The Lenovo Yoga Book 9i is a laptop with two screens and a different design than what you’re used to unlike regular laptops, and this one doesn’t have a physical keyboard or trackpad.
The Lenovo Yoga Book 9i looks a lot like the Lenovo Pro 9i but with a cool teal color and made of fancy aluminum which really nice. The edges are curved so it’s comfy to hold, even it’s super thin at only 0.63 inches and weighs about 3 pounds, so it’s easy to take on travel.
The port selection is quite limited. You have 3x Thunderbolt 4 ports, which can be utilized for docking purposes or connecting USB-C-compatible peripherals, including displays. While you can use adapters to work with other devices, the absence of additional USB-A ports or an HDMI port can be attributed to the inclusion of the second display. The compact design of the laptop leaves little space to accommodate larger connectors.
Virtual and Physical Keyboard
it has virtual keyboard, tap the bottom screen with eight fingers, and a normal-sized keyboard will pop up. It also has a big trackpad that covers half the screen along with virtual buttons. I was pretty impressed with how well the trackpad works. It’s good at responding to touch, like when you’re selecting things or moving icons around.
Lenovo even added a haptic motor that vibrates when you tap. But it’s not as precise as a regular glass trackpad and feels a bit resistant when you slide your finger, though it gets smoother with use. The keyboard a neat idea and works fine for typing, but it’s not as good as a physical keyboard. I often accidentally hit the “p” and “backspace” keys together when I’m fixing typos. If you type a lot, you might not like this virtual keyboard.
If the screen gets warm when you rest your hands on it, which can be uncomfortable, there’s an easy fix. You can use the external wireless keyboard that comes with the laptop and place it over the virtual keyboard. It fits perfectly and the laptop recognizes it right away, so you can start typing comfortably.
I tried typing on both setups, and let me tell you, using a real keyboard feels much better. Just be aware that it might move a bit because of the glass surface underneath. Since physical keyboard is separate, it needs its own power. You can charge the physical keyboard using a USB Type-C cable and it lasts about a month on a single charge, which is pretty good. Plus, there’s a switch on it that lets you turn it off and reset the Bluetooth connection if needed.
You can move the keyboard all the way down to brings up something called the widget bar by default. This shows your Outlook calendar and top news for the day. Personally, I think it would have been better if Lenovo allowed third-party apps to use this space too, like Lightroom or Premiere Pro. It feels like a missed chance. Unfortunately, you can’t change what’s in the widget bar. You can turn it off and use it as a normal screen, but then apps might not work as well because of where the keyboard is.
Modes (Tent, Tablet)
Lenovo Yoga Book 9i can transform into different modes, like laptop mode and tent mode. Tent mode is great for showing PowerPoint slides to people in front of you while you look at your notes. Right now, only PowerPoint works with tent mode, and you can’t mirror the screens, which would have been handy. Then, there’s book mode, perfect for using it like an actual book. You can have a PDF textbook on one screen and write notes on the other with the stylus, which is helpful for students. You can also use as a tablet, In this mode, the second screen turns off and the main screen is made for touching, giving you a normal tablet experience.
My favorite mode is the dual-screen desktop layout, you fold the folio case that comes with it to make a stand, then attach the keyboard. This gives you a portable dual-screen setup. You can use in landscape or portrait mode. I like landscape for coding and other tasks because it’s comfortable and fits my workflow better. It’s less tiring than using it in regular laptop mode, where you’re always looking up and down between screens.
The dual-screens are great for productivity, you can be on a Zoom call on one screen while taking notes on the other. If you’re making content, you can have your editing tools on one screen and your workspace on the other. Lenovo Yoga Book 9i is super helpful for editing lots of photos in Adobe Lightroom. You can also play some games, but only older ones like Asphalt 9, Modern Combat, and Dungeon Hunter 5. Keep in mind, the laptop might not handle newer games well because of its specs. The stylus that comes with it can be stored in a loop on the folio case, which is really handy. It’s always nearby and safe when you’re not using it.
Dual OLED Screens
Normally, laptops have one screen, a keyboard, and a trackpad. But Lenovo did something different by replacing the bottom part with another screen. So you have two 13.3-inch OLED displays with high resolution and great colors. The screens look stunning with vibrant colors and deep blacks, they’re super accurate with colors too, covering all the important color ranges.
The brightness is decent, but using it outside in bright sunlight can be tough because of the glossy screens. But having dual-screens opens up lots of possibilities. You can watch videos while browsing the web or get more done with different apps side by side. Just keep in mind, it takes some getting used to with all the gestures to make the most of the Yoga Book 9i.
If you want to move an app from the main screen to the second one, just touch and drag the window with your fingers. A little menu will pop up, showing the second screen. If you hold the window for a bit longer, you’ll see different layouts for multitasking. To make an app cover both screens, tap the window with all five fingers, and it’ll show up in a big portrait layout, making web browsing smooth. But remember, you need to turn on this feature in the User Center app. Lenovo had to make special drivers for this laptop to work with Windows 11 because of its unique setup.
Webcam and Speakers
The webcam with a 1080p sensor that gives clear and detailed images. The camera’s field of view is wide, so you can fit more in the frame. What’s cool is that the webcam is at the top of the screen, which is perfect when using the laptop in the dual screen setup. Instead of looking down at the camera, it’s right in front of you, making video calls more comfortable. Plus, you can easily tilt the screen down to show things from the top, like your phone or other objects. There’s also a switch next to the power button that turns off the webcam for privacy.
Lenovo Yoga book 9i built-in speakers are great too. the speakers are at the front, so the sound comes straight at you, giving clear treble without distortion. The bass is good too, but not super powerful. The speakers sound is better than laptops with speakers at the bottom, making videos and music more enjoyable.
Performance and Battery Life
In Geekbench 6 Yoga Book 9i scores for both single and multi-core tasks are surprisingly good, considering it has a U-series processor. Specifically, it’s got a Core i7 1355U with 10 cores (8 efficient ones and 2 powerful ones). These kind of processor isn’t meant for super high-end tasks, but it’s great for everyday stuff like using Microsoft Office, emailing, and browsing the web. The built-in Iris XE Graphics aren’t amazing for heavy-duty graphics work, but the laptop does have Thunderbolt 4 ports.
You can connect an external graphics card for better performance, but that’s extra money. Just remember, Yoga Book 9i laptop isn’t made for gaming or intense 4K video editing. You might be able to play some games if you lower the settings, but that’s not what it’s best at.
Having a low-power chip means better battery life, and I have to say, the Lenovo Yoga Book 9i impressed me in this area. So, I did a special test because this laptop has two screens. I played a 4K YouTube video on one screen while a web page kept refreshing on the other for 15 seconds. Surprisingly, the battery lasted for about 6 hours. I think that’s pretty good, especially since Lenovo claims it has an 81-hour battery life.
Conclusion
The Lenovo is really pushing boundaries again with what I see as the follow-up to the Microsoft Surface Neo, that laptop with two screens that never made it to market. But, I have to say, it might just be a Laptop for a specific group of people, not everyone needs two screens. It depends on what you do with your device. For me, I like having that extra screen especially when I’m trying to get a lot done, like when I’m editing videos and stuff like that, I can see it being useful. But, the $2,000 price might put some people off, and most people don’t need two screens.
