Lenovo claims 100% DCI-P3 color accuracy, and in my testing I found that my monitor supports 100% of the sRGB space and 98% of the Adobe RGB color space. I mention my display because Lenovo displays sometimes differ within the same lineup, but these results are generally in line with what you’d expect for an OLED display.
Unlike some of today’s other high-end laptops—cough, Dell XPS 13″, cough—there are a lot 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 have another USB-C port (oddly, not Thunderbolt 4, although you can charge with it) and a headphone jack. Unfortunately, however, you’ll also find a power button on the side. I hate this. I always seem to grab it when carrying it around, accidentally shutting down the laptop. Not a deal breaker, but something to keep in mind if you’re similarly clumsy.
Some great keys, one hard to use power button
Photo: Lenovo
The keyboard is one of the more interesting features of the Yoga 9i. It has nice flat chiclet-style keys. They’re not premium and uncomfortable to type on, but they work. Interestingly, the far right side of the keyboard has a bunch of one-touch function keys to control performance settings, sound settings and color settings, and even add a background blur effect to the webcam only. by a button. There is also a fingerprint reader. I really find these keys very useful, especially the power configuration button. By calling back the power when I was just browsing the web, I was able to use more battery.
The touchpad is huge for a 14-inch laptop, on par with Apple’s 14-inch MacBook Proand it works well with the multitouch gestures built into Windows. The Yoga 9i also comes with an active stylus. It works great for taking notes and it looks like it might be fine for a little sketching too.
Good for working movie buffs
Photo: Lenovo
I’m happy to report that the webcam in the Yoga 9i is pretty good too. It’s 2.1 MP, with a 16:9 aspect ratio, allowing you to shoot 1080p video. It’s not the 5 MP quality 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 that boasts the same Rapid Charge Boost feature found in other recent Lenovos, like the Slim Pro 7 (8/10, Recommend wired). I managed 11 hours and 17 minutes on our standard battery test, looping a 1080p movie (locally) with brightness at 75 percent. In more real-world testing, such as only using it for work for a few weeks, I can regularly get 12 hours, sometimes longer if I keep the brightness back a bit. That’s pretty good for an OLED laptop.
While there’s much to love about the Yoga 9i, it’s clearly not aimed at gamers. Even casual gamers will probably be disappointed by the integrated graphics performance. However, if you’re looking for a stylish, moderately powerful laptop with great sound and a great movie-friendly OLED display, the Yoga 9i is a great choice.
