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Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i: Two-minute review
The Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i may face some stiff competition from the usual excellent offerings from Apple, Dell, and the like, but it’s more than up to the challenge. In fact, I believe it deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as the best Ultrabooks of this generation.
It’s very slim and portable, helped by the fact that the webcam is hidden under the display in a unique and space-saving measure. And its performance is snappy and responsive, comparing well to the best laptops of this type (don’t expect it to match the power of a gaming laptop, of course). Just as important, the Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i is a gorgeous-looking laptop with an equally gorgeous-looking OLED display.
Really, there are only two drawbacks. The first is price. It’s not anywhere near a budget offering, though that’s to be expected of this type of laptop, not to mention that an OLED display always brings a price bump.
The other issue is a little more concerning. The port selection is worse than on an Apple MacBook Air, which is saying something, as that’s already very minimal. More specifically, there’s no audio jack, so hopefully, you have a good pair of Bluetooth earbuds on hand.
However, that’s a pretty short list of things to be concerned about, and one of them (price) is to be expected with a nice Ultrabook. All in all, the Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i is a wonderful laptop that will make a solid upgrade for anyone looking for an attractive, portable, and powerful Ultrabook.
Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i: Price & availability
- How much does it cost? Starting at $1,759.99 / £1,800.00 / AU$3,829.00
- When is it available? Available now
- Where can you get it? Available in the US, UK, and Australia
The 10th-generation model of the Yoga Slim 9i comes in two configurations, with both available in the US, UK, and Australia. And both configurations are very similar.
The more basic configuration goes for $1,759.99 / £1,800 / AU$3,829 and comes with an Intel Core Ultra 7 256V CPU and 16GB of RAM. The more robust configuration with Intel Core Ultra 7 258V and 32GB of RAM costs a nominally higher price tag of $1,899.99 / £1,900 / AU$4,179. There’s very little difference in performance between the CPUs – it’s just that the 258v supports 32GB of RAM. Essentially, the price difference comes down to whether you want 16 or 32GB of RAM. Everything else is the same, from the color options to the screen and the storage capacity.
The Apple MacBook Pro 14-inch (M4) makes for an easy comparison. Not just because they have a similar-sized screen, though the Yoga Slim 9i has better resolution, but because they have similar price points. This 14-incher from Apple starts at $1,599 / £1,599 / AU$2,499, but that gets you a 512GB SSD. If you want the same amount of storage (1TB), the price goes up to $1,799 / £1,999 / AU$3,299, which is a little more than the Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i. Of course, you’ll probably gravitate towards one over the other, mostly depending on whether you want macOS or Windows.
The Dell XPS 13 offers an interesting comparison, too. It comes in at a similar price – $1,999.99 / £2,049 / AU$3,998.50 – if you opt for a touchscreen like the Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i has, but the screen is smaller. And while the Dell XPS 13 does have an OLED display, it’s at a lower, though still pretty good, 2880 x 1800p resolution. Both laptops have limited ports, but both have plenty of power.
However, the Dell XPS 13 has an interesting design with its edgeless keyboard (meaning it stretches edge to edge) and a touchpad that just uses haptic feedback and doesn’t have a defined physical boundary. This is one of those love-it-or-hate-it design choices and will probably be a deciding factor for most.
Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i: Specs
Of the two available configurations, there’s very little difference. You basically get to choose between two almost identical CPUs, the Intel Core Ultra 7 256V and the Intel Core Ultra 7 258V, which is about 0.5% better.
However, if you select the ever-so-slightly better CPU, you get 32GB of RAM instead of 16GB, since that CPU supports the higher amount of RAM.
