Lenovo Yoga 9i Aura Edition 14” mini review

[pshufd]

I feel very comfortable with this system now.

I cloned my Firefox profiles and moved them over to the Yoga and so the browser feels the same on my four systems.

I will access iCloud apps via Firefox for now. If I feel that it isn't enough, then I'll copy over a Monterey virtual machine from my PC.

I have the share set up with my Mac Studio so I can access my files easily.

This device feels so much like my MacBook Pro in terms of what I can do with it that it's uncanny. Just learning the differences and having so many programs in common makes it straightforward to move back and forth.

I set up my full trading environment and it uses about 17 GB of RAM. It uses 23 GB on my MacBook Pro, mainly because of WINE and Rosetta 2.

I'm using up 130 GB out of 1 TB SSD so I think that I'm good. I could replace the 1 TB SSD with a 2 TB SSD but I don't think that's necessary, at least at this time. This takes the short NVMe SSDs and I guess you can't get those with 4 TB.

 

[maflynn]

I cloned my Firefox profiles and moved them over to the Yoga and so the browser feels the same on my four systems.

Shouldn't they automatically come over? I just log in to mozilla/firefox and everything comes over.

 

[pshufd]

Shouldn't they automatically come over? I just log in to mozilla/firefox and everything comes over.

I've never set up the cloud stuff for browsers due to the privacy issues. I also have concerns about Firefox' viability if they lose funding from Google. They have already had several rounds of cuts and have been closing projects this year.

 

[pshufd]

I just installed a thermal monitor and the Yoga is running about ten degrees cooler than my M1 Pro MacBook Pro 16 watching a YouTube video. CPU power consumption was 1.7 - 2.0 watts.

I looked up the process node for Lunar Lake and it's TSMC N3B while my M1 Pro MacBook Pro is at 5 nm. The Yoga CPU uses 0.5 watts at idle with 10 Firefox tabs open. I imagine M4 is a lot more efficient than the M1 as it's on N3E. But this efficiency is a shocker for someone used to tenth-gen Intel chips from Raptor Lake and older.

 

[pshufd]

I'm back at the other house and brought the Yoga (with mouse) and my M1 Pro MacBook Pro 16. This is not a bad setup as I have macOS and can use the native apps without running a virtual machine; but it would be great if I also had my portable monitor. That would make three displays, almost as many as I have at home.

I don't need a mouse on the MacBook Pro but the Yoga is much better with a mouse. It could be the difference between 14 inch and 16 inch laptops.

 

[pshufd]

I've been playing around the Lenovo Vantage and like it so far. The options for optimized charging, charging USB devices when the laptop is sleeping, and the battery statistics are all in one convenient place. Warranty information, battery health, thermals are nice to see too.

It appears that on Windows, you need settings for the OS (Windows), setting for specific hardware and other features (Vantage) and the BIOS which most consumers don't care to play with. The upside is that hardware vendors can put in features to be competitive; and they can put in convenience features that may be difficult to find in Windows. The downside is that if they don't get the software right, you can have a bricked device.

 

[maflynn]

I've been playing around the Lenovo Vantage and like it so far.

If it wasn't for the ads, I'd agree to it. I removed it, simply because I was getting notifications on lenovo products, and it was annoying as hell.

 

[pshufd]

If it wasn't for the ads, I'd agree to it. I removed it, simply because I was getting notifications on lenovo products, and it was annoying as hell.

I think that those show up on booting up but I rarely shut down. The functionality and options that Vantage gives you are worth skipping ads at startup. They are far less obtrusive than that thing that Microsoft did with the App Store a while back. If they could give you all of that functionality without the ads, it would be better but they've chosen their approach.

What's more annoying is the email ads. I suspect I can turn those off though. The problem is that their email ads are the same products over and over again.

 

[pshufd]

Something that I've noticed about Lenovo as opposed to Asus is that Lenovo does more updates (BIOS and drivers) than Asus did. With Asus, it was one a year and, after two years, sayanora.

So far, BIOS and driver updates have gone smoothly. I have read about a few people with Lenovos getting bricked after updates. My guess is that the percentage of people that run into this is tiny but Lenovo sells so many laptops that I run into the small numbers overall.

 

[pshufd]

I had read comments complaining about the keyboard backlight bleed problem with these models and finally discovered by what is meant.

MacBooks have keyboard backlight bleed but it's more subtle as the keys appear to be lower over the backlight so not as much light can get through. On the Yoga, the angle of the function key row can expose a lot of light to you and be somewhat blinding in a dark room. You can set the backlight to low using Vantage but you still see the lights.

The other problem is the backlight also bleeds to the back so that there can be a reflection from the bottom of the display. It can be a minor distraction working in a dark room. You can fix this by changing the display angle but it might not be your most favorite and comfortable angle. It's something that should be easy to fix in the next release if they know about it.

