LENOVO YOGA 9I: FRIENDLY, FUN, AND WELL-ROUNDED

                  "This Laptop Battery Lasts Twice As Long As Your Old Ones!"

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The ultraportable market is saturated, with products like the Microsoft Surface Pro 8, Dell XPS 13, and HP Spectre x360 14 vying for attention. These are all terrific laptops that aren't overly expensive and have the ability to appeal to a wide range of people.

While the $1,729.99 Yoga 9i doesn't quite match those gadgets in terms of beauty, it's just as fun to use, and it comes with a unique set of features that set it apart from the competition. The primary one is the OLED display, which, like many of Lenovo's premium laptops in recent years, has been switched to a 16:10 aspect ratio. A new edge-to-edge display is another improvement over last year's model. In the last year, there have been a lot of high-end laptops. A redesigned edge-to-edge keyboard with an extra row of function buttons, a bigger touchpad, and softer corners and edges provide for more comfortable use and a friendlier design, all of which are advancements over last year's model.

I'm quite delighted with the result because Lenovo corrected almost every issue I had with last year's Yoga 9i. However, obtaining the gadget is today considerably more difficult than it was last year. This is an excellent laptop that continues to improve, and I wish it wasn't so tough to obtain right now.



To begin with, let's look at the screen, which is a big element of this laptop's appeal: It's an OLED panel with a resolution of 2880 x 1800 (non-OLED 1920 x 1200 and 4K OLED are also available) with a stylus support (but no built-in storage garage, disappointingly). The panel is glossy, and it reflects very little glare in bright light, but the feel didn't appeal to me. During my week of usage, it took up an exceptionally high concentration of smudges that were difficult to clean, and it didn't have a very smooth glide when used as a touchscreen. However, it does make for a wonderful photograph, with superb contrast and vibrant colors.

The keyboard has also been redesigned to be edge-to-edge, with a row of function keys on the right side (similar to what HP has been doing on various models for a while). They let you alter power profiles and audio profiles, as well as blur the backdrop on video calls and select dark mode. These are useful, but I wish they were adjustable - as far as I can see, there's no way to alter them, and I'm sure there are lots of people who would prefer a dedicated hotkey to a dark mode toggle. The left and right arrows are half-size, but the up and down arrows are full-size. That doesn't bother me too much, but I'm sure it will irritate some of you.

When it comes to typing, I really enjoy using the keyboard. It's really quiet here. This has been increasingly essential to me as I've begun to carry computers out more frequently – your typing should not be a source of attention to those around you. The touchpad has also been expanded in size to 3.15 x 5.31 inches by Lenovo. I didn't have any difficulties with the old touchpad's size, but I'll gladly accept a larger touchpad (and there were no issues with palm rejection).



The third big change is apparent. The new Yoga 9i has a highly rounded shape. Both the corners and the edges are rounded. Everything is spherical. When this item was first released, I didn't see it in the photographs, but it makes a tremendous impact up close. Until I tried the Yoga 9i, I had no idea how much sharp laptop edges can grind into your wrists. I don't want to go back to the sea of sharp-edged laptops out there (particularly anything with extremely noticeable edges like the Spectre line), because this gadget is substantially more comfortable to handle and operate. It seems like such an obvious design option, and I sincerely hope that other laptop manufacturers would follow suit here.

The construction quality hasn't deteriorated as a result of the friendlier appearance. It's all made of aluminum, and it's really strong. The screen and keyboard are both rigid. I found the hinge to be robust and easy to open and close, with no screen wobbling. After a week of testing that includes a trip and many train travels, the quality is good, with no scratches, fingerprints, or dents. The device's respectable (albeit not category-leading) weight of 3.09 pounds also makes it a good travel companion.

The conference call experience has also been improved. The webcam has been improved to 1080p, which is a substantial improvement over the camera on last year's 9i, providing a clean and accurate image. It features a physical shutter and can recognize faces using Windows Hello. Lenovo's Smart Assist software (which can be turned on and off in the Vantage control center) may also use to automatically turn the device off when you walk away.



Bowers & Wilkins speakers have been added to the rotating soundbar in the hinge, which has been a hallmark of the Yoga 9i range for a long time. It continues to deliver some of the greatest audio for Windows laptops. It's so loud that I couldn't listen to anything more than 80% of the time without feeling like I was being pummeled.

Apart from the nitpicks noted above, the biggest issue is that the port selection is restricted, which is not uncommon in this market. There are two Thunderbolt 3 ports, one USB-C port, one USB-A port, and a headphone jack. I'm delighted to see the USB-A port, which many rivals have abandoned, but anyone looking for an HDMI or SD port will have to resort to dongles.

Something was also wrong with the built-in mics, as they kept disconnecting from my Zoom calls while the device was running low on power. Lenovo was unable to reproduce the problem, therefore I may have received a defective device.

The 9i setup I have (with an Intel Core i7-1260P processor, 16GB of RAM, 512GB of storage, and a 2880 x 1800 OLED screen) is a Best Buy model that Lenovo claims will cost $1,729.99. It is not currently available for purchase. In fact, I haven't been able to find any 12th Gen Yoga 9i devices in stock anywhere as of this writing, and a quick look at other reviews indicates that my experience isn't unique. (If this gadget appeals to you, I've included a link to the 11th-Gen model, which is still available.)

It's becoming an issue that current models of these Lenovo laptops are so difficult to come by. (Lenovo claims that models are in the warehouse and will be back in stock shortly, although the company promised me that the Slim 7 will be back on stores soon when I reviewed it, and I still can't find it a month later.)

I understand that numerous factors are impacting the global supply chain at the moment, but I seldom have trouble locating in-stock merchant listings for other laptops that have appeared previously been shipped. As excellent as this laptop is, I'm unsure how strongly I can suggest it until I know you can really get it.

The performance was exactly what you'd expect from a 28W 12th Gen Core i7. This year's 9i is noticeably speedier than last year's. On the Battery Saver power profile, it could manage a Zoom conversation atop a slew of tabs and applications with little heat and just intermittent fan noise. Although the lack of an SD slot certainly makes the 9i a poor choice for editors, editing a batch of photographs was a breeze.

The 9i got seven hours and 38 minutes of continuous work time, which comprised a slew of Chrome tabs with some Zoom calls and Spotify streaming threw in for good measure. This appears to be the range of ultraportables available in this Intel generation. You can probably get through a workday with lesser workloads - I reached closer to nine hours on a day when I was just using Google Docs and didn't have any Zoom calls.

One drawback: this laptop, like many other Yoga laptops, comes with a lot of bloatware. Various McAfee antivirus products came pre-installed, and I was constantly bombarded with pop-ups. It took a long time to uninstall, and I had to quit all of my tabs and restart the system in the end. For a gadget that costs close to $2,000, that seems a little excessive.

In a world where those two concerns are resolved, the Yoga 9i is a fantastic product with a few blemishes that will be bothersome to some but not to the majority. I'd choose it over the $3,000 ThinkPad X1 Yoga any day - the ThinkPad is a better laptop in terms of performance, but the 9i is friendlier and more enjoyable to use.

The 9i has long been a superb laptop, but the inclusion of the 16:10 aspect ratio, an updated camera, and consistently excellent audio, on top of the outstanding performance, elevates it to new heights. If only you could get your hands on it.