Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i (2022) Evaluation

The Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i appears to be like excellent, it’s acquired loads of energy, and it companions a shocking OLED display screen with first rate battery life and ergonomics – but it surely’s not all the time the most cost effective possibility, and it lacks connectivity

Introduction

The Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i is likely one of the best-looking ultraportable laptops available on the market, which is able to shock anybody who associates this producer with refined workplace notebooks somewhat than eye-catching designs.

Beneath the curved edges and glass you’ll discover Intel internals and high-end display screen specs. It’s a very good begin, and on paper the Lenovo appears to be like like a eager challenger for the Apple MacBook Air M2 and Dell XPS 13 Plus and a possible entrant into our greatest laptop computer 2023 countdown.

In case you’d wish to get your palms on this machine, you’ll should pay £1499 within the UK and €1699, however keep in mind that the US worth is a bit greater at $2070.

However, these costs do nonetheless examine effectively to some rivals. However is that this laptop computer definitely worth the outlay – or does it lack substance beneath the fashion?

Design and Keyboard

• A mixture of glass and aluminium make this one of many best-looking slim laptops round
• An ideal keyboard and glass trackpad make for a top-notch ergonomic expertise
• One of many three Thunderbolt ports should cost this rig, and connectivity is sparse elsewhere

Get hands-on with the Yoga and also you’ll discover loads of pleasing facets concerning the design. There aren’t any sharp edges – as a substitute, the aluminium base and lid are ringed with gently curved, chrome-effect edges. The lid glows with glass, and on both facet of the gently sunken keyboard there are pin-sharp speaker grilles.

The bezels are tiny, and this model of the rig makes use of an off-white shade known as Oatmeal somewhat than Lenovo’s various Storm Gray color.

The Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i impresses in sensible areas, too. That is an impressively strong pocket book, with hardly any vital panel motion – it’s the form of laptop computer you may simply take in your commute. The hinge’s motion is easy, and a tiny lip on the display screen opens the lid simply. And whereas its weight of 1.38kg is somewhat greater than rivals, it’s not a large enough bounce to make a major distinction.

Ease the show open and also you’ll discover a high-quality keyboard. That’s typical of Lenovo, and this unit is comfy, quiet and dependable; it strikes an incredible steadiness between mild, responsive motion and strong suggestions. Fortunately, the ability button is just not put in on the keyboard, and also you get a double-height Return key.

As that is an ultraportable, there’s solely 1mm of key journey and no numberpad. That’s regular for this class of machine, and there’s little distinction between this unit and the MacBook Air.

The keyboard isn’t excellent – the backlight needs to be stronger – but it surely’s excellent. It’s additionally extra typical than the experimental unit on the XPS 13 Plus.

The trackpad is great, too. It’s huge, with a wonderfully easy glass coating, and its buttons are very satisfying.

Lenovo’s laptop computer deploys three Thunderbolt 4 ports – yet another than both rival – alongside a headphone jack and a webcam privateness swap. The digital camera pairs sharp 1080p high quality with Home windows Good day facial recognition. Internally, connectivity comes from dual-band Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2.

As ever, although, the Lenovo’s dimension means some lacking options. You don’t get a card reader or a fingerprint scanner – each rivals embrace the latter. The Yoga doesn’t have an HDMI output or any full-size USB ports, and no adapters come within the field.

Display

• The high-resolution OLED touchscreen flaunts excellent color gamut and distinction efficiency
• You’ll need to look elsewhere for flawless color accuracy
• The daring, loud audio system are a very good companion to the show

There’s tons to love concerning the Yoga’s show. This 14-inch touchscreen makes use of OLED expertise and deploys a 2800 x 1800 decision, so that you get unimaginable colors and pin-sharp element throughout its 16:10 side ratio.

The Yoga’s panel bolsters that specification with some nice benchmarks. This panel produced 100%, 99.2% and 96.8% of the sRGB, DCI-P3 and Adobe RGB gamuts with big quantity, so this display screen can deal with artistic workloads and media playback in each area. Mix these figures with the OLED display screen’s excellent black ranges and distinction and also you’ve acquired unimaginable vibrancy, punch and depth.

The Delta E of three.21 is cheap somewhat than good and implies that this display screen doesn’t fairly have the accuracy for probably the most demanding design duties, however that’s a minor concern. Elsewhere, the SDR brightness of 396 nits is excessive sufficient for indoor and out of doors use and the panel’s HDR peak of 600 nits delivers a small increase to HDR films. The show even comes with a stylus.

This is likely one of the greatest screens you’ll discover on any laptop computer. It exceeds the MacBook Air panel in decision and color dealing with and matches the XPS 13 Plus’s OLED possibility.

The beautiful display screen is partnered by improbable audio system that churn out a great deal of quantity and punch alongside nice element and crisp high-end notes.

