Lenovo Yoga 9i 14 Convertible Review: The Yoga C940 Twin

[Redaktion]

We called the 2019 Lenovo Yoga C940 14 the 14-inch convertible to beat and, for better or worse, the 2020 Yoga 9i 14 brings nothing significantly new to the table other than the expected CPU upgrade.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Lenovo-Yoga-9i-14-Convertible-Review-The-Yoga-C940-Twin.506263.0.html

[vertigo]

I think you made a mistake in the noise section. It says "Fan noise is quiet when under low loads like browsing or video streaming at up to about 29.7 dB(A) against a silent background of 26.3 dB(A)" and then it shows 26.3 as the fan noise level, when it should be 29.7.

[capnkimo]

I was strongly considering this laptop and im even more tempted by the sale price on Lenovo's website, but im disappointed in the GPU inconsistencies and the display not being calibrated out of the box.
wonder if the 4k version covers a wider color space.

[SAIFUL HANNAN]

The GPU is faster in the 9i compared to the 7i is because of the type of RAM... LPDDR4 4.67 vs DDR4 3.2... In general GPU performance XE w/LPDDR4 > Ryzen Renoir Vega >= XE w/DDR4.

[Zhen]

Actually I am interested in the "Shadow Black" variant for the haptic touchpad. Hope they could sent another test device.

[Dorby]

I'll be honest, I am a Lenovo fan when it comes to PC and laptops.
Lenovo is after all, the Original Windows 2-in-1 convertible designer, and I really like what they've done with not just the 900, but all their laptops with the name 'Yoga'.
The retracting keyboard on the Thinkpad X1Y2, soundbar hinge on the C930, active Wacom pen storage, physical microphone and camera shutters, and introducing OLED in an ultrabook to name a few.

Having said that, I haven't bought the Lenovo Yoga 900 series since the first model and likely won't buy this time because of its keyboard, Keyboard, KEYBOARD.
It's not a bad keyboard, but they use the same one on the 300, 500 and 700 series Yoga/Ideapads, which is 'entry-level', 'low-end' and 'mid-range' respectively. In a world where there are premium HP Spectre and Envy x360s with their great keyboard and little flaws, the Yoga's keyboard is difficult to swallow for an even higher price you pay for it vs HP.

Few other points:
1. HP, ASUS, Acer have all now moved to 3:2 on at least 2-in-1 convertibles. Dell has 16:10. I'm not the one to  ever complain about aspect ratios, but horizontal (not vertical) screen space matters in Tablet mode. Using a 16:9 display vertically feels narrow like an oversized smartphone. Good for browsing, terrible for digital note taking and working with print (A4/Letter) sized documents and PDFs.
2. HP and Asus have OLED, Dell has industry leading IPS options, all three provide 500+ nits screens for outdoor use. Lenovo is still around 400 nits post-calibration.
3. no HDMI, SD for ports, and no IR camera and dedicated volume + brightness buttons on a 2-in-1. How can I biometrically sign in and adjust my volume?

Here is what I want from Lenovo Yoga 9a Pro (because I assume 9'i' means Intel variant):
- 14" 16:10 QHD OLED 120Hz display, 500 nits, 100% AdobeRGB
- wide-ranging CPU options from Ryzen 3 4300U to Ryzen 9 4900HS, with new AMD Zen 3 architecture
- wide-ranging GPU options from iGPU to Nvidia MX450 and GTX 1650 Max-Q
- Cooling solution that can handle 35W Ryzen HS CPU = 2 big fans and 2 big heat pipes
- Battery capacity that can run 8 hours on the most expensive SKU, so around 70Wh
- Up to 32GB of LPDDR4x 4267 if there isn't space for dual-SODIMM DDR4
- Good keyboard. Doesn't have to be a Thinkpad, just something worth $1.5-2K USD asking price and competitive with the new HP Envy, Spectre, Dell XPS, LG Gram and high-end ASUS ZenBook.
- Thick Pen magnetically attached to chassis with improved latency and idle battery life.
- better I/O and separate USB-C PD 3.0 for charging on both sides with the inclusion of USB 4
- overall improved 2-in-1 functionality
- total weight under 1.5 kg

Lenovo, I wouldn't pay $1,200 for the Yoga 9i with Core i5 but will definitely pay $2,000 for the Yoga 9a Pro 14 with Ryzen 7 4800HS and recommend it to everyone I know to buy.

[DarkRaider]

Has the wireless signal strength manufacturing defect been corrected?  The issue is documented in the Lenovo Yoga forum under "9i weak wi-fi signal".  Signal strength is reduced by 30+ dBm; 5GHz (ac/ax) is unusable.  I'm 0 for 2 with a 3rd replacement on the way.

[Danielsen]

"We recommend applying our calibrated ICM profile". How? I don't even know what you are referring to. I'm basically clueless when it comes to panel calibration. Can you help me?