Lenovo definitely knows how to make compact and powerful devices. With the Lenovo Yoga 9 (14″, 2023) they showed a strong contender in the 2-in-1 category while the extravagant Lenovo Yoga Book 9 is a curious light machine with two displays and many extras. Still, if you prefer a more traditional design but you still need high-end hardware in a compact and light chassis, the Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i (14", Gen 8) is one of the best possible options. This fella comes with a choice of three 3K display options - two of them have touch support and the top model is a Mini LED panel. We picked a device with the latter because we like to test new tech and we want to see how good this high-res display is. The main event is hidden under the bonnet. There, you can find power Raptor Lake-H CPUs and NVIDIA Ada Lovelace graphics variants. The most powerful model is the 80W version of the GeForce RTX 4070 (Laptop) which seems like a very bold decision given the thin profile of this machine. Aside from the mouth-watering hardware, we can see goodies such as Wi-Fi 6E, backlit keyboard, and Dolby Atmos speakers. You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: https://laptopmedia.com/series/lenovo-yoga-pro-9i-14-gen-8/ Specs, Drivers, What's in the box Drivers All drivers and utilities for this notebook can be found here: https://pcsupport.lenovo.com/us/en/products/laptops-and-netbooks/yoga-series/yoga-9-14irp8/downloads/driver-list What's in the box? Inside the packaging, you will find a smaller box, inside of it is fitted the laptop itself. The rest is standard - some manuals and a 140W USB-C slim adapter. Design and construction The device boasts a great build quality. The design is modern and feels premium to the touch thanks to the all-aluminum build with an anodized finish. There are two color options - Storm grey and Tidal teal. When the lid is closed, the central part of it can be bent just a little bit when applying pressure. When it's opened, twisting it is a hard job because the panel has glass protection. The base is very sturdy which is great. The polished sides contribute to a modern look and they are also very grippy. The lid has a protrusion in the center for easier opening. This happens very smoothly though and you can use just one hand for this process. The hinges' stiffness is also spot-on. The machines with the IPS display are a bit thinner and lighter compared to the ones with a Mini LED panel - 16.9 mm and 1.65 kg vs. 17.6 mm and 1.68 kilos. The bezels around the display are narrow. The top one houses a 1080p IR Web camera (or an optional 5MP unit) with an E-shutter and ToF sensor for Windows Hello. The keyboard is surrounded by two 2Wfront-firing Dolby Atmos speakers (woofers). The lid opening angle is close to the 180-degree mark. The backlit keyboard is comfortable for typing because the large key caps have long travel and clicky feedback. The large touchpad offers a smooth surface and very good accuracy. On the bottom plate, we can see the two other Dolby Atmos speakers (1W tweeters), a big ventilation grille, and four rubber feet. The hot air is guided through two vents on the back of the laptop. This means some amount of hot air is reaching the display during heavy loads. Ports On the left, there is an HDMI 2.1 (for up to 8K 60Hz external displays), a USB Type-C 3.2 (Gen. 1) port (that supports Power Delivery 3.0 and DisplayPort 1.2 extras), a Thunderbolt 4 connector (with Power Delivery 3.0 and DisplayPort 1.4 capabilities), and a 4-in-1 card reader (SD, SDHC, SDXC, MMC). On the other side, you will find two USB Type-A 3.2 (Gen. 1) ports (the latter comes with an Always On function), an Audio jack, and an E-shutter switch. Display quality, Health impact (PWM), Sound Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i (14'', Gen 8) is equipped with a 3.2K Mini LED PureSight Pro touchscreen panel, model number CSOT MNE507HZ2-1 (CSO1418). It comes with a 165Hz refresh rate. Its diagonal is 14.5" (36.8 cm), and the resolution - 3072 x 1920p. Additionally, the screen ratio is 16:10, the pixel density – 250 ppi, and their pitch – 0.1 x 0.1 mm. The screen can be considered Retina when viewed from at least 35 cm (from this distance, the average human eye can’t see the individual pixels). Viewing angles are good. We offer images at different angles to evaluate the quality. Also, a video with locked focus and exposure. The maximum measured brightness is 637 nits (cd/m2) in the middle of the screen (HDR off) and 650 nits (cd/m2) average across the surface with a maximum deviation of 12% (HDR off). The Correlated Color Temperature on a white screen and at maximum brightness is 6000K. In the illustration below you can see how the display performs from a uniformity perspective. The illustration below shows how matters are for operational brightness