| Header Cell – Column 0 |
Base configuration |
Review / Max configuration |
|---|---|---|
|
Price: |
$1,819.99 at Lenovo.com / £1,830 at Lenovo.com / AU$3,849 at Lenovo.com |
$1,979.99 at Lenovo.com / £1,900.00 at Lenovo.com / AU$3,909.76 at Lenovo.com |
|
CPU: |
Intel Core Ultra 7 256V |
Intel Core Ultra 7 258V |
|
Graphics: |
Intel graphics |
Intel Arc graphics |
|
RAM: |
16GB LPDDR5X |
32GB LPDDR5X |
|
Screen: |
14″ WQUXGA (3840 x 2400), OLED, Glare, Touch, HDR 600 True Black, 100%DCI-P3, 400 nits, 120Hz, Glass, Camera Under Display |
14″ WQUXGA (3840 x 2400), OLED, Glare, Touch, HDR 600 True Black, 100%DCI-P3, 400 nits, 120Hz, Glass, Camera Under Display |
|
Storage: |
1TB SSD |
1TB SSD |
|
Ports: |
2x USB-C Thunderbolt 4 |
2x USB-C Thunderbolt 4 |
|
Wireless: |
Wi-Fi 7 2×2 BE 320MHz & Bluetooth 5.4 |
Wi-Fi 7 2×2 BE 320MHz & Bluetooth 5.4 |
|
Camera: |
32MP camera-under-display with e-privacy shutter |
32MP camera-under-display with e-privacy shutter |
|
Weight: |
Starting at 1.25kg / 2.76lbs |
Starting at 1.25kg / 2.76lbs |
|
Dimensions: |
312.93mm x 203.5mm x as thin as 14.55mm / 12.32 x 8.01 x as thin as 0.57 inches |
312.93mm x 203.5mm x as thin as 14.55mm / 12.32 x 8.01 x as thin as 0.57 inches |
Outside of the internal upgrades to CPU and RAM, there are no other upgrades. Both configurations come in one color, Tidal Teal, which is admittedly beautiful.
And there’s just the one display available. Thankfully, it’s also very nice with high-resolution and responsive touchscreen capabilities.
Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i: Design
- Attractive and slim
- Gorgeous and impressive display
- Limited ports, including a lack of an audio jack
Available in Tidal Teal, a shimmery blue with hints of green, the Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i is a beautiful laptop even before opening it up. It’s slim and light, even for a laptop of this size, and is about as portable as it gets.
In terms of form factor, the one unusual thing I noticed is that there is a raised bar near the top of the lid. This houses the 32-megapixel webcam that’s hidden under the display and pops up near the top-middle of the screen when in use. Though there’s no physical shutter for the webcam, it does have an effective e-privacy toggle next to the right USB-C port.
Image 1 of 2
It’s also worth noting that, despite having a touchscreen, this is not a 2-in-1, so don’t expect to be able to fold it to use as a tablet. That said, the touchscreen is very responsive and very sensitive, enough so that I’ve accidentally closed my browser multiple times when lightly touching the corner of the screen without thinking.
The screen is pretty remarkable beyond its touch capabilities. This 14-inch OLED panel has a 4K or 3840 x 2400 resolution (that’s a 16:10 aspect ratio) with a 120Hz refresh rate, along with 100% sRGB and DCI-P3 color coverage, which is ideal for photo editing. It also has a Vesa Certified DisplayHDR True Black 600 rating. It even supports Dolby Vision. You get the idea – the display is pretty spectacular.
The keyboard is a bit shallow, so it’s not the most comfortable one I’ve used, but that’s to be expected with a laptop this slim. It’s otherwise accurate and responsive, and I had no trouble pounding out a couple of articles on it.
The touchpad is just as snappy and accurate. While a lot of newer laptops seem to increase the size of the touchpad, that’s not the case here. If you want a really big touchpad, you’re not going to get it here.
Finally, the port selection is very, very minimal. There are just two USB-C ports, one on each side. They’re both Thunderbolt 4, so there’s plenty of throughput if you want to use a dongle. Still, it’s very limited. What I’m most upset about is the fact that Lenovo has done away with any kind of audio jack. As ubiquitous as wireless earbuds are, some of us still use wired headphones from time to time.
Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i: Performance
- Snappy, responsive performance
- Copilot+
- Great audio quality with spatial audio
The Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i is quite powerful. It can handle day-to-day work easily. Opening, scrolling, clicking links, typing, photo editing: all the sorts of things most people want from an Ultrabook. For example, I was able to open 20 browser windows very quickly, just by pressing the Plus sign in Microsoft Edge.
Each window, which opens the MSN homepage filled with different news stories and information, loaded up almost immediately. Of course, I reviewed the 32GB configuration, but the CPU and RAM still do quite a bit of heavy lifting.
