Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i 14 review: Sleek and shiny, but with trade-offs

The Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i 14 is a visually stunning laptop. That goes for both the both the stunning OLED display as well as the shiny glass lid that produces lots of interesting reflections. It’s also just a great productivity laptop thanks to the excellent use of an Intel Core Ultra (Series 2) processor, also known as Intel Lunar Lake.

But everything in life is a compromise. That beautiful display seems to drain this laptop’s battery life faster than normal, and the beautiful design is just so glossy and reflective. And there are some other strange decisions here, like the lack of a headphone jack and an oddly placed fingerprint reader, which will bug some folks.

Still, it’s a great machine – and it may be a dream machine for some people, especially if you’re looking for a beautiful and lightweight machine with a design that stands out.

Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i 14: Specs

The Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i 14 (Gen 10) is a lightweight ultraportable laptop with an Intel Core Ultra (Series 2) CPU. Intel’s Lunar Lake hardware offers long battery life with solid performance for normal desktop productivity application — so web browsers, office apps, workplace chat tools, and all that good stuff. It doesn’t have high multithreaded performance, but that’s not what a lightweight ultraportable is all about, anyway.

Lenovo combines that Intel Core Ultra 7 CPU with 32 GB of RAM and a 1 TB of solid-state storage, so they’re not cutting corners. The machine we reviewed retails for $1,899, but Lenovo also offers a version with 16GB of RAM and a slightly slower Intel Core Ultra 7 256V CPU for $1,759.

• CPU: Intel Core Ultra 7 258V
• Memory: 32GB LPDDR5x RAM
• Graphics/GPU: Intel Arc 140V (16GB)
• NPU: Intel AI Boost (47 TOPS)
• Display: 3840×2400 OLED with touchscreen, 120Hz refresh rate, and HDR
• Storage: 1 TB PCIe Gen 4 SSD
• Webcam: 32MP camera
• Connectivity: 2x Thunderbolt 4 (USB Type-C)
• Networking: Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.3
• Biometrics: Fingerprint reader for Windows Hello
• Battery capacity: 75 Watt-hours
• Dimensions: 12.32 x 8.01 x 0.57 inches
• Weight: 2.76 pounds
• MSRP: $1,899 as tested

Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i 14: Design and build quality

IDG / Chris Hoffman

This machine is all about good looks. It’s available in a “Tidal Teal” colorway, which looks beautiful. It’s all about the reflections: The lid is covered in impact-resistant glass, and it has a very cool looking effect that looks great when it reflects light. Lenovo describes it as a “3D swirling at-eye effect” that “makes your style pop from every angle, reflecting light beautifully.” It’s shiny.

It looks great if reflections are what you’re looking for! If you don’t want your laptop to draw eyes with its impressive looking reflections, then it’s perhaps not the right machine for you. The larger issue with the reflections is just how glossy the display is, which is an issue in direct sunlight. This isn’t just an issue with this machine though, it’s an issue with laptops with glossy screens, especially machines with OLED displays. Also, that glass lid smudges easily. You’ll be wiping it to keep its crisp good looks intact.

The build quality is good! Aside from the glass on the cover, this machine is made of aluminum. At 2.76 pounds, it’s a nice light weight, but not the absolute lightest PC. The hinge is easy to open with one hand and feels good.

While this is branded a Yoga machine, this is not a 2-in-1 that can open to 360 degrees. Lenovo has decided to use the Yoga name, once meant for laptops that could bend into interesting shapes, for laptops in general. I continue to be absolutely baffled by this change in the Yoga branding. It’s not a problem, but be aware: This is a traditional laptop and not a 2-in-1. In fact, it can only open to about 135 degrees, it can’t even lie flat like many other laptops can. For a laptop that bears the Yoga name, this is pretty silly.

