Lenovo’s Yoga Ebook 9i is for the two-screen life-style

Two screens on the identical time. That’s the complete attraction of Lenovo’s Yoga Ebook 9i in a nutshell, as greatest as I can inform after utilizing the gadget 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 displays and digital keyboards, and it hasn’t all the time gone nicely. Excessive costs, awkward software program, and unconventional designs have saved them from actually being something you can purchase. 

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

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

From first look, the 9i doesn’t look all that totally different from Lenovo’s other Yoga models and even another 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 Hey-compatible webcam. 

It could appear to be each halves are similar, however the backside half is thicker and the place the precise computing parts stay. 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 ought to be, and the 400 nit peak brightness is lots for many conditions exterior of direct daylight. Fortunately, the screens are nicely color-matched, too.

Like prior dual-screen gadgets, resembling Microsoft’s Surface Duo phone, the Yoga Ebook 9i is all about totally 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 gadget.

Tapping eight fingers on the underside display screen pulls up a digital keyboard. Under it’s a digital trackpad that may span all the width of the display screen or be constrained to a typical trackpad dimension. Typing on the digital keyboard goes about in addition to you may anticipate: I might make it work at about half my regular typing pace and with much more errors. Lenovo constructed some mild haptics into the system to supply some suggestions, but it surely’s not one thing that replaces a bodily keyboard. The digital trackpad additionally works and helps the standard multi-finger Home windows gestures, however the glass makes it really feel sticky, and it isn’t almost 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 supply some usability right here.

This posture additionally sometimes has software program points: the mouse cursor will generally get “trapped” on the underside display screen below the keyboard in the event you slide it down too far, and you may’t use the trackpad to substantiate any Home windows safety prompts; it’s important 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 high 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 once you’ve plopped the keyboard onto the display screen. Nevertheless 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 connected to the deck. Plus, you continue to need to deal with that less-than-stellar digital trackpad.

The best posture of the 9i, and my most popular method to make use of it, includes 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 identical 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 screens on a desktop, which opens up a variety of sensible use instances. I can have my browser or energetic window up at virtually eye stage on the highest show whereas I regulate chat apps or electronic 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 moveable show constructed proper into the laptop computer itself. You may even stretch a single window throughout each screens to have a look at an particularly lengthy doc or webpage with much less scrolling (although the hinge will obscure some info), however I didn’t actually find yourself doing this in day-to-day work.

The 9i can be rotated 90 levels so you’ve gotten two portrait-oriented screens facet by facet. Some may discover this handy for evaluating two paperwork on the identical 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 establishing the entire workstation with stand, keyboard, and mouse everytime you wish to get right down to work. In the event you’re the kind of particular person to already pack a transportable USB-C monitor or simply use your laptop computer on the identical desk daily, this received’t be a lot of an issue. However everybody else will discover extra friction to getting began with the 9i than nearly another laptop computer.

Additionally included with the 9i is a stylus, which might conveniently be saved in a material 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 a variety of use instances you may think about with two screens stacked on high 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 high or players hoping to regulate 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 nicely. 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 plenty of browser tabs, video calls, Slack conversations, and listening to music or watching video, however in our commonplace benchmarks for gaming and artistic 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, however, is best than anticipated given the 9i is powering two full-size screens on a regular basis. I used to be in a position to 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 simplest ways to make use of this pc is on a desk or at a desk, it’s doubtless you received’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 may be swatting pop-ups for issues like McAfee and Amazon Prime Music trials for days once 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 will not be the moveable pc you purchase for targeted, intense work. It’s for multi-all-the-taskings, it’s for maintaining a tally of that Slack dialog whereas watching YouTube on the display screen above, it’s for not compromising in your multi-monitor setup once you’re away from house. Extra screens, you demand, and the 9i supplies.

However on the identical time, it’s onerous to suggest it to the standard laptop computer purchaser. The standard clamshell design has been round for thus 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 offers you extra once you’re at a desk however requires compromises in much less formal positions. It’s not as comfy 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 price — you’re paying lots to have these two screens joined collectively. You may get a wonderful laptop computer plus an exterior USB-C show and save a whole lot of {dollars} in comparison with the Yoga Ebook 9i — and nonetheless stay the two-screen life-style. You’d even have the flexibleness of one thing that works nicely once you’re lounging on the sofa.

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

Pictures by Dan Seifert / The Verge