Lenovo's new 14-inch Slim 9i removes the 360-hinge but keeps all the hotness of the Yoga 9i
For those who don't need a convertible laptop, Lenovo has taken the great formula from the new Yoga 9i and put it all into the Slim 9i.
What you need to know
- Lenovo's new Slim 9i is a new 14-inch premium clamshell laptop modeled after the new Yoga 9i.
- The laptop is ideal for those who want "mobile luxury, premium entertainment, and A.I.-powered performance."
- Pricing starts at $1,799, and it ships in June
What happens when you take the latest Lenovo Yoga 9i 14-inch convertible laptop and remove the convertible part? You get the all-new Lenovo Slim 9i, which borrows a lot from its sibling with a 360-degree hinge and adds a few other embellishments.
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.
Category | Lenovo Slim 9i 14 |
---|---|
Operating System | Windows 11 Home |
Display | 14-inch PureSight Touch OLED (400 nits)2.8K (2880x1800) @90Hz or 4K (3840x2400) @60HzDisplayHDR 500 True Black, Dolby Vision |
Processor | Intel 12th GenCore i7-1280P or Core i5-1240P |
Graphics | Iris XeIntel Arc A350M |
Memory | Up to 32GB LPDDR5 @5600MHz |
Storage | 512GB/1TBPCIe Gen 4 2242 M.2 |
Front Camera | Full HD (1080P) MIPIIR CameraDual Mics, camera shutter |
Security | Windows Hello (face) |
Connectivity | Wi-Fi 6EBluetooth 5.1 |
Ports | 3x USB Type C with Thunderbolt 41x Audio Jack |
Audio | Quad audio2x 2W + 2x 3W Bowers & Wilkins tuned |
Battery | 75WHr |
Dimensions | 315 x 214.4 x as thin as 14.9mm12.52 x 9.06 x as thin as 0.6in |
Weight | Starting at 1.37 kg (3.02 lbs) |
Color | Oatmeal |
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.
Also worth mentioning is the lighting-fast LPDDR5 RAM clocked at a new high (for a laptop) at 5600 MHz — which, when combined with the speedy PCIe 4.0 SSD, should result in one fast laptop.
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 an 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).
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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.
Besides the new Slim 9i, Lenovo also announced today the 14-inch and 16-inch Slim 7 and 7i, Slim 7i Carbon, and the creator-focused Slim 7i Pro X.
Daniel Rubino is the Editor-in-chief of Windows Central. He is also the head reviewer, podcast co-host, and analyst. He has been covering Microsoft since 2007, when this site was called WMExperts (and later Windows Phone Central). His interests include Windows, laptops, next-gen computing, and watches. He has been reviewing laptops since 2015 and is particularly fond of 2-in-1 convertibles, ARM processors, new form factors, and thin-and-light PCs. Before all this tech stuff, he worked on a Ph.D. in linguistics, watched people sleep (for medical purposes!), and ran the projectors at movie theaters because it was fun.