The OEM giant recently launched its Lenovo Yoga 9i laptop in India as the first 13th Gen Intel-powered notebook at a staggering price of ₹1,74,990. Not only its one of the very few laptops powered by these new Intel chips but also has a premium appeal to it which makes it highly recommendable to those who want the best 2-in-1 laptop.
I have tried many 2-in-1 Windows laptops previously and my experience is kind of mixed, but Lenovo is one of the best when it comes to convertibles. From a 16:10 aspect ratio, OLED panel, and the latest Core i7-1360P processor to premium all-metal design and phenomenal battery life, you name it, this laptop has everything you need.
Though we have got the predecessor to this 2023 variant this Lenovo Yoga 9i is almost the same as the new one, only that the new variant comes with 13th Gen Intel chip, here the one we got is with a Core i7-1280P processor. So, if you are someone who wants to buy the latest 13th gen one, can get some idea by reading this review.
So, it’s one of the very first reviews in India of this laptop, and here we will answer why should you get it and is meant for whom. I have been using it for over two weeks now as my daily driver and here I will lay down all the aspects of this premium 2-in-1 laptop by Lenovo:
Lenovo Yoga 9i Specifications
| Processor | 12th Gen Intel Core i7-1280P Processor (E-Core Max 3.60 GHz, P-Core Max 4.80 GHz with Turbo Boost, 14 Cores, 20 Threads, 24 MB Cache) |
| Operating System | Windows 11 Home |
| Graphics | Integrated Intel® Iris® Xe graphics |
| Display | 35.56cms (14-inch) 4K OLED(3840×2400) IPS, anti-glare, touchscreen with Dolby Vision™, 400 nits |
| Memory | 2*8 GB LPDDR5 5200MHz |
| Battery | Up to 23 hours (local 1080p playback)Up to 13 hours* (MobileMark® 2018)Rapid Charge Boost: 2 hours from 15-minute charge*All battery life claims are approximate and based on results using the MobileMark®2018 battery-life benchmark test. |
| Storage | 256 GB PCIe SSD Gen 4 |
| Security | Webcam privacy shutter Facial recognition login |
| Audio | Bowers & Wilkins speaker system (2 x Tweeter, 2 Woofer)Dolby Atmos®Dual-mic array |
| Camera | 1080p FHD IR Camera with Privacy Shutter |
| Dimensions (H x W x D) | 15.2mm x 318mm x 230mm / 0.6″ x 12.52″ x 9.06″ |
| Weight | Starting at 1.4kg / 3.09lbs |
| Color | Oatmeal |
| Connectivity | WiFi 6E 802.11AX (2 x 2)*Bluetooth® 5.2*6GHz WiFi 6E operation is dependent on the support of the operating system, routers/APs/gateways that support WiFi 6E, along with the regional regulatory certifications and spectrum allocation. |
| Ports / Slots | 2 x USB-C Thunderbolt™ 4 (full function) USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 Headphone/mic combo USB port transfer speeds are approximate and depend on many factors, such as the processing capability of host/peripheral devices, file attributes, system configuration and operating environments; actual speeds will vary and may be less than expected. |
| Keyboard | Edge-to-edge keyboard with glass touchpad One-click function keys |
| Preloaded Software | Amazon AlexaLenovo Vantage McAfee LiveSafe™ (Trial) Microsoft Office 2021 (Trial) |
| What’s in the box | Yoga 9i 14” Intel Internal Battery AC Adapter Precision Pen 2 Premium Travel Sleeve Quick Start Guide |
Design & Build Quality
As the name stands, the Lenovo Yoga 9i is their most premium offering ever and so, they haven’t cheaper out on anything. An all-metal design with that Oatmeal color looks stunning, neat and of course premium! The smoothness of the lid to the hinge of this 2-in-1 laptop, Lenovo has taken special attention so that not only it looks good but also is very functional.
