After reviewing the first generation of the Yoga Book 9i a year ago, I was pumped when Lenovo announced a refresh at CES. The product was flawed in certain ways, but it's so good. Who knew a dual-screen laptop could end up being so practical?

The Lenovo Yoga Book 9i (2024) is, more or less, the same as its predecessor. It includes Intel's new Core Ultra processors and a Copilot key on the keyboard, but that's all that's different. Moreover, it's using U-series processors, so it doesn't pack the same performance improvement that we're seeing on a lot of other laptops, like the Yoga 9i (2024).

I sure love this form factor though. Using the Yoga Book 9i really gives me a dual-monitor feel, making life a whole lot easier. I used to carry a portable monitor when I travel. With the Yoga Book, it's really all I need.

Lenovo sent XDA the Yoga Book 9i (2024) for review. It did not have any input on the contents of this article.

Lenovo Yoga Book 9i (2024) price and availability

The Lenovo Yoga Book 9i (2024) is available now, and it starts at $1,980, just a touch less than the previous model started at. That gets you an Intel Core Ultra 7 155U, 16GB RAM, and a 512GB SSD. You can upgrade from there.

The price tag is one of the selling points of the Yoga Book 9i, compared to $5,000 foldables like the HP Spectre Foldable. This is priced more like a premium laptop, and while it's still not cheap by any means, it's within reach if this is the kind of experience that you want.

The dual-screen life

You get two monitors everywhere you go

There are two ways that you can use both screens of the Yoga Book 9i. One is with the two screens side-by-side, and one is with one screen on top of the other. It fits on the stand either way, and there are benefits to both. You can use it like that in clamshell mode as well, but I can't imagine how that would be practical.

If you use dual monitors at home, you already know how this can affect your work flow. For me personally, I like to have a browser on one screen that I'm working in, and a second screen for everything else, whether it's Slack, OneNote, or anything I'm not constantly looking at. Being used to two 27-inch 4K monitors at home, it's surprising that two 13.3-inch screens can be so good.

I'm also more inclined to use the two screens on top of each other. When they're side-by-side, both screens are in portrait orientation, so you have to be comfortable with that.

The other problem with that is webcam placement. When they're like that, the webcam is on the side, and that's in portrait orientation too. However, when one screen is on top of the other, the webcam is perfectly placed in front of my face. It's a fantastic experience for calls. I have Google Meet open on the top screen and OneNote open on the bottom one.

Of course, if you're using both screens, you need both a keyboard and a mouse, which come with the product. The keyboard is Bluetooth, so you can put it anywhere.

But one of my biggest issues with the keyboard is that it doesn't have a trackpad into it. The pieces that you have to carry alongside of the laptop itself really start to add up, including the stand, the keyboard, the pen, and a mouse. On top of that, there's no neat way to store and of it. The keyboard folds inside of the stand, but it doesn't attach to the laptop lid in any proper way.

Obviously, the Yoga Book 9i folds flat, so none of those accessories will fit inside of it.

Still, I can't stress enough how great it is to have two screens on a laptop. Carrying everything around is a pain, but it's worth it when you're working out of a hotel room.

Using it as a laptop

It gets a little dicey

The Bluetooth keyboard magnetically attached to the bottom screen so you can use it as a laptop. If you don't feel like carrying the keyboard, you can use the onscreen touch keyboard if you like. I wouldn't write articles like that though.

Unfortunately, I really don't like using the touchscreen trackpad any better than the keyboard. You can use a mouse of course, but as far as laptop touchpads go, this is not a good one. Below the trackpad area, there are two onscreen buttons that you're meant to press when you want to click, and they work well enough. It just always feels like it's too sensitive. You do get the option to have the trackpad span the width of the screen, which is pretty neat.

There's another big problem. The area under the Bluetooth keyboard doesn't get turned off, so you can drag the pointer down there. Indeed, if you can't find it, that's probably where it is. Apps open down there sometimes as well. Good luck finding those.

These were all issues with the first-gen model, and I was really hoping to see some improvement with this one. In fact, that was what I was hoping for more than any potential performance improvements we might get from Core Ultra U.

Earlier this year, Asus released the Zenbook Duo, its own dual-screen laptop. It starts at $1,500 and it doesn't have these issues. The bottom screen gets shut off when the keyboard is attached because the keyboard has its own trackpad. That screen doesn't have to be powered on to provide that experience.

Ultimately, I do really like using the Yoga Book 9i in clamshell mode, with the keyboard and a mouse. The keyboard is excellent. For something so compact, it's hard to find anything that has the quality of a proper laptop keyboard. And keyboards are something that Lenovo laptops are definitely good at.

This is a great product, but honestly, I'm just frustrated that Lenovo didn't fix the glaring issues with last year's model. I remember when Asus launched the Zenbook Duo and all of us asked the same question, which was if it had the same issues as the Yoga Book 9i.

Performance

Core Ultra U isn't the upgrade I was hoping for

It's rarely worth talking about gen-over-gen upgrades when it comes to laptops. I don't think anyone is considering an upgrade every year like they might do with a phone. I feel like it has to be mentioned here because frankly, this feels like the same product.

Prior to this, every Core Ultra laptop I've tested has been H-series, an upgrade that most premium laptops received this generation. When it comes to single-core performance, it's a downgrade from 13th-gen, and U-series comes in at a lower wattage than that. Graphics in U-series aren't as much of an upgrade as H-series, although like any decent laptop, it supports multiple external displays, so you can get even more screens on this thing.

The big feature for Core Ultra is the Neural Processing Unit (NPU). The only problem is that you can't really do anything. For whatever reason, this laptop doesn't even support Windows Studio Effects, which lets you do things like blur your background on-device.

Moreover, chips like the Snapdragon X Elite and Intel's Lunar Lake family are almost here. When those launch, Meteor Lake laptops like this one won't even be considered "AI PCs".

So with that in mind, Meteor Lake U feels a lot like 13th-gen U.

The benchmarks show no meaningful changes gen-over-gen, although as promised, graphics are improved. I also added the HP Spectre x360 14 for comparison, because most premium laptops are getting bumped up to the H-series, so you can see the difference between the two.

On average, I got just under seven hours of battery life, which is pretty solid. Note that I test battery life with real-world usage, rather than using a battery benchmark that doesn't mimic how anyone would use their computer. Also, battery life doesn't change between whether you're using both screens or if you're using it as a laptop with the keyboard attached. Both screens are powered on at all times.

Should you buy the Lenovo Yoga Book 9i (2024)?

You should buy the Lenovo Yoga Book 9i (2024) if:

• You use dual monitors at home
• You want a laptop, but something that's a little different
• You plan on streaming movies or music

You should NOT buy the Lenovo Yoga Book 9i (2024) if:

• You don't want to carry around extra gear
• You're editing photos or video
• $2,000 is just out of your price range

The Lenovo Yoga Book 9i is one of my favorite laptops on the market, despite its shortcomings. My biggest complaint is that the 2024 model feels exactly like the 2023 one. There doesn't seem to be a performance boost from Core Ultra U, and the software issues everyone complained about last time haven't been fixed; however, the landscape has changed. Asus has entered the market with a product that doesn't have those issues, and costs 75% of the price.

But still, the Yoga Book 9i (2024) has an incredible laptop-quality keyboard and amazing audio quality, neither of which are easily matched from a laptop with this form factor.