Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i Aura Edition
ZDNET’s key takeaways
- Lenovo’s Yoga Professional 9i Aura Version is on the market now for $1,949.
- It is acquired a stunning tandem OLED show, with a skinny kind and nice efficiency throughout a number of use circumstances.
- It has middling battery life and noisy followers.
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The Yoga Professional 9i (16-inch) is actually a stunning laptop computer, and all of it facilities round its show. It is the very first thing you discover once you take a look at it, and it holds your gaze.
It is acquired one thing distinctive: it is one of many few new Home windows laptops with a tandem OLED, leading to a crisp, distinctive picture that is easy as silk and exceedingly vibrant (as much as 1,000 nits).
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Regardless that I’ve had an opportunity to see the three.2K tandem OLED in individual, the mannequin I took house with me had the marginally much less spectacular (however nonetheless excellent) 2.8K OLED with the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5050 GPU. Sure, when up towards the tandem OLED operating the RTX 5060, it is not fairly as vibrant, however all issues thought-about, it is a incredible show with the identical 120Hz refresh charge, HDR 1000 True Black, 100% DCI-P3, and slick glass display. Particularly when in comparison with different units in the identical worth bracket.
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The Lenovo Yoga Professional 9i is a high-performance Home windows laptop computer designed for professionals and creatives who additionally do some gaming. It comes with 32GB of LPDDR5X (soldered) RAM, and a 1TB M.2 PCIe Gen 4 SSD. I used it for just a few weeks as my fundamental driver and love how adaptable it’s.
It is a incredible laptop computer for work, with the big, crisp OLED show, tactile, full-sized keyboard, and beneficiant I/O. It makes a incredible machine for creatives, with probably the most highly effective CPUs on the marketplace for ultraportables, the Intel Core Extremely 9 285H from the “Arrow Lake” sequence, operating 16 cores.
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And it is a succesful gaming machine, if not absolutely dedicated to the id. The {hardware} carries for many titles, with immerse visuals powered by the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5050 or 5060 GPU. For lengthy gaming periods, nonetheless, different laptops within the worth vary are going to be extra optimized for longevity and warmth mitigation.
And it may definitely get heat. The fan kicks on regularly for brief bursts, even whereas doing on a regular basis duties. Copying massive information or multitasking with a number of browser tabs, for instance is sufficient to pop it into gear, and at full velocity it is loud sufficient to listen to from the opposite room. That stated, the laptop computer itself would not get uncomfortably sizzling to the contact.
Its bodily kind could be very impartial, with Lenovo’s grey on grey on grey design that resists fingerprints however appears to be like quite company. The complete-sized keyboard is spacious and well-positioned, with an ample 1.5mm key journey and satisfying click on. I simply want it had a haptic trackpad, as that might actually seal the deal as a premium creative-first machine, particularly when paired with the show.
There’s nothing improper with the trackpad on the Yoga Professional 9i (though I do want it had been centered), however in 2025, however shoppers need to see these sorts of premium touches spherical out the package deal once they’re paying over $2,000 on a laptop computer. Not less than as an optionally available upsell.
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In the identical vein, the Yoga Professional 9i 16 would not really feel exceptionally premium for its impartial design. It is skinny, mild, and well-balanced, however the Yoga lineup is not precisely taking any dangers with its design. That stated, there’s little or no display wobble, minimal flex of the bodily body, and at 4.4 kilos and 0.76 inches thick, could not be extra transportable.
It is also fairly well-equipped when it comes to ports. On the left, you’ve gotten the charger port, an HDMI 2.1, two Thunderbolt 4 ports at 40Gbps that each help charging, and a headphone jack.
On the correct, you get two USB-A ports at 5Gbps, and an SD card reader. Simply take into account that the facility button on the highest proper could be very simple to unintentionally faucet — particularly once you’re plugging within the charger.
So what is the catch? You would possibly know the place that is going. All this {hardware} is thirsty for energy, and the Yoga Professional 9i has some quirks in terms of battery life. First off, I ought to point out that the 170W charging brick it comes with is smaller than the one which got here with final 12 months’s mannequin.
The laptop computer does cost by way of the USB-C ports, however in case you have a low-wattage charger, it is not going to maintain up. The truth is, even the included 170W charger will not be sufficient in some circumstances. If the Yoga is beneath a heavy CPU and GPU load, some users report that the 170W merely is not sufficient, and that it wants a 230W charger (offered individually) to remain at 100%.
Throughout my testing, I did not encounter this with the 170W charger, however I did with the USB-C chargers. Observe that that is solely when the laptop computer is working arduous, like when gaming or enhancing video. I did not have this subject doing on a regular basis duties like doing work or browsing the online.
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Battery life is in any other case expectedly restricted. I acquired a bit over six hours of regular use within the workplace earlier than needing to plug it in. The mannequin with the tandem OLED show would probably obtain even much less, particularly in case you’re referring to extra intensive workflows.
Let’s come full circle and talk about efficiency, the place the Yoga Professional 9i would not disappoint. As I discussed earlier than, a part of the draw right here is that this laptop computer’s capability to deal with a bit little bit of every little thing, however its significantly nice efficiency with picture and video enhancing, graphic design, and animation.
Artistic duties, resembling enhancing video in DaVinci Resolve and CapCut, had been snappy and responsive, though there was often a little bit of lag from massive information or rapidly scrubbing by video.
When evaluating it to competing 16-inch laptops, the Yoga Professional 9i prices considerably lower than its costly gaming cousin, the Legion Pro 7i, exchanging RGB lighting and superior cooling for a thinner, lighter kind, higher show, and extra well-rounded capabilities.
ZDNET’s shopping for recommendation
Lenovo’s Yoga Professional 9i Aura Version is a incredible laptop computer for creatives who need a beautiful show, with bonus factors for being a strong gaming machine, as nicely. Its skinny kind makes for a way more transportable system than different laptops with this degree of {hardware}, and all issues thought-about, it is not that costly, hovering across the $2,000 mark, relying on the {hardware}.
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If you wish to go all out, the tandem OLED is price it. Nevertheless it’s energy hungry, particularly for demanding duties. Then again, in case you go together with the common OLED and simply use the system for productiveness duties, you will discover the battery has extra longevity.
I like to recommend the Yoga Professional 9i Aura Version to creatives who need to do some little bit of every little thing with a high-performing, transportable fundamental driver.
