Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1 Gen 10 Aura Edition review: Versatile laptop has gorgeous OLED display

If you're shopping around for one of the best laptops on the market at the moment, there's a good chance you'll come across veteran laptop maker Lenovo – and that may also lead you to the Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1 Gen 10 Aura Edition laptop that I'm reviewing here.

It gets its 2-in-1 designation from the way the screen can fold all the way over, back on to the keyboard. You can prop it up for movies or video calls, or even use it as a makeshift tablet (albeit a bulky one – the keyboard can't actually be detached from the display).

In this Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1 Gen 10 Aura Edition review, you'll find everything you need to know to make an informed decision about buying this laptop – or choosing something else instead. From battery life to build quality, let's dig into what this PC offers...

Price & Availability

The Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1 Gen 10 Aura Edition is out now and available to buy from retailers such as Amazon as well as Lenovo directly. Just make sure you're double-checking the specs, because this laptop comes in a variety of configurations.

See the widgets embedded on this page for the latest prices, but at the time of writing, the configuration I'm reviewing here costs around £1,700 in the UK and $1,730 in the US. You can find it for cheaper with less RAM and a lower-resolution display.

Design & Display

This is a solidly put together slab of aluminium, plastic, and glass, and while it's not super-thin, it's certainly thin enough to carry around without too much trouble. When closed, it's 15.9mm (0.63in) thick, and the laptop tips the scales at 1.32kg (2.91lbs). With a compact 14-inch display, overall it's definitely towards the more portable end of what's on the market.

For the display, we've got a 14-inch OLED touchscreen panel, running at a maximum resolution of 3840 x 2400 pixels with a refresh rate of up to 120Hz. It's an excellent panel that really shines in a lot of ways, and with a lot of types of content – the OLED tech really brings out strong colours and deep backs, and from movie watching to web browsing, you won't be disappointed.

Keyboard and trackpad quality is really good too, and there is that premium feel that you would expect from a laptop at this price point. I typed out part of this review on the Yoga 9i, and it was a comfortable, speedy experience – with a neat backlight effect on the keys available when you want it. I should also mention there's a stylus included in the box.

Around the sides of the laptop, we've got two USB-C Thunderbolt 4 ports, one USB-C USB 4 port, and one USB-A port – a decent selection for a laptop of this profile. There's also a power button and an audio combo port that can be used with headphones or a mic. You get a serviceable 5MP webcam built into the frame too, with a privacy shutter.

Features & Performance

This review unit features an Intel Core Ultra 7 processor, 32GB of RAM, and 1GB of storage, with built-in Intel Arc graphics. It's a relatively high-end spec, except for the gaming capabilities, and it's going to power through just about every task you want to give it – which was certainly the case in my testing.

Photo editing and basic video editing is no problem for this laptop, and less demanding games will run fine as well. It's only when you get to the most intense titles currently available that you'll start to see frame rates dip below acceptable levels – but if you're a serious gamer then you're probably looking to the best gaming laptop options instead.

For web browsing and productivity work (think spreadsheets and documents), the Lenovo Aura Edition showed no signs of stuttering or even breaking a sweat. And I really appreciate how well this laptop performs when showcasing movies and other videos on its screen – especially when the screen is propped up in tent mode.

On the whole, it's a laptop that's a pleasure to use – from the typing and trackpad experience to the snappy responsiveness of browsers and apps. And it's certainly the sort of laptop that's going to attract some admiring glances when you get it out in a coffee shop or a lecture theatre (or wherever you happen to be doing your computing).

Audio is great too, thanks to the two 2W tweeters and two 2W woofers, combining to make a sound experience that's richer and more vibrant than what you would expect from a laptop this size (and there's Dolby Atmos support too). You also get Wi-Fi 7 compatibility, which is becoming more and more important or speedier connectivity – and it's more widely available across wider product ranges now.

As for battery life, Lenovo reckons you can get around 26 hours of local video playback between charges. I tested streaming a movie from YouTube, at maximum brightness and with the sound on mute, and found the battery life dropped about 8% an hour, which works out at roughly 12.5 hours of playback per charge.

You could get more by dimming the display, of course. In general, I didn't feel like there were any problems with the battery life – as you should get through a whole day away from your desk comfortably. It's not exceptional in terms of longevity, mind, but it's also not a worry point.

On the software side, Windows 11 continues to improve and evolve, adding more in the way of artificial intelligence (AI) features via Copilot. There are a few Lenovo apps preinstalled, some of which are useful – like the one for managing stylus settings – but they're easy enough to ignore if you don't need them.

Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1 Gen 10 Aura Edition review: Verdict

The Lenovo Yoga 9i in this 2-in-1 Gen 10 Aura Edition form is a luxury laptop with considerable feature set – which is why it's towards the more expensive end of the price spectrum. However, it goes a long way towards justifying its cost from a build and performance perspective.

It's not the right laptop for everyone though. You really need to weigh up whether or not you're going to make use of the 360-degree screen in its various modes, and included extras like the stylus – because if you're not, you can find something cheaper with the same level of performance for less money.

It's worth mentioning again how impressive the screen is, with a fullness and richness that really shows how impressive OLED technology can be. If you're after a superior viewing experience, especially for video, then the Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1 Gen 10 Aura Edition definitely delivers in this department. This in the 2-in-1 form factor makes it stand out from the crowd.

Also consider

There's a laptop out there for everyone. If you want something that's a little smaller than the Lenovo model we've reviewed here, but just as precisely made and polished, then the latest 13-inch Microsoft Surface Laptop might be for you. It's cheaper than the Lenovo, but you don't get that 2-in-1 functionality with the 360-degree display hinge.

Alternatively, you might want to consider the HP Omen Max 16, especially if you need a bit more gaming grunt in your choice of laptop. There's an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 Ti or 5080 packed in here, so it's bigger and heavier than our Lenovo review model, but it'll handle the best games very well indeed.