Lenovo Yoga 9i (14-inch) Review Philippines: Useful Luxury

Review verdict: The Lenovo Yoga 9i for the Philippines isn’t just a pretty face, as its leather-bound exterior hides powerful innards that make it a pleasure to use for both work and play.

Pros

Leather-bound lid
The best speakers we’ve tested on a laptop this year
Relatively powerful despite its thin size
Integrated stylus

Cons

Expensive
Screen quality is so-so

Almost every laptop manufacturer has their own version of a 2-in-1, aka laptops that can transform to tablets, but very few get the concept right. In fact, the Lenovo Yoga 9i doesn’t just get the formula right – it’s the benchmark that other companies should follow for their own convertible offerings.

Design

The Lenovo Yoga 9i that was sent to us for review does away with a traditional metal lid in favor of hard, genuine leather that gives the laptop a sense of elegance and premiumness that’s quite different from what we typically see in the offerings of its competitors.

The rest of the laptop is made from machined metal, and it’s pretty evident the amount of care and attention Lenovo put into the manufacturing process for thigs things. There are no creaks or wobble anywhere, and the laptop’s hinge feels very well built – important for a design that’s designed to flip over 180 degrees to become a tablet.

What’s even nicer here is that Lenovo engineered the speakers (more on this later) into the hinge itself so no matter what form factor you decide to use it’s always facing the user. That means you’re getting awesome sound no matter the orientation of the screen, making it a great choice if you want to unwind binge-watching the latest season of Bridgerton at the end of the day.

Port selection is a little sparse, which is understandable considering the laptop’s skinny profile. You have one USB-A 3.1 and two USB Type-Cs that have Thunderbolt 4, along with a 3.5mm jack. Both Type-C ports also support power delivery as well, which means you’ll only have two usable ports with the laptop if you’re charging it from the wall.

One feature we really like about the Yoga 9i is the garaged stylus in the chassis. While plenty of brands offer stylus options for their 2-in-1s, few have on-device storage that’s as elegant and useful as the Yoga 9i. The garage for the stylus is on the back of the laptop and is hard to spot unless you’re looking for it, which preserves the laptop’s sleek design.

Much like other convertibles, the laptop’s hinge rotates 180 degrees to transform itself into a tablet. The hinge is also sturdy enough for the laptop to stop halfway in “tent” mode, best used for content consumption.

Overall weight is just 1.35 kilos, making it perfect to take with you when you’re out and about now that it’s safe to have meetings offline again.

Display and sound

The Lenovo Yoga 9i’s weakest link is the display. It’s not a bad display per se: it’s a 14-inch UHD (3,840 x 2,160) panel that has a 60Hz refresh rate, along with a claimed 90 percent DCI-P3 color gamut coverage and 500 nit peak brightness. The display uses a typical 16:9 aspect ratio.

While the display does the job well, I’m a little disappointed that Lenovo did not use an AMOLED screen for this laptop, especially considering the price. With AMOLED-equipped models retailing at half the price of what Lenovo is asking for this particular model, it’s an oversight that some eagle-eyed shoppers may not appreciate.

One of the biggest draws for the Yoga 9i is the speakers on this thing. We’ve already talked about it a little bit, but there’s a reason why we’re waxing poetic about them. The sound produced by the custom tweeters integrated in the hinge as well as the two downward-firing woofers on the bottom of the laptop is unreal. The sound quality is very good considering the size of the speaker it’s coming from.

Keyboard, stylus, and trackpad

Despite the Lenovo 9i’s slim chassis, the brand did not skimp out on the quality of the keyboard. Key travel is a little shallow but it still feels nice to use. They’re firm, clicky, and give excellent feedback.

The glass trackpad is a little hit-or-miss, as you don’t get the same precise, tactile feedback as a traditional plastic one, which takes a bit of getting used to. There’s an ultrasonic fingerprint scanner to the side of the trackpad. It’s fast, accurate and adds another layer of security to the convertible.

The stylus is pretty useful even if you don’t work in a creative field, as there’s really nothing as convenient as being able to sign documents digitally direct from your screen during these times. Unfortunately, it feels a little basic – it’s rather thin, especially to other examples we’ve tested before, which makes using the integrated buttons on it difficult if you have big hands like me.

Performance and battery life

Like most thin and light laptops out there today, the Lenovo Yoga 9i is Intel Evo certified, and sports the company’s 11th Gen Core i7 processor (Core i7-1185G7), 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage.

Hardware is the weakest link with the laptop following the display, as it’s a generation behind the 12th gen offerings that are starting to find their way on store shelves this year. That being said, the laptop’s processor is still plenty capable, although serious gaming is out of the question, as the laptop does not have discrete graphics onboard.

The results of our punishing battery drain test were a little disappointing, as the Lenovo Yoga 9i only managed a time of 3 hours and 42 minutes on a single charge. Take note though that the battery loop test that we use involves streaming a YouTube video continuously from 100 to 0 with the volume set at 50%. The convertible’s awesome speakers might have worked against it in this test, as even at 50% volume it was still plenty loud and was probably consuming a ton of power. With typical use, you’re looking at at least 6 to 7 hours with the Lenovo Yoga 9i though obviously this changes depending on what programs you open and use.

Video and photo editing tasks aren’t a problem though, and the laptop’s processor can easily handle a round of Photoshop and Premiere Pro.

Wrap-up and conclusions

One thing that our Lenovo Yoga 9i review for the Philippines showed us is just how well thought out this convertible is.

While it’s certainly not the only convertible in town, it transitions smoothly into its tablet role better than most of its competitors. The garaged stylus, the speakers that follow you when you flip the display, and the overall fit and finish all come together into a great (albeit expensive) convertible.