Lenovo Yoga 9i Review (2023): A Stylish, Powerful 2-in-1 Laptop

Lenovo claims 100 percent DCI-P3 color accuracy, and in my testing I found that my screen supported 100 percent of the sRGB space and 98 percent Adobe RGB color space. I mention my screen because Lenovo screens sometimes vary within the same product line, but these results are generally in keeping with what you’d expect for an OLED screen.

Unlike some other premium laptops these days—cough, Dell XPS 13, cough—there are plenty of ports on the Yoga 9i. On the left side there are two USB-C Thunderbolt 4 ports, along with one USB-A port. On the right you get another USB-C port (oddly, not Thunderbolt 4, though you can charge with it) and headphone jack. Sadly, though, you’ll also find a power button on the side. I detest this. I always seem to grab it when I carry it around, inadvertently shutting down the laptop. Not a deal breaker, but something to be aware of if you’re similarly clumsy.

Some Cool Keys, an Awkward Power Button

The keyboard is one of the more interesting features of the Yoga 9i. It has flat chiclet-style keys that are fine. They’re not high end and not all that pleasant to type on, but they work. What’s interesting is that the far right side of the keyboard has a series of one-touch function keys for controlling performance settings, audio settings, and color settings, even adding a background blur to the webcam with a single button. There’s also a fingerprint reader. I actually found these keys very useful, particularly the power profile button. By dialing back the power when I was just browsing the web, I was able to get more out of the battery.

The touchpad is huge for a 14-inch laptop, on par with Apple’s MacBook Pro 14-inch, and it worked well with the multitouch gestures built into Windows. The Yoga 9i also comes with an active stylus. It works great for taking notes, and seems like it might be okay for a little sketching as well.

Good for Working Movie Nerds

I am happy to report that the webcam in the Yoga 9i is also pretty good. It’s 2.1 MP, with a 16:9 view, giving you 1080p video capture. It’s not 5-MP quality like you’ll find in some recent machines, but it’s the best webcam I’ve tested on a laptop this year.

The Yoga 9i has a 75 watt-hour battery, which boasts the same Rapid Charge Boost feature found in other recent Lenovos, like the Slim Pro 7 (8/10, WIRED Recommends). I managed 11 hours and 17 minutes in our standard battery test, which loops a 1080p film (local) with the brightness at 75 percent. In more realistic testing, like just using it for work for a few weeks, I was able to regularly get 12 hours, sometimes more so long as I kept the brightness dialed back a bit. That’s pretty good for an OLED laptop.

While there is much to love about Yoga 9i, it is clearly not aimed at gamers. Even casual gamers will likely be disappointed by the integrated graphics performance. If, however, you’re in the market for a stylish, reasonably powerful laptop with awesome sound and a great, movie-friendly OLED display, the Yoga 9i is a great choice.

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