Lenovo is launching three new premium laptops this holiday season, offering two built for creative professionals and students and an all-new gaming laptop. With powerful new Intel processors and high-quality displays, these laptops are bound to be a hit. You’ll find the Yoga Slim 9i with a genuine leather cover, the Yoga 9i with a 2-in-1 design, and the Legion Slim 7i as a “stylish and savage gaming laptop.” How do these differ from Lenovo’s other offerings? Keep reading to find out more.
Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i delivers a compact design and genuine leather cover
The first laptop we’ll talk about is the Yoga Slim 9i. While there are many similarities between the Slim 9i and the 9i, you’ll find a few notable differences. The Slim 9i only comes in a 14-inch configuration and comes stock with a black leather cover bonded to an aerospace-grade aluminum chassis. The display can be spec’d up to a 14-inch 4K touchscreen IPS VESA DisplayHDR 300 option, which carries 90% DCI-P3 color spectrum coverage and can boost to a 500-nit brightness which is optimized for Dolby Vision. Coming in at just 13.9mm thin (or 0.54-inches) and weighing just 1.26kg (or 2.77-pounds), this laptop is among Lenovo’s lighting, thinnest, and most premium offerings. There are dual front-facing speakers on the Yoga Slim 9i that are capable of Dolby Atmos, as well.
The Yoga Slim 9i also offers a 3D curved-edge display as a premium option for those who pick the 4K resolution, offering a more streamlined look that’s inspired by the micro-borders of a smartphone. The Smart Sense Keyboard automatically adjusts your keyboard’s backlighting based on ambient lighting, giving you an experience that’s not easy to find in many Windows laptops. You’ll find an electrical shutter switch on the side to cut power to the Yoga Slim 9i’s built-in IR camera, should you want a bit of extra privacy.
Step it up to the Yoga 9i laptop with a rotating Dolby Atmos soundbar
The Yoga 9i comes in two different form-factors — one carrying a similar 14-inch screen size like the Slim 9i, and another with a larger 15-inch display. You’ll find the 2-in-1 build of the Yoga 9i offers a unique rotating Dolby Atmos-compatible soundbar hinge that’s unique to Lenovo’s offering, making sure that the speakers are always facing you no matter what mode it’s in.
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The screen on the 9i is very similar to the Slim 9i, offering up to a 4K IPS VESA DisplayHDR 400 quality, available on both the 14-inch and 15.6-inch models. You’ll find that the Yoga 9i can weigh as little as 3.02 pounds, which for its 2-in-1 design is quite light.
Another area that the Yoga 9i separates itself from the Slim 9i is in horsepower. The 15-inch model can be spec’d up to the 10th gen Intel Core i9 HK-series processor and NVIDIA’s GTX 1650 Ti MAX-Q graphics card, delivering ample performance while on-the-go. You’ll also find two Thunderbolt 3 ports for power, data transfers, and external display support. Plus, both 2-in-1 models offer Windows Ink support with a garaged active pen that is built into the chassis, ensuring you can always easily take notes.
Next-generation specs find a home in both the Yoga Slim 9i and Yoga 9i
You’ll find that both the Yoga Slim 9i and the Yoga 9i share quite a few specs and features, including the ability to have up to 16GB of DDR4 RAM, up to a 2TB PCIe SSD, and next-generation Intel Core processors based on the Intel Xe architecture.
Both computers, at least the Shadow Black 14-inch models with the leather cover, offer an edge-to-edge glass palm rest. This offers a super-premium look and is smooth to the touch. An encased Smart Sensor Touchpad packs vibrations when pressed to simulate the feeling of a click, without having to move at all. There’s even a built-in ultrasonic fingerprint reader that works with damp or freshly-sanitized fingers, allowing for simple log-in. The soft-landing, dome-designed keys offer a smooth, comfortable typing experience that’s similar to what ThinkPad computers have offered for years.
You’ll find that Lenovo offers up to 20 hours of battery life, depending on the size and spec of the computer you choose. Both computers have Bluetooth 5.1 and Wi-Fi 6 (Gig+), allowing you to stay connected with ease.
Game from anywhere with the Legion Slim 7i
Lenovo claims that its all-new Legion Slim 7i is the “world’s lightest 15-inch GeForce RTX gaming laptop,” coming in at just 3.96 pounds and .71 inches thick. The Legion Slim 7i packs a 15-inch display and up to 10th generation Intel Core i9 HK-series processors, which gives ample power when you’re wanting to game. You’ll find the ability to spec it up to NVIDIA RTX GeForce RTX 2060 MAX-Q graphics, which offer real-time raytracing. This feature gives you the ability to enjoy many AAA games at fantastic settings, which delivers a fantastic gameplay experience even from the couch. Plus, with specs like this, you’ll be able to edit photos and videos when on-the-go as well, since those tasks are also CPU and GPU dependent.
Lenovo also offers up to 32GB of 3200MHz DDR4 RAM and multiple 15.6-inch screen options, including one that’s 4K IPS VESA DisplayHDR 400 with a 100% AdobeRGB color spectrum coverage and 600-nits of brightness, which is great for streamers or content creators. Or, those who prefer to game will find a 1080p 144Hz panel that has a 100% sRGB color coverage.
The 71WHr battery offers nearly eight hours of battery life on a single charge, but obviously, playing games or doing heavy rendering cycles could cut that down some. When it comes to heat, Lenovo has redesigned the air intake system to be 31% larger on the new Legion Slim 7i. This allows it to dissipate heat during heavy gameplay with up to 115% more airflow going to the CPU and GPU over previous generations. This, along with a smarter five-point sensor array, allows gamers to play for hours on end without seeing any major thermal throttling.
Thunderbolt compatibility delivers the ability to boost at-home performance by using an eGPU, which is something that the above Yoga 9i/Slim 9i can also take advantage of. Wi-Fi 6 (Gig+) and Bluetooth 5 also are built into the Legion Slim 7i, giving you ample connectivity options. The TrueStrike keyboard provides a satisfying, deep key travel feel and offers all of the benefits of a full-sized gaming keyboard, including 100% anti-ghosting, a dedicated number pad, full-sized arrow keys, and even the ability to use Corsair iCUE RGB individual key illumination.
Pricing and availability
The Yoga Slim 9i will start at €1,899 — around $2,260 — and is expected to be available starting in November 2020. The 14-inch Yoga 9i will start at €1,799 or around $2,140 for the leather-covered model and €1,999 or $2,380 for the 15-inch model. Both Yoga 9i laptops are slated to be available in October 2020.
For the Legion Slim 7i, you’ll see pricing starting at €1,299 or $1,545 and available starting in October 2020.
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