Lenovo Yoga Book 9i review

Lenovo has a history of experimental dual-screen laptops.

The current range includes the ThinkPad X1 Fold‘s flexible, folding OLED display and ThinkBook Plus Twist‘s has an extra e-ink screen on the screen. Looking further back, 2009’s ThinkPad W700ds had a slide-out second display.

The Yoga Book 9i builds on these ideas to deliver a versatile, functional 2-in-1 that packs maximum display real estate into a 13.3in chassis. It’s a fascinating device, albeit not one many people should buy right now. Here’s our full review.

Design & build

• Unique dual-screen design
• Very versatile
• Premium build

The Yoga Book 9i’s exterior looks just like regular Yoga Slim 9i (just Yoga 9i in North America) when unfolded, with the only exception being an eye-catching blue option. It’s a refreshing change from the usual black, grey or silver.

A combination of brushed aluminium and chrome edging make for a very premium look and feel. The curvature of the device gives the device an unusual aesthetic, but also makes it more comfortable to hold.

As soon as you open the Yoga Book 9i, though, things get a bit weird. Dual displays mean both the top and bottom halves of the device are screens. Both support touch and have a glossy finish, making it a real magnet for fingerprint smudges and other dirt.

While difficult to get used to at first, this design offers some real perks when used as a 2-in-1.

Firstly, there’s plenty of flexibility in terms of the way the device is used and held. The Yoga Book 9i’s bottom half can fold 360° for use as a standard tablet, or be held like a book with both displays in use at once.

Other options include is ‘tent’ mode, where the bottom half becomes a kickstand, or laying it flat on a table to become a large touchscreen canvas. Of course, it can be used as a regular clamshell laptop if you’d prefer.

And then there’s Lenovo’s party trick: the Yoga Book 9i’s stand. Otherwise used as a cover for the detachable keyboard and the stylus, it can fold into a shape that props both displays up in an open position. You then place the keyboard below both screens, giving you a total screen area that’s larger than a normal 16in laptop.

This is a genuinely useful option for travellers, who often have many apps open at once but don’t want the extra size and weight of a bigger laptop. Just be warned: the kickstand only works on a stable, flat surface such as a desk or table.

The Yoga Book 9i’s design is certainly unusual, but it doesn’t feel like a gimmick. Packing two touchscreens into a 13in laptop makes it a compact yet functional 2-in-1.

It’s ideal for working on documents, doing research or editing spreadsheets. The large displays and included stylus will appeal to digital artists, while it makes for a superb digital notebook.

Keyboard, trackpad & ports

• Frustrating Bluetooth keyboard
• Annoying virtual touchpad
• Only USB-C ports

Of course, the section above misses out a key part of the Yoga Book 9i’s design: the keyboard and touchpad. In exchange for the attractive and versatile dual-screen design, both are significantly compromised.

The bundled wireless keyboard connects to the device via Bluetooth. When used as a laptop, the keyboard is placed in a position just below the main display. But it can also be used on a desk, attached magnetically to the kickstand or shifted to the bottom half of the lower screen.

While the flexibility is nice, but the typing experience as a regular laptop is awkward. The keyboard is raised noticeably above the palm rest surface, meaning your wrists are simply left to dangle without support.

IDG / Matthew Smith

While the keyboard is uncomfortable at times, the touchpad is downright annoying. There’s no physical touchpad of any description, with a virtual version appearing below the keyboard when in laptop mode.

But it’s difficult to know if your fingertip is within the touchpad surface without looking, as there’s no tactile feedback. Sometimes, the cursor also ended up hidden below the keyboard or completely unresponsive.

However, at other times there were plenty of unintentional presses. That included the right-click option, which was hard to control and frequently opened things I didn’t ask it to.

These problems are perhaps an inevitable consequence of the Yoga Book 9i’s design, but important to note nonetheless. If you plan on using it primarily as a regular clamshell laptop, and only occasionally as a dual-screen tablet or with pen input, you’ll be disappointed by the keyboard and touchpad.

