Summary
- The Intel Core Ultra 7 GPU provides powerful multitasking power for most tasks.
- Despite excellent microphones, the laptop’s camera and speakers fall quite short.
- The laptop offers a fantastic 4K OLED display, Intel Lunar Lake CPU, efficient battery life, and AI integration for multitasking.
The latest in the Yoga lineup, the Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i (14-inch Intel, Gen 10, brings Microsoft Copilot AI, a 4K OLED display, and a powerful Intel processor that delivers solid computing. I wanted to love this laptop (and I almost did), but unfortunately, I was left wanting more.
Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i 14 Gen 10
This iteration of the Yoga line of laptops integrates Copilot+ AI, a beautiful 4K OLED display, and an Intel Core Ultra 7 CPU for powerful computing for everyday users and professionals.
- Powerful computing and multitasking with the Intel Core Ultra 7 CPU
- Crisp 14in OLED display with vibrant colors and contrast
- Excellent keyboard, touchpad, and touchscreen
- Aesthetically gorgeous with premium materials
- Copilot AI integration and smart features
- Under-display camera looks oddly pixelated
- Speakers sound muddy and boxy above 65%
- This Yoga isn’t very flexible (no tablet mode)
- Only two ports
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Price and Availability
The Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i 14 Gen 10 laptop has two configurations with a starting retail price of $1,760 at Lenovo when not on sale. The higher configuration costs $1,900, while the lower configuration offers build-your-own upgrades for an extra cost.
A (Disputably) Aesthetically Stunning Design
I want to think that everyone who sees the Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i 14 Gen 10 will fall in love with its design. Namely, its gorgeous seashell-like exterior that Lenovo calls “Tidal Teal.” Make something a beautiful color, and I’m already in. But I realize not everyone will find this look attractive, so it’s up for debate if this is your dream color or if unique laptop colors are even your thing.
As for me, I love the shimmery teal, and my first impression was, “If it looks this good, how is it going to perform?!”
The rest of the design (besides aesthetics) was pretty standard, but I noticed a couple of surprises. The first is that although this is a Yoga laptop, its screen only bends back to about 120 degrees or so. I had no way of using it like a tablet or folding it as I’ve experienced with other Yoga models, like the Lenovo Yoga 9i 14 Gen 8 or the Lenovo Yoga Book 9i.
The second surprise was the camera was invisible. I soon learned that this was because the Yoga Slim 9i Gen 10’s camera is, according to Lenovo, the “world’s first under-display camera” on a laptop (I’ll have much more to say about this later).
Besides these oddities, the Yoga Slim 9i 14’s design was predictable. The back cover has a large Lenovo logo, the top bezel houses the camera and the quad microphone system, and the keyboard and touchscreen are in their usual spots. The “Yoga” logo is on the base of the laptop. In addition to the standard keyboard keys, the laptop has a fingerprint scanner, a Microsoft Copilot AI key, a smart key to bring up Lenovo Vantage, and two more customizable apps for shortcuts.
Two Ports Are All You Get
Since the Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i 14 Gen 10 is a slim, compact, and lightweight device, it makes sense that it doesn’t come with many port options. Nonetheless, it will feel lacking if you work with many peripherals or need to plug in more than two items at a time. I use more than two ports often, so having only two USB-C ports at my disposal was disappointing.
Since I still have many devices that are still USB-A, I had to purchase USB-C to USB-A adapters (a cheap fix) to use those devices, such as my Bluetooth mouse or specific charger cables. Considering I often deal with this issue when reviewing laptops, I should always have these on hand. However, the average laptop buyer might be a bit miffed when they realize they can’t plug in USB-A devices without buying adapters to use on this USB-C-only device. That said, they are ThunderPort 4 ports!
Fantastic Keyboard, Touchpad, and Touchscreen
The Yoga Slim 9i 14 Gen 10 keyboard had a pleasant feel and took up about half the laptop’s base, measuring about 11.5 by 4.13 inches. Its keys didn’t feel loose like some laptop keyboards do, and I could type without making too many typos. That said, I do wish there was a slightly increased spring to it (as a personal preference), but it was sturdy, had adjustable backlighting, and gave me plenty of space to type comfortably.
The precision touchpad, situated directly below the keyboard, had no buttons but a smooth glass surface that felt great to touch. The touchpad was ultra-responsive, and I made very few errors when scrolling, clicking, or pinching to zoom. Its size was a spacious 2.72 x 4.09 inches, giving me plenty of room to navigate.
