Lenovo Yoga Book 9i review: A sick dual-screen laptop with life-changing productivity

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The Lenovo Yoga Book 9i is a dual-show function of art. With the incorporated folio stand, the laptop can be propped up in landscape mode to build the ideal transportable workstation I’ve ever had. With such quick app-juggling, my productivity levels had been out of this globe. 

It is like a two-monitor desktop setup you can carry in your hand. I normally had Spotify and my Pomodoro timer open on the bottom half whilst I was functioning in Google Docs on the top rated half. And if I had articles to study, I’d flip the laptop to book mode.

There’s a virtual keyboard and trackpad you can use, also. But to hold your screens smudge totally free, the Yoga Book 9i ships with a detachable keyboard, a mouse, and a Gen-three Digital Pen. With these surprisingly premium accessories, I didn’t miss the standard laptop practical experience at all. 

In truth, this was virtually an elevated laptop practical experience for me. There are surely a handful of points the Yoga Book 9i could stand to boost. It might not land on our ideal laptops web page, but I’m loving this dual-show laptop era we’re in ideal now.

Lenovo Yoga Book 9i cost and specs 

The Lenovo Yoga Book 9i is not low-priced, but it is surprisingly inexpensive for a dual-screen laptop. Our critique unit expenses $two,010 on Lenovo’s web-site and comes with the following specs: 

• Intel Core Ultra 7 155U CPU

• Integrated Intel Iris Xe graphics

• 16GB of RAM

• 1TB SSD

• Dual, 13-inch, 2880 x 1800-pixel, 60Hz OLED displays

• Rotating 360-degree Bowers &amp Wilkins soundbar 

For that cost, you will also get a Lenovo Digital Pen (Gen three), a Bluetooth mouse and keyboard, and a folio that fits the keyboard and acts as a stand for the Yoga Book 9i. If you want additional RAM for smoother efficiency, you can commit an further $57 to bump it up to 32GB.

What I like about the Lenovo Yoga Book 9i

The Yoga Book 9i is complete of remarkable attributes, like its two gorgeous OLED displays and an exceptional rotating Bowers &amp Wilkins soundbar.

Amazing higher-res OLED displays

The Yoga Book 9i provides two desirable 2880 x 1800-pixel OLED panels with a three:two aspect ratio, delivering additional vertical actual estate. The 13-inch show size may well sound modest on paper, but with two displays, there’s additional than sufficient area to function.

To test the show top quality, I watched YouTube trailers for “Fall Guy” and “Arthur the King.” An impressive level of detail comes by means of, from the laugh lines about Ryan Gosling’s eyes to the person strands of dog hair on Arthur. The colors are vibrant, also, no matter whether you are searching at lush landscapes, explosions, or bustling cities.

One particular notch beneath max brightness permitted me to see the displays completely whilst functioning outdoors on my patio — even when the sun was shining down on me in the middle of the day. With the show at virtually max brightness, even so, the battery drained fairly speedy.

Dual-show efficiency is unmatched 

My desktop Computer setup at property has two monitors, and getting two monitors is one particular of the only points that I miss when I use my laptop to function from a coffee shop or a library. Certain, I could purchase a transportable monitor to resolve this problem, but that is just further weight, setup, and cash spent.

Working with Lenovo’s Yoga Book 9i more than the previous handful of weeks has produced me comprehend I want a laptop with two displays. It is so quick to set almost everything up — and I normally bring a wireless mechanical keyboard to form on anyway, so not getting a constructed-in keyboard is not that major of a deal. 

Getting two displays permits me to pull up Spotify and my Gmail on the bottom whilst functioning on Google Docs and other apps on top rated. Or, I can watch a YouTube video whilst writing if I need to have a small further entertainment. So a lot area for activities! 

Plus, applying the Yoga Book 9i in dual-show landscape mode puts the top rated screen at a additional ergonomic height, which signifies I do not need to have to bring along a laptop stand whilst functioning remotely.

Many modes to play with

Even even though I defaulted to applying the identical mode — dual-show landscape mode propped up on the stand with the Bluetooth keyboard and mouse nearby — I genuinely appreciate how numerous diverse modes there are to experiment with. 

Working with the stand, you can prop up the laptop in book mode for two portrait displays. This mode was useful for reading or writing lengthy articles. 

You can use the Yoga Book 9i like a standard laptop, either by employing the virtual keyboard or by magnetically attaching the Bluetooth keyboard to the upper portion of the reduced show

Or, fold one particular show slightly backwards to prop up the laptop in tent mode, excellent for watching motion pictures. If you fold one particular show entirely backwards, you can use the Yoga Book 9i as a tablet.

