Lenovo Yoga 9i: This laptop-tablet hybrid gets things done in style

MANILA, Philippines — If you're looking for a solid work laptop and have the buck to spare for comfort and portability, you might want to check out this flexible bad boy.

One of Lenovo's newest offerings in its long list Yoga laptops since 2012, the Yoga 9i seems tailor-made for people who want to get work done with a touch of class. I mean, European leather cover, man.

This 2-in-1 laptop is ambitious, fast and packs a punch housed in a luxurious light-weight exterior. But just to make sure you spend that hard-earned quarantine money wisely, we went through the trouble to save you the time.

What's under the hood?

• RAM: 16GB
• Storage: TB SSD PCIe 30NVMe
• Processor: 11th gen core i7
• GPU: integrated Iris Xe
• Display: 14-inch (1920x1080) In-Plane Switching (IPS) touchscreen, supported by Dolby Vision
• Connectivity: Intel Wi-Fi 6 (Gig+), Bluetooth® 5.1
• Battery: 60Wh battery
• Audio: Dolby Atmos Speaker System (with 360-degree Rotating Sound Bar), 2 x subwoofers, 2 x tweeters and 2 x webcam mics
• Camera: 1M webcam

Other things you need to know

• Convertible 2-in-1: Has rotating-hinge to switch been "laptop" and "tablet" mode
• Battery life: Up to 17 hours
• Weight: Starting at 1.37kg / 3.02lbs
• Colors and sizes: Mica (14-inch), Slate Grey (15.6-inch)
• Stylus: Integrated Pen
• Ports: 2 x USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 (Thunderbolt 4, DisplayPort™ & power delivery), USB-A 3.2 Gen 2
• Price: Starts at P99,995, product reviewed was at about P109,995

Pros

• Speed: It’s a beast of a work laptop, supported by 16GB of RAM and the 11th gen core i7 processor under the hood. It's safe to say that it has way more than enough power to for that virtual background in your next zoom meeting. Heck, it's 2021, and people still use a lot of units powered by a 4GB to 8GB RAM.
• Classy AF: What else can we say? Nobody asked for laptop with aerospace-grade metal bonded with hand-tooled European leather cover. But it’s here and it looks amazing (chef's kiss here). We wish it came in a Tan color as well though.
• Insane battery, fast charging: The unit claims to go for as long as 17 hours, with some reviewers claiming to get over 15 hours before another chargte. We've all wrestled with laptops that die on you after barely being unplugged for 1.5 hours — the Yoga 9i won't do that. Press materials claim three hours of local video playback in just 15 minutes of charge time.
• Sounds great: Lenovo doesn’t forget audio quality. In the laptop, the Dolby Atmos 360-degree Rotating Sound Bar is more than enough to elevate the viewing experience.  Work hard, Netflix harder.
• Touch screen: The 4K IPS touch screen is responsive, and putting it into tablet mode makes for easy media viewing. Artists will find this handy (although we couldn't compare it with other laptops at it's price range).
• Portability: This is one of Lenovo's lightest and thinnest laptops. It's about 14.6mm. In the world of memes, this is what we could call "smol," and we're all for it.

Cons

• Not exactly for games: While Lenovo Yoga 9i boasts speed, luxury, comfort and battery life, you might want to keep looking if you're up for something more suitable for gaming. It uses integrated grahics (Intel® Iris® Xe) instead of a dedicated video card — meaning it doesn't use a separate memory bank for graphics/video. However, some modern games could be ran at lower graphics settings. Users are noted to be able to run games like "Sid Meier's Civilization VI: Gathering Storm."
• Mobility over some functions: It's great for light creative work, but it may not be best suited for heavy tasks if you're doing video editing, especially if you're a "same day edit" (SDE) kind of guy. But if you're an on-the-go photojournalist who uses Photoshop and Illustrator, we'd recommend this for you. 
• Upgradable?: Not a lot could be upgraded with this laptop. You might be stuck with the certain kind of memory you choose from the get-go. But as it is, it's still a creative powerhouse nontheless.
• Camera: For its steep rice, let's just say the 720p webcam could be better. In an era of countless video conferences, meetings and online classes, this might be a downside for some during the pandemic. It's cool though that its Smart AI blurs your background whenever you take photos and use it for video calls.

Thinking of getting this one? Find out more information about the Yoga 9i on the Lenovo Philipines website. — with reports from Norman Tan and Efigenio Toledo IV