The latest analysis, news, findings and scoops on ultrabooks and ultra-portable laptops.

The latest analysis, news, findings and scoops on ultrabooks and ultra-portable laptops.

premium 2-in-1 format nice bright OLED screen excellent trackpad with good keyboard good everyday performance and fast SSD Very impressive speaker array! FHD webcam with Windows Hello and fingerprint support fair price

careful with those shiny edges in tent mode rather large bezels for a 16:10 construction the non-oleophobic screen may bother some very difficult to open up for upgrades battery life could be better

Next on my list is the Lenovo Yoga 9i.  It’s not a laptop I’ve ever considered buying in the past, but it’s certainly piqued my interest at some point or another.  The 2-in-1 concept is very niche, and it just was never something I “needed” in my lineup, and yet I commonly try to think how I can use a machine like this.

We’re nearly a decade after the first Yoga model was released – and boy has it matured.  Today we have a polished model, with a 14” OLED display, a huge trackpad, face unlock, and a built-in soundbar.  Pretty cool features, if you ask me.

At the same time, being a 2-in-1, there are a couple of things that make it a little less than ideal design, compared to a standard tablet or laptop.  Jack of all trades and master of none might very well fit the case here.  But after a few weeks of using this exclusively, I know this device will find a good home, especially with those that appreciate a competitive everyday laptop, but would also want the occasional tablet use, for multimedia purposes.

When taking the Yoga 9i out of the box, I definitely got the feeling that I was dealing with a quality machine.  The all-aluminum CNC design gives the device a sturdy look and a familiar feel.  It almost feels like the laptop is made from two large tablets.  No creaks in the chassis and the rounded edges make you feel like the device was just a single piece of aluminum.  It’s a unique design too, which I really appreciate.

Handling was equally good.  I typically picked up the device from the corners, while open.  I never got the impression that the chassis was weak, and the laptop certainly is light enough to handle this way.  The symmetry is also real, as the laptop is pretty well balanced, closed or open.

The only criticism I have with handling is that the finishes are a little too smooth to the touch for my taste.  The matte finish coating of smooth aluminum on the top and bottom certainly makes the device look clean.  But as a consequence, the device is a little slipperier to grab than others.  Certainly could be worse, but it’s worth noting.

Let’s talk about the actual design now.  The lid is a smooth matte finish, with the color being what Lenovo calls “oatmeal”.  It’s appropriate.  On one corner, there’s an embossed Yoga logo.  On the other is your typical Lenovo badge.  Both blend in and look nice.

Lifting the lid is a one-finger effort…usually.  I say usually because of the feet.  Fact is, they are just very small and don’t provide enough friction on smooth surfaces.  Between this and the low weight of this device, it occasionally walks on you while lifting the lid, requiring a second hand.

Underneath is a large 16:10 QHD+ touchscreen.  We’ll get more into the screen in a later section.  Above it is a FHD webcam that has IR capability for Windows Hello face unlock.  The panel is mostly glass and the bezels on the top and sides are reasonable.  I’m a little disappointed in the bottom bezel though, especially since it’s partially plastic.  This is a 16:10 screen so I expected a smaller lower bezel just like all the other 16:10 models out there.

Below all that is a keyboard and a large trackpad.  We’ll cover these in more detail in the next section.  But there’s also a fingerprint scanner on the lower right-hand corner of the keyboard.  The hinge is pretty remarkable too because it also doubles as a soundbar, containing two tweeters.

The bottom is nearly as smooth as the lid.  A bunch of Torx screws hold the bottom plate in place, but it’s a very clean fit.   There are also intake grills for the fans down here and bottom-facing main speakers.

Let’s discuss the IO now.  Being a thin 2-in-1, the IO is limited, but is still pretty decent.  Starting on the right-hand side, there’s a power button and a single USB-C which supports DisplayPort and PowerDelivery.  There’s also a headphone/mic combo jack.  Not exactly the side I want my headphones, but at least it’s towards the back.  Towards the front there are some holes for the speakers.

The left-hand side has a little more than the right.  There are two Thunderbolt 4 USB-C ports, one of which supports charging.  There’s also a USB-A port.  Finally, there are some more holes for the left speaker, towards the front.  That’s it – no HDMI or SD card slot on this model.

To sum it up, the design is really good.  But it falls short when you compare it to a traditional laptop.  If that were the case, I would expect even smaller bezels and larger feet.  But this is a Yoga laptop, so it deserves a small pass, due to the added features – the biggest of which being the 360-degree hinge.

The whole point of the Yoga lineup is that the hinge allows the screen to fold all the way back flat against the back of the laptop.  Basically, it becomes a tablet.

