Lenovo Yoga 9i Gen 7 review: Slim Convertible 2-in-1 Laptop

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Lenovo Yoga 9i Gen 7 review Slim Convertible 2-in-1 Laptop

Credit: CNET

Verdict

The Lenovo Yoga 9i Gen 7 Slim Convertible 2-in-1 Laptop with a brilliant OLED display, a 360-degree soundbar hinge, and plenty of connectors. If it didn’t come with so much software preinstalled, it would seem much more premium.

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Pros

  • Slim and stylish design
  • Option for a bright OLED display
  • A 360-degree soundbar that is loud and adaptable
  • Thunderbolt 4 connectivity and a USB Type-A port

Cons

  • Excessive preloaded software
  • SSD upgrading is difficult
  • Additional laptop keys must be programmable

At least in the United States, people are getting back into the habit of traveling somewhere. A laptop for folks who travel frequently has to be adaptable for business and other duties, fitting comfortably in a suitcase while also serving several functions. With a 2-in-1 design, the Lenovo Yoga 9i Gen 7 ($1,449.99 to start, $1,929.99 as tested) is elegant, thin, and folds into a tablet or tent.

 

This is a robust laptop that is suitable for both work and enjoyment. It’s light enough to take with you wherever you go, and its 2-in-1 capabilities make it a capable, albeit slightly bulky, tablet.

 

I’ll go through the important features and changes in our Lenovo Yoga 9i Gen 7 review. I’ll also compare it to last year’s model as well as some of the competitors to see how it performs.

 

Lenovo Yoga 9i Gen 7 review

  1. Price of Lenovo Yoga 9i Gen 7
  2. Design
  3. Display
  4. Performance
  5. Software
  6. Keyboard and Touchpad
  7. Touchscreen and Pen
  8. Audio Quality
  9. Ports of Laptop
  10. Webcam
  11. Battery life
  12. Final Words

 

Price of Lenovo Yoga 9i Gen 7

Credit: Digital Trends

The Lenovo Yoga 9i is normally $1,449, but it is now available for $1,229 on Lenovo’s website. This model has a 14-inch Full HD (1920 x 1080) display, an Intel Core i7 CPU from the 12th generation, an Intel Iris Xe GPU, 8GB of RAM, 512GB of storage, and Windows 11 Home. The laptop also includes three months of Xbox Game Pass for free.

A Core i7-1260p CPU, 16GB of RAM, 1TB of storage, and Windows 11 Pro are included in our evaluation unit. The Lenovo E-Color pen and a Lenovo 14-inch sleeve were included. The cost of this arrangement is $1,929.

 

Design

Design of Lenovo Yoga 9i Gen 7

Credit: Tom’s Guide

 

The Yoga 9i is made of a slim aluminum unibody chassis that measures 12.52 x 9.06 x 0.6 inches and weighs 3.09 pounds. The lid features subtle Yoga and Lenovo branding that complement the overall style. The heat vents are on the underside of the device, while the ports are on each side.

 

The interior of the laptop is as beautiful as the appearance. Just behind the big backlit keyboard are large palm rests. The screen’s left and right bezels are thin, but the top bezel is broader and contains the laptop’s camera. The spinning soundbar is mounted on the hinge beneath the screen.

 

The simple clamshell shape isn’t very eye-catching, yet it is attractive. The Yoga 9i looks great in practically any setting, from your living room to your workplace workstation. The 2-in-1 also looks amazing in tent mode, which is probably how you’ll view videos or movies.

 

Display

Display of Lenovo Yoga 9i Gen 7

Credit: Expert Reviews

 

In laptop or tent form, the 14-inch touchscreen OLED display is ideal for viewing films. When scrolling across online sites or reading documents, the 16:10 aspect ratio gives you more vertical room.

 

The OLED screen makes content like the Thor: Love and Thunder teaser trailer appear spectacular. The contrast between light and dark aspects, such as the bright orange alien sunset and the deep shadows it cast, greatly intrigued me. The somber Moon Knight is also stunning.

