Lenovo Yoga Book 9i Review: Dual Screen Fun Leave a comment

Lenovo’s conceit for the Yoga E-book 9i laptop computer—ditch the keyboard and substitute it with a second touchscreen—has been finished earlier than, however by no means very properly. Arguably the most effective instance so far anyplace alongside these traces has been the HP Omen X 2S, which featured a miniature show mounted above a bodily keyboard, however it was a decidedly area of interest concept designed for gaming and priced at practically $3,000 at launch. It by no means gained a lot traction. Now it’s Lenovo’s flip to make a journey down this street, and it could be probably the most bold, and profitable variation so far.

With the Yoga E-book 9i, “second display screen” means a full display screen. There’s no keyboard right here in any respect; the decrease half of the laptop computer is a touchscreen an identical to the higher half. Take two 13.3-inch OLED shows and sandwich them along with a hinge in between and also you’ve obtained the thought.

Lenovo has finished a hefty quantity of engineering to make this work, and whereas there are a number of tough edges, for probably the most half, it’s successful. Naturally, you’re free to make use of the laptop computer as if it had been two Home windows tablets or one big one, placing completely different apps on both display screen of the gadget and holding the entire thing prefer it’s considered one of Moses’ monumental stone tablets. Need to get artistic? You’ll be able to even set it on a desk in an inverted V formation and let two children watch completely different movies on both aspect (although you possibly can solely play one audio monitor).

All of this will sound fanciful and even frivolous, however the Yoga E-book 9i is surprisingly properly positioned for getting actual work finished—and probably succeeds on that entrance higher than a normal laptop computer. Open the gadget up in customary laptop computer mode and use eight fingers to swipe upward on the decrease touchscreen to have the digital keyboard and trackpad space seem. Need to forgo the trackpad and transfer the keyboard nearer to your physique? Simply drag it down and the keyboard strikes towards you, leaving room for numerous configurable widgets within the few inches of open area which have been freed up.

Mastering all the swipes and gestures used to maneuver issues round on the Yoga E-book 9i—significantly transferring a window from one display screen to a different—takes a little bit of examine and a few trial and error, however with apply, it’s not onerous to get the hold of.

The Yoga E-book works nice with its touchscreen keyboard, although I understandably typed a bit slower than I’d have on a mechanical keyboard, regardless of a haptics-based system that gives some stage of suggestions. The professional transfer is to fireside up the exterior Bluetooth keyboard and mouse—each are included with buy, together with a stylus—and use each screens as shows. The machine will be propped up with the 2 screens aspect by aspect or one atop one other by utilizing the included folio stand, a easy gizmo that folds right into a wedge and is held collectively by magnets. It’s all compact sufficient to suit on a normal airline tray desk (sans the mouse), which is able to categorically make you the one individual utilizing twin screens in coach.

It will after all be prudent to surprise about the remainder of the 9i’s specs, and the info is combined. The 2 screens every have 2,880 X 1,800-pixel resolutions and are dazzlingly vibrant—a lot in order that I needed to flip the brightness down, as a result of they damage my eyes at full energy. (Brightness will be set for every display screen independently.) The unit manages to measure simply 18 millimeters thick and weighs in at 2.8 kilos, which is lighter than it feels within the hand.

However underneath the hood, the specs are pretty fundamental. A Thirteenth-generation Intel Core i7-1355U (1.7 GHz) offers the juice, together with 16 GB of RAM and a 512-GB SSD, plus built-in graphics. Efficiency is relatively middling throughout the board: I discovered it sluggish to finish easy duties like recalculating spreadsheets and grammar-checking lengthy paperwork, although I used to be not less than in a position to full my full battery of benchmarks, regardless of repeated warnings that heavier graphics-based checks could not have the ability to run on the gadget.