Lenovo Yoga Book 9i Gen 10 (14IAH10) Review – Peak Productivity

Unboxing

Today we’re reviewing something different in the form of Lenovo Yoga Book 9i Gen 10 – yes, it’s a laptop; but no, it’s not a conventional laptop. The unboxing process has made it clear that you are unboxing something special, which starts with the reveal of the inner packaging, with the laptop sleeve stored up top, and a mouse accessory tucked on the bottom side of the box.

The laptop itself, including its accessories and documentation (except those two aforementioned), are all stored inside this black rectangular box. Opening it up reveals the quick start guide – which you’ll need because this laptop takes a bit of a learning curve to operate – with the laptop itself stored right below it.

Here are all of the items we got, and there’s a lot of them. (What you get may differ depending on the optional accessories.) The list includes:

– Laptop sleeve bag (optional accessory)
– Paper-based laptop stand
– Quick start guide
– Laptop regulatory information
– 65W USB-C charger (Type G, UK/MY/SG)
– Lenovo Yoga Pen (+documentation)
– Yoga Tidal Teal Mouse (+documentation)
– Folio case
– Bluetooth keyboard
– Lenovo Yoga Book 9i Gen 10 (14IAH10) main unit

Our unit in particular comes included with the laptop sleeve, but this is an optional add-on; there is also the Yoga TWS earbuds as another add-on which is not included in our review unit.

Walkaround

The laptop is exclusively painted in a single ‘Tidal Teal’ color, which covers the entire chassis except for the inside, where it’s all glass for the dual OLED display. The hinge in between the two sides is where half of the speaker array is located, along with another half (woofers) located on the bottom side firing around the edge. Like most lightweight laptops, the fan exhaust port is hidden behind the hinge. The webcam array includes a 5MP camera, along with IR sensor for Windows Hello authentication.

Since the laptop itself has no keyboard to speak of (short for a virtual one), Lenovo provides a separate Bluetooth keyboard as standard, which you can use it independently of the laptop (for another device), connected but separate from the chassis, or connected while placing it on top of the secondary OLED display, which is aligned automatically in two positions through integrated magnets. You’re also given a Bluetooth mouse if the virtual touchpad isn’t your kind of thing.

Another accessory provided here is the folio case, which supports two configurations: a lift stand that raises the laptop slightly for ergonomics, and a dual-screen stand that puts the laptop up high so it can be used as a dual-screen setup (alternatively, the laptop can be rotated into reader mode if you prefer two vertical 10:16 screens instead). This folio case also comes with several magnets to align things, and for stowage when unused.

As mentioned, reader mode is one of many configurations the Yoga Book 9i’s 2-in-1, dual-screen form factor can be used for. You can use it in traditional 2-in-1 methods, which includes laptop mode, flip mode, tent mode, and tablet mode. Highly flexible, that is to say.

The laptop’s design is highly minimalist as seen in these side profile photos, which also includes the very simple I/O consisting three Thunderbolt 4 ports – one on the left, two on the right. (The keyboard also comes with a USB-C port for charging purposes.) A bit too minimalist if you ask me, a microSD card slot and a headphone jack would’ve been something worth adding.

Some other interesting features to note: the keyboard features an extra row of feature keys, including power mode switch, audio (Dolby Atmos) profile switch, blue light filter, Lenovo Smart Connect shortcut, and a custom app shortcut. On the laptop itself, there’s a electronic webcam shutter that disables the webcam for privacy.

The Lenovo Yoga Book 9i Gen 10 is powered by Intel Core Ultra 7 255H processor, itself an Arrow Lake-based model despite sharing its 200 series naming with the Lunar Lake lineup (Core Ultra 200V), which is also commonly found in lightweight laptops. Intel says this Core Ultra processor has what’s called an “AI Engine” (meaning the combined power of CPU, GPU, and NPU) to accelerate AI workloads, unlike the conventional wisdom that NPU or GPU handle such workloads exclusively. This laptop is also the select few that gets the Intel Evo certification that denotes its modern-day capabilities.

Specifications

Lenovo Yoga Book 9i (Gen 10, 14IAH10 / 83KJ001EMJ)

Full specification available in Lenovo PSREF database.

