Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i 2024 Review: Performance, Features, Pros & Cons

By Austin

Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i 2024 Review: In 2023, I favored the Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i, also known as the Slim Pro 9i. This year, it’s just called the Yoga Pro 9i. It’s not a 2-in-1; it’s a regular laptop. It runs on the powerful Intel Core Ultra 9 185h CPU and an RTX 4050 GPU, with higher graphics options available depending on your location. I’m impressed with the upgrades, but let’s see if its performance matches last year’s. Stay tuned for my 2024 review, focusing on its impressive mini LED screen, excellent ports, and overall speed.

Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i 2024 Review with Detailed Specifications

Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i Design:

It comes in Luna Gray, also available in Tidal Teal. Right away, you’ll notice a 5-megapixel camera and a communication bar. The build feels solid with an all-metal design in Luna Gray, which hides fingerprints well. Underneath, there are vents, and it’s labeled Lenovo X Power. Overall, it looks pretty good. And opening it with one finger feels smooth and easy.

Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i 2014 Review
Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i 2024 Design

Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i Display:

The standout feature of the Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i is its mini-LED display, called the ProSight Pro. It’s a 16-inch display with a 3.2K resolution (3200×2000) and a 165 Hz refresh rate, with a 16:10 aspect ratio.

The display is very bright, with 669 nits for standard dynamic range and over 1,200 nits for high dynamic range (HDR) content. It supports Dolby Vision, making HDR content on Netflix, Amazon, and YouTube look fantastic. The color accuracy is excellent, covering a wide color gamut, which is great for content creation like photo and video editing.

The high brightness and anti-glare coating reduce reflections and glare. The 165 Hz refresh rate provides a smooth and fluid experience. It’s also a touchscreen, allowing you to navigate with your fingers and use gestures like pinch-to-zoom effortlessly. Overall, this mini-LED panel is a big success.

Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i 2014 Review
Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i 2024 Display

Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i Ports:

Let’s check out the ports on this device.

On the left side, you have:

  • Power connector (Lenovo proprietary)
  • HDMI port (upgraded to 2.1 from last year’s 1.4)
  • USB Type-C 3.2 Gen 2 (full function)
  • Thunderbolt 4 (full function)
  • 3.5 mm headphone/microphone combo jack

On the right side, you have:

  • E-Shutter switch for the webcam
  • Full-size SD card reader (cards stick out about 3/4 of the way)
  • Two USB-A ports (good for legacy devices)
  • Power button

Overall, it’s a great selection of ports. All video outputs are connected via the integrated GPU, so the GeForce GPU doesn’t need to run constantly, which helps save power when using an external monitor.

Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i Keyboard & Touchpad:

The keyboard is excellent with 1.5 mm key travel, making it comfortable for typing long documents and emails. It provides good tactility and feedback. It also includes a numeric keypad, which is great for number crunching, though it does move the touchpad off-center. You’ll get used to that quickly.

The keyboard has a nice backlight, perfect for working in dark or dim environments. It features Lenovo’s signature smile-shaped keys, which work very well.

The touchpad is large and made of glass. While it’s not a haptic touchpad, it’s very responsive for two-finger scrolling and other gestures. Overall, the touchpad performs excellently with no issues.

Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i Review
Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i 2024 Keyboard & Touchpad

Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i Internals & Connectivity:

If you want to upgrade the RAM yourself, you can’t do it because it’s soldered onto the motherboard. This isn’t surprising for 2024. The model has 32 GB of LPDDR5X RAM running at a very fast 7467 MHz, which is an improvement from last year. The RAM runs in dual-channel mode. But Some regions might have up to 64 GB of RAM.

The internals include two SSD slots, allowing you to expand storage. The included 1 TB SSD offers excellent read and write speeds.

Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i 2024 Review
Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i 2014 Internals

For wireless connectivity, the laptop has Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3, both soldered to the motherboard and not upgradeable. So, no Wi-Fi 7, which is a bit disappointing for future-proofing, but the current Wi-Fi and Bluetooth work flawlessly.

Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i Webcam:

The Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i features a 5-megapixel IR camera for 2024. IR stands for infrared, allowing for face recognition with Windows Hello. It includes an e-shutter switch on the right side for added security and privacy.

Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i Audio:

One of the standout features of the Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i is its impressive speaker system. It boasts a six-speaker setup with Dolby Atmos support for spatial audio. Compared to the MacBook Pro 14, it holds its ground and might even surpass it in audio performance.

Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i Performance:

The Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i runs on the Intel Core Ultra 9-185h processor. Here’s how it performs:

  • In Cinebench 2024, it scored 109 for single-core and 1,950 for multi-core, which is good compared to other laptops in its class.
  • Geekbench 6 showed slightly lower scores than last year’s model in both single-core and multi-core performance, but it’s still better than some competitors.
  • Its OpenCL GPU score was 8,182, better than some other high-priced models like the Galaxy Book 4 Ultra.
  • Compared to the MacBook Pro and Dell XPS 16, which are more expensive, it showed competitive performance in CPU and GPU tasks, highlighting its value for money.

For gaming, while it’s not a dedicated gaming laptop, the RTX 4050 GPU with 100W TDP allows playable frame rates on popular titles when settings are adjusted.

Overall, the Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i offers strong performance across benchmarks and can handle tasks like video editing and gaming reasonably well compared to its higher-priced competitors.

Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i Thermals:

The Yoga Pro 9i handles heat well with minimal thermal throttling during Time Spy stress tests, scoring 99.6%. Surface temperatures remain comfortable, peaking around 50°C above the keyboard and up to 46°C underneath during heavy use.

Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i 2024 Fan Noise:

Fan noise can reach up to 54-55 dB under maximum load, which is noticeable but expected. During everyday tasks like using Microsoft Office, emailing, and web browsing in balanced mode, the fan noise stays relatively quiet and shouldn’t be a concern.

Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i Battery Life:

It comes with an 84Wh battery and a 170-watt power adapter. Battery life has improved significantly compared to last year’s model. Here are the improvements:

  • In the PC Mark 10 modern office test, it now lasts 8 hours and 33 minutes, up from 5 hours and 14 minutes last year.
  • For video playback, it lasted just shy of 10 hours, compared to 8 hours and 6 minutes previously.

Overall, there’s a noticeable improvement in battery life year-over-year, which is great to see.

Quick Overview of Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i 2024

Features Specifications
Display 16 inch mini-LED display, 3200×2000 px, IPS, 165 Hz, HDR, Touch display
Processor Intel Core Ultra 9 185H
Graphics Intel Integrated graphics+ Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050
Memory 32 GB DDR5 7467MHz (soldered)
Storage 1x 1TB M.2 NVMe gen 4 + 1 spare slot
Connectivity Wifi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3
Battery 84 Wh battery, 170W charger

Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i Pros & Cons:

Here’s what I think about the Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i for 2024:

Pros:

  • Amazing mini LED display with 165Hz refresh rate
  • Good GPU and CPU performance
  • Comfortable keyboard
  • Best-in-class speakers with Dolby Atmos
  • Almost silent during everyday use
  • Full-size SD card reader
  • 5-megapixel IR webcam
  • Two M.2 2280 SSD slots
  • Advanced Optimus and HDMI 2.1 support
  • More affordable than MacBook Pro and Dell XPS 16
  • Improved battery life compared to last year
  • Faster RAM than previous models

Cons:

  • Noisy fans under heavy load
  • RAM not upgradeable
  • Screen wobble while typing
  • Meteor Lake CPU slightly less powerful than 13th Gen processors, though more efficient

Overall, despite some drawbacks like fan noise under load and non-upgradeable RAM, the Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i stands out as one of the top laptops for content creation in the 16-inch category.

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