The Yoga Pro 9i is the flagship consumer laptop in Lenovo’s fleet of devices that allows for both performance and a design that catches the eye. While it is a device suitable for everyone, it also comes with a performance that places it in a category ideal for gamers.
Game Crater was fortunate to look at this latest model and put it through its paces with some of our games facing against its Intel i9-13905H processor, modern Nvidia RTX 4060 8GB Graphics card, and beautiful 16-inch screen. Like other Lenovo devices, there is a range of configuration options you can choose from when purchasing to get a device that works best for you.
Design and Features
The Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i notebook stands out for its mix of design elegance and advanced features. It’s built with an aluminum top and bottom, offering a sleek and durable finish. The device has a professional touch, allowing you to take it to important meetings and not feel out of place. The notebook comes in two colors: Tidal Teal and Storm Grey, each giving it a distinct look. The design includes rounded edges for comfortable handling, and it stands out for its thinness at just 17.9mm. Starting at a weight of 2.06kg, it’s easy to hold and carry around.
One negative oddity I found with the device is that the power button is on the right side, which makes it frustrating to use. However, with the ability to put the device to sleep by opening and closing the screen, there are ways to get around this issue.
One of the standout features of the Yoga Pro 9i is its display, which offers a 16″ 3.2K MiniLED touchscreen display with a high refresh rate of 165Hz, a simply beautiful design. The screen supports Dolby Vision and has been certified for low blue light, making it easy on the eyes while still providing great color. This is perfect for those who create art and other forms of digital media with its 100% coverage of sRGB, Adobe RGB, and DCI-P3 color gamut.
Technical Specification
| Component | Specification |
|---|---|
| Product Name | Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i (16”, 8) |
| Processor | Intel i9-13905H |
| Graphics | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060, 8GB Memory |
| Memory (RAM) | Up to 64GB |
| Operating System | Windows 11 |
| Display | 16-inch, 3.2K resolution, Touch optional, Up to 1200 nits brightness |
| Storage | Up to 1TB |
| Connectivity | WiFi 6E, Bluetooth 5.1 |
| Ports | Thunderbolt, USB-A, HDMI, Audio Combo Jack, SD Card Reader |
| Camera | 5MP Webcam, IR + ToF, Electronic Shutter |
| Audio | 6x Dolby Atmos Speakers |
| Touchpad | Buttonless glass surface, multi-touch |
| Battery | 75Wh, Rapid Charge Pro |
| Dimensions & Weight | 362 x 245 x 17.9 mm, Starts at 2.06kg |
For audio, the device features the Lenovo Premium Suite, which includes a Dolby Atmos 6-speaker system and 4 precision noise-canceling microphones. The audio is high quality and has a good range, including bass, which is normally not seen on a notebook. However, the overall decibels could be louder. The Yoga Pro 9i also focuses on user privacy and convenience. It includes a 5MP webcam with Infrared capabilities for Zero Touch logins such as Windows Hello and an electronic privacy shutter for added security.
Its spacious, well-backlit keyboard has 1.5mm key travel and a 10-key panel on the right. It’s very comfortable to use, although I found the directional pad very small, which may be an issue for some games that rely on it. It also has a large trackpad at 150mm by 95mm, which felt smooth and accurate but was larger than necessary and got in the way of my use.
Performance and User Experience
The Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i stands out for its performance in a subtle device. It features a 13th-generation Intel Core i9 Processor and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Graphics Card, providing ample power for tasks such as video editing, gaming, and 3D modeling. Thanks to Lenovo X Power tuning, which is designed to keep the device cool, it performs well, especially considering the notebook’s smaller size relative to the beefier casing and fans seen in other devices.
While gaming, the device could play modern games in high settings under the defaults provided. However, the frame rates were unstable and dropped heavily when running purely on battery power. If you want to use this device primarily for gaming, it’s not the best option. However, if you require a device for a range of things and gaming is a subset of that, it will do fine. Additionally, there are a range of settings that you can tweak to squeeze that extra performance out.
From a battery perspective, the device is good but not great, lasting just an hour when playing high-demand games. Although the powerful internals and bright display can drain the battery faster during intensive tasks, Lenovo has addressed this with Rapid Charge Pro technology. This feature significantly reduces charging times, allowing the device to quickly regain 50% of the battery in 30 minutes. This feature is particularly useful for office users who might be running around all day between meetings on battery power.
Benchmarking
| Game | FPS (Plugged in) | FPS (Battery Power) | Battery Life |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fortnite | 55-60 | 35-45 | 55 Minutes |
| Starfield | 40-50 | 30-40 | 60 Minutes |
| Palworld | 40-50 | 25-30 | 50 Minutes |
Integration and Configuration
The Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i comes with the Lenovo X Power tuning, which intelligently integrates software and hardware for optimal cooling and performance, ensuring the laptop runs smoothly under heavy loads without overheating. This system dynamically adjusts based on usage, providing a seamless gaming or multitasking experience with demanding applications. I was able to observe this functionality as the device seamlessly adjusted its fans and maintained a cool state throughout different levels of strain while still staying quiet.
You also get the Lenovo Vantage app, which helps give you the power to make adjustments and settings to the device for things such as power and display settings and, through its Creator Centre, changes to the performance and color settings. Again, not being a pure gaming device, the Vantage app does not have the same features for performance configuration as seen in the Vantage app for the Lenovo Legion series.
The Yoga Pro 9i works well with all the major gaming platforms and apps, ensuring you get a compatible and smooth experience with various software. Whether you’re opening game launchers, streaming services, or communication apps, the Yoga Pro 9i makes everything straightforward and trouble-free, just as you’d expect from a device running Windows 11.
Value for Money
Starting at AU$2,589, the device is not the cheapest option on the market, particularly for something that is not a pure gaming device. However, it could be seen as great value for money when you look at the hardware within the device and the range of opportunities it provides for all styles of work and play. The high-quality build and compact nature of the device, along with high-performance hardware, provide a unique combination that sets this device apart from many others in the notebook range. Being able to game while having a beautiful, crisp touch screen to work from is definitely a nice combination to have, particularly at that price point.
On the downside, this device may not be for you unless you sit in the market requiring a mix of style and play. Additionally, the gaming performance is subpar with high-demand games, so if you really need a gaming device, you should look at the Lenovo Legion range instead. The high-performance parts, along with the bright screen, also come at the expense of the battery life, which has a low life for a notebook.
For many designers, the high-powered graphics card may be an unnecessary add-on for the notebook. This device fits a specific niche of users who need something stylish and practical but with the power and punch of a device for gaming or video editing.
Disclaimer: Game Crater was provided with a review unit for this article.
