E-book Flex2.

Ergonomically, the Yoga is a blended bag. Typing on this keyboard is fast and crisp, albeit with a barely shallow movement. The Yoga 9i comes with a fingerprint reader, too, which is ultrasonic on the Shadow Black model and customary on the standard machine.

Nonetheless whereas the keyboard impresses, the trackpad suffers. On the Shadow Black machine, the wrist-rest and touchpad are constructed from tempered glass. It appears to be good, nonetheless that touchpad isn’t wise: the press movement is sluggish and it isn’t as crisp as an sincere typical pad. The touchpad embody is a thin, barely textured line barely than a bodily border, and that will usually make it exhausting to inform aside from the rest of the wrist-rest.

The Flex2 has a equally shallow keyboard, nonetheless the ZenBook Flip S’s typing gear is further satisfying and comes with further buttons. Every rivals provide larger touchpads, and the non-leather Yoga will undoubtedly be larger proper right here too.

The inconsistency continues elsewhere. The webcam has a privateness shutter, nevertheless it certainly’s awkward to utilize and the digicam doesn’t help House home windows Hey. The ability button is nicely put in on the right-hand side, nevertheless it certainly’s inlaid, so it’s powerful to go looking out with out wanting. The bundled stylus works properly and could also be neatly stowed behind the machine, nevertheless it certainly’s powerful to remove from its slot.

Lenovo makes an unlimited deal regarding the Yoga’s audio system. The two subwoofers sit beneath the doorway edge, with the tweeters cleverly crammed into the hinge, so the sound elements in path of the buyer, regardless of the laptop computer laptop’s place. They work properly, with ample component and nuance and a satisfying thump of bass alongside adequate amount to easily fill a room.

Show – An outstanding 4K panel for media and mainstream workloads

• The 4K panel gives first price distinction and colour accuracy
• Can’t take care of Adobe RGB or DCI-P3 duties
• The Yoga 9i audio system are great 

The 4K choice, IPS know-how, and get in touch with {{hardware}} suggest the Yoga’s 14-inch show is crisp and versatile, nonetheless I do need it used a 16:10 side ratio barely than 16:9 – that will allow further vertical home for working.

Nonetheless, the Yoga’s panel is good for media viewing and for work duties the place you need brightness and vivacity barely than accuracy. The utmost brightness of 484 nits permits indoor and outdoors use, and the black degree of 0.33 nits is deep adequate to current media and pictures first price depth. The following distinction ratio of 1466:1 is good for an IPS present, and it ensures clear gradients, good nuance and vibrant colours.

The widespread Delta E of two.76 is good barely than good, though, and the Lenovo present rendered a robust 98% of the sRGB gamut. Nonetheless, it solely returned sub-85% figures throughout the DCI-P3 and Adobe RGB gamuts, so it might’t hack workloads in these further demanding colour areas.

Nonetheless, these outcomes elevate Lenovo’s panel previous the Flex2 present. The ZenBook Flip S is undoubtedly larger, though, as a consequence of an OLED 4K panel with larger Adobe RGB and DCI-P3 gamut effectivity, brightness and black ranges.

Effectivity – Good mainstream functionality, nonetheless there’s a great deal of vitality elsewhere

• Intel’s Core i7 chip is an efficient frequently different
• The built-in graphics core is okay for casual, mainstream gaming
• The Lenovo is a persistently spectacular thermal performer

The featured Core i7-1185G7 is a quad-core CPU with a base frequency that tops out at 3GHz and a Turbo peak of 4.8GHz – alongside Iris Xe built-in graphics. The specification is rounded off by 16GB of LPDDR4 memory and a 512GB SSD, alongside dual-band Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0.

The Core i7 silicon will take care of any browser-based and Office app, and it will take care of mainstream photo- and video-editing duties. In PCMark 10 and Geekbench, the Yoga was just a bit quicker than the Samsung and Asus machines, every of which used the marginally slower Core i7-1165G7. Lenovo’s machine was barely faster in 3DMark Time Spy, too.

