General Usage
In my review of the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7 Carbon I commented on Lenovo making use of a 16:10 screen and we have the same thing here. So on our unit instead of having a 1920 x 1080 display, it is a 1920 x 1200 display. The extra vertical space is definitely appreciated. The screen itself is definitely bright enough and I used the touchscreen with just my finger as well as the included Precision Pen 2 and I didn’t run into any issues. If you are someone that prefers to take written notes you’ll really like how the Precision Pen 2 feels compared to typing your notes.
One of my favorite things about Lenovo Yoga laptops is that you can position them in different ways. So you can use the Yoga 9i like a normal laptop, lay it flat, set it up like a tent, and even flip the screen completely around and make it a tablet. For those who are wondering when you flip the screen around the keyboard turns off so you aren’t accidently pressing buttons. This versatility is great and definitely appreciated on a flight where you have limited space. The hinge is very sturdy and no matter how I had the screen positioned it did not wobble or anything like that.
Lenovo is one of the best when it comes to laptop keyboards and the keyboard on the Yoga 9i is no exception. It is extremely comfortable and responsive to type on. I did like the addition of the extra keys on the right side, but I wish you could fully reprogram them to other things. If you are working in the dark you do get a white backlight on the keys with two different brightness levels. You can manually turn the lighting on or off (FN + Spacebar) or you can set it to auto which will turn on the backlighting based on your environment.
While we typically don’t really mention audio on a laptop it has to be mentioned here. The audio solution that Lenovo is using here is simply amazing, definitely the best sounding speakers I’ve ever experienced on a laptop. The whole idea of turning the hinge into a soundbar is genius and this is an audio solution that could fill a bedroom or small office with sound, it really is that good!
When it comes to the built-in camera on the laptop it will shoot video at 1920 x 1080 at 30 FPS and take photos at 2.1 MP (1920 x 1080). This is definitely an upgrade over the 720p camera’s we’ve seen on previous Lenovo laptops, but if you are doing any type of real serious streaming I would get a dedicated webcam. The camera will get the job done for simple Zoom and Skype calls though. Here is a photo I took with the camera.
I also made a recording using the Windows recording tool to give you an idea of the type of audio quality you would get if you planned on using the built-in microphone array on the laptop. We also compare this to the IdeaPad Slim 7 Carbon and IdeaPad X1 Carbon.
Lenovo Yoga 9i
Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7 Carbon
Lenovo IdeaPad X1 Carbon