levels (approximately 140 nits) – in this particular case at 44% Brightness (White level = 141 cd/m2, Black level = 0.045 cd/m2). Values of dE2000 over 4.0 should not occur, and this parameter is one of the first you should check if you intend to use the laptop for color-sensitive work (a maximum tolerance of 2.0 ). The contrast ratio is excellent - 3100:1. To make sure we are on the same page, we would like to give you a little introduction to the sRGB color gamut and the Adobe RGB. To start, there’s the CIE 1976 Uniform Chromaticity Diagram that represents the visible specter of colors by the human eye, giving you a better perception of the color gamut coverage and the color accuracy. Inside the black triangle, you will see the standard color gamut (sRGB) that is being used by millions of people on HDTV and on the web. As for the Adobe RGB, this is used in professional cameras, monitors, etc for printing. Basically, colors inside the black triangle are used by everyone and this is the essential part of the color quality and color accuracy of a mainstream notebook. Still, we’ve included other color spaces like the famous DCI-P3 standard used by movie studios, as well as the digital UHD Rec.2020 standard. Rec.2020, however, is still a thing of the future and it’s difficult for today’s displays to cover that well. We’ve also included the so-called Michael Pointer gamut, or Pointer’s gamut, which represents the colors that naturally occur around us every day. The yellow dotted line shows Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i (14'', Gen 8)'s color gamut coverage. Its display covers 99% of the sRGB/ITU-R BT.709 (web/HDTV standard) in CIE1976. The 96% DCI-P3 color coverage ensures a super vibrant and attractive picture. We tested the accuracy of the display with 24 commonly used colors like light and dark human skin, blue sky, green grass, orange, etc. Below you can compare the scores of the Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i (14'', Gen 8) with the default settings - HDR off, and the one with our Gaming and Web design profile with the P3-D65 color space. The next figure shows how well the display is able to reproduce really dark parts of an image, which is essential when watching movies or playing games in low ambient light. The left side of the image represents the display with stock settings, while the right one is with the “Gaming and Web Design” profile activated. On the horizontal axis, you will find the grayscale, and on the vertical axis – the luminance of the display. On the two graphs below you can easily check for yourself how your display handles the darkest nuances but keep in mind that this also depends on the settings of your current display, the calibration, the viewing angle, and the surrounding light conditions. Response time (Gaming capabilities) We test the reaction time of the pixels with the usual “black-to-white” and “white-to-black” method from 10% to 90% and vice versa. We recorded Fall Time + Rise Time = 13.8 ms. After that, we test the reaction time of the pixels with the usual “Gray-to-Gray” method from 50% White to 80% White and vice versa between 10% and 90% of the amplitude. Health Impact: PWM (Screen flickering) Pulse-width modulation (PWM) is an easy way to control monitor brightness. When you lower the brightness, the light intensity of the display is not lowered, but instead turned off and on by the electronics with a frequency indistinguishable to the human eye. In these light impulses, the light/no-light time ratio varies, while brightness remains unchanged, which is harmful to your eyes. You can read more about that in our dedicated article on PWM. Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i (14'', Gen 8)'s MiniLED display uses PWM but the pulsations are small and have a very high frequency which makes the display comfortable for continuous work. Health Impact: Blue light emissions Installing our Health-Guard profile not only eliminates PWM but also reduces the harmful Blue Light emissions while keeping the colors of the screen perceptually accurate. If you’re not familiar with the Blue light, the TL;DR version is – emissions that negatively affect your eyes, skin, and your whole body. You can find more information about that in our dedicated article on Blue Light. Health Impact: Gloss-level measurement Glossy-coated displays are sometimes inconvenient in high ambient light conditions. We show the level of reflection on the screen for the respective laptop when the display is turned off and the measurement angle is 60° (in this case, the result is 99.4 GU). Sound Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i (14'', Gen 8)'s speakers produce a sound of very good quality. Its low, mid, and high tones are clear of deviations. Buy our profiles Since our profiles are tailored for each individual