Remarkable sound top quality

Music aficionados: these are the laptop speakers for you. The Yoga Book 9i has a rotating Bowers &amp Wilkins soundbar that gave every single song I listened to a complete-physique, atmospheric top quality that I’ve never ever heard from laptop speakers ahead of — not even from my personal Yoga 9i’s Bowers &amp Wilkins soundbar.

Though listening to Bo Burnham’s “All Eyes on Me (The Outtakes Version),” the moody, low sounds layered in the song came by means of flawlessly and weren’t drowned out when he began singing. I also played Unprocessed’s “Real ft. Polyphia’s Tim Henson &amp Clay Gober,” and its nuanced lows, mids, and highs sounded nicely-balanced and crisp.

I located the volume sweet spot to be amongst 20 to 30 %, but you can conveniently bump it up to max volume for area-filling sound that is not distorted at all.

A thin, satisfying keyboard

I was shocked that I basically enjoyed typing on the detached Bluetooth keyboard that comes with the Yoga Book 9i. It is an ultra-thin chiclet keyboard, and I never ever believed I’d be applying the words “comfortable” and “intuitive” to describe it, but right here we are.

When comparing the typing practical experience amongst this transportable keyboard and my each day driver laptop’s constructed-in keyboard, there’s no distinction in productivity. All the keys are exactly where I’d count on them to be and I never ever located myself needing to mash the Backspace essential whilst functioning to right errors. 

Beautiful ‘Tidal Teal’ colorway

In a industry complete of silver, gray, and black laptops, it was extremely refreshing to see the Yoga Book 9i’s gorgeous Tidal Teal colorway.

 

This deep teal adorns the Yoga Book 9i’s whole chassis, like the rotating soundbar, as nicely as the detachable Bluetooth keyboard, the Digital Pen, the Bluetooth Yoga mouse, and the protective folio.

What’s ‘eh’ about the Lenovo Yoga Book 9i

Some of the Yoga Book 9i’s attributes stood out to me instantly as excellent or disappointing, but other attributes floated in the middle of every single intense. 

Middle-of-the-road efficiency

For a $two,000 laptop, I anticipated the Yoga Book 9i to provide improved efficiency.

It is equipped with one particular of Intel’s new chips — the Intel Core Ultra 7 155U — and but, its Geekbench six score matched that of the HP Envy Move with an older Intel Core i5-1335U CPU. 

In practice, applying the Yoga Book 9i felt fairly zippy, but there had been pretty a handful of stuttery moments sprinkled in. 

As I’m typing this in Google Docs, I have the following open: 40 Google Chrome tabs (which is applying up certainly all of my 16GB of RAM), the Spotify app that is actively playing music, and the Clock app for tracking my time. 

I’ve been in a position to form smoothly devoid of any interruptions, but if I need to have to open a new tab or drag a window to the other show, there’s definite lag. Most persons may well not have these numerous tabs open at after, but for a dual-show laptop that encourages multitasking, it appears like some thing the Yoga Book 9i ought to be in a position to deal with flawlessly. 

When switching amongst landscape and book modes, it took longer than I’d like for my windows to figure out exactly where they had been supposed to be and snap into location. Plus, my Spotify and Clock apps wouldn’t be completely expanded for some purpose, leaving an odd gap amongst the apps and my taskbar.

A passable virtual keyboard and trackpad

With eight fingers, you can bring up the Yoga Book 9i’s virtual keyboard and trackpad. It is a completely equipped keyboard that appears just like the incorporated physical keyboard — minus the Copilot button. 

This keyboard is excellent in a pinch if you forgot to bring along the physical keyboard or just need to have to form a handful of points, but it would never ever be my 1st selection. The haptic and visual feedback when typing is useful, but my standard typing speed was slashed in half whilst applying the virtual keyboard — and I produced a lot additional errors.

When applying the virtual trackpad, the cursor can jump sometimes if you move your finger down also far and touch the virtual left- or ideal-click buttons. 

If you have the physical keyboard on the top rated half and the virtual touchpad on the bottom half, it is also probable to shed the cursor behind the keyboard — even so, this is an problem that can take place when applying the Bluetooth mouse, also.

Typical cleaning is essential

If you are applying the virtual keyboard and trackpad, you will regularly have to be cleaning fingerprint smudges off the show. These smudges can of course be avoided by applying the Bluetooth mouse and keyboard, but the chassis is slightly fingerprint-attracting as nicely. 