As for the touchscreen, I was pleased with its responsiveness and seemingly error-free processes when I tapped or scrolled. Even when I felt like I tapped the edge or corner of an app icon, it opened the one I had tapped on. And to my delight, the lag was barely there.
A Beautiful 4K OLED Display
With a 14-inch 4K (3,840 x 2,400) OLED display, the Yoga Slim 9i 14 Gen 10 makes streaming, gaming, and editing photos a pleasant experience. The laptop features X-Rite color calibration, PureSight Pro, and Display HDR True Black 600, which gave me a complete breadth of colors (including sRGB and Adobe RGB). Additionally, the Yoga Slim 9i had a minimal frame surrounding the display (Lenovo claims the display is 98%, the frame a mere 2%), making media feel less boxed in.
The color contrast and saturation on the Yoga Slim 9i were incredibly immersive, offering me a realistic-looking stream when watching 4K videos. In an exotic bird video, I saw individual feathers on parrots pop with rich greens. Crisp, clear details at the laptop’s max resolution made it easy to see the blue iris around a parrot’s pupil and scratches on its red beak.
Watching Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes showcased how well the display handled blacks and shadows. The fur on the apes was easily visible in darker scenes, and I never felt as though any shadowy CGI looked muddy or indistinguishable.
Similarly, while gaming, brilliant colors in games like Avowed popped off the screen, making me feel like I was in another world.
The one downside to this marvelous display was the usual complaint with OLED screens. Because it’s an OLED without an anti-glare coating, the glare was incredibly distracting in well-lit rooms or direct sunlight. Thankfully, the brightness levels (max 750 nits in HDR, 600 in SDR) made viewing the screen in any light easy, especially if I combated the glare by shutting curtains or angling the screen.
The Intel Lunar Lake CPU and AI Integration
Like the recently reviewed ThinkPad X1 Carbon Aura Edition, the Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i 14 Gen 10 uses the Intel Core Ultra 7 258V (eight cores, eight threads, and a 12MB cache). It’s in Intel’s Lunar Lake lineup for slim laptops.
Despite the Ultra 7 258V’s equal cores-to-threads ratio, I found it a top-tier performer for most computer tasks, including light photo editing in Photoshop, streaming music and videos, word processing, using an obscene number of browser tabs, downloading and playing PC games, and using Microsoft Copilot and other AI tools like ChatGPT and Grammarly.
As for the AI features, the Yoga Slim 9i has incorporated Microsoft Copilot as an AI assistant, and several AI-driven features are buried in the Lenovo Vantage app (available on PC only). These include an Adaptive Power Mode that intelligently switches between different power modes based on your activity, an Eye Care Mode that automatically adjusts the screen’s color temperature to prevent eye strain, Presence Detection (for securely locking your screen when you’re away from the laptop), and Automatic mode selection that optimizes your device settings based on what you’re doing.
It also integrates Cocreator in Paint, automatic live captions on videos, and Windows Studio Effects in the camera.
A Sleek Multitasking Powerhouse
Between the Yoga Slim 9i’s Intel Core Ultra 7 258V Processor and its 32GB of RAM, there was precious little I couldn’t achieve regarding daily computing and multitasking. I regularly had, at minimum, 15 browser tabs running while operating Photoshop, Xbox game downloads, Spotify, and YouTube. I typically also had ChatGPT and Copilot running in the background for any ideating or research I undertook.
Switching between apps and browser tabs was speedy (with virtually no lag), and I didn’t experience a single hiccup during my work shifts. Although I’ve used CPUs with double the threads, the Yoga Slim 9i kept me perfectly happy, productive, and able to complete tasks promptly. Most professionals will find little qualm with this laptop’s performance, even if they’re used to slightly more powerful CPUs.
Light Casual Gaming Fun
While the Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i 14 Gen 10 isn’t a gaming laptop, it performed moderately well for casual gaming. I wouldn’t suggest it for competitive gaming, as I did experience some significant latency issues playing several titles. However, the latency I experienced wasn’t so bad that I couldn’t enjoy the gameplay for older titles at 1080P with medium to low settings.
Don’t expect smooth-as-glass gameplay with the Intel Arc GPU. However, Intel’s AI boost for gaming and other media did seem to make this combination more gamer-friendly than I’ve experienced on different PCs with Intel Arc.