display model, this article and its respective profile package are meant for Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i (14'', Gen 8) configurations with 14.5″ CSOT MNE507HZ2-1 (CSO1418) (3072 x 1920) Mini LED. *Should you have problems with downloading the purchased file, try using a different browser to open the link you’ll receive via e-mail. If the download target is a .php file instead of an archive, change the file extension to .zip or contact us at bg.laptopmedia@gmail.com. Read more about the profiles HERE. Performance: CPU, GPU, Gaming Tests CPU options You can choose between three processor variants - Core i5-13505H, Core i7-13705H, and Core i9-13905H. We bought a laptop with an i9 because we want to push the cooling of this machine to its limits. GPU options The dGPU options are the following - NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 (Laptop, 80W), GeForce RTX 4060 (Laptop, 80W), and GeForce RTX 4070 (Laptop, 80W). Our laptop is configured with an RTX 4060 since it packs enough power for gaming and has 8GB of VRAM. Gaming tests We used the default settings of the X-power mode that overclocks the GPU (+200MHz for the core and +400MHz for the memory). Assassin's Creed Valhalla Full HD, Low (Check settings) Full HD, Medium (Check settings) Full HD, High (Check settings) Full HD, Ultra (Check settings) Average FPS 158 fps 135 fps 113 fps 97 fps Borderlands 3 Full HD, V.Low (Check settings) Full HD, Medium (Check settings) Full HD, High (Check settings) Full HD, Badass (Check settings) Average FPS 183 fps 145 fps 103 fps 80 fps Far Cry 6 Full HD, Low (Check settings) Full HD, High (Check settings) Full HD, Ultra (Check settings) Average FPS 148 fps 116 fps 102 fps Gears 5 Full HD, Low (Check settings) Full HD, Medium (Check settings) Full HD, High (Check settings) Full HD, Ultra (Check settings) Average FPS 234 fps 165 fps 141 fps 113 fps The profile of this laptop may be thin but the gaming performance of the GPU (GeForce RTX 4060 (Laptop, 80W)) is very good. Max CPU load In this test we use 100% on the CPU cores, monitoring their frequencies and chip temperature. The first column shows a computer’s reaction to a short load (2-10 seconds), the second column simulates a serious task (between 15 and 30 seconds), and the third column is a good indicator of how good the laptop is for long loads such as video rendering. Average P-core frequency; Average E-core frequency; CPU temp.; Package Power Intel Core i9-13905H (45W TDP) 0:02 - 0:10 sec 0:15 - 0:30 sec 10:00 - 15:00 min Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i (14'', Gen 8) 3.79 GHz @ 2.85 GHz @ 81°C @ 100W 3.76 GHz @ 2.85 GHz @ 92°C @ 99W 3.33 GHz @ 2.52 GHz @ 78°C @ 72W The Core i9-13905H can maintain high P and E core clocks during any kind of heavy usage. In prolonged periods of 100% stress, the CPU temperature is 78°C (that's good) and the power limit is 72W which is higher than the default value of 45W. Real-life gaming NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 GPU frequency/ Core temp (after 2 min) GPU frequency/ Core temp (after 30 min) Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i (14'', Gen 8) 1985 MHz @ 82°C @ 78W 2024 MHz @ 83°C @ 80W HP Victus 16 (16-r0000) 2520 MHz @ 77°C @ 107W 2520 MHz @ 76°C @ 107W ASUS ROG Strix G17 G713P (2023) 2565 MHz @ 69°C @ 102W 2565 MHz @ 67°C @ 102W Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 (PHN16-71) 2475 MHz @ 76°C @ 96W 2475 MHz @ 75°C @ 95W Dell G16 7630 2520 MHz @ 71°C @ 107W 2520 MHz @ 73°C @ 107W Acer Nitro 17 (AN17-71) 2610 MHz @ 68°C @ 100W 2610 MHz @ 69°C @ 101W ASUS Zenbook Pro 14 OLED (UX6404) 2337 MHz @ 80°C @ 90W 2327 MHz @ 82°C @ 90W MSI Katana 17 (B12V) 2246 MHz @ 74°C @ 83W 2273 MHz @ 73°C @ 84W ASUS ROG Strix G16 (G614, 2023) 2490 MHz @ 68°C @ 99W 2490 MHz @ 69°C @ 99W Acer Predator Helios 16 (PH16-71) 2550 MHz @ 68°C @ 98W 2550 MHz @ 68°C @ 98W Lenovo Legion Pro 5 (16", 2023) 2625 MHz @ 70°C @ 100W 2625 MHz @ 74°C @ 99W Lenovo Legion Slim 5i Gen 8 (16″ Intel, 2023) 2127 MHz @ 61°C @ 60W 2212 MHz @ 60°C @ 60W The GeForce RTX 4060 has no problem maintaining the maximum possible TGP of 80W after half an hour of gaming. The core temperature is a bit high while the frequency of 2024 MHz is on the low side. Aside from that, the GPU performance is good. Comfort during full load The top fans are averagely loud during heavy loads (in "Performance mode)". The good news is that the center of the keyboard is getting just warm, not scoring hot. The WASD zone and the palm rest area are pleasantly cool for normal usage. If you prefer to work in a bit more quieter environment, you can select one of the other two presets in exchange for lower performance. Battery Now, we conduct the battery tests with the Windows Better performance setting turned on, screen brightness adjusted to 120 nits and all other programs