New Lenovo Yoga 9i laptop features leather design and next-gen performance

Lenovo has today announced the new Yoga 9i laptop, featuring next-gen Intel Core processors, a 4K HDR display and an optional luxurious leather exterior.

The Lenovo Yoga 9i is set to become Lenovo’s flagship laptop, and will come in 14- and 15.6-inch sizes. Both models will feature a 2-in-1 design, although Lenovo is also launching the Yoga Slim 9i that’s largely the same device, but available at a cheaper price since it lacks the 360-degree hinge. 

The fancy leather cover is an optional luxury, with a ‘warm Mica’ colour alternative also available. Both models see an edge-to-edge glass palmwrest, which means the trackpad has been shunted underneath. However, fans of trackpad clickiness will be relieved to hear that Lenovo is using haptic feedback technology to simulate the feeling of a physical click. 

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Lenovo has also revealed its new laptops will feature Intel’s ‘next-gen’ processors. While it avoided outright calling the new chips ‘Tiger Lake’, it’s almost guaranteed this is what Lenovo is referring to, especially after confirming the inclusion of Thunderbolt 4 and Wi-Fi 6 support, as well as Intel Xe integrated graphics.

While we’re still waiting for Intel to reveal Tiger Lake and the Xe integrated graphics, it looks like the new architecture will allow users to dabble with casual content creation and gaming without the need a graphics card, although the 15.6-inch model can be configured with a Nvidia GTX 1650 Ti GPU for added graphics performance. 

The Yoga 9i will also supposedly see up to 18 hours of battery life. That’s undoubtedly impressive stamina, but laptop manufacturers are known for overblowing battery life, so take this with a pinch of salt for now. 

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One of the most impressive aspects of the new Yoga laptop, at least by judging the specs, is the optional 4K display. Lenovo suggests the display boasts high-end features, including HDR, 500-nit brightness and 90% DCI-P3 colour coverage that could potentially make this an ideal system for professional content creators.

A Full HD panel will also be made available, which lacks HDR support and isn’t quite as bright, but will be available at a more affordable price. 

The Lenovo Yoga 9i is expected to be available from October 2020, with the 14-inch model seeing a starting price of 1799€ and the 15-inch alternative featuring a base price of 1899€. UK pricing is yet to be confirmed, but we’ve reached out to Lenovo for more details.