First Impressions: Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1 (2024)

The Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1 (2024) is one of the best looking convertible laptops I’ve seen, with a classy metal design and sturdy 360-degree hinge. The new Intel Core Ultra and OLED display make this laptop an even more compelling option, putting it in great stead to be among the very best 2-in-1 laptops of 2024.

Introduction

CES 2024 has seen the launch of countless laptops, coming in all shapes and sizes from ultra-portable notebooks to gaming behemoths. I’ve spent the last few days going hands-on with all these new devices, and the Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1 (2024) stands out as one of the most impressive. 

As its name suggests, this is a 2-in-1 laptop that you fold up as a tablet, put into tent mode or even use it as a classic laptop. That’s nothing new for Lenovo, but I was nevertheless impressed with the design due to the sleek metal chassis.

The new Yoga is also powered by the new Intel Core Ultra (14th Generation) processors, while flaunting a lovely 14-inch OLED screen. 

This laptop isn’t breaking the mould with a groundbreaking feature, like the Asus ZenBook Duo or Lenovo’s own ThinkBook Plus Gen 5, but it’s hard not to be impressed with this polished package. I went hands-on with the Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1 (2024) to get a closer look. 

Price and availability

The Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1 (2024) has a starting price of $1449.99, and is expected to be available to buy from April 2024. It also comes bundled with a Lenovo Smart Pen and Sleeve.

Design

• Convertible design with metal chassis
• Easy to carry at 1.35kg weight
• Vibrant OLED screen

The Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1 (2024) is not like those cheap Lenovo business laptops that office jobs seem to hand out like candy. Instead, this is a classy device with a metal build and robust hinge that allows you to fold back the screen to lie flat against the rear. 

Lenovo has made the smart decision to stuff the speaker into the hinge mechanism, making sure audio isn’t muffled against the desk whether you’re using the Yoga in laptop or tablet mode. 

I’m personally not the biggest fan of 2-in-1 laptop designs, as the tablet experience pales in comparison to the likes of an iPad due to the poorly optimised Windows experience and the excessive heft. That said, the Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1 (2024) isn’t too cumbersome at a reasonable 1.35kg weight. The hinge feels sturdy too, and the screen can rest perfectly flush against the main chassis. 

I’m a big fan of the Cosmic Blue colour picture here, helping to stand out from the sea of black and silver alternatives. That said, if you prefer to stick to the conventional, Lenovo is also offering a Luna Grey option. 

Despite the slim design, Lenovo has managed to squeeze on an impressive selection of ports, including Thunderbolt 4, USB-A and a headphone jack. Bluetooth 5.2 and Wi-Fi 6E are also supported. 

The OLED screen is one of the reasons why this laptop stands out so much. The on-screen colours are bold and bright, immediately drawing my eye as I approached the laptop. It’s immediately clear that this laptop’s display is a level above those with an LCD panel. 

Specs are impressive too, with the 14-inch screen hitting a dazzling 4K resolution, 400-nit brightness and 100% DCI-P3 for excellent colour coverage. 

Specs and performance

• Powered by Intel Core Ultra
• Features up to 16GB RAM and 1TB SSD
• Has a 75Wh capacity battery

The Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1 (2024) is powered by the new Intel Core Ultra processors, which is great news on two fronts. Firstly, it delivers cutting-edge processing power for a notebook, and secondly, it bestows the laptop with hardware-level AI powers. 

The new Lenovo X Power feature uses machine learning to boost the performance of heavy workloads such as 3D rendering, as well as film-grade colour correction. The new Yoga laptop even features a Windows Copilot key that summons a ChatGPT-esque chatbot. Hardware-level AI performance is still in its infancy for laptops, so I wouldn’t expect too many useful apps in 2024, but it’s still an exciting step forward. 

Lenovo has ensured performance shouldn’t be an issue here with 16GB of RAM, while a 1TB SSD will offer plenty of space for the average user. I will need to wait until I get a review sample to evaluate performance properly, but the spec sheet is promising. 

The battery has a 75Wh capacity, which is the same as the Asus Zenbook 14 OLED that we recently reviewed. That makes me hopeful that the Lenovo can match the Zenbook’s excellent 13-hour battery life (as both share the same processor) but I can’t be sure until I can test a review model.