Lenovo took all the beauty and sleekness of the Yoga 9i and managed to make the new Slim 9i even better.
Packing a 14-inch touch OLED display in two resolutions (2.8K or 4K) with Dolby Vision, DisplayHDR 500, and quad speakers, the Lenovo Slim 9i focuses on delivering a rich multimedia visual and auditory experience.
The display is factory color calibrated for 100 percent DCI-P3 as well. But unlike the Yoga 9i, the Slim 9i ditches the clever speaker bar hinge design and opts for two Bowers and Wilkins-tuned top-firing speakers that flank the keyboard and two on the bottom edge, resulting in a similar and still powerful sound profile.
The processor options are the same as the Yoga 9i and include Intel’s latest 12th Gen Core i7-1280P or Core i5-1240P, with the i7 version easily beating Apple’s M1 processor found in the MacBook Pro.
But there are two exciting features that the Slim 9i has over the Yoga 9i. One is Intel Arc 3 graphics with the new A350M mobile GPU (plus the onboard Iris Xe graphics). We haven’t seen too many Arc 3 laptops yet, but the Slim 9i will be one of them. The other is the new “3D glass cover” instead of just a metal lid like the Yoga 9i. The cover is smoother glass with a color that sits in between white and the “oatmeal” (light gold) of the chassis. Not only does it look premium, but it feels it, too.
The rest of the chassis design is like the Yoga 9i with excellent smooth, rounded “comfort edges” for “a more comfortable handling and holding experience.” But, unlike the Yoga 9i, the Slim 9i ditches a USB Type-A port, likely because it’s so thin at 14.9mm (0.6 inches), whereas the Yoga 9i is thicker at 16.5mm (0.65 inches).
Toss in a full HD webcam with Windows Hello IR, a physical camera cutoff switch, and Lenovo’s usage of AI to monitor performance, the Slim 9i looks like an excellent, premium clamshell laptop for those who want the best while keeping things slim and light.
All that elegance, however, comes at a price. Lenovo says the Slim 9i starts at an eye-watering $1,799, and it begins shipping in June. Luckily, Lenovo often runs sales, so we expect that price to come down later this summer and into fall.