Handling in this mode is just fine, as the device is still light enough to hold with one hand.  I also didn’t find it overly thick, although an iPad is obviously thinner.  Still, for a 2 in 1, it’s just fine.  I haven’t used any of the previous Yoga models, but somehow I think the hinge design here is superior, as I found it to be perfect as is.

In a practical sense, I didn’t spend a lot of time using this device as a tablet.  I just don’t think Windows is the ideal OS to be used in that way.  I did use it for note-taking once in a while and it did the job fine.  But for media consumption, I use it in laptop mode for the most part and occasionally in tent mode.

The only criticism I have against tent mode is you need to make sure your surface is clean.  Resting your shiny round aluminum edges on rough surfaces will for sure make a mark on this device.  That goes for “presentation mode” too, where you lay the keyboard face down with the screen upright.  There are no legs on the palm rest to protect it, so this mode isn’t recommended imo.

Regardless of the limitations, I like the design as a whole.  It just works as intended and Lenovo did a good job polishing it where they could.  The added features of the soundbar and the 360-degree hinge make up for the shortcomings with the slippery rubber feet and the bezels around the screen, and this feels like a premium device no matter how you hold it.

For the most part, I like the keyboard.  It did take a little getting used to, though.  The key travel is very shallow – which is about all you can expect with such a thin device that’s expected to flip into being a tablet.  But the feedback on the keys makes up for the low travel.

Fact is, I can type just as fast as I usually do, especially after using it exclusively for the past few weeks.  I’ve typed this review with a very low error rate.  I wouldn’t say his keyboard is as stellar as I’ve seen on Thinkpad models, but it’s certainly above average compared to most thin and light models.

The keyboard layout is pretty normal to me.  There’s no room for a Numpad, so they don’t even bother.  But they did take up some space on the right with some useful media keys and a fingerprint reader.  Peculiar layouts are a pet peeve of mine, so I really appreciate the attention to detail on Lenovo’s part to get it right here.

The keyboard is backlit, however, it’s a white backlighting on silver keys.  Not my favorite, especially since the contrast between the keys and the keyboard deck is non-existent.  But it’s not the worst I’ve ever seen.  Especially since the backlighting sensor makes it so the lighting only happens in the dark.  So leaving the feature on during the day isn’t a big hindrance as on other models.

There is a set of special keys on the right hand column.  Under the delete key is the performance toggle, which functions the same as Fn-Q in changing the performance mode.  Underneath is a dedicated button to blur the background for the webcam.  Next is a button which changes the EQ settings between three presets.  And finally a key for changing the theme between light and dark modes – pretty cool feature for OLED displays.

The trackpad is great on this laptop.  It’s very large and made of glass, so tracking and touch gestures are super smooth and accurate.  This is amongst the top trackpads on laptops and I wouldn’t change a thing with it.  I feel like I’ve been saying that about a lot of laptops lately, but I guess that’s just a good thing.

The trackpad is a clickpad style, so right and left clicks can be actuated in the lower corners.  The rest of the trackpad can be clicked as well for a left-click.  The center is much firmer to press than the corners.  Of course, by default, single and double finger taps also register as clicks.

This model includes a touchscreen input, so I want to talk about that as well.  This is one of the main features of this model, as it’s a 2-in-1 design and you can flip the screen around to act more like a tablet.

Frankly, I didn’t use the touchscreen much at all.  It’s ok, but it’s nothing compared to an iPad or Microsoft Surface when it comes to use.  I just didn’t find the screen to be “touchable” as it seems to lack an oleophobic coating like most phones and tablets have.  Perhaps a screen protector would fix this.

There is also a digitizer on the screen and my model comes with a pen to use as well.  This is also a feature I tested, but didn’t use much.  Mostly the same reasoning – the pen just doesn’t feel as good to write with on the glass as I’ve experienced on other tablets.  It was almost sticky at times.

I suppose I could make it work if I had to.  If I had this to keep, I most certainly would look for a matte screen protector that has a decent coating, to ease my concerns.  Amazon sells one that’s similar to what I have on my iPad, so I bet that would improve my opinion.

One thing that’s not fixable about the pen, though, is there’s just nowhere to put it.  Call me spoiled, but I expected magnets or something in order to store it when not used.  It just makes it less convenient to use in practical office settings, as I had to keep it in my pocket.  I actually lost it twice already, which is super frustrating…

All this stated, the pen still works ok.  Writing with it, I can definitely recognize my already terrible handwriting.  I was also able to draw a couple of things with decent accuracy.  It’s no Apple pencil, but it’s good enough for note-taking.

