Yoga Pro 9i 14 in Review: Lenovo's best Multimedia Laptop with AdobeRGB Mini-LED Panel

[Redaktion]

The new Yoga Pro 9i 14 is Lenovo's flagship consumer device and packed with features like the extremely bright Mini-LED panel with 165 Hz, a Core i7 processor as well as Nvidia's GeForce RTX 4050 Laptop inside a compact 14-inch chassis. The only problem is the battery runtime, where you will have to make some compromises.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Yoga-Pro-9i-14-in-Review-Lenovo-s-best-Multimedia-Laptop-with-AdobeRGB-Mini-LED-Panel.735956.0.html

[Chris kelly]

I feel that you should highlight that the thunderbolt port does not allow you to charge the laptop. This can only be done over the usb3.2 usb-c port meaning if you want to connect it to a usb-c dock you either need two cables to get max speed and charge, or you have to live with limited speeds to the dock.

[Andreas Osthoff]

This is incorrect, the laptop can be charged via both USB-C ports.

[LL]

Good effort.
Thanks for the black picture of mini Led in HDR
Reflective display is a problem.

[Chris kelly]

This is incorrect, the laptop can be charged via both USB-C ports.

That's not what the manual says, it's also not what tech support told me when I contacted them for clarification, nor is it what has been reported by other reviewers on YouTube

If you are correct then that is brilliant news.

[Chris Kelly]

I'm gonna hold my ands up and admit a mixup on my part.

It was the 16" version that I was told by lenovo tech support that didn't charge over the thunderbolt port, this was supported in an unboxing video for the 16" that I watched where it wasnt getting charged when plugged into a thunderbolt dock

[Vincenzo Idone]

Is the 3k IPS screen option the same as the yoga pro 7i (the one you reviewed)? Or is it a different one? From the lenovo website there's only the option for a non-matte screen.
Personally, I wouldn't mind trading the mini-led screen with more daily usage and a little less weight

[NikoB]

However, this also means that there are no true blacks in SDR mode, but rather a very dark grey with some minor backlight bleeding.

It's quite funny to read this opus from the author against the background of ordinary 1000-1200:1 in most laptops, where nevertheless they are given more than 80% points for the screen.

Where is it, even on a glossy 3000:1+ screen with an IPS pixel structure, if only VA panels are capable of this, which are fundamentally not used in laptops?

And 3600:1+ is 3 times better than Legion 7 "Pro" 2023. If there is "very dark gray", then what is on the L7"Pro" screen with declared 1200:1 - such a screen together with a laptop should definitely be sent to the trash can? And Asus laptops with only 1000:1-1100:1 in 17.3"-18" models 2023 - also in the trash right away?

And again, the authors of NB deliberately do not measure contrast at different brightness levels. And as bloggers-reviewers on YouTube proved, in this regard, not everything is good on different panels. There are panels where the contrast drops significantly at medium and low brightness, compared to panel models from other manufacturers. For example, panels from CSOT were noticed behind such a defect in comparison with BOE in Legion 5 Pro.

Well, "no true blacks in SDR mode" looks generally ridiculous against the background of AMOLED, although even there, as it turned out, with real contrast, not everything is good in many models, despite marketing declarations of 1M:1 and higher, i.e. there, too, it turns out "gray", and not "true black".
H
alos around contrasting objects at the borders of the zones did not share anywhere on a crutch called miniLED.

We are waiting for matte, non-flickering microLED.

Otherwise, the laptop is a clear flaw in many aspects. But as usual, on a planet with already 8 billion people, there will always be eccentrics with money who will be interested in buying another toy...

[Miau]

Laptop falls short in CPU, RAM and price department. Ryzen 7840U / 7840HS is pretty much compulsory with 64GB RAM for 2000€.

[ykh-1992]

Question, does the laptop support 140w charging using USB PD? Or is it using a proprietary technology?

[papasmiles]

I have the MBP 14. It has a beautiful display. With the purchased app, I am able to get brightness to ~1,000 for everyday office use.  I only converted from Windows for the display as I am outdoors frequently. However, the conversion has been cumbersome and some programs (e.g., QuickBooks) and printers HP.

Does anyone know if it is possible to increase the brightness of this machine to 1,000+ for everyday (SDR) use? Thanks.

[NikoB]

I am able to get brightness to ~1,000 for everyday office use. 

This is complete nonsense for office or typical daylight in a room, if the rays do not fall directly on the screen and this is even more so on the wildly glare glossy panel of MacBooks in any case. According to the rules of ergonomics, with normal office lighting, the norm is 100-150 nits. Anything above is bad for the eyes.

1000 is needed only on the street, but even they can be few on a sunny day, when the sun provides illumination up to 20k+ lux.

At home, in the office, brightness above 100-150 nits is never used.

There is an easy way to find out the correct brightness of the screen - take a white sheet of paper in your hand and compare it with the white on the screen under normal office lighting according to the rules of ergonomics or daylight from the window - they should be about the same in brightness. If the screen looks brighter than reflected light on a sheet of paper, you will have eye problems if you use this brightness for a long time.

[Bizarro_NikoB]

What an amazingly hyped laptop that ultimately under-delivers on so many levels. Plus, I can't seem to find the higher spec'd model in the US. It's like Lenovo marketed it one way in all it's sponsored YouTube and tech site reviews only to then never offer that reviewed higher config model (at least in the US). lame.

[Lars Olesen]

Any of you have the Yoga Pro 9i connected to a dock (port replicator) and being able to use it with two monitors, having full power without having to put in an extra power cable. That is charging through the Thunderbolt or USB-C port?

And which one did you find that supports the 140W and duan monitor setup?

[invincibo]

Where did you find advanced Optimus settings? I didn't see there's any sort of Optimus support on the demo unit in Lenovo store