Right after only a handful of weeks of applying the Yoga Book 9i, its gorgeous Tidal Teal chassis has the identical quantity of fingerprints that my each day driver laptop accumulated more than months.

Conveniently transportable setup

There are a lot of elements incorporated with the acquire of a Yoga Book 9i, like a Bluetooth mouse and keyboard, a Gen-three Digital Pen, a folio, and of course, the laptop itself. 

At 1st, it seemed like a lot to hold up with, specially as an individual who flits back and forth amongst property and remote places all through the workday. But in practice, it was quick to pack up all the elements, and it was all fairly light. 

By itself, the Yoga Book 9i is just below three pounds. If you bring along all the other elements, you will be adding about four.1 pounds to your bag. 

It’d be excellent if almost everything was lighter, but it didn’t really feel like a lot further weight in my backpack compared to my each day driver laptop. That mentioned, an incorporated travel bag to hold almost everything collectively in your backpack would be a good addition.

What I dislike about the Lenovo Yoga Book 9i

Clearly, there’s a lot I appreciate about the Yoga Book 9i — but there had been a handful of points that produced me shake my head at this laptop. 

Exactly where are all the ports?

The Yoga Book 9i is lacking in the ports division, supplying only USB-C ports. Yes, it is a dual-show laptop, but the Asus Zenbook Duo proved that it is probable to deck out a dual-show laptop with a plethora of useful ports.

On the left side, you will discover one particular USB-C (Thunderbolt) port and a Lenovo Reset Recovery switch that can be triggered applying a smartphone’s tiny SIM eject tool.

Flipping to the ideal side, there’s the energy button, a webcam killswitch, and two USB-C (Thunderbolt) ports, one particular of which has AOU BC 1.two assistance for quicker mobile charging.

Brief battery life (and a quick charging cable to boot)

I didn’t count on a laptop with two 2880 x 1800-pixel OLED displays to final an extremely lengthy time, but I genuinely hoped it would at least final a complete workday with its new “more efficient” Intel chip. 

To make matters worse, it has a quick charging cable, just like Lenovo’s Slim 7 14 I lately tested. The only slight saving grace right here is that the Yoga Book 9i has a USB-C port on each sides for additional practical charging.

Lenovo Yoga Book 9i Geekbench six score

The Lenovo Yoga Book 9 earned a multi-core score of eight,642 on the Geekbench six efficiency benchmark. This is not a terrible score, but it is not excellent either.

For comparison, the Asus Zenbook Duo — an additional dual-screen laptop — earned a multi-core score of ten,344. Granted, the Zenbook Duo is equipped with a slightly additional effective Meteor Lake chip, but it also expenses much less than the Yoga Book 9.

Lenovo Yoga Book 9i battery life 

To test the Lenovo Yoga Book 9i’s battery life, we looped Tears of Steel in 1080p at 50% brightness till it died. It lasted a mere 7 hours and five minutes with the virtual keyboard and trackpad pulled up, so if you are actively applying each displays, count on the battery life to be even much less.

The Asus Zenbook Duo — which has a slightly additional effective processor and two reduced-res OLED displays — lasted eight hours and 42 minutes with the PCMark10 battery benchmark.

Lenovo Yoga Book 9i webcam and microphone

In a globe complete of blurry laptop webcams, the Yoga Book 9i’s 5MP webcam is a breath of fresh air. Colors rendered accurately, from my flushed cheeks to my green eyes and dark blue jacket — and I could spot person strands of hair, pretty crisp lines about my face, and however, the blemishes on my chin. 

The microphone is also larger top quality than what you will discover on most laptops. I hopped on a get in touch with with a pal to test the microphone top quality of the Yoga Book 9i, my each day driver Yoga 9i, and my Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra — and the Yoga Book 9i came out on top rated as the clear winner.

Is the Lenovo Yoga Book 9i worth it?

The Lenovo Yoga Book 9i is certainly worth it. It is a fairly pricey $two,000 laptop, but for that cost, you will get two beautiful OLED displays, exceptional sound top quality, and a slew of premium accessories that turn this laptop into a workstation. 

And as lengthy as you are close to an outlet, you will not have to be concerned about the Yoga Book 9i’s quick battery life.

If stronger efficiency, a improved battery life, or port availability are additional significant to you than higher-res displays, premium sound, and workstation accessories, the Asus Zenbook Duo may well be additional up your alley.

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