The screen is a pretty good selling point for this laptop.  The 14” 2880×1800 OLED panel is quite a sight to look at every day.  I always love reviewing OLED laptops because I get a break from the backlight bleed and IPS glow of my daily driver and get to enjoy the unlimited contrast ratio.

What’s weird though, is that after reviewing the Lenovo Slim 7 Carbon, I was totally expecting this laptop to have the same exact screen.  It’s the same size after all.  Turns out that the only difference in the panels is the refresh rate, which is only 60Hz on this model instead of 90Hz.  Too bad, because the extra speed really makes a difference in my opinion.

I used my X-rite i1 Display Pro sensor to verify all the specs.  Here’s what I got:

I mentioned this with the Slim 7 Carbon and the same applies with this screen too: there are some side effects to OLED that should be noted before you decide to buy.  For starters, the extreme viewing angles just aren’t as stellar as they are with the top IPS panels. I noticed some rainbow colors when you get to the 60-degree angle mark.  The text is still legible at least, but it’s just not as good looking.

Also, “black crush” can be an issue on this laptop.  When watching shows on Netflix, dark scenes typically look pixelated.  On IPS, these are kind of washed out by the backlight where the blacks look more grey at high brightness levels.  But on OLED, the blacks are really black and the pixelation is WAY more obvious – even distracting at some points.  The only solution is to lower the brightness so the contrast of the pixelation isn’t so bad.

Finally, there’s burn-in.  I obviously haven’t had this laptop long, so there isn’t anything I can report.  But I do worry with PCs how certain things (like the taskbar) could burn-in over time.  These 3K panels are too new to make that kind of a conclusion yet, though.

It is a great panel though.  My only gripes are minor and that’s with the glare.  I just am not a fan of seeing reflections, but this could be resolved by adding a matte screen protector.

And then there’s the lowest brightness setting…1 nit.  Seriously?  It’s laughable – there’s absolutely no way to see your screen at this brightness unless the room is pitch black.  I had to take a screenshot in order to record the screen brightness at that level, if that tells you anything. Easy enough to avoid though, just don’t go there.

I guess you could call it a feature?  I did try to type some of this review at that brightness, while in a dark room.  I got through about a paragraph before turning it up to 10%.  0% is strictly for when you just wake up I guess…

Regardless of that “feature”, this is still an excellent screen.  I would have preferred the 90Hz panel, but this is still just fine.  There just aren’t enough OLED laptops available, so it’s definitely a major feature that would attract some.

This review sample includes an Intel Alder Lake i7-1260P.  This is an Intel Evo branded CPU because not only does it include 4 cores for performance processing, there are also 8 additional cores for efficiency only.  So lower demand programs should use these lower voltage cores instead, which should save battery.

The overall performance is really good.  It’s handled everything I used it for very well and would probably make a good work machine, even though I think the device is more appealing as a content-consuming computer.

Also included is 16GB of RAM, which should be plenty for daily use.  It’s soldered, so make sure you check your configuration before you buy.  There are also 8GB configurations out there which may not be enough for some.

Since I brought it up though, let’s talk about what’s upgradeable.  Not much actually!  The only thing that isn’t soldered is the SSD.  And on this model, I have a 512GB PCIe 4.0 drive made by Micron.  The speeds are excellent, but if you want more space, you’ll have to open up the back cover.

And that’s the tricky part.  If you plan on opening this up to replace the SSD, I should warn you that it’s no easy task at all.  In fact, I would almost call this laptop unserviceable unless you are patient and experienced in opening up laptops and tablets.

It looks like just 6 screws on the bottom, but there clearly needs to be more in order to hold the cover on.  There are 3 “secret” screws under the top footpad, which really threw me off.  The footpad is held on by adhesive and clips, so it’s completely unintuitive that those screws would even be there.  For 20 minutes I was thinking the top edge was just held by clips, so I’m glad I didn’t try to force it before I finally figured it out…

Even with the screws on the top edge, there are still some stout clips between the screws, and all around, which makes getting this cover off a real pain in the butt.  I almost gave up twice (and part of me wishes I had) – that’s how bad it was.  The clip in the center was huge as well, and trying to figure out that it even was a clip made it worse.  I hope I never have to take one like this apart again.

And yeah, once you get it open, not much to see here.  A couple of fans and heat pipes, an SSD, and a battery.  The rest is the motherboard with soldered ram and soldered Wifi.  The Bowers and Wilkins speakers look pretty big and you can see how they are isolated to send the sound both down and to the side.

