The 2022 Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i ranks among the most powerful laptops we’ve reviewed so far, packing a high-performance i7 processor and a beautiful 4K OLED touch display.
While the back of the device may feel cheap and flimsy, going for a laminated plastic feeling instead of the polished aluminium feel of many of its contemporaries, the Yoga Slim 9i will definitely satisfy some laptop users in ways that the competition cannot.
Eagle Pose
So, let’s talk about the obvious: this thing is gorgeous. The only bad things about the aesthetic boil down to preference: I’m not a big fan of the keyboard, and the laminated top of the device doesn’t feel or look great, but this just boils down to my opinion. I’d recommend going to a store to get a feel for this device before committing to a purchase, if that’s important to you.
The chassis of the laptop is rimmed by a beautiful rose-gold material, polished and feeling very smooth. It’s not particularly thick and has three USB-C ports and one headphone jack. It’s about a millimetre taller than the 2020 MacBook Pro, and has specs to match the device (which we’ll get into later).
Perhaps the most egregious thing about this device’s aesthetic is that it really wants people to know that it’s a Lenovo. “Lenovo” is embroidered on the back, as is “Yoga” in a different spot, and then “Lenovo” again once you open the device up. The default background of the device even includes a little “Lenovo” stamp.
So, just in case it wasn’t clear, we’re talking about a Lenovo here. Just making sure, because the laptop was so unclear.
Head to knee
Let’s talk about specs. The screen is beautiful. If you care about high-quality visuals with your work, and you’re after a powerful all-rounder, a laptop with a 4K OLED display like this is hard to look past.
Specs of our review unit (although other CPU and GPU options are available) include an Intel i7-1280p CPU, Intel Iris graphics and 16GB RAM.
In our graphics test (Forza Horizon 5 benchmarking mode), the laptop scored 34fps on ‘low’, with a 1080p resolution at 60hz. An admirable score, but you might want to avoid playing graphics-intensive games on this thing.
In Cinebench, the laptop scored third place (1686 points) in the single-core test and sixth place (9315 points) in the multi-core test.
In Geekbench, the laptop scored a 704 single-core score and an 11,543 multi-core score, along with an OpenCL compute test score of 21,339.
These scores are very good, and if you’re after a performance-oriented laptop, then this would be one to consider.
So, what about the things we didn’t like?
Downward Dog
The worst test that the Yoga Slim 9i performed in was the battery test.
Streaming Avengers Endgame on maximum settings, the laptop dropped from 100 per cent to 66 per cent in the first hour, to 28 per cent in the second hour and then 9 per cent in the third hour. These are fairly underwhelming results and it’s been a while since we’ve had a laptop score this low (it was likely the Alienware M15 R7, with 22 per cent and much, much more grunt).
The battery obviously underperformed when compared to other high-end laptops. If you’re going to be using this thing while away from a charger for long periods of time, then you will probably be annoyed with it.
Additionally, the sound on the Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i is, unfortunately, a bit quiet. While I was testing this laptop, I was also testing a smartphone in the same environment, and the smartphone consistently produced greater, deeper sound than the Lenovo.
The verdict
I recommend the Yoga Slim 9i as a performance laptop for moving between one working environment and another (home and the office).
However, the battery life is concerning. I wouldn’t recommend buying this if you expect to use it for long periods of time away from a charger, nor would I recommend this for its sound.
The beautiful 4K OLED screen is truly remarkable, however. If you’re after a killer display, then consider the Yoga Slim 9i.
Where to buy the Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i
The device starts at $2,099 through Lenovo, with the option to bundle in greater specs at an extra cost. The highest price device costs $4,049.
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