Even the camera behind the screen pops up promptly. Speaking of which, the webcam performs smoothly and looks good, though it does struggle with noise in low light.
|
Benchmark |
Score |
|
|---|---|---|
|
Geekbench 6.4 Single Core |
2,755 |
|
|
Geekbench 6.4 Single Core |
11,186 |
|
|
Crossmark Overall |
1,689 |
|
|
Crossmark Productivity |
1,638 |
|
|
Crossmark Creativity |
1,934 |
|
|
Crossmark Responsiveness |
1,234 |
|
|
25GB File Copy Transfer Rate (MB/s) |
1,032.87 |
Now, it’s not a gaming laptop, but I was able to run some less demanding or older games without any trouble, like Sable and Alan Wake. For those games, the action was crisp, clear, and smooth. That gorgeous OLED screen really helps. Still, there were some games I tried to run that wouldn’t even open.
As this is a newer laptop, it comes with Copilot+. Using the app is quick and responsive, though I still don’t find it to be a game-changer in my computing experience.
|
Benchmark |
Score |
|---|---|
|
3DMark Fire Strike |
9,107 |
|
3DMark Time Spy |
4,436 |
|
3DMark Speed Way |
6,094 |
|
3DMark Steel Nomad |
823 |
|
3DMark Night Raid |
35,326 |
|
Borderlands 3 (Badass, 1080p) |
27fps |
|
Shadow of the Tomb Raider (Highest, 1080p) |
46fps |
|
Sid Meier’s Civilization VI: Gathering Storm (Max impact, 1080p) |
67fps |
|
Total War: Warhammer III (Ultra, 1080p) |
37fps |
I’ve rarely been impressed by the audio from a laptop. I was when I reviewed the Lenovo Yoga Book 9i, and I am here. That’s probably because there are more than two speakers in the Lenovo Yoga Slom 9i. Specifically, there are two 2-watt tweeters and two 3-watt woofers. There’s also some virtual spatial audio since the laptop supports Dolby Atmos.
Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i: Battery life
- Decent if disappointing battery life
- Doesn’t seem to do fast charging
Laptops with OLED displays aren’t always the most efficient, so the Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i’s just under 10 hours of battery life in the PCMark 10 Battery benchmark is not surprising, though it is a bit disappointing. It did manage a better showing in our Web Surfing test, where it managed to get just over 11 hours of battery life.
While not the best results we’ve seen, this isn’t terrible battery life. However, we’re seeing a few laptops, particularly ones that this one competes with, hitting up to double those numbers. To be fair, I turned off the laptop’s battery-saver feature, which makes the laptop run more efficiently when the battery is low, so you might manage to squeeze more juice from the battery depending on the settings.
On the bright side, it was very good at maintaining battery life when the lid was closed. I’ve used and tested some laptops where the battery would continue to run down when idling, and that’s not an issue here.
Should you buy the Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i?
|
Category |
Notes |
Rating |
|---|---|---|
|
Value |
While pricey, this laptop is thin, powerful, and comes with a wonderful OLED screen. |
4 / 5 |
|
Design |
It’s not only thin and light, but it is gorgeous. Too bad it lacks an audio jack and only comes with two USB-C ports. |
4.5 / 5 |
|
Performance |
The performance (and audio quality) is excellent, especially for productivity work. |
4.5 / 5 |
|
Battery Life |
The battery life is decent, but compared to the competition is lower than expected. |
4 / 5 |
|
Final score |
It’s gorgeous, light, and comes with robust performance. Plus, it has that OLED screen. |
4.25 / 5 |
Buy the Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i if…
Don’t buy it if…
Also consider
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How I tested the Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i
- Tested for a month
- Used it for work, gaming, and streaming
- Tested its various features
I used the Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i for a month, testing it for work, including this review (along with the requisite online research). I used it to stream video. I even did some light gaming. I played with the webcam, the audio, and the AI features as well.
After spending time with the Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i, it’s clear that this is perfect for those who want a premium experience (and can pay for it) in a gorgeous wrapping.
I’ve spent the last few years reviewing tech gear for gaming and otherwise, where I’ve gotten a feel for what to look for and how to put a piece of kit through its paces to see whether it’s worth the recommendation.
- First reviewed August 2025
Read the full article here