By the use of gaming, the Iris Xe chip will play casual titles, and it will run some eSports and single-player video video games, whenever you’re ready to drop the usual ranges and willpower.

The SSD’s first price be taught and write speeds of 3368MB/s and 2698MB/s protect the Yoga snappy, and it’s an excellent thermal performer, with hardly any exterior warmth and persistently quiet followers.

The Core i7 chip is reasonably priced, nonetheless whenever you’re ready to compromise on kind difficulty and choices, further vitality is available on the market. Lenovo’s cheaper Yoga 6 isn’t as flashy as a result of the Yoga 9i, nevertheless it certainly’s on the market with an AMD Ryzen 7 4700U processor that’s better than 1000 elements previous Intel throughout the Geekbench multi-core test. That chip might be on the market in loads of typical laptops. After which there’s the Apple MacBook Skilled 13in, which makes use of the considerably faster Apple Silicon CPU.

Battery – Secure lifespan for every form of exercise

• All-day battery life in most work and frequently duties
• The Yoga’s battery life is very like the opponents
• The 1080p model might have larger outcomes

The Lenovo’s battery life fell between its rivals’ figures. Inside the 150-nit video benchmark the Yoga lasted for 12hrs 27mins, which is just a bit larger than the Asus nonetheless marginally behind the Samsung – nonetheless nonetheless, it’s merely adequate to current you a full day of use whenever you’re not pushing the {{hardware}} too exhausting.

In an affordable work benchmark with the show at half brightness the Yoga lasted for 9hrs 14mins, and that longevity declined by three hours with the present at full brightness. In a high-end work test with the weather really pushed exhausting, it lasted for slightly below two hours.

These outcomes are very like the Asus, and they also do often bode properly – till you’re maxing all of the items out, you’ll get by the use of your workday with this machine. Moreover remember that you may add a number of hours to these outcomes by selecting the 1080p present barely than the 4K panel.

Lenovo Yoga 9i conclusion

The Lenovo Yoga 9i appears to be good, and gives clear movement and spectacular assemble prime quality. The show is a good-quality 4K panel, and the Yoga has top-notch audio system, sturdy battery life and an intuitive keyboard.

Nonetheless, in too many areas this machine’s design is its downfall. The haptic touchpad is poor, Intel’s parts are undermined by larger silicon merely on the market elsewhere, and a great deal of little design alternatives are niggling irritations. It’s moreover heavier and thicker than rivals, and pricier than quite a lot of the opponents.

This is usually a good hybrid, nonetheless the Lenovo Yoga 9i really isn’t the one selection whenever you’re out there available in the market for a convertible, and its faults suggest that totally different machines are worthy of nice consideration.

You should purchase the Lenovo Yoga 9i if…

• You’re looking for a clean, wise machine that seems the half
  The Lenovo appears to be good, the design is clean and sturdy, and it strikes properly – even when it’s just a bit heavier than its rivals. Visually, this machine is unbelievable and may impress in every situation.

• You desire a computer that will make media look and sound good
  The 4K show is shiny, sharp and punchy, and it’s joined by wonderful audio system that offer crisp sound, ample component and daring amount. It’s a beautiful hybrid for having enjoyable with media and video video games.

• A normal laptop computer laptop kind difficulty merely isn’t adequate for you
  The Lenovo’s hybrid design means it actually works in its tent and capsule modes, which might be best whenever you uncover a typical laptop computer laptop design too restrictive.

You shouldn’t buy the Lenovo Yoga 9i if…

• You need crucial processing vitality
  Intel’s Core i7 CPU is okay for frequently use, nonetheless AMD and Apple every provide way more processing functionality for extra sturdy workloads and further demanding content-creation.

• You want a better set of choices, notably for work
  The Yoga does have some good choices, nonetheless there’s moreover hundreds missing, from the scarcity of House home windows Hey help throughout the webcam to the absence of a card reader.

• You prize keyboard and trackpad prime quality
  The Yoga’s keyboard is okay, if shallow, nonetheless the trackpad on the Stealth Black model is disappointing, with sluggish button presses and underwhelming haptic strategies.