Review: Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i

I’m personally not a big fan of textured prints especially when it’s on tech — however the Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i is the exception. Read more to find out why.

A premium unboxing

The 14-inch Yoga Slim 9i is one of Lenovo’s most premium and slim laptops in a solitary yet classic Shadow Black. The laptop itself is crafted of precision-machined, aerospace-grade aluminum and it comes packaged with a handcrafted genuine leather cover. Being handcrafted makes each and every laptop unique. Like I said, I wasn’t really a fan of textured covers at first but seeing this laptop firsthand was like love at first sight.

Living up to its name Yoga “Slim” 9i, it measures a width of just 13.9-14.6mm and a weight of only 1.29kg. Making it easier to bring when on the go. The Yoga Slim 9i’s 14” UHD (3840×2160) screen is wide without being overwhelming with its 3D curved-edge display, and In-Plane Switching (IPS) allows for 500 nits of brightness.

The laptop features a luxurious edge-to-edge Glass Sense Touchpad that brings 50% more active surface area and haptic feedback. It really feels premium to the touch, however there were a couple of times when I’d slide off the touchpad because of the lack of a divider. On its top is the keyboard that features smart backlighting.

Despite its slim build, on the right side it includes your standard Power on/off button, a USB-C Thunderbolt 4 port, and a unique electronic camera shutter. On the left you’ll find a headphone/mic combo port and two more USB-C Thunderbolt 4 ports for good measure. In its box included a dongle for your HDMI port.

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Smart features

The device offers smart features designed to improve security and quality-of-life. These include automatic screen-locking, battery saving and optimizing through Intelligent Cooling, hands-free facial recognition login with the laptop’s IR (infrared) camera and Windows Hello, shoulder-surfing privacy alerts. Its camera also has a new take on the privacy shutter that lets you flick an electrical shutter switch that cuts power to the webcam for peace of mind — perfect if you accidentally doze off during a video call for school or work.

In today’s work-from-home or distance-learning, these laptop cameras have played a huge role to achieve a bit of a sense of normalcy and to reconnect with loved ones. As a premium laptop, the quality of its 720p camera was impressive on top of all its smart features, namely the IR and Time of Flight (TOF).

Display

The Yoga Slim 9i is also equipped with HDR 400 and Dolby Vision support, bringing unmatched clarity and colorfully bright visuals to your screen. The graphics are equally as impressive as the sound quality of the 9i, and the laptop’s dual front-facing Dolby Atmos 2W speakers offer a cinematic experience.

This 14-inch touchscreen can also open up to 180° angle. I’m not really sure why it’s only 180° because other Lenovo Yoga models can open up to 360° for a better touch screen experience when you want to use it as a tablet. I personally can’t imagine myself using it flat out but I’m not complaining, it’s an added feature at least. As a creative, I tried using Adobe Illustrator and drew on it while flat but it’s also something I can do when folded — it’s just a matter of preference.

Under the hood

As far as first impressions go, it’s not only the looks that got me hooked on this device but also it’s performance. The Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i is one of the latest devices within Intel’s Evo platform that delivers a gold-standard computing experience through its 11^th generation Intel Core  i7-1165G7 processor and Intel Iris Xe graphics. It also has a 16GB LPDDR4x memory, and a 1TB PCIe storage. Whether it’s for relaxing and watching movies, preparing presentations, video-editing, or all of the above, the Yoga Slim 9i did not disappoint especially when multi-tasking.

We ran the device through benchmarks and these were the results:

• GeekBench 5 – 1,514 (Single-core score), 4,136 (Multi-core score)
• 3D Mark – 1,542 (Time Spy Score), 1,407 (Graphics score), 3,404 (CPU score)
• PCMark – 4,2494
• Cinebench – 1,044 (Single-core), 2,456 (Multi-core)

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Battery life

The device sports a 63.5Wh battery paired with 65W USB-C Slim charger. Intelligent Cooling optimizes and prolongs the Yoga Slim 9i’s battery life, and rapid charging technology allows for faster charging.  

Verdict

This Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i is priced at PHP 119,995 — pricey but looks and performance would always come at a cost. After all, this laptop is powered by an 11th-gen Intel Core i7-1165G7 processor, has a 14-inch UHD touch screen, can open up to 180°, features a handmade genuine leather cover, luxurious edge-to-edge Glass Sense Touchpad and Dolby Atmos Speaker System.

In the box:

• Laptop sleeve (not included in photo)
• USB-C dongle – HDMI
• 65W USB Slim Charger
• Charger
• Setup Guide, Warranty, Leather Care Guide