Successor to the Yoga C940, Lenovo’s 14-inch Yoga 9i (starts at $999; $1,379 as tested) is a first-class premium convertible notebook. The Best Buy model we’re reviewing performed extraordinarily well in our testing, achieving nearly 18 hours of battery life and delivering above-average performance thanks to its 11th Generation Intel “Tiger Lake” CPU. Though Dell’s XPS 13 2-in-1 (9310) remains our top choice in this category for its trimmer design and higher screen resolution, this Lenovo is a worthy alternative, offering longer battery life, better speakers, and a pen that parks inside its chassis.
To 2-in-1, Or Not to 2-in-1?
The Yoga 9i replaces the C940 as Lenovo’s premier consumer convertible. I noticed the benefits of its up-to-the-minute Intel Evo platform right away, including instant wake from sleep and snappy performance from its quad-core Core i7-1185G7 processor.
My Best Buy configuration also includes 16GB of memory, though it has just a 512GB solid-state drive; I’d like to see that doubled to 1TB. It’s backed by a one-year warranty with Lenovo’s Premium support tier.
The versatility to operate as a notebook, a tablet, or propped up in easel or tent (seen below) modes is the main reason to get the Yoga 9i over a traditional laptop such as Lenovo’s similar Slim 9i.
Think of those extra modes as bonus features. Like most convertibles, the Yoga 9i is a notebook-first device. Its 14-inch frame is too large and, at 3 pounds, too hefty to fill the role of a dedicated tablet such as the 12.3-inch, 1.7-pound Microsoft Surface Pro 7. It’s also about a quarter-pound heavier than a 14-inch notebook in this price range, but that’s the tradeoff for its convertible hinge. The 2.9-pound XPS 13 2-in-1 isn’t much lighter.
The Yoga’s 12.6-by-8.5-inch frame is a respectable 0.6 inch thick. The bezels around the top and sides of the display are thin enough, though a pronounced bottom bezel detracts from its otherwise modern look.
Lenovo should eliminate the bezel or take a page out of Dell’s book by filling the frame with a taller 16:10 aspect ratio screen. The 16:9 screen of this convertible is narrow in portrait mode when it’s used as a tablet. The IPS panel offers full HD (1,920-by-1,080-pixel) resolution, an ample 400 nits of rated brightness, and satisfactory if not eye-popping color. The resolution is a little lower than the base screens of the XPS 13 2-in-1 (1,920 by 1,200) and the even taller 3:2 aspect ratio HP Spectre x360 14 (1,920 by 1,280). You can order the Yoga 9i with a brighter (500-nit) and sharper 4K (3,840-by-2,160-pixel) screen for a spendy $1,699 via Best Buy; a comparable XPS 13 2-in-1 was $1,749 as I wrote this review.
I like that the Yoga 9i includes a pen, something that often costs extra. The tradeoff for its convenient ability to park or slot inside the chassis (at the right rear corner) is its skinny 6.5mm width, requiring a more pinched grip than a regular ink pen.
Otherwise, the stylus offers a good inking experience. Based on Wacom AES technology, it offers up to 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity and a pen-on-paper-like feel against the Yoga 9i’s glass display surface. Lenovo rates its onboard battery for 130 minutes of continuous use, and says it charges quickly—up to 80% in 15 seconds when inserted in its slot.
Crank It Up
Some of the Yoga’s depth comes from its 360-degree display hinge, which is one big Dolby Atmos-tuned speaker bar. It delivers unprecedented sound for a notebook this size.
I also like that the bar rotates to let the Yoga 9i produce good sound in its tablet or in-between modes. It’s one of this convertible’s best features.
The Mica Silver exterior of my review model is classy, with a matching keyboard and reflective Yoga lettering on the lid. The all-metal build is supremely sturdy and flex-free.
Lenovo’s site offers a black color scheme with a natural leather lid and, intriguingly, a larger touchpad with haptic feedback. Nonetheless, the buttonless touchpad on my model is amply sized. I found its clicking action slightly stiff, but it’s still a pleasure to use.
The keyboard is another high point, with bright white backlighting and a satisfying feel that is great for long typing sessions. My only wish is that its arrow-key cluster used the inverted-T layout; its combination of half-size up and down with full-size left and right arrows is unintuitive.
Short on Ports
The Yoga 9i’s physical connectivity includes two Thunderbolt 4 (USB Type-C) ports, one USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A port, and an audio (headphone/microphone) combo jack. Th-th-that’s all, folks.