Efficiency

• The Intel i7-1280P is an excellent mid-weight CPU
• You don’t all the time get the complete means of this chip until you fiddle with energy modes
• Flip the CPU to full velocity and it’s a greater possibility than something Dell can muster

The Intel Core i7-1280P is a mid-power Alder Lake processor with spectacular credentials. It’s acquired six Hyper-Threaded P-cores that peak at 4.8GHz and eight low-power E-cores. It’s additionally a step forward of the i7-1260P that you simply’ll discover elsewhere – that CPU would possibly come from the identical vary, but it surely has two fewer P-cores and isn’t in the identical league because the i7-1280P.

Elsewhere, Lenovo’s laptop computer has 16GB of dual-channel DDR5 reminiscence and a 1TB Samsung PM9B1 SSD with average learn and write speeds of 3558MB/sec and 2764MB/sec. On the graphics facet, you’ll should depend on Intel’s built-in core.

By default the Lenovo runs in its Adaptive Efficiency mode, and with this feature chosen the i7-1280P returned Geekbench single- and multi-core outcomes of 1,694 and seven,175. These modest figures barely differ from the i7-1260P contained in the Dell XPS 13 Plus and fall behind Apple’s M2 chip. The identical sample repeated in PCMark 10, the place the Lenovo and Dell each scored round 5,200 factors.

Swap over to the Excessive Efficiency mode and the i7-1280P stretches its legs. In that benchmark its PCMark 10 end result improved to 5852 and within the Geekbench exams it scored 1738 and 10,806, with the latter end result trouncing Apple’s newest chip and stretching far forward of the i7-1260P.

	Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i	Dell XPS 13 Plus	Apple MacBook Air M2
CPU	Intel Core i7-1280P	Intel Core i7-1260P	Apple M2
PCMark10	5242	5211	n/a
Geekbench 5 Single / Multi	1694 / 7175	1467 / 7155	1928 / 8968
GPU	Intel Iris Xe	Intel Iris Xe	Apple M2
3DMark Time Spy	2040	1687	n/a

In the case of efficiency, then, you’ve acquired choices. That Adaptive Efficiency mode is good for on a regular basis workplace duties and internet searching, whereas the Excessive Efficiency possibility is healthier suited to photo-editing, modest content-creation workloads and harder work instruments. In these on a regular basis workloads the Lenovo, Dell and Apple are interchangeable, however in artistic duties and multi-threaded conditions the i7-1280P is healthier than the Dell’s i7-1260P and the Air’s M2 silicon.

Lenovo’s laptop computer does an honest job in thermal exams, too. It’s near-silent in Adaptive mode and solely made somewhat extra fan noise within the Excessive runs – it’ll be onerous to listen to until you’re in an especially quiet atmosphere. The outside panels by no means get too scorching, both.

In some markets you should buy the Yoga with completely different processors. Keep away from the i7-1260P, which is slower than the i7-1280P however usually offered on the identical worth. Typically you’ll spot the i5-1240P, which is a succesful on a regular basis chip for internet searching and workplace duties. That’s a sensible money-saving swap.

Follow the i7-1280P and also you’ll discover that the Yoga isn’t all the time the most cost effective possibility. Within the US, the $2070 Lenovo is corresponding to the XPS 13 Plus with an OLED, however Dell’s rig is cheaper in the event you’re prepared to drop that display screen – and the MacBook prices much less, even with 16GB reminiscence and 1TB SSD upgrades.

The Dell and Apple notebooks do provide extra spec versatility. In lots of markets there aren’t any choices to customize the Yoga, whereas the XPS and MacBook machines have a great deal of tweaks. This isn’t all the time the case with Lenovo, although, and I hope that is only a momentary halt to customisation.

Additionally keep in mind that the Yoga will get Intel 13^th Gen processors from April 2023 onwards. The i7-1280P is not any slouch, but it surely’s value ready if you need much more velocity.

Battery

• All-day battery life in some conditions is a greater end result than most OLED laptops handle
• That mentioned, Apple’s non-OLED Air pocket book remains to be much better on this regard

You’ll get a full day of use from this laptop computer in some conditions. With Adaptive Efficiency mode engaged, the display screen brightness halved and an on a regular basis work benchmark working the Yoga lasted for 10hrs 25mins, and within the Battery Saver mode that end result prolonged by an hour.

Ramp the brightness as much as view OLED content material or run harder content material creation instruments and also you’ll get about seven hours from this laptop computer, however in the event you’re cautious then the Yoga will deal with a working day.

That’s affordable for an OLED laptop computer and longer than the Dell, however non-OLED rivals are notably higher right here. Apple’s MacBook Air M2 lasted for a mighty fourteen hours.

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