I played a variety of games (titles such as Lies of P, Avowed, and smaller resource indies). Most of these played reasonably well on the Yoga Slim 9i with settings on low. The worst latency I saw was during character creation in Avowed, where rotating my character was so laggy it was painful (but this still didn’t make me rage quit the game).
In summary, this setup isn’t built for gaming, but you can get away with playing older titles at low to medium settings and still enjoy the experience.
So-So Speakers, Weird Camera, and Excellent Microphones
Where the Yoga Slim 9i fell the most short was in its speaker system and camera. Let me start by saying the speakers aren’t terrible. They performed well until I tried to push the volume. The laptop features two two-watt tweeters and two three-watt woofers with Dolby Atmos, but they’re all down-firing.
I’m not typically a fan of laptops that don’t have up-firing speakers because it can affect the audio quality by making the sound feel muted or boxy. Not to mention, squash the sound if you’re using your laptop on your lap.
At 60%, the speakers felt very loud to me, which is unusual since I’m usually craning to hear videos at that level. My issue was that the speakers sounded boxy and muddy at 65% or higher volume (which was sometimes necessary for quieter media). All the balance flew out the window, with greater sibilance and slightly grating high tones from vocalists and guitars or spoken word.
Around 50 to 60% was the sweet spot, where I noticed a nice balance of lows, mids, and highs (though still not nearly enough bass). For instance, songs like Anthony Green’s You’ll Be Fine sounded nice, with decent mids and highs, and Sleep Token’s Take Aim sounded haunting and clear (though the down-firing speakers exaggerated the song’s echoey sound). Meanwhile, the bass end sounded undermined and squashed on the song Neon Brother by the band Nothing But Thieves.
These speakers perform well if you’re okay listening at 50 to 60% volume. But at higher volumes, expect muddy tones and grating highs.
As for the webcam, I wanted to love the under-display camera. It looks sleek, and I like that you can’t even see it until turning the camera on. However, that’s where my praise ends.
Unfortunately, this was one of my worst webcam experiences, partially because Lenovo hypes it up with its 32MP resolution and innovative design. What I got were crisp-looking details obscured by an oddly grainy and pixelated appearance. The resolution looked good beneath all the pixelation, and I could tell the camera was trying. But it failed. It also took atrociously pixelated photos in both good and bad lighting scenarios.
The quad microphone system does well with sound, even with noise cancelation/audio enhancements turned off. I could hear my voice clearly in recordings (even with some intense background noise), and there were no glitches, choppiness, or squashed quality. I also had great experiences with the noise cancelation and audio enhancements, making these mics a thumbs-up.
Microphone Test On The Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i 14 Gen 10 Laptop In A Quiet Environment
Microphone Test On The Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i 14 Gen 10 Laptop In A Noisy Environment
Good Battery Life and Charging Speed
I was pleasantly surprised by the battery life on the Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i, especially because the last Lunar Lake PC I reviewed (the aforementioned ThinkPad X1 Carbon Aura Edition) didn’t deliver on the excellent battery life it was supposed to have). In this case, however, the Yoga Slim 9i’s efficient CPU shone by providing me with an average battery drain of 0.2% per minute, which resulted in about 8 hours of battery life. That means Lenovo’s benchmark of a 14.05-hour battery for web browsing at 150 nits was accurate (though I never had the screen that dim)!
It also charged reasonably quickly, with a 0.72% per minute gain (with Rapid Charge enabled). That meant it took about two hours and 20 minutes to reach a full charge, which I was happy with considering that charge time gave me an 8-hour stint of no charging.
Should You Buy the Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i 14 Gen 10 Laptop?
For the price, you do get a lot of bang for your buck with the Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i 14 Gen 10. It’s an excellent PC, especially if you’re looking for something with a great battery life and powerful processing (with a shiny OLED to boot). Not to mention, if you’re considering a Yoga, you probably expect more flexibility, which this lacks. But if you want your laptop to have a decent integrated webcam, better speakers, and more ports, you may want to look elsewhere.
Still, despite harping about its faults, I’d be tempted to buy it just for the sweet color and multitasking power.
Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i 14 Gen 10
This iteration of the Yoga line of laptops integrates Copilot+ AI, a beautiful 4K OLED display, and an Intel Core Ultra 7 CPU for powerful computing for everyday users and professionals.