turned off except for the one we are testing the notebook with. The 75Wh battery pack of our notebook has enough juice for 7 hours and 9 minutes of Web browsing, or 6 hours and 15 minutes of video playback. [eBook Guide + Tools] How to MAX OUT your Laptop Disassembly, Upgrade options, and Maintenance To gain access to the internals of the laptop, you have to undo five Torx-head screws. Then, you can pry the bottom panel with a plastic tool or you can pop up the plate by carefully lifting it while holding firmly the central part of it. The bottom panel has three thermal pads on the inside for cooling the SSD and some components on the mainboard. This laptop is equipped with a 75Wh battery. The capacity is enough for 7 hours and 9 minutes of Web browsing, or 6 hours and 15 minutes of video playback. If you want to take out the unit, you have to pull out the connector from the motherboard. Then, undo the 3 Phillips-head screws that are fixing the battery to the base. The memory here is soldered but the maximum amount of RAM is 64GB of LPDDR5x-6400MHz memory in dual-channel mode which seems future-proof. Storage-wise, there is just one M.2 slot, compatible with 2280 Gen 4 SSDs. The cooling looks promising. It comprises two fans, two heatsinks, two heat pipes shared between the CPU and the GPU, and a bunch of heat spreaders. Storage performance Our laptop is equipped with a 1TB SKHynix_HFS001TEJ9X115N which is a Gen 4 SSD. Below you can see some benchmarks of the NVMe which seems well-cooled. During testing, its temperature didn't exceed 44°C. Verdict The Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i (14, Gen 8) is an almost perfect device. It features a great metal build - the lid and the base are rigid. The design is modern with polished sides and rounded edges, and the machine feels premium to the touch. The backlit keyboard is comfortable for long typing sessions and the big touchpad is accurate and smooth. The IR Web camera has an E-shutter and ToF sensor for Windows Hello which can be appreciated by people who are making tons of video calls on a daily basis. The notebook offers good performance for the class. The powerful Raptor Lake CPUs are tamed by a good cooling system. In our case, we got a machine with the Intel Core i9-13905H which is the top processor variant for the series. The chip can maintain high P and E core clocks during prolonged periods of stress while the power limit and the thermals are also good. The two fans aren't quiet when the CPU is under 100% stress, but aren't super loud either. You can lower the noise levels by selecting the "Intelligent Cooling" or the "Battery Saver" preset. The hotspot on the keyboard is right in the center but this area is just warm, not hot. The WASD zone and the palm rest section are cool enough for long hours of work or gaming. Speaking of gaming, our machine is configured with the 80W version of the GeForce RTX 4060 (Laptop) and it can maintain its maximum TGP value even after 30 minutes of playing games. You can have fun with your favorite titles with maxed-out visuals are high FPS. For example, you can play Far Cry 6 on Ultra details with 102 FPS on average which is a good result for such a thin laptop. The 14.5" Mini LED display (CSOT MNE507HZ2-1 (CSO1418)) impresses us with a 99% sRGB and 96% DCI-P3 coverage, great contrast ratio and 16:10 aspect ratio. The color accuracy with our “Gaming and Web design profile” reaches an average value of just 1.1 (the default one is 2.0) so you can use the panel for color-sensitive work as well. The device supports Advanced Optimus so you can choose between three modes - "Automatic select", "Optimus", and "NVIDIA GPU only". Still, the switch between the iGPU and the dGPU happens a bit sluggish on Optimus mode so if you using the laptop with the charger plugged in, the dGPU-only mode is the way to go. The upgrade options aren't great but that's expected for such a notebook. The memory is soldered but at least the maximum possible amount of RAM is 64GB of LPDDR5x-6400MHz which sounds plenty. Sadly, there is just one M.2 slot for Gen 4 SSDs. The port selection isn't bad at all but we are a bit puzzled by the three not-so-fast 5Gbps ports. The lack of a fingerprint reader can raise some eyebrows as well. The battery life isn't very long but maybe that's due to the the powerful internals and the high-resolution display with 165Hz frequency. The Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i (14, Gen 8) is a premium device that has a powerful hardware and capable cooling solution. It feels snappy under any kind of load and with the aid of the color-accurate Mini LED display the device should be a good choice for people who need a compact machine with potent hardware. You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: https://laptopmedia.com/series/lenovo-yoga-pro-9i-14-gen-8/