CPU	Intel Core Ultra 5 255H 5.1GHz / 6P+8E+2LPE, 16 threads
RAM	32GB LPDDR5X-8400 (Soldered)
GPU	Integrated: Intel Arc Graphics 140T
NPU	Intel AI Boost (13 TOPS)
Storage	Samsung PM9C1a 1TB SSD MZAL81T0HDLB-00BL2 PCIe 4.0, M.2 2242
Display	Lenovo LEN140WQ+ Dual 14″ OLED, glossy 10-point touch 2880×1800 (16:10) 48-120Hz variable refresh rate 100% DCI-P3, 10-bit (1.07B colors) 500 nits SDR max brightness 750 nits HDR peak brightness VESA DisplayHDR 600 True Black certification Dolby Vision certification Eyesafe Certified 2.0 TÜV Rheinland Low Blue Light (Hardware Solution)
Keyboard	Virtual keyboard via gesture activation with haptic feedback *Included Bluetooth keyboard w/ backlighting
Touchpad	Virtual touchpad via gesture activation with haptic feedback *Included Yoga mouse
Audio	4x 2W stereo speakers (2x woofers, 2x tweeters) Realtek ALC3306 codec Dolby Atmos support
Webcam	5MP (QHD) IR camera Dedicated electronic shutter switch
Biometrics	Facial recognition (Windows Hello)
I/O	Left: 1x Thunderbolt 4 (40Gbps) (DisplayPort, 100W PD) Right: 2x Thunderbolt 4 (40Gbps) (DisplayPort, 100W PD) *Thunderbolt 4 ports support combined three display outputs (two when secondary OLED panel is active).
Wireless Connectivity	Intel BE201 320MHz Wi-Fi 7 tri-band, 2×2 MIMO Bluetooth 5.4
Battery	88Wh 4-cell Li-ion
Power Supply	65W USB-C charger 100W fast charging support
Operating System	Windows 11 Home 24H2
Dimensions	315.09 x 211.56 x 15.5~15.95 mm
Weight	1.22kg (laptop only)

The Dual Screen Experience

Unlike many other lightweight laptops, Lenovo took a bold approach with the Yoga Book 9i by making what would have been a keyboard and touchpad deck into a secondary (but identical) display. You can still activate a virtual keyboard and touchpad if needed, which can be done by tapping with 8 fingers and 3 fingers on the bottom screen, respectively.

There are many ways of utilizing the bottom display: the virtual keyboard can be placed on the normal position or lower position, the latter of which is useful if you want that extra bit of screen real estate (we should note that originally this space was intended to display weather and news widgets, but we noticed it has since been removed when the laptop received a BIOS update during the review, turning this spot into a free space).

Placing the physical keyboard will disable the relevant screen space occupied by the keyboard to save power, and the touchpad can be activated separately as well, which you can move, resize, and disable the virtual buttons if needed. We recommend you doing the latter since the way its software handles button activation is suboptimal – basically, as long as your finger approaches the button (even from a sliding motion), it gets activated regardless; this can cause misclicks, since there’s no physical boundary to define the edge of a touchpad area.

Under keyboard + touchpad mode, you can also activate a note panel where the pen comes into play. You can add several notes in one go if you want, and whilst activated, the touchpad will move aside as a result. You can even make the entire free space for touchpad control if that’s what you like, but we don’t recommend that since palm rejection is not something this laptop deals very well with.

Lenovo also takes over some of the multi-display window controls, where you can move windows across screens by sliding it over, or drag it into the designated spot where a list of layouts (similar to Windows 11’s native window layout selection UI) are available for you to drop into. By default, the brightness of both displays are synced together, but this can be adjusted by first activating brightness change, which will reveal a small UI on-screen that allow you to control each panel’s brightness individually. Generally you shouldn’t need to modify this since both displays are calibrated equally in terms of brightness, and we see no deviation during our use.

Performance

Storage

Let’s start our performance tests with the SSD. The Samsung PM9C1a 1TB SSD is a respectable performer in general, though its M.2 2242 form factor does limit its capability to further push its performance. Still, it’s in the same ballpark as the Kioxia BG6 series found in the ASUS ROG Flow Z13 we recently reviewed, so you shouldn’t see any issues regarding read/write speeds.

CPU

Lenovo has opted to use Intel Core Ultra 7 255H to power this laptop, the chip of which is based on the Arrow Lake architecture. Owing to more cores than the Lunar Lake (Core Ultra 200V) counterparts, the Yoga Book 9i easily outpaces laptops with this chip, putting itself on the same ballpark as AMD’s Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 found inside the ASUS Zenbook S 16 laptop. When given more power to work with, the laptop can provide enough multi-core performance to top both charts, short for the Qualcomm Snapdragon-powered ASUS Vivobook S 15, which we mentioned comes with a few compatibility-related asterisks.

GPU

Now, graphics is where things get a bit intriguing to say the least. Technically, the Arc 140T found in Arrow Lake and the Arc 140V found in the Lunar Lake are slightly different, despite having the same amount of Xe cores. The former uses the slightly older Xe+ architecture, while the Lunar Lake’s Arc 140V is the newer Xe2-based architecture. Despite that, Arc 140T has a higher clock speed, which likely is why it is the faster in three of the five benchmarks, while 140V’s newer architecture may explain its two wins (courtesy of Acer Swift 14) in the other two metrics shown above.