Let’s dig into the performance now.  I took some synthetic benchmarks to get an idea of how well the CPU performs.  Here’s what I got in Performance mode, which allows the CPU to start at 64W for a short burst, then 35W sustained, assuming the thermals hold up:

 And now let’s see how it performs in “Intelligent Cooling” mode.  In this mode the TDP starts at 64W but eventually levels off at 28W sustained:

Finally, these are the results in “Battery saving mode”.  In this mode, the TDP starts at 43W and then shifts to 15.5W sustained.  Here were my results:

Good results, especially considering the ventilation is limited from having such small feet.  The dual fans certainly help.

And here’s how the laptop handles sustained CPU loads on the three power profiles, in the Cinebench loop test.

These are consistent results and a major step-up from the previous Intel Core U platforms available in portable laptops. At the same time, the 12th-gen Core P hardware is not a proper match in this multi-threaded load for the top Ryzen U options or the Core H platforms available in other ultraportables these days.

If this were my daily driver, I think I would probably use Intelligent Cooling mode the most.  It seems to get the most bang for the buck(in dB) as far as the fans are concerned.  And by looking at just the benchmarks, those are solid scores.

I also took some benchmarks with a few games, varying in age, on the same Intelligent Cooling profile.  See below for my results:

Some of these results are pretty good.  Witcher 3 was very playable over 30fps and looked just plain excellent with the OLED screen.  Older titles will do ok with integrated graphics, but don’t expect any of the newer AAA titles to play that well.

The cooling module on this laptop does the job.  Not that the CPU is putting out too much heat anyway, but with the limited space and the fact the screen flips around, the limitations are understandable.

During normal use, the fans don’t really kick on much.  Streaming videos is normally an idle fan task, which is good.  But eventually, if you surf the web enough, the fans will kick on to a medium-pitched whirl, at around 34dB(A).  If you are in a quiet room, you will definitely notice the noise.

Heavier Internet demands resulted in the fans ramping up.  I measured 38dB(A) of noise coming from the fans.  But CPU temps hang out around 57C on average, which is just fine.

Even with my gaming sessions, the temperature averaged at 63C and only peaked at 79C.   I’ll consider this scenario the highest the fans got, which was still only 42dB(A) on Intelligent Cooling.  So all in all, pretty tolerable.  Keeping your laptop on the Quiet mode will dampen these results.

Surface temperatures were also very good.  I never found the laptop too hot to use on my lap, throughout my use.  Check out the FLIR images I took while streaming on battery and again while gaming on power.  Both not bad!

The Intel AX211 Wifi 6E  module in this unit is fine.  I don’t have a Wifi 6E router, but my connection was always stable and I experienced no unusual drops in connection.  Taking my typical router test which is approximately 25ft from my router, I pulled over 500Mbps download speeds.  Pretty good.

The Bluetooth 5.2 also worked just fine.  I used my Airpods and my wireless glasses quite frequently, and both worked fine.  That’s about all I tested on this unit.

Goodness, these speakers are something else though!  This is clearly my favorite part of the device.  There are two 3W “woofers” that are both downward and sideways facing and on both corners of the laptop.  To complement these, there is a multi-directional soundbar built into the hinge, that contains 2x 2W tweeters.

When I first got the device, I really had a tough time figuring out where the sound was coming from.  And that’s not a bad thing – the sound goes in so many directions, that it’s just hard to pinpoint.  The result is just impressive, as the sound is full, loud, and clear, no matter how you’re using this 2-in-1.

Like I said, it’s pretty loud.  Using my test song, I measured the amplitude to get as high as 83 dB(A).  The bass test hit lows as low as 60Hz, which certainly supports why the sound is so much fuller on this laptop.  Your typical laptop speakers hardly go lower than 100Hz.

The webcam is very good on this model.  It’s an FHD shooter, with well-lit images looking very sharp.  Really sharp actually, and it probably has to do with the autofocus. You do lose a little bit of detail in poorer lighting, but I’ve certainly seen much worse.

In a completely dark room, I expect the camera to be useless.  Almost every camera is, but with this one, you have the advantage of a good brightness screen.  So turning the brightness up all the way acts like sort of a flash.  Probably not an intentional feature but I’ll take it.

You may notice that my camera has the pictures blurred.  I wondered why too, because there’s no software button to do so in the default camera app.  But there is a physical button for it, which is located on the right column.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen this before and you may never use it, but it’s there for you if you need it.

You do get Windows Hello with this one, both with the IR webcam and with the fingerprint sensor.  Both worked fine for me, although I typically used the webcam.  There’s also a privacy shutter though, so if you are using that, the fingerprint sensor is very handy.  Kudos to Lenovo for including both – I wish everyone did this.

