Lenovo Yoga Book 9i: two screens at the same time

Two screens on the similar time. That’s the complete enchantment of Lenovo’s Yoga Ebook 9i in a nutshell, as finest as I can inform after utilizing the system for a few weeks. 

The $1,999.99 9i, for the uninitiated, is a dual-screen clamshell touchscreen laptop computer that eschews the normal keyboard deck for a second touchscreen on the underside half. Lenovo has been experimenting with nontraditional laptop computer designs for years, from foldable ThinkPads to twisting laptops with E Ink shows and digital keyboards, and it hasn’t all the time gone properly. Excessive costs, awkward software program, and unconventional designs have saved them from actually being something you should purchase. 

The Yoga Ebook 9i isn’t with out a few of these compromises. Nonetheless, it’s Lenovo’s finest execution of the dual-screen type issue and doesn’t really feel practically as very similar to an experiment as Lenovo’s earlier concepts. Having two screens on the similar time is a really compelling pitch for lots of people accustomed to working at a desk, and there are specific use circumstances the place the 9i’s distinctive type issue presents a bonus over different laptops. 

Lenovo got here up with some intelligent software program and {hardware} tips to make this work, and the result’s a surprisingly usable first lower at a tool with two screens and no built-in keyboard. However it’s not prone to change your clamshell laptop computer simply but.

From first look, the 9i doesn’t look all that completely different from Lenovo’s different Yoga fashions and even every other 2-in-1 convertible laptop computer. It’s about the identical thickness as my MacBook Professional when closed, with an additional lip on the highest half to make opening it simpler and supply room for the Home windows Hiya-compatible webcam. 

It could appear like each halves are an identical, however the backside half is thicker and the place the precise computing parts dwell. The chassis is a good-looking darkish blue aluminum with rounded, polished sides and simply three ports — all Thunderbolt 4 USB-C. The factor I missed essentially the most from the port choice is a 3.5mm headphone jack; I’m simply not prepared to offer these up on a laptop computer but.

Crack it open, although, and the 9i’s distinction turns into obvious. The 2 13.3-inch, 2880 x 1800 OLED panels with 16:10 side ratios mild up and offer you two equally sized Home windows desktops to play with. They’re colourful and punchy like OLED screens must be, and the 400 nit peak brightness is a lot for many conditions outdoors of direct daylight. Fortunately, the screens are properly color-matched, too.

Like prior dual-screen gadgets, equivalent to Microsoft’s Floor Duo telephone, the Yoga Ebook 9i is all about completely different postures. The primary one is the default clamshell mode, the place you’d attempt to use it like a typical laptop computer. That is additionally the worst method to make use of this system.

Tapping eight fingers on the underside display screen pulls up a digital keyboard. Under it’s a digital trackpad that may span your entire width of the display screen or be constrained to a typical trackpad measurement. Typing on the digital keyboard goes about in addition to you may anticipate: I may make it work at about half my regular typing velocity and with much more errors. Lenovo constructed some mild haptics into the system to offer some suggestions, but it surely’s not one thing that replaces a bodily keyboard. The digital trackpad additionally works and helps the everyday multi-finger Home windows gestures, however the glass makes it really feel sticky, and it isn’t practically as clean to make use of as an precise {hardware} trackpad.

Swipe down with eight fingers on the keyboard, and it’ll transfer to the underside half of the display screen, revealing two widgets above it. These widgets suck: one is an Outlook calendar widget that refused to work with my Google Calendar account, and the opposite is a chumbox of terrible clickbait headlines powered by Microsoft’s Information app. Lenovo actually must make extra choices to offer some usability right here.

This posture additionally sometimes has software program points: the mouse cursor will typically get “trapped” on the underside display screen below the keyboard when you slide it down too far, and you’ll’t use the trackpad to substantiate any Home windows safety prompts; it’s a must to attain up and faucet the display screen every time. One time, my complete Slack window received caught on the underside display screen and I couldn’t discover it as a result of the keyboard and trackpad coated it up.

Bundled with the Yoga Ebook 9i is a Bluetooth keyboard that may sit on prime of the underside half of the pc and take the place of the digital keyboard. Typing with that is a lot simpler, and it’s cool that the system mechanically is aware of whenever you’ve plopped the keyboard onto the display screen. However it’s not a lot enjoyable to make use of on a lap like a typical laptop computer as a result of the entire thing feels unstable and awkward when typing or shifting your weight for the reason that keyboard isn’t truly hooked up to the deck. Plus, you continue to should deal with that less-than-stellar digital trackpad.

The best posture of the 9i, and my most popular method to make use of it, entails that Bluetooth keyboard and a folding stand and mouse that additionally include the pc. Utilizing the stand, which conveniently doubles as a journey case for the keyboard, you may prop the 9i up virtually vertically, permitting you to simply see each screens on the similar time.

