Yoga Book 9i (Photo: Walla! Technology, Niv Lillian)
Mice? Voting surfaces? Who remembers them? Touch screens have become one of our main interfaces with smartphones and computers. But Lenovo's new Yoga Book 9 is a step forward: it's a clamshell computer that, instead of the traditional bottom of a keyboard and pointing pad, has another screen. The configuration itself is not new and has already appeared on experimental computers in years past, but this is its first successful modern application, and we got it for a few days for a glimpse.
The Yoga Book 9 actually does come with a small physical keyboard, but it's an external Bluetooth keyboard and the interface forms and use of this computer are actually unlimited and you can imagine:
you can use it like a book with two portrait monitors, in tent configuration If you want to share a screen or work together with someone sitting in front of you, you can use the bottom screen as a full touch interface, You can place the entire computer on its two screens on a cute stand included in the kit and place the keyboard next to you, and you can attach the keyboard (magnetically) to the bottom monitor, then you get a full hardware keyboard, and the other half of the bottom screen becomes a virtual pointing surface or two small information windows, depending on the location. The possibilities are practically limitless, and Lenovo also attaches a smart stylus pen to the kit so that the interface and usage options are really to your best imagination.
It can be used like a book with two portrait monitors (Photo: Walla! Technology, Niv Lillian)
Design and structure
Let's talk about the design of this computer, inside and out. From the outside it is a typical modern yoga computer with a magnesium body and rounded corners. The uniqueness is in the bright and impressive metallic blue color, with the Yoga logo imprinted on the back. The connecting hinge, as in other yoga computers, is a Bowers & Wilkins soundbar speaker with a pretty impressive sound (see also this section). On the right side is two C-USB sockets, the power button and a privacy switch to turn off the front camera (electric, not physical shutter). On the left side, an additional USB-C port and indicator lights. A bit spartan, but reasonable. A headphone/microphone jack is also absent, which is a shame.
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@nivlilien Yoga Book 9 is an innovative laptop — with no keyboard and no pointpad on the bottom as is customary, but with two 13-inch touchpads each. What did I think of him? Read my glimpse of Walla. ♬ #yogabook9i #yogabook9 #laptop #touchscreen #touch #tech #יוגהבוק #לנובו #theuplink #החיבור #חדשנות #טכנולוגיה #טקטוק Original Sound - Nivli
Inside the clamshell, of course, are two full touchscreens, with a duplicate of the Windows 11 taskbar, so you can access it from any screen. Also found here is the small addition to the edges of the top monitor, which has already become an identifying mark of Lenovo computers and houses the front webcam and photo sensors for opening the computer. There is no fingerprint reader here.
Also included in the kit is a small magnetic wireless Bluetooth keyboard, which is fun to type and with a good key move and, of course, can connect to other devices, and a matching blue carrying casing - which folds as a stand on which the computer can be placed portrait or landscape with surprising stability. Also included in the rather rich kit are a good stylus pen and a small 65-watt charger (presumably a charge based on gallium nitrate). Great. Lenovo includes another stand in the kit that can be folded into a triangle shape, but we couldn't figure out why it was useful. Still, it's nice to be included.
interface
The interface options here are really as diverse as I described. Lenovo also included a sophisticated note program called SmartNote, which works great with the stylus, and is more sophisticated and pleasant than OneNote, including a display of lines and squares, which greatly helps with neat writing and more accurate drawings than a free hand, but also syncs to OneNote so you can save all your doodles to the cloud. Cool.
The operation is done here all with a touch interface: if you do not want to carry the included external keyboard with you, you can place ten fingers on the bottom display and it will open a large virtual keyboard, quite successful in fact. I was surprised at how successful her tactile feedback imitation was and didn't feel rigid. You can choose where to attach the touch keyboard, to the top or bottom of the screen, and the additional part will change accordingly: snapping to the top will create a pointing surface underneath, also virtual, while snapping to the top will create two small information windows, the contents of which can be managed from a closed number of options (calendar, news, concentration mode or mail, hopefully the adjustment will expand in the future). Very cute.
The operation is done here everything with a touch interface - including the keyboard (Photo: Walla! Technology, Niv Lillian)
You can also drag windows from one screen to another and actually use the space of both monitors as one work surface, even if the hinge with the speaker is a bit stuck in the middle. However, this interface takes some adjustment, and it doesn't go entirely well with the features of dragging windows to the edges of Windows 11's screen. In fact, I turned off smart snapping to the edges of the screen because it became a nuisance on the Yoga Book 9.
Placing this computer on its side will give you two vertical display surfaces in book form. It is very obvious to turn the two bright touch displays into a real eBook. The computer's list of features does include dedicated reading software that should take full advantage of both screens in this situation, but it has not yet been released to the public.
For gamers, this PC also offers a slightly different experience, with the bottom touchscreen becoming a kind of controller or auxiliary screen for happening on the main screen, but only in games that support it. Lenovo meanwhile provides Asphalt 9 and Modern Combat with the bottom display being a map of the route and controllers or a navigation map in the case of the action game. It's again, a bit gimmicky but really cute.
Hardware, display and sound
When it comes to display and sound, it's definitely a yoga computer: the axis here is a Bowers & Wilkins soundbar that supports Dolby Atmos, and its sound is rich with a wide and enveloping stage. But of course the main draw here is the two displays, both of the same quality: these are two 13-inch screens, OLED PureSight type which means that they excel in color and sharpness, each with a resolution of 2.8K pixels and when connected together (which is the default configuration and by the way Lenovo recommends not changing it to allow the tricks on the extended screen), they give a resolution of over 5K and of course with support for HDR10 and Dolby Vision also. We didn't get to see many movies about him, but the experience here is really very rich. Netflix But for example, we will not spread out on both screens, but also one gives a great experience.
The high-end hardware, of course, doesn't end with both screens. As a high-end computer, you'll get Intel's latest generation 13th generation processors here, with Lenovo having a mid-range and current-efficient series processor (see also below), the Core i7 1355U at 1.7GHz, with 16GB of memory and half a terabyte SSD storage. In the short time we had with him, we didn't have time to run benchmark tests on him, but presumably he would have performed pretty well. In all the tasks I did manage to run on it - some games and word processing, I didn't feel any stuttering or warming up, which is a good sign.
And finally, battery life. Here I was pleasantly surprised. I expected both monitors to be reflective and run out of battery quickly, but that wasn't the case. Surprisingly, the Yoga Book 9's battery life was good, in balanced working mode and with average brightness, I spent about seven hours of battery time, which is no less than any other laptop with a single display. Very handsome.
There is also an external physical keyboard, but it is Bluetooth based (Photo: Walla! Technology, Niv Lillian)
Bottom Line
The Yoga Book 9 is definitely a different beast in the landscape, and a computer that will attract glances and questions if you sit down to work with it in a café. It is very suitable in nature for creators, graphic artists, painters or in general people who do not like to be limited to one organized interface. The beauty of this laptop, aside from its stunning and unusual design, is that it really allows you to work however you want: portrait, landscape, distance up close, with or without a pen, with or without a keyboard, scribble, draw, touch or type – the Yoga Book 9 is a kind of interface plasticine. Do whatever you want with him, work with him however you want.
Of course, two high-quality displays and high-end hardware will cost you money. A lot of money. Its price has not yet been determined, but the expectation is that it will not be cheap. Will it be worth the expense? For creators who need ample touchscreen space to work but don't yet want to have limited mobility, or early adopters, the Yoga Book 9 would be a good choice. Is it for everyone? Probably not yet. Is it a sign of what our computers will look like in the future? Probably yes.
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