This model contains a 75 Whr battery.  That’s about what I would expect for this size of a laptop.  I took a series of battery life tests with the brightness at 60%, which is about 100 nits.  Here were my results:

I won’t say these are stellar results, because there’s better out there.  But they’re still alright.  You can certainly get a lot done on a single charge.  But don’t expect to go the whole day without your charger.

A lot of it probably has to do with the high-resolution screen combined with the touch panel.  Turning the brightness down helps to a degree. The efficiency of the Intel platform bears the rest of the blame.

The power brick is 65W and is tiny.  You can plug it into any of the USB-C ports and it’ll charge the same.  Very convenient to carry around and use, which I really appreciate.

The model I’m reviewing isn’t available yet.  But it will be available soon, at the end of April, at $1729 for the tested configuration.  It’s a lot for a laptop but, considering this is a premium 2-in-1 with a pen and touch-enabled OLED screen, it’s a fair price.

To save a few bucks, consider the lower tier model, which is currently on sale on Lenovo’s website for $1149.  It has similar specs, but with 8GB of ram, a smaller SSD, and an FHD+ IPS screen.  Also, a pretty good deal.

Neither of these is on Amazon yet, but here’s a link in case they become available in the coming weeks.

I’m a fan – this laptop is certainly intriguing.  I still don’t think I’d actually get one, mainly because I’ve learned hard lessons in the past that I can’t combine my laptop/tablet or my phone/tablet.  To me, each has its uses and I tend to get the best out of each world with separate devices.

But that is just me and I can certainly see the use for a device such as this one, especially if you’re trying to eliminate the need for a tablet.  If you’re an iPad owner, this isn’t going to come close to replacing it – iOS is just too different than Windows.

But if you’re on that fence about trying to avoid an iPad and you mainly use your computer for just media consumption, I can certainly see the use in the Yoga.  It’s portable and lightweight enough that I could use it to watch a movie or surf the web. But for taking notes, I still lean towards an iPad or even the Surface Pro ( the latter I no longer own, but had a lot of experience with).

As a laptop, this is a very capable device.  The CPU is excellent and my current configuration has enough RAM to do pretty much anything a typical user would want to do.  I do wish it had a bigger SSD though, especially since upgrading it is a nailbiter.

Additionally, all the important features are good with little to complain about: screen, keyboard, and trackpad.  You use these every day, so why wouldn’t you want them to be the best they can be.  Like I said before, this could easily be my daily driver and I meant it.  And let’s not forget about those speakers – wow!

The only thing to legitimately complain about is the battery life.  And that wasn’t really bad – it just wasn’t great.  Intel is probably to blame here (as usual), but the screen probably has something to do with it as well.  Had they used a Ryzen processor, perhaps we’d see a 20% improvement. Who knows?  But it is what is it is here.

Besides that, my only other gripes are really minor.  The non-oleophobic coating on the screen and the bezels could be better.  The rubber feet could be a tad wider and grippier too.  There’s also no SD card reader.  But I think I could live with all that.

So that’s about it.  Wish I could keep it longer, but in the end, I have to give it back.  I’m happy to answer any questions anyone has on my experiences with it though.  Please leave a comment below, especially if you got one and feel similarly to how I do.

Hi, Derek, I've really been appreciating (very much so) all of your latest reviews.

It produces a sensation similar to talking to a friend: good flow, interesting facts, accessible language. I really like it.

When you talked about that "white-coating-prejudice" on the G14, I was eating that up with a spoon! (I had a very similar opinion prior to never have seen the white G14 in person). Now you're talking about the sound and construction of this laptop and here I am, spoon in hand once again… :-p

I thoroughly enjoyed all the detailed information in this article. Overall, I only wish you could have done a slightly deeper coverage of the active pen included with this model, but we can't turn you into an illustrator overnight… :-)

Flagship laptop, newest processor, biggest 75Wh battery, sweet-spot resolution, yet only 4 HOUR battery life. Not too surprising based on what we've seen from 12th Gen H45 but still astounding.

Curious how same Asus ZenBook hardware with U-series Intel and Ryzen fare. It is certainly strange to see most manufacturers switching to Intel P & H-series on premium ultrabooks meant to "do-it-all", which includes portability from battery life.

Personally I'd like to see more battery-focused ultrabooks with 9 Watt chips (Intel i5-1230U and upcoming Ryzen Dragon-Crest CPU). Last year, Lenovo X1 Nano was the first laptop to successfully pull this off.

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