Lenovo Yoga Professional 9i Aura Version
ZDNET’s key takeaways
- Lenovo’s Yoga Professional 9i Aura Version is out there now for $1,949.
- It is obtained a stunning tandem OLED show, with a skinny type and nice efficiency throughout a number of use instances.
- 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 while you take a look at it, and it holds your gaze.
It is obtained 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 clean as silk and exceedingly vibrant (as much as 1,000 nits).
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Though I’ve had an opportunity to see the three.2K tandem OLED in particular person, 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 working the RTX 5060, it is not fairly as vibrant, however all issues thought-about, it is a incredible show with the identical 120Hz refresh price, HDR 1000 True Black, 100% DCI-P3, and slick glass display. Particularly when in comparison with different gadgets 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 a number of 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 some of the highly effective CPUs on the marketplace for ultraportables, the Intel Core Extremely 9 285H from the “Arrow Lake” collection, working 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 classes, nevertheless, different laptops within the worth vary are going to be extra optimized for longevity and warmth mitigation.
And it could possibly actually get heat. The fan kicks on steadily 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 pace it is loud sufficient to listen to from the opposite room. That mentioned, the laptop computer itself would not get uncomfortably sizzling to the contact.
Its bodily type may be very impartial, with Lenovo’s grey on grey on grey design that resists fingerprints however seems to be relatively 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 fallacious with the trackpad on the Yoga Professional 9i (though I do want it had been centered), however in 2025, however customers wish to see these sorts of premium touches spherical out the package deal after they’re paying over $2,000 on a laptop computer. At the least as an non-compulsory 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, gentle, and well-balanced, however the Yoga lineup is not precisely taking any dangers with its design. That mentioned, 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 moveable.
It is also fairly well-equipped by way of ports. On the left, you’ve the charger port, an HDMI 2.1, two Thunderbolt 4 ports at 40Gbps that each assist charging, and a headphone jack.
On the correct, you get two USB-A ports at 5Gbps, and an SD card reader. Simply remember that the ability button on the highest proper may be very simple to by accident faucet — particularly while you’re plugging within the charger.
So what is the catch? You may know the place that is going. All this {hardware} is thirsty for energy, and the Yoga Professional 9i has some quirks relating to 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 through the USB-C ports, however you probably have a low-wattage charger, it is not going to maintain up. Actually, even the included 170W charger is probably not sufficient in some instances. If the Yoga is below a heavy CPU and GPU load, some customers report that the 170W merely is not sufficient, and that it wants a 230W charger (bought 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. Word that that is solely when the laptop computer is working arduous, like when gaming or modifying video. I did not have this challenge doing on a regular basis duties like doing work or browsing the net.
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Battery life is in any other case expectedly restricted. I obtained just a little over six hours of regular use within the workplace earlier than needing to plug it in. The mannequin with the tandem OLED show would seemingly obtain even much less, particularly in the event 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 capacity to deal with just a little little bit of every little thing, however its notably nice efficiency with picture and video modifying, graphic design, and animation.
Inventive duties, resembling modifying video in DaVinci Resolve and CapCut, had been snappy and responsive, though there was often a little bit of lag from massive information or shortly 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 Professional 7i, exchanging RGB lighting and superior cooling for a thinner, lighter type, 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 desire a beautiful show, with bonus factors for being a stable gaming machine, as effectively. Its skinny type makes for a way more moveable machine than different laptops with this stage 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 value it. Nevertheless it’s energy hungry, particularly for demanding duties. Then again, in the event you go along with the common OLED and simply use the machine for productiveness duties, you will discover the battery has extra longevity.
I like to recommend the Yoga Professional 9i Aura Version to creatives who wish to perform a little little bit of every little thing with a high-performing, moveable fundamental driver.