 

Lenovo claims that the 2-in-1 can attain a peak brightness of 400 nits. The average brightness of our Electronics Monk brightness test was 351 nits. Though it falls short of the claim, it outperforms the 334 nits of its predecessor and the 264 nits of the Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360. The Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio, with an average brightness of 487 nits, outshines them all.

 

The Yoga 9i produced 197.9% of the sRGB color spectrum in our colorimeter test. This model not only outperforms the previous year’s model, but also the Galaxy Book Pro 360 and Surface Laptop Studio.

 

4K displays are all the rage right now, and I’m sure some people will be disappointed that the Yoga 9i doesn’t support them. Full HD panels, on the other hand, are absolutely enough for 14-inch laptops in my opinion. Furthermore, the stunning OLED display more than compensates for the low pixel count.

 

Performance

Performance of Lenovo Yoga 9i Gen 7

Credit: Moeara News

 

I had enough power and memory thanks to the Intel Core i7-1260P processor and 16GB of RAM. The Yoga 9i kept chugging along without a hitch, even when I had upwards of 20 open tabs. Similarly, with all of those tabs open, this laptop was able to play videos.

 

The Yoga 9i scored 7,150 on the multi-core test of the Geekbench 5.4 overall performance test. This significantly outperforms the prior model’s 5,312 scores. It also outperforms the Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360 and the Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio. The Yoga 9i comes close to matching the 7,575 scores of the MacBook Air M1.

 

On our Handbrake benchmark, the Yoga 9i transcoded a 4K movie to 1080p in 12 minutes and 18 seconds. In 14 minutes and 24 seconds, its predecessor accomplished the same feat. The Yoga 9i outperformed the Galaxy Book Pro 360 (18:04) but fell short of the Surface Laptop Studio.

 

Expect to play AAA games like Elden Ring locally because this isn’t a dedicated gaming laptop. In our tests, Civilization VI averaged 24 fps, which is far lower than the 30 fps minimum that most gamers will accept. If you want to play games on your Yoga 9i, you should use streaming services like GeForce Now or Xbox Game Pass.

 

Software

Software of Lenovo Yoga 9i Gen 7

Credit: Lenovo

 

The Lenovo Vantage app comes pre-installed on the new Yoga 9i Gen 7, just like it did on last year’s model. This is where you can learn more about the laptop and get the most recent BIOS and driver upgrades. You may adjust and personalize the bundled pen with the Active Pen app.

 

Windows 11 is also pre-installed, as is the case with the majority of laptops sold this year. Our test equipment runs Windows 11 Pro, which has greater security measures than Windows 11 Home.

 

Keyboard and Touchpad

Keyboard and Touchpad of Lenovo Yoga 9i Gen 7

Credit: Lenovo

 

Laptop keyboards and touchpads aren’t my favorite because they’re often inferior to specialized mice and mechanical keyboards. However, I’m delighted to report that the Yoga 9i’s keyboard and trackpad are both excellent to use.

 

I have huge hands, so the large keyboard gave me plenty of areas to type. The large palm rests made typing for long periods of time a breeze. When pushed, the keys offer a gratifying level of resistance.

 

The trackpad on this year’s Yoga 9i is bigger than the previous year’s model. The touchpad, like the keyboard, provided all of the space I need. It was also quite responsive and accurate for me. The pointer always went where I wanted it to go.

 

Touchscreen and Pen

Touchscreen and Pen of Lenovo Yoga 9i Gen 7

Credit: PCWorld

 

The touchscreen interface of the Lenovo Yoga 9i is quite snappy, whether you use your fingers or the integrated digital pen. Because the touchpad and touchscreen interfaces worked so well together, I frequently switched between them while working. For example, I’d pick items on a webpage with the touchpad and shut or move windows with the touchscreen.

 

Because Windows 11 is touch-friendly, the Yoga 9i can be used nearly completely as a 14-inch tablet. Its huge size, however, makes it difficult to utilize as a tablet for extended periods of time. I experienced the same issue with the Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra.

