Lenovo’s conceit for the Yoga Book 9i laptop computer—ditch the keyboard and exchange it with a second touchscreen—has been accomplished earlier than, however by no means very properly. Arguably the very best instance so far anyplace alongside these traces has been the HP Omen X 2S, which featured a miniature show mounted above a bodily keyboard, nevertheless it was a decidedly area of interest thought designed for gaming and priced at practically $3,000 at launch. It by no means gained a lot traction. Now it’s Lenovo’s flip to make a journey down this highway, and it might be essentially the most bold, and profitable variation so far.
With the Yoga Book 9i, “second screen” means a full display. There’s no keyboard right here in any respect; the decrease half of the laptop computer is a touchscreen equivalent to the higher half. Take two 13.3-inch OLED shows and sandwich them along with a hinge in between and also you’ve acquired the concept.
Lenovo has accomplished a hefty quantity of engineering to make this work, and whereas there are a couple of tough edges, for essentially the most half, it’s successful. Naturally, you’re free to make use of the laptop computer as if it have been two Windows tablets or one big one, placing totally different apps on both display of the gadget and holding the entire thing prefer it’s certainly one of Moses’ monumental stone tablets. Want to get artistic? You may even set it on a desk in an inverted V formation and let two children watch totally different movies on both aspect (although you’ll be able to solely play one audio observe).
All of this may occasionally sound fanciful and even frivolous, however the Yoga Book 9i is surprisingly properly positioned for getting actual work accomplished—and probably succeeds on that entrance higher than an ordinary laptop computer. Open the gadget up in commonplace laptop computer mode and use eight fingers to swipe upward on the decrease touchscreen to have the digital keyboard and trackpad space seem. Want to forgo the trackpad and transfer the keyboard nearer to your physique? Just drag it down and the keyboard strikes towards you, leaving room for varied configurable widgets within the few inches of open house which have been freed up.
Mastering the entire swipes and gestures used to maneuver issues round on the Yoga Book 9i—notably shifting a window from one display to a different—takes a little bit of research and a few trial and error, however with follow, it’s not laborious to get the hold of.
Photograph: Lenovo
The Yoga Book works effective with its touchscreen keyboard, although I understandably typed a bit slower than I’d have on a mechanical keyboard, regardless of a haptics-based system that gives some degree of suggestions. The professional transfer is to fireplace up the exterior Bluetooth keyboard and mouse—each are included with buy, together with a stylus—and use each screens as shows. The machine could be propped up with the 2 screens aspect by aspect or one atop one other through the use of the included folio stand, a easy gizmo that folds right into a wedge and is held collectively by magnets. It’s all compact sufficient to suit on an ordinary airline tray desk (sans the mouse), which can categorically make you the one particular person utilizing twin displays in coach.
It would in fact be prudent to surprise about the remainder of the 9i’s specs, and the information is blended. The two screens every have 2,880 X 1,800-pixel resolutions and are dazzlingly shiny—a lot in order that I needed to flip the brightness down, as a result of they damage my eyes at full energy. (Brightness could be set for every display independently.) The unit manages to measure simply 18 millimeters thick and weighs in at 2.8 kilos, which is lighter than it feels within the hand.
But underneath the hood, the specs are pretty primary. A Thirteenth-generation Intel Core i7-1355U (1.7 GHz) supplies the juice, together with 16 GB of RAM and a 512-GB SSD, plus built-in graphics. Performance is relatively middling throughout the board: I discovered it sluggish to finish easy duties like recalculating spreadsheets and grammar-checking lengthy paperwork, although I used to be not less than capable of full my full battery of benchmarks, regardless of repeated warnings that heavier graphics-based exams might not be capable to run on the gadget.
