At Laptop Mag, we have the rare privilege of testing several multiples of the number of laptops the average person would touch throughout their lives.
I've reviewed 40 and have grown more critical as my appreciation for certain elements of a laptop's design and features comes to the forefront with each subsequent review.
Last year, that manifested when I tested the Lenovo Yoga 9i (Gen 8), which I called a "masterful 2-in-1" and went so far as to assert that it was "near-perfect," with its only flaw being a display that could have been brighter.
Otherwise, its gorgeous OLED display, 2.8K-resolution glossy panel, satisfying keyboard, swift SSD speeds, solid productivity performance, sturdy, lightweight aluminum chassis, impactful audio, and long-lasting battery life made it the best laptop I've ever tested.
It's been a little over a year since I wrote that review, and now, I have the ninth generation of the Lenovo Yoga 9i in my hands. Does it live up to the hype?
Does Lenovo Yoga 9i (Gen 9) keep up the greatness?
Akin to any laptop's yearly refresh, the big difference with the latest Lenovo Yoga 9i is its upgrade to a more modern Intel processor. In this case, it's built with an Intel Ultra 7 155H CPU versus the previous generation's Intel Core i7-1360P processor.
The jump in performance isn't necessarily massive. The Lenovo Yoga 9i (Gen 8) managed a multi-core score of 10,828 on the Geekbench 6 overall performance test, while the Yoga 9i (Gen 9) managed a multi-core score of 12,455.
However, this is only one test, as the gap when converting a 4K video to 1080p using the HandBrake app is far greater. The Yoga 9i (Gen 8) took 9 minutes and 45 seconds to complete this task, while the Yoga 9i (Gen 9) nearly halved that by taking only 5 minutes and 10 seconds.
Otherwise, the Lenovo Yoga 9i (Gen 9) we tested is a tad lighter and thinner, coming in at 2.9 pounds and measuring 12.4 x 8.7 x 0.6 inches, versus the Yoga 9i (Gen 8) being 3.1 pounds and measuring 12.5 x 9.1 x 0.6 inches. While this may not seem like a huge difference, the lightness of the latest model is tangible.
Beyond these differences, the latest generation of the Lenovo Yoga 9i improves upon little else. It has a new Cosmic Blue finish, a dark blue similar to cobalt.
It also claims the same phenomenally colorful OLED panel that I fell in love with last year. With a choice between 2.8K or 4K resolution, the previous model's 142 percent coverage of the DCI-P3 color gamut is pretty much on par with the latest's 136 percent coverage. It's even identical in being a tad dim, as both feature brightness around 350 nits.
If the company had kept the Yoga 9i's other positive qualities intact, Lenovo would have knocked it out of the park and potentially solidified itself as my favorite laptop of 2024. Sure, it wouldn't have broken new ground or anything, but why shy away from a great formula?
Unfortunately, the Yoga 9i (Gen 9) suffers from one major flaw: It lacks long battery life.
Where the Yoga 9i (Gen 9) stumbles
On the Laptop Mag battery life test, which involves continuous web surfing at 150 nits, the Lenovo Yoga 9i (Gen 8) lasted 10 hours and 10 minutes before running out of juice. We typically recommend 10 hours or more to indeed be safe regarding battery life, especially for long days at work or school or if you're traveling.
The Lenovo Yoga 9i (Gen 9) would have been a perfect successor if it could match the previous generation or at least get remotely close, but that's not the case. On the same test, the Yoga 9i (Gen 9) ran out of juice after 7 hours and 24 minutes. That's nearly a whole three-hour difference in battery life.
This ultimately brings us to a difficult decision: Is slightly superior performance and a 0.2-pound difference in weight worth a sub-eight-hour battery life? We cannot answer that question, as it depends on your use case, but it's the main area in which the Yoga 9i (Gen 9) stumbles compared to the near-perfect model from the previous generation.
This is especially damning when battery life is seeing a whole new era of longevity in other laptops, like the Asus Zenbook 14 OLED, lasting for as long as 15 hours and 52 minutes with the same processor. The HP Spectre x360, another 14-inch 2-in-1 laptop, has the same processor and a similar OLED panel yet manages 11 hours of battery life.
Seeing Lenovo plummet so far from greatness is disheartening. While the laptop is fantastic otherwise, the Yoga 9i (Gen 9) doesn't quite live up to the hype the previous generation established.