 

Because of its immediacy, using the digital pen seemed natural. I’m not a big fan of digital pens in general, but I felt the one that came with it did the job. I’m sure digital artists and stylus enthusiasts will find the pen useful.

 

Audio Quality

Audio Quality of Lenovo Yoga 9i Gen 7

Credit: Windows Central

 

Although laptop audio isn’t typically the best, the Yoga 9i’s Bowers & Wilkins speaker system, which has two speakers built into the screen hinge and two subwoofers on the sides, delivers excellent sound. The Dolby Atmos software contributes to the whole experience. The 2-in-1 produces fantastic sound in laptop or tent mode thanks to the rotating speaker design.

 

I couldn’t help but bounce my head to Guns N’ Roses’ “Sweet Child O’ Mine” while seeing the aforementioned Thor teaser. During the hard-rocking sections, the music was powerful, while the pre-verse portion was mild. The sound quality of music on this laptop will not disappoint you.

 

Ports of Laptop

Ports of Lenovo Yoga 9i Gen 7

Credit: Curated Mint

 

When it comes to ports, the Yoga 9i keeps things simple. On the right side of the device, you’ll find a power button, a USB-C connector, and a headphone/mic combination jack. On the left, there’s a USB-A port and two Thunderbolt 4 / USB-C connections.

 

Ports are positioned as far back as possible on the sides. As a result, you won’t have to worry about cords getting in the way of your work. You may argue that this laptop lacks sufficient ports, but given the ease with which you can attach extra devices like keyboards and mice through Bluetooth, I don’t believe this is an issue.

 

Webcam

Webcam of Lenovo Yoga 9i Gen 7

Credit: Review Geek

 

A 1080p Full HD IR camera with a privacy shutter is included in the Yoga 9i. These features improve on the model from last year, which had a mediocre 720p resolution and no IR capabilities. We live in a world where video conferencing has become a standard necessity for most people, so it’s nice to see Lenovo provide a camera that’s more suited to how we operate now.

 

Under optimal lighting circumstances, the camera produces crisp photos and video. The colors are quite realistic, and the image is clean and crisp overall. When utilizing the camera in a low-light environment, there is perceptible grain, but not enough to be an issue. This is a good built-in camera for online conferencing or checking up with friends and family.

 

Battery life

Battery Life of Lenovo Yoga 9i Gen 7

Credit: The Verge

 

On the Electronics Monk battery life test, the Yoga 9i lasted 8 hours and 8 minutes while surfing the web over Wi-Fi with the screen set to 150 nits of brightness. The Yoga 9i’s 8:08 runtime is much less than its predecessor’s 11 hours and 15 minutes, which might be owing to the current model’s OLED display. The Yoga 9i is outlasted by 2-in-1 laptops like the Galaxy Book Pro 360 and Surface Laptop Studio.

 

We determined the warmest spot on the underside of the Yoga 9i to be 105.5 degrees Fahrenheit in our normal heat test, which entails passing a heat gun over the laptop after streaming 15 minutes of full HD video on it. Temperatures above 95 degrees are often considered unpleasant. However, if you use the Yoga 9i at a desk, this isn’t an issue. The Surface Laptop Studio and Samsung Galaxy Pro Book 360 are significantly cooler.

 

Final Words

In many aspects, the Yoga 9i Gen 7 is an upgrade over last year’s model. That’s saying a lot, given how much we enjoyed that 2-in-1 laptop, but this refresh is simply that amazing. The powerful 12th Gen Intel Core i7 processor and enough RAM provide flawless multitasking, while the large keyboard allows you to work comfortably for long periods of time.

 

Highlights include the upgraded webcam and thunderous speakers. While our configuration’s battery life is smaller than the previous model, you should be able to go through the majority of a typical workday.

 

The one big criticism I have about this laptop is that it makes for a clumsy tablet. Yes, the touch interface is responsive and simple to use, but the laptop’s size prevents you from using it in one hand as easily as a smaller tablet. Despite its size, it’s feasible that some people may regard the Yoga 9i to be a perfectly adequate Windows tablet.

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