This turns the 9i right into a multi-monitor productiveness machine. Home windows views it as two separate shows, identical to it does with two displays on a desktop, which opens up numerous sensible use circumstances. I can have my browser or lively window up at virtually eye stage on the highest show whereas I control chat apps or e-mail on the underside display screen. Or I can take part in a video name on the highest display screen and reference or take notes on the underside one. It’s like having a separate USB-C transportable show constructed proper into the laptop computer itself. You may even stretch a single window throughout each screens to take a look at an particularly lengthy doc or webpage with much less scrolling (although the hinge will obscure some data), however I didn’t actually find yourself doing this in day-to-day work.

The 9i can be rotated 90 levels so you could have two portrait-oriented screens aspect by aspect. Some may discover this convenient for evaluating two paperwork on the similar time, however I a lot most popular utilizing the 9i with its screens in panorama orientation.

The draw back of all of that is it clearly doesn’t work in your lap and requires toting round a bunch of (fortunately included) equipment and organising the entire workstation with stand, keyboard, and mouse everytime you wish to get right down to work. In case you’re the kind of individual to already pack a conveyable USB-C monitor or simply use your laptop computer on the similar desk each day, this gained’t be a lot of an issue. However everybody else will discover extra friction to getting began with the 9i than just about every other laptop computer.

Additionally included with the 9i is a stylus, which might conveniently be saved in a cloth loop on the folding stand. The stylus works on both display screen and could be helpful for jotting down handwritten notes on the decrease display screen whereas on a video name on the highest display screen or utilizing the area above the keyboard as a scratch pad for to-dos and different issues to recollect all through the day.

There are numerous use circumstances you may think about with two screens stacked on prime of one another, and I can see video editors desirous to have their enhancing timeline on the underside display screen and their footage preview on prime or players hoping to control Discord on the decrease display screen whereas taking part in on the highest one.

Sadly, the 9i isn’t actually highly effective sufficient to allow both of these experiences very properly. It’s very a lot nonetheless a sub-three-pound skinny and lightweight laptop computer, and its U-series Core i7 chip isn’t designed for these extra intense workloads. I had no drawback with efficiency in my day-to-day productiveness workflow, consisting of a lot of browser tabs, video calls, Slack conversations, and listening to music or watching video, however in our commonplace benchmarks for gaming and inventive work, the 9i scored fairly low. (That music and video sounded surprisingly good because of the soundbar constructed into the hinge between the 2 screens, by the way in which.)

Battery life, alternatively, is healthier than anticipated given the 9i is powering two full-size screens on a regular basis. I used to be capable of handle between six and 7 hours of use between prices, which isn’t a lot lower than I get from most skinny and lightweight laptops. And since one of the best ways to make use of this pc is on a desk or at a desk, it’s possible you gained’t be removed from an influence outlet anyway.

Lastly, I’ve to notice that Lenovo hundreds up this pc with a lot bloatware that you’ll be swatting pop-ups for issues like McAfee and Amazon Prime Music trials for days whenever you begin utilizing the pc. These items are gross on any laptop computer however actually tarnish the expertise of a $2,000 pc.

The Yoga Ebook 9i isn’t the transportable pc you purchase for centered, intense work. It’s for multi-all-the-taskings, it’s for keeping track of that Slack dialog whereas watching YouTube on the display screen above, it’s for not compromising in your multi-monitor setup whenever you’re away from house. Extra screens, you demand, and the 9i offers.

However on the similar time, it’s arduous to advocate it to the everyday laptop computer purchaser. The normal clamshell design has been round for therefore a few years as a result of it really works — you may put it on a desk or you should utilize it in your lap, and you’ve got dependable enter gadgets in each positions. The 9i provides you extra whenever you’re at a desk however requires compromises in much less formal positions. It’s not as snug to make use of casually on the sofa as a result of neither the digital nor the bodily keyboard is sensible on the underside display screen, and taking it to a espresso store or different location requires bringing alongside a keyboard, mouse, and stand, along with the pc itself.

Past that, there’s the associated fee — you’re paying lots to have these two screens joined collectively. You will get a superb laptop computer plus an exterior USB-C show and save a whole lot of {dollars} in comparison with the Yoga Ebook 9i — and nonetheless dwell the two-screen way of life. You’d even have the flexibleness of one thing that works properly whenever you’re lounging on the sofa.

Nonetheless, the Yoga Ebook 9i permits me to be practically as productive from the espresso store as I’m at my desk at house, offered I keep in mind to tote alongside all the required equipment to make it work. That alone may be well worth the compromises elsewhere.

Images by Dan Seifert / The Verge