The build quality is impressive, it’s solid, with no flex whatsoever but is again light to carry or hold, weighing only 1.4kg, also the edges are blunt intentionally so that it can be carried easily, a very thoughtful design honestly. Overall, if you pay that much price, this Lenovo Yoga 9i won’t fail you for sure and has its premiumness all around while still having that subtle simplicity.
Display
Here too, Lenovo has provided you with the best display it could featuring a 14-inch Ultra HD 4K (3840×2400) OLED touch display with up to 400 nits of peak brightness. Lenovo calls this display Lenovo PureSight TrueBlack OLED Display, made for professionals so covers 100% DCI-P3 color gamut, 16:10 aspect ratio, DisplayHDR 500 certification and also supports Dolby Vision.
This Lenovo Yoga 9i indeed has a great OLED panel with great contrast and a blue light filter as well to help you work long hours without your eyes getting strained. Personally, I used it even without my computer glasses and I was quite comfortable while still enjoying the beautiful 4K OLED 16:10 display.
From doing my daily writing work, or development, I had no issues using the display, which to be fair was smooth, also for media consumption, this is the best you can ask for. From casual binge-watching to serious presentations or video editing, this laptop’s display easily handles what you throw.
Let’s see this 14-inch 4K display’s metrics in our DataColor SypderX Pro test and does it live up to Lenovo’s claims:
In the display tests, the Lenovo Yoga 9i does prove to be a good one and lives up to Lenovo’s claims, delivering 100% DCI-P3 color gamut, and almost 400 nits of peak brightness. The other display parameters are quite good, so, the laptop overall, in terms of quality, does check all the points to make it a highly-recommendable one for professionals.
Performance
Though I really loved the performance jump that 12th Gen Alder Lake brought on board, I hated the excessive power consumption at times along with lower battery life compared to AMD Ryzen 6000Us. However, this time, with 13th Gen Raptor Lake, Intel seems to have improved this primarily and at the same TDP you get better performance.
In the Lenovo Yoga 9i 2023, you get a 12-core Intel Core i7-1360P processor which has a similar configuration as its predecessor but with up to clock speeds of 5.0GHz and a cache of up to 18MB. This on paper looks to be a capable chip to power most daily needs paired with 16GB LPDDR5-5200 RAM and 1TB Gen4 SSD, 13th Gen Intel Evo certified.
However, here we got here the Intel Core i7-1280P processor inside this Lenovo Yoga 9i with 14 cores and goes up to 4.8GHz, which is good enough for most users.
During my daily usage, this Lenovo Yoga 9i was powerful enough to handle all the light-to-medium end workloads in Battery Saving mode. While in Intelligent Cooling mode, you can turn up the heat, do PhotoShop or open up to 15-20 Chrome tabs without any hiccups but if you want to push further, use the Extreme Performance mode but that will impact battery life.
To see its productivity performance, here are some benchmarks for your reference:
| Benchmark | Single-core | Multi-core |
| Geekbench 6 | 2289 | 11434 |
| Cinebench R23 | 1664 | 11887 |
| Cinebench R20 | 637 | 3482 |
| Cinebench R15 | 1879 |
As you see the benchmark numbers are quite good and the Core i7 processor does deliver strong performance in most demanding workloads. With 14 cores you can push the laptop further in Performance mode, here is the PCMark 10 score for your reference:
As you see, the Lenovo Yoga 9i manages to post 4550 points onboard which is again quite good for a laptop with no discrete GPU and for light productivity workloads, the Iris Xe GPU solves most of the needs. However, one con of 12th Gen processors is that they can get really hot when pushed, which I think should improve with 13th Gen, however, here’s a screenshot of the thermal performance during this PCMark 10 test:
Again you see, when pushed the 12th Gen chip goes really hot and that again seems to be one of the downsides, though the laptop has fans to cool it, however, for a short span it can burst to be hotter than usual. Overall, the processor seems to be capable enough for everyday hustle but can get hot, so better go with the newer 13th Gen one.
In terms of SSD speeds too, the Lenovo Yoga 9i’s 1TB PCIe Gen 4 SSD is really fast and is top-notch, going up to 6618MB/s in terms of read and 4896MB/s as of write speeds.