To make matters worse, plan on losing one of the Thunderbolt ports to the included power adapter. Another USB-A port and a media card reader would have been nice. I also dislike that all the ports are bunched on the left side, leaving only the recessed power button on the right. Unlike many 2-in-1 convertibles, the Yoga 9i has no volume rocker for use in tablet mode. Wireless connectivity is covered by an Intel AX201 card supporting Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.
The Lenovo’s sole biometric feature is a fingerprint reader to the right of its touchpad, as its 720p webcam lacks IR technology for facial recognition. The camera’s soft-focus picture is status quo for laptops in this price range. To its credit, it is properly centered above the display and includes a physical privacy shutter.
Testing the Yoga 9i: Intel Evo on the Bench
With a clock speed of 3.0GHz (4.8GHz turbo), the Core i7-1185G7 is Intel’s highest-frequency “Tiger Lake” CPU, a small step above the more common Core i7-1165G7 (2.8GHz base/4.7GHz turbo). It also has slightly faster integrated graphics. Let’s see how the Yoga 9i compares with four other convertible notebooks in our performance benchmarks.
The Asus VivoBook Flip 14 is the only one here to use an AMD processor and Ryzen integrated graphics, which should offer stiff competition. The previous-generation Intel UHD graphics in the Lenovo ThinkPad X13 Yoga (Gen 1) will provide a good comparison to the Iris Xe graphics of the Yoga 9i, the Dell, and the Asus ZenBook Flip S.
Storage, Media, and CPU Tests
Our first benchmark, UL’s PCMark 10, measures overall system performance across different real-world productivity and content-creation workflows. The Yoga 9i finished near the top of the pack with a score well over the 4,000 points that we expect from high-performance PCs. Its showing in PCMark 8’s storage subtest also suggests that its SSD is plenty fast.
Next up are two CPU-crunching tests: Cinebench R15 stresses all available processor cores and threads while rendering a complex image, while in our Handbrake test, we transcode a 12-minute 4K video down to 1080p.
The Ryzen 7 4700U in the VivoBook dominated both contests, though the Yoga 9i scored respectably. The 9i’s lead over the Dell in the longer-running Handbrake test indicates that it may have more effective cooling, enabling its CPU to maintain higher clock speeds.
The final test in this section is photo editing. We use an early 2018 release of Adobe Photoshop Creative Cloud to apply 10 complex filters and effects to a standard JPEG image, timing each operation and adding up the totals.
The Yoga 9i’s time of just 128 seconds is excellent for a convertible laptop.
Graphics Tests
Our next benchmarks measure the gaming performance potential of a PC. In UL’s 3DMark, we run two DirectX 11-based tests, Sky Diver (lightweight, capable of running on integrated graphics) and Fire Strike (more demanding, for high-end gaming PCs). Another gaming simulation, Unigine Corp.’s Superposition, uses a different rendering engine to produce and pan through a complex 3D scene.
As Superposition illustrates, the brute strength of the Yoga 9i’s Iris Xe graphics matches or slightly betters the same silicon in the Dell and Asus. The Intel UHD integrated graphics of the ThinkPad couldn’t even get close to the 30fps required for smooth gameplay at 720p resolution. However, the Yoga 9i made its real strides in 3DMark, where it left all the others in the dust.
Again, effective cooling likely has something to do with the system’s above-average performance. Thankfully, its twin rear-facing cooling fans are hard to see and hear. Its metal chassis also remained cool enough to touch throughout my testing.
Battery Rundown Test
For our last benchmark, we measure a laptop’s unplugged runtime while playing a locally stored video with screen brightness at 50 percent and audio volume at 100 percent. We use the notebook’s energy-saving rather than balanced or other power profile, turn off Wi-Fi, and even disable keyboard backlighting to squeeze as much life as possible out of the system.
The Yoga 9i ran away with this one—five minutes shy of 18 hours is enough to work all day and binge-watch all night. Expect about two-thirds as much life with the 4K screen, as we measured just over 12 hours when we reviewed the Yoga C940 with it last year.
A Top-Notch Convertible Choice
The winning formula from Lenovo’s Yoga C940 works even better in the Yoga 9i. Though Dell’s latest XPS 13 2-in-1 keeps our Editors’ Choice brass ring among premium convertibles, mainly for its sleeker design and higher screen resolution, the Yoga 9i can be an even more attractive option depending on what you emphasize. Its rotating sound bar, extra-long battery life, included stylus (a $99 option on the Dell), comfortable keyboard, and competitive price make it an first-rate contender in this highly competitive market.
