Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i (Gen 8): fact sheet

So, you’re thinking about buying the Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i. Here, we’ve put together a cheat sheet to tell you everything you need to know. Have we missed something? Email us at [email protected].

Head here to see video and images of the Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i.

Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i availability: when and where will it be sold?

The Yoga Pro 9i will be sold worldwide, but in the US it will be called the Lenovo Slim 9i.

Lenovo expects the Yoga Pro 9i to start shipping in May 2023, but we anticipate that it will be sold in the US, Canada and Europe first.

Lenovo Yoga 9i Gen 8 vs Lenovo Yoga 9i Pro Gen 8: what’s the difference?

Quite a lot! The first big difference is that the plain Yoga 9i only includes Intel’s Iris Xe graphics, while the Yoga 9i Pro includes Nvidia’s far more powerful discrete graphics chips. That brings high-end gaming into play, along with powerful creative 3D apps.

The other is the screen technology, with the Yoga 9i offering 14in OLED screens compared to the 14.5in and 16in LCD and mini LED offerings of the Yoga 9i Pro. We cover the Yoga i9 Pro’s screens in more depth later.

Finally, the Yoga 9i offers 360° of flexibility, so the lid can fold back on itself to create a huge tablet. The Yoga 9i Pro’s screen folds back 150° (16in version) or 170° (14.5in version).

What’s so special about the Pro 9i?

In short, the Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i is sleek, lightweight and powerful. Obviously, many laptops will claim this, but Yoga Pro 9i delivers because it’s as happy gaming as it is running Adobe Premiere.

There are two reasons it can achieve this: Intel’s latest generation of powerful Core processors and Nvidia’s new batch of mobile graphics chips (the RTX 40 series).

Even a year ago, the only way to get the frame rates that ardent gamers desire would be to invest in a heavy (and heavily cooled) gaming laptop. Even the famously slender Razer Blade series is heavy, not to mention expensive. With the Yoga Pro 9i, it appears you can have the best of all worlds.

The other factor is the screen. Several versions of the Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i include a mini LED screen. This marries high-impact colours with superb levels of brightness, which makes HDR movies and games look stunning.

What screen sizes will the Yoga Pro 9i come in?

There are two screen sizes available: 14.5in and 16in. Just to confuse things, Lenovo will be providing a plain LCD version and a mini LED version of both sizes, so be careful when you’re ordering.

All of the screens offer excellent colour coverage, with the promise of 100% coverage of the vivid DCI-P3 space (as favoured by Hollywood). They support Dolby Vision, too, and some include touch support.

The mini LED versions promise up to 100% coverage of the Adobe RGB colour space, as used by professional print designers.

The 14.5in screens have a 3K (3,072 x 1,920 pixels) resolution, so a 250 pixel per inch density. That compares to 3.2K (3,200 x 2,000 pixels) and 236ppi for the 16in version, but both are superbly sharp.

The LCD edition has a 120Hz refresh rate and 400 nits peak brightness; the mini LED version a 165Hz refresh rate and 1,200 nits peak brightness. The mini LED versions also include VESA’s much admired DisplayHDR 1000 certification.

What colours will it come in?

You have a choice of Tidal Teal and Storm Grey. Pictures below!

How much does the Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i cost?

So far we only have a starting price for the Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i and only in Euros: €1,699 including VAT. That’s for both screen sizes. In the UK, we would expect that to translate to £1,599 or £1,649, the US around $1,500 before tax. In Australia, we anticipate that prices will start at around $2,750.

However, all those prices are for the base version of the Pro 9i. That will likely be a Core i7-13705H for the 14.5in edition and a Core i5-13505H for the 16in version. It will include 16GB of LPDDR5X memory, a 512GB PCIe Gen4 SSD and GeForce RTX 4050 graphics.

We believe that price will also include the lesser LCD screen rather than the mini LED edition.

How much does the Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i weigh and how big is it?

This depends on the size and type of screen. The 16in version weighs either 2.18kg (LCD) or 2.23kg (mini LED). For the 14.5in version, those figures are 1.65kg and 1.7kg. Will you be able to tell the difference by holding them? Absolutely not.

Mini LED technology also adds to the thickness, by only 0.26mm in the 16in version’s case and 0.7mm for the 14.5in edition.

• 14.5in LCD version: 327 x 224 x 16.9mm or 12.9 x 8.8 x 0.67in
• 14.5in mini LED: 327 x 224 x 17.6mm or 12.9 x 8.8 x 0.69in
• 16in LCD version: 362 x 245 x 17.9mm or 14.3 x 9.64 x 0.7in
• 16in mini LED: 362 x 245 x 18.16mm or 14.3 x 10.2 x 0.71in

What ports does the Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i include?

Once again, the port selection depends on the size of laptop you choose. But it’s interesting to see that Lenovo sticks with a combination of USB-C and USB-A ports. The latter standard is getting old, but shows no signs of going away any time soon.

Both models include Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.1, but note the lack of a physical Ethernet port.

What about speakers and webcams?

Lenovo is placing much emphasis on the speaker quality of the Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i, and whilst we haven’t yet had a chance to listen (other than in a crowded room) the signs are promising.

Both models support Dolby Atmos and include a “Smart amp”, but the 16in version includes six speakers to the 14.5in edition’s four.

Webcams are more complicated. All models support Windows Hello facial recognition. And they all have an electronic camera shutter and four microphones. However, the 14.5in LCD version only has a Full HD webcam versus the 5MP webcam of the other models.

We hope this won’t make much difference to the final image quality, but time will tell.

Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i battery life: what do we know?

Lenovo includes a 75Wh battery in both the 14.5in and 16in versions of the Yoga Pro 9i. However, Lenovo hasn’t made any battery life claims yet.

We can confidently predict that the 16in version with a mini LED screen will have the worst battery life. Based on previous experience, between six and eight hours. With an LCD screen, that should go up to seven to nine hours.

We expect the 14.5in LCD model to last between eight and 12 hours in typical use. Mini LED will probably reduce that by a couple of hours.

We assume light use and mid-range brightness for all these scores!

And finally, what about sustainability?

The Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i boasts an EPEAT Gold rating and Energy Star approval. Plus, Lenovo claims that 50% of the keyboard is made from post-consumer recycled plastic and 50% of the aluminium in the bottom cover is recycled.

Then there’s the packaging. Here, 90% of the “cushion” uses recycled plastic and 100% of the paper is FSC-certified.

Any other questions? Email us at [email protected].