Also, note, the DDR5 RAM is slaughtered onto the motherboard and cannot be upgraded, however, there is an extra M.2 2280 PCIe 4.0 x4 slot if you want to upgrade the storage in future.
Connectivity & I/O
Lenovo has kept things simple on this like any other premium business-oriented laptop, this Lenovo Yoga 9i laptop has 2 Thunderbolt 4 ports, both on the left-hand side. Whereas, keeping in mind its users, thoughtfully, Lenovo has also given a USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 port on the right-hand side which can be used for charging.
One thing Lenovo has really taken care of this time is that, even in such a thin form factor, they have managed to cram in a USB Type-A 3.2 Gen 2 port on the left-hand side. This is one of the smallest yet best changes because you no longer have to carry dongles with this Lenovo Yoga 9i anymore, good job Lenovo!
Also, talking about connectivity, this 2-in-1 laptop comes with the latest Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2, I faced no issues whatsoever while working, connecting multiple Bluetooth devices or using the laptop far away from my router. Overall, also in terms of connectivity & I/O this Lenovo Yoga 9i is top-notch and is very similar to the 2023 variant available in India.
Keyboard & Trackpad
This Lenovo Yoga 9i’s keyboard is a comfortable one to type on as it has that mushiness thanks to the key travel, much like other Lenovo laptops. It’s also backlit and for everyday heavy typing needs, you can easily rely on this laptop, the trackpad is also bigger in size and being a glass trackpad, you can comfortably use it if you don’t want to use a dedicated mouse anyways.
Audio & Webcam
Talking about audio, the Lenovo Yoga 9i sports stereo speakers, two 3W woofers on the side and two 2W tweeters on the hinge optimized with Dolby Atmos, audio by Bowers & Wilkins. Honestly, the sound output is one of the best I’ve ever heard and it deserves to be praised, the speakers across the laptop create an omnidirectional effect that enhances your everyday media consumption experience.
Lenovo is one of the very few OEMs who are upgrading its webcam, and here also you get a 1080p FHD IR Camera with Privacy Shutter. So, not only do you enjoy high-quality video calls but also get Windows Hello to face recognition that lets you log in easily in a jiffy.
Battery Life
Coming to battery life, the 12th Gen Lenovo Yoga 9i gives a decent amount of actual day-to-day usage which surely will improve significantly with the newer 13th Gen model. Here, as you see, the laptop gives you around 5 hours of real-world usage at Battery saving mode and 60% brightness, occasionally this goes to about 6 hours+ when conserved.
However, this could extend over 7 hours on the 13th Gen variant, ideally, the charging speeds are great and depending upon your usage you can limit charging up to 80% to conserve battery health. Overall, I am quite satisfied in terms of battery life, and for a touch laptop with an OLED display, these numbers are good enough.
Verdict
Now, should you buy the Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1 laptop? Well, ideally, it’s not a cheap laptop and we are talking about real money, so, first, you have to think about whether you need a 2-in-1 laptop or not. If so, then is your requirement on the premium side? Well, if so and you can spend a good amount of money on a laptop with specs like this, definitely worth it!
Personally, I loved using this 2022 variant with a 12th Gen processor, but, would recommend everyone to buy the latest 13th Gen model for better performance and battery efficiency. If you love color-accurate displays, a 2-in-1 form factor and travel a lot, this Lenovo Yoga 9i with OLED display could easily fit into your everyday needs.
The laptop is thin & light, easy to carry due to rounded edges, has decent battery life, and can be converted into any mode as per convenience, it is hard pointing out the negatives if any. Undoubtedly, this is by far the best 2-in-1 laptop I have used and in 2023 this is a highly-recommended one if you have the money to spend!
Buy this Lenovo Yoga 9i 2022 laptop: https://fas.st/ulCHL7 or get the latest 2023 13th Gen Intel-powered variant from Amazon India: https://amzn.to/3FfY00V
