I Found A Windows Pc With A Tandem Oled, And Can't Go Back To Graphic Design On Anything Else

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Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i Aura Edition

ZDNET's cardinal takeaways

  • Lenovo's Yoga Pro 9i Aura Edition is disposable now for $1,949.
  • It's sewage a gorgeous tandem OLED display, pinch a bladed shape and awesome capacity crossed aggregate usage cases.
  • It has middling artillery life and noisy fans.

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The Yoga Pro 9i (16-inch) is genuinely a gorgeous laptop, and it each centers astir its display. It's nan first point you announcement erstwhile you look astatine it, and it holds your gaze. 

It's sewage thing unique: it's 1 of nan fewer caller Windows laptops pinch a tandem OLED, resulting successful a crisp, exceptional image that's soft arsenic silk and exceedingly agleam (up to 1,000 nits). 

Also: I thought a $120 rodent was excessive, until this Logitech wholly changed nan measurement I work

Even though I've had a chance to spot nan 3.2K tandem OLED successful person, nan exemplary I took location pinch maine had nan somewhat little awesome (but still very good) 2.8K OLED pinch nan Nvidia GeForce RTX 5050 GPU. Yes, erstwhile up against nan tandem OLED moving nan RTX 5060, it isn't rather arsenic vibrant, but each things considered, it's a awesome show pinch nan aforesaid 120Hz refresh rate, HDR 1000 True Black, 100% DCI-P3, and slick solid screen. Especially erstwhile compared to different devices successful nan aforesaid value bracket.

Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i

The Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i is simply a high-performance Windows laptop designed for professionals and creatives who besides do immoderate gaming. It comes pinch 32GB of LPDDR5X (soldered) RAM, and a 1TB M.2 PCIe Gen 4 SSD. I utilized it for a fewer weeks arsenic my main driver and emotion really adaptable it is. 

It's a awesome laptop for work, pinch nan large, crisp OLED display, tactile, full-sized keyboard, and generous I/O. It makes a awesome instrumentality for creatives, pinch 1 of nan astir powerful CPUs connected nan marketplace for ultraportables, nan Intel Core Ultra 9 285H from nan "Arrow Lake" series, moving 16 cores.

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And it's a tin gaming machine, if not afloat committed to nan identity. The hardware carries for astir titles, pinch immerse visuals powered by nan Nvidia GeForce RTX 5050 aliases 5060 GPU. For agelong gaming sessions, however, different laptops successful nan value scope are going to beryllium much optimized for longevity and power mitigation. 

And it tin surely get warm. The instrumentality kicks connected often for short bursts, moreover while doing mundane tasks. Copying ample files aliases multitasking pinch respective browser tabs, for illustration is capable to popular it into gear, and astatine afloat velocity it's large capable to perceive from nan different room. That said, nan laptop itself doesn't get uncomfortably basking to nan touch. 

Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i
Kyle Kucharski/ZDNET

Its beingness shape is very neutral, pinch Lenovo's grey connected grey connected grey creation that resists fingerprints but looks alternatively corporate. The full-sized keyboard is freely and well-positioned, pinch an ample 1.5mm cardinal recreation and satisfying click. I conscionable wish it had a haptic trackpad, arsenic that would really seal nan woody arsenic a premium creative-first machine, particularly erstwhile paired pinch nan display. 

There's thing incorrect pinch nan trackpad connected nan Yoga Pro 9i (although I do wish it were centered), but successful 2025, but consumers want to spot these kinds of premium touches information retired nan package erstwhile they're paying complete $2,000 connected a laptop. At slightest arsenic an optional upsell.

Also: The champion laptops for schematic designers successful 2025: Expert tested and reviewed

In nan aforesaid vein, nan Yoga Pro 9i 16 doesn't consciousness exceedingly premium for really neutral it is. It's thin, light, and well-balanced, but nan Yoga lineup isn't precisely taking immoderate risks pinch its design. That said, there's very small surface wobble, minimal flex of nan beingness frame, and astatine 4.4 pounds and 0.76 inches thick, couldn't beryllium much portable. 

It's besides beautiful stacked erstwhile it comes to ports. On nan left, you person nan charger port, an HDMI 2.1, 2 Thunderbolt 4 ports astatine 40Gbps that some support charging, and a headphone jack.

On nan right, you get 2 USB-A ports astatine 5Gbps, and an SD paper reader. Just support successful mind that nan powerfulness fastener connected nan apical correct is very easy to accidentally pat -- particularly erstwhile you're plugging successful nan charger. 

So what's nan catch? You mightiness cognize wherever this is going. All this hardware is thirsty for power, and nan Yoga Pro 9i has immoderate quirks erstwhile it comes to artillery life. First off, I should mention that nan 170W charging ceramic it comes pinch is smaller than nan 1 that came pinch past year's model.

The laptop does complaint via nan USB-C ports, but if you person a low-wattage charger, it's not going to support up. In fact, moreover nan included 170W charger whitethorn not beryllium capable successful immoderate cases. If nan Yoga is nether a dense CPU and GPU load, some users report that nan 170W simply isn't enough, and that it needs a 230W charger (sold separately) to enactment astatine 100%. 

During my testing, I didn't brushwood this pinch nan 170W charger, but I did pinch nan USB-C chargers. Note that this is only erstwhile nan laptop is moving hard, for illustration erstwhile gaming aliases editing video. I didn't person this rumor doing mundane tasks for illustration doing activity aliases surfing nan web. 

Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i
Kyle Kucharski/ZDNET

Battery life is different expectedly limited. I sewage a small complete six hours of normal usage successful nan agency earlier needing to plug it in. The exemplary pinch nan tandem OLED show would apt get moreover less, particularly if you're talking astir much intensive workflows. 

Let's travel afloat circle and talk performance, wherever nan Yoga Pro 9i doesn't disappoint. As I mentioned before, portion of nan tie present is this laptop's expertise to grip a small spot of everything, but its peculiarly awesome capacity pinch photograph and video editing, schematic design, and animation.

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Creative tasks for illustration editing video successful DaVinci Resolve and CapCut were snappy and responsive, if not nan accustomed spot of lag from ample files aliases quickly scrubbing done video. 

When comparing it to competing 16-inch laptops, nan Yoga Pro 9i costs importantly little than its costly gaming cousin, nan Legion Pro 7i, exchanging RGB lighting and superior cooling for a thinner, lighter form, amended display, and much well-rounded capabilities. 

ZDNET's buying advice

Lenovo's Yoga Pro 9i Aura Edition is simply a awesome laptop for creatives who want a gorgeous display, pinch prize points for being a coagulated gaming machine, arsenic well. Its bladed shape makes for a overmuch much portable instrumentality than different laptops pinch this level of hardware, and each things considered, it's not that expensive, hovering astir nan $2,000 mark, depending connected nan hardware. 

Also: Lenovo's latest 2-in-1 laptop wowed maine pinch clever creation and a bold outlook

If you want to spell each out, nan tandem OLED is worthy it. But it's powerfulness hungry, particularly for demanding tasks. On nan different hand, if you spell pinch nan regular OLED and conscionable usage nan instrumentality for productivity tasks, you'll find nan artillery has much longevity.

I urge nan Yoga Pro 9i Aura Edition to creatives who want to do a small spot of everything pinch a high-performing, portable main driver. 

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