Ports are also very limited, with just three USB-C connections. All support Thunderbolt 4 and you can use any of them for charging, but the lack of USB-A or dedicated video output means you’ll most likely need an adapter or hub.

The unique design can also limit access to the USB-C ports at times. In the vertical dual-display mode, where the screens are side-by-side in portrait orientation, you can’t access at least one of them.

Display & audio

• Dual 13.3in OLED displays
• Great for all types of content
• Very good speakers

The Yoga Book 9i’s dual displays are mirror images of one another. Both are 13.3in, 2880×1800 OLED panels, and looks excellent in all situations.

Opting for OLED means contrast is superb, with deep inky blacks and great shadows. Colours are also very accurate, with good coverage of all the usual gamuts. Lenovo has gone for a vivid, hyper-saturated look here, which should be to most people’s liking.

IDG / Matthew Smith

With around 255 pixels per inch (ppi), sharpness is also excellent. That’s higher than Apple’s 2023 MacBook Pro, and means you’re getting close to a 4K panel across both displays. With over 10.3 million pixels in total, it’s actually around 2 million higher than your average 4K screen.

According to my measurements, the Yoga Book 9i actually slightly exceeded its promise of 400 nits of max brightness – that’s more than enough for a home office.

However, the glossy finish of both displays means there’s plenty of glare in bright lighting conditions – including outside. The displays are also a top-tier fingerprint magnet, so they can get very dirty after only a day or so of use. If travelling, make sure you pack a microfibre cloth.

Audio quality is an unexpected highlight. The Yoga Book 9i has a powerful Bowers & Wilkins sound system built into the display hinge. It provides loud, clear audio which is impressively balanced and offers a surprising amount of bass.

Given the sound on many laptops is relatively tinny, the depth and clarity of the audio you get here is refreshing. As a result, the Yoga Book 9i is well suited for music, movies, and games. It can easily fill a home office with sound. 

Webcam, microphones & biometrics

• Impressive 1440p webcam
• Decent microphones
• Face unlock works well

Lenovo offers another surprise win with the webcam. When using as a clamshell laptop, it’s located above the top display in its traditional position.

The 5Mp sensor is capable of recording video at up to 1440p resolution and 30 fps. Even without much lighting, video looks very sharp. Webcam colours are accurate and well saturated, making the Yoga Book 9i a great option for video calls.

An array of noise-cancelling microphones deliver audio that’s clear and crisp, but quite tinny. As a result, I wouldn’t recommend it for recording podcasts or making videos. But if you just need to jump on a video call, it’s absolutely fine.

There’s one biometric option, with the webcam and separate IR sensor enabling Windows Hello facial recognition. This provides a quick, hands-free way to access the device.

The Yoga Book 9i also supports zero touch login and locking, which use the camera to detect when you are present at the computer. When on, these features automatically wake the device when you sit down in front of it and automatically lock it when you step away. They’re genuinely useful, and mostly accurate, but can be turned off if you’d prefer. 

Specs & performance

• Intel Core i7-1355U and 16GB RAM
• No discrete GPU
• Decent everyday performance, but limited elsewhere

The Yoga Book 9i isn’t a particularly large device, something that has consequences for its performance.

It’s powered by Intel’s Core i7-1355U processor, which offers a total of 10 cores and maximum turbo boost of 5GHz. That might sound good, but only two of those cores are focused on performance, with the rest primarily about efficiency.

Lenovo has also opted for Intel Iris Xe integrated graphics, rather than a discrete GPU of any kind. 16GB of DDR5x RAM and a 512GB SSD are impressive, but performance specs aren’t the most high-end.

IDG / Matthew Smith

PCMark 10 (above) paints a disappointing picture of the Yoga Book 9i’s performance. Its combined score is lower than many recent laptops, including the Surface Laptop 5, despite Microsoft’s device using the older Intel Core i7-1255U processor. 

IDG / Matthew Smith

The modest performance continues in Cinebench R15 (above), where the Yoga Book 9i’s multi-core score is lower than many rivals.