System

The trends seen in CPU benchmarks reflects the performance here in Novabench, with Performance mode leading the chart, Adaptive staying in the middle, while Battery Saver takes the performance down a notch. In this case, the GPU performance remain unaffected, though CPU being the biggest factor in overall scores meant it played a big role in how the scores are ranked here.

Similarly, the PCMark 10 shows both Performance and Adaptive leading the charts, while the Battery Saver is down at the bottom sandwiching the Lunar Lake (plus Meteor Lake and AMD’s Zen 5) entries. Both Productivity and Digital Content Creation metrics are majorly affected by the power profile, which is what ultimately form their differences in scores.

Battery

For battery tests, we have to something unusual given the laptop’s dual-screen nature. Since the Lenovo Yoga Book 9i also supports single-screen mode in flip mode and tablet mode, we also ran the tests (twelve runs in total) to see how much an extra display will influence the battery life. The result? Quite significantly, as it turns out – disabling one screen nets you 35% longer battery life in PCMark’s tests (averaged from three power modes), while UL Procyon’s video playback loop shows an even more extreme example, extending the runtime by a whopping 68% on average.

The Good

It shall be said first that it is commendable for Lenovo to stick to exotic designs like this one – but how practical is it in practice? For starters, no skimping on the hardware here: the dual 2K 120Hz OLED displays produces great colors, high brightness, and expansive working space, so there’s really nothing to complain about in this regard. This is further bolstered through the laptop’s flexible 2-in-1 form factor (plus the Bluetooth keyboard) that allows it to operate in more ways than I can count with one hand.

The hardware provided, both inside and outside of the laptop, are top-notch. Solid CPU performance for its class, along with a great set of speakers, plus the amount of accessories you’re provided to properly maximize this laptop’s productivity potential. I can personally assure you that this laptop will be a conversation starter owing to its unique design, and there’s a good chance your co-workers (or friend) will be envious of the dual screen design. Think of the rows of spreadsheets you can fit with this laptop.

The Bad

Now, while the dual display design is very potent productivity-wise, the other aspect of the productivity involves the input devices human will interact with, such as keyboard and mouse. In that regard, bonus points for Lenovo to include a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse to replace the lack of built-in hardware, but what if you want maximum portability and do away with those extra bits entirely?

In that case, using the virtual keyboard and touchpad can be quite the hassle, owing to the lack of true feedback (and you certainly can’t rest your fingers on any parts of the screen). We also mentioned the palm rejection issues and the oddities relating to touchpad buttons, and we conclude that it’s only good enough for basic controls – if you intend to use input devices for extended periods, stick to the actual hardware (which, to be fair, is solid in quality).

That brings us to another aspect of this conundrum. While the laptop itself weighs only 1.22kg, you most likely want to bring the keyboard, mouse, and possibly even the folio case along for the full productivity experience. Those stuffs can add weight up pretty quick – while Lenovo didn’t provide the exact weight numbers for each of these accessories, we believe the total weight are close to 2kg. As such, a user may opt for a more traditional design if weight is a higher priority over screen real estate.

Another trade-off of dual-screen design is the battery life. While it’s fairly serviceable on its own, we do recommend bringing the charger along if you’re out for extended periods, or at least disable one of the displays to conserve battery. Better yet, bring your own USB-C charger if it supports 100W charging, since Lenovo only provides a 65W unit that will require longer charging times.

We also encountered a minor bug where the display ended up stuck in specific orientations, no longer responding to physical orientation of the device unless rebooted. Not a big issue per se, but you might encounter similar situations where a manual orientation must be set via Windows Settings as a workaround, which can be a tad annoying. Expect Lenovo to sort this out relatively quickly given that this is a minor bug after all.

Also, you’ll probably need an additional dock accessory given that Thunderbolt 4 ports are all this laptop’s got. Adding some of the commonly-used ports like HDMI, headphone jack, one USB-A port would be great to keep this laptop’s accessory loadout from getting too bloated.

Verdict

Depending on where you look, the price of the Lenovo Yoga Book 9i Gen 10 (14IAH10) may vary – we spotted a matching listing on Shopee listing a RM10,499 price tag, while Lenovo’s own website sells it for slightly cheaper at an oddly specific RM9,527.50. Granted, you’ll have to navigate through some of the optional warranties and bundled accessories over at the laptop maker’s website, so price will vary; but either way, this is a fairly expensive price tag for a laptop in this class.

Consider this: you get the screen size of two laptops for the physical size of one (or slightly more than one, if you want to count the extra accessories’ footprints). If you want the most screen area while keeping things relatively lightweight, this is one of the two options that exists today, offering a level of productivity-per-kilogram-of-hardware that few systems can match.

Special thanks to Lenovo Malaysia for providing the Yoga Book 9i Gen 10 (14IAH10) laptop for this review.