There’s also more bloatware than I’d like to see — preinstalled McAfee antivirus and notification ads through Lenovo Vantage for services like Amazon Music. It’s fine and you can get rid of it easily enough. It’s common and more understandable on budget focused laptops, but it feels a little obnoxious on an almost $2,000 premium machine focused on beautiful design.

Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i 14: Keyboard and trackpad

IDG / Chris Hoffman

The Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i has a fine keyboard. It’s responsive enough, not as snappy and crisp as a ThinkPad keyboard or a good mechanical keyboard, but not mushy. It’s the kind of keyboard you find on a good lightweight laptop. You wonder if it feels a little shallow, but then you realize of course it does, they’re trying to make the laptop as thin as possible, so there’s less room for key travel.

I do have a major bone to pick with the keyboard. The fingerprint reader is placed smack dab at the bottom right corner of the keyboard, and then the arrow keys are to the left of it. I found myself pressing the wrong arrow key when I moved my finger down there. I’d prefer to have the right arrow key at the left edge of the keyboard.

The trackpad feels fine, too–it’s nice and smooth, and the click action is crisp and not mushy. That said, it’s a little on the small side, which makes clicking a little annoying at times since there’s less room to click down. This problem would’ve been remedied had Lenovo used a haptic trackpad. PC manufacturers should choose haptic trackpads more frequently, at least on lightweight ultraportables!

The odd fingerprint reader location and slightly small trackpad are artifacts of the same problem: Lenovo has aimed to streamline this machine, cutting down the bezels, shrinking it, and focusing on beauty. There’s not a lot of room for a larger trackpad or to put the buttons elsewhere. For many people, a larger laptop that’s a little less streamlined and a little bulkier will just be more ergonomic, as it gives the keyboard and trackpad some room to breathe.

Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i 14: Display and speakers

IDG / Chris Hoffman

The Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i’s display is just beautiful. This is a 3840×2400 OLED display. It’s incredibly bright and vivid with a high resolution. It also has a good refresh rate at 120Hz — some OLED displays deliver only 60Hz. With 750 nits of peak brightness, it can also deliver a great HDR experience.

If you’re looking for an ultraportable with a beautiful display, one that also has a beautiful design, this is a compelling machine! It’s a touch screen, too.

The quad speakers with Dolby Atmos are reasonable. They have a lot of volume, way more than I need! That’s not always true on a laptop. The audio feels crisp and clear. However, as always on a laptop like this one, the built in speakers don’t produce a lot of bass.

Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i 14: Webcam, microphone, biometrics

IDG / Chris Hoffman

The Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i has an under display webcam, which helps Lenovo shrink the bezel as much as possible. The screen looks normal while you’re not using the webcam. Activate the webcam and a black circle will appear in the middle of the top area of the screen — annoyingly enough, right where you web browser’s tab bar would be. If you want a small bezel and don’t use your laptop’s webcam much, it’ll be a nice upgrade. If you frequently use your laptop’s webcam, this may be rather annoying compared to a traditional webcam that’s not located on your display.

The webcam itself is a 32MP camera. While I’ve seen some complaints online, I’d say the webcam is usable, as I’ve seen much worse. It seems like the under display approach is making the image quality worse, though. To be frank, I would avoid this laptop if you frequently participate in video meetings. It’s really annoying having a black circle obstruct part of your screen while the webcam is in use.

There’s also a physical camera shutter switch on the right side of the laptop, which is always nice to see.

The microphone sounds fine — not unusually good and not unusually bad. It’ll be serviceable for online meetings, but I’ve heard better microphone quality on business laptops designed for this sort of thing.

As far as biometrics, this machine has a fingerprint reader on the bottom-right corner of the keyboard for Windows Hello. It worked well, although I wish the right arrow key was down in that corner.

This machine doesn’t have an IR camera for facial recognition with Windows Hello. That’s no surprise given the under display webcam situation. It is a shame, though — facial recognition is a convenient way to unlock your PC.

Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i 14: Connectivity