IDG / Matthew Smith

Handbrake (above) is more encouraging, but the device still lags behind many laptops of a similar size. Clearly, the Yoga Book 9i is tuned to focus more on portability than performance.

IDG / Matthew Smith

3DMark Time Spy (above), a graphics test, also delivers disappointing results. The Yoga Book 9i once again finds itself behind the competition, including laptops that also use Intel Iris Xe graphics.

You can enhance performance slightly by enabling the ‘Extreme Performance’ mode. The Cinebench R15 score rises from 1,211 to 1,439, while 3DMark Time Spy improves from 1,681 to 1,289.

However, overall performance remains mediocre, and you get the extra fan noise and higher external temperatures.

The Yoga Book 9i feels snappy in day-to-day use, but benchmarks make its limits clear. It’s not a device for high-resolution content creation, streaming, gaming or other demanding tasks.

That shouldn’t come as a big surprise given the size of the Yoga Book 9i, but lacklustre performance definitely reduces its overall value. Most similarly-priced Windows machines offer better performance.

With only USB-C ports on the device, Lenovo clearly wants you to embrace wireless accessories. With both Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.1, that shouldn’t be an issue. Wi-Fi connectivity was reliable in my time with the device, and I had no issues with Bluetooth connectivity.

Battery life

• 80Wh capacity
• Decent battery life

The Yoga Book 9i’s dual-screen design put a strain on the battery, which has to power twice as many pixels as usual.

To help with this, Lenovo has included a sizeable 80Wh cell. You can expect acceptable battery life, but nothing outstanding.

I recorded 10 hours and 23 minutes of runtime in our standard 4K video playback test, with the results shown in minutes below. This is comparable to laptops and 2-in-1s of similar size and price: the Lenovo Slim 7 Pro lasted over an hour more, but the HP Dragonfly Pro lags by a half-hour. 

IDG / Matthew Smith

Any of the three USB-C ports can be used for charging, making it compatible with a wide range of chargers. Anything 65W and above will ensure you’re not waiting too long.

Third-party GaN chargers that deliver at least 65 watts will charge the laptop without issue.

Price & availability

As you might imagine, the Yoga Book 9i doesn’t come cheap.

It starts at $2,000/£2,200 for an Intel Core i7-1355U processor, 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD. But for a 1TB, you’ll pay at least $2,100/£2,290.

The device is available from Lenovo or Best Buy in the US and Lenovo or Currys in the UK.

That makes it one of the most expensive 2-in-1 devices you can buy. Most people will be better off with the Microsoft Surface Pro 9, Samsung Galaxy Book 3 Pro 360 or iPad Pro 12.9in, but none can match the range of functionality the Yoga Book 9i offers.

Verdict

The Yoga Book 9i is a successful experiment in dual-screen PC design that raises the bar for Lenovo’s competitors.

Its slim profile, 360° hinge and attractive OLED screens are well-suited for both touch input and use with the included stylus. This versatility is a key strength, especially when combined with a great webcam, solid microphones and impressive speakers.

However, the wireless keyboard and reliance on a virtual keyboard make the Yoga Book 9i frustrating to use as a regular laptop. Its high price tag almost means most people will be better off with something more tradition.

But if you’re a frequent flier who’d like the flexibility of an extra monitor, or simply enjoy using a stylus, the Yoga Book 9i could be the right kind of weird for you.

Specs

• CPU: Intel Core i7-1355U
• Memory: 16GB LPDDR5
• Graphics/GPU: Intel Iris Xe
• Display: 2x 13.3-inch 2,880 x 1,800 OLED touchscreens
• Storage: 1TB PCIe Gen4 SSD
• Webcam: 1440p 
• Connectivity:  3x Thunderbolt 4/USB-C
• Networking: WiFi 6E, Bluetooth 5.1
• Biometrics: IR Camera for Windows Hello facial recognition 
• Battery capacity: 80Wh
• Dimensions:11.84 x 8 x .63 inches
• Weight: 3.51 pounds (1.59kg)