 

[maflynn]

is that Lenovo does more updates (BIOS and drivers)

Yep, fired up my thinkpad for my weekend trip, ran the windows update and was also presented with a lenovo bio update. My laptop was a model behind the current one in 2024 and its still receiving bio updates

I'm hesitant to apply bios updates, partly because when I had my razer, their forums were filled with people complaining about how the bios update broke something or made their laptop worse. If my laptop is running fine (it is), I see no reason to update the bios

 

[pshufd]

Yep, fired up my thinkpad for my weekend trip, ran the windows update and was also presented with a lenovo bio update. My laptop was a model behind the current one in 2024 and its still receiving bio updates

I'm hesitant to apply bios updates, partly because when I had my razer, their forums were filled with people complaining about how the bios update broke something or made their laptop worse. If my laptop is running fine (it is), I see no reason to update the bios

There are a lot of people in Reddit forums that use Macs and Lenovos that abuse their systems installing things that I'd consider crazy or opening them up and making hardware changes without any experience doing so. So I take bricked systems with a grain of salt.

I've never actually had a bricked Windows system that I couldn't get back up and running myself. I've had two Macs bricked that the local Apple Store took care of. There's no Lenovo store nearby (don't even know if they exist) and I really don't like the idea of mail-in service.

The BIOS update I did with the Asus motherboard was needed to upgrade to Windows 11. I'm quite happy that they at least did that one or else I'd probably be running with a new system now.

 

[pdaholic]

Are you guys still happy with the 9i Aura? I'm very close to purchasing one. I've been using Surface Pro 13/12 inchers, and I do love them, but I would really like that laptop feel for my lap.

I visited Best Buy today and played with the Aura. It's down to 1300ish. The security dongle was faulty and kept alarming if I barely moved it. How's the tent mode? I was worried the camera lip on the top would make tent mode wobbly.

Also thought I'd mention (in response to some above posts) that there's an app on the Windows App store called "three finger drag" that lets you, well, three finger drag.

 

[pshufd]

Are you guys still happy with the 9i Aura? I'm very close to purchasing one. I've been using Surface Pro 13/12 inchers, and I do love them, but I would really like that laptop feel for my lap.

I visited Best Buy today and played with the Aura. It's down to 1300ish. The security dongle was faulty and kept alarming if I barely moved it. How's the tent mode? I was worried the camera lip on the top would make tent mode wobbly.

Also thought I'd mention (in response to some above posts) that there's an app on the Windows App store called "three finger drag" that lets you, well, three finger drag.

I love mine and $1,300 is a great price. The Yoga is slowly replacing my M1 Pro MacBook Pro 16. I have an appointment in Boston tomorrow and will bring the Yoga. The only main issue I have right now is a mail client. I'm using Thunderbird but the interface is archaic (as in from the 1990s). I much prefer Apple Mail but can live with Thunderbird for now.

I bought it to use as a laptop and do not plan to use it in tent mode or as a tablet. I still have some concerns about using it in those modes as I worry about potential hinge issues from the stress. I have no evidence that there's a problem - just that I like to keep things simple. I looked at the Slim 9i Aura and I would have actually preferred that but it only had two USB-C ports, and it used an under-display webcam that looked awful in reviews.

This laptop is somewhat of a stopgap for me. I do plan to get an M6 MacBook Pro 14 when it comes out and hopefully they drop the weight to three pounds. I have one program that runs horribly on Apple Silicon and I'm hoping that they get a native port done before Apple pulls Rosetta 2 in 2027.

 

[pdaholic]

I love mine and $1,300 is a great price. The Yoga is slowly replacing my M1 Pro MacBook Pro 16. I have an appointment in Boston tomorrow and will bring the Yoga. The only main issue I have right now is a mail client. I'm using Thunderbird but the interface is archaic (as in from the 1990s). I much prefer Apple Mail but can live with Thunderbird for now.

I bought it to use as a laptop and do not plan to use it in tent mode or as a tablet. I still have some concerns about using it in those modes as I worry about potential hinge issues from the stress. I have no evidence that there's a problem - just that I like to keep things simple. I looked at the Slim 9i Aura and I would have actually preferred that but it only had two USB-C ports, and it used an under-display webcam that looked awful in reviews.

This laptop is somewhat of a stopgap for me. I do plan to get an M6 MacBook Pro 14 when it comes out and hopefully they drop the weight to three pounds. I have one program that runs horribly on Apple Silicon and I'm hoping that they get a native port done before Apple pulls Rosetta 2 in 2027.

Thanks for the reply, Pshufd! I have been an Apple-only guy for the last 15 years, until I've recently been drawn to the incredible hardware made by other companies. My MacBooks are collecting dust.

That's a good point about stress on the hinge. I find myself using the Surface Pros 90% in laptop mode, 10% like a tablet. Seems logical for me to use a laptop/hinge 2 in 1 device instead.

You got me on the slim Aura model. Best Buy didn't have any of that version on display. I don't mind the fewer ports, and I value a lighter device (I assume that's the "slim," I've got to do more research). Thanks again!

 

[pshufd]

Thanks for the reply, Pshufd! I have been an Apple-only guy for the last 15 years, until I've recently been drawn to the incredible hardware made by other companies. My MacBooks are collecting dust.

That's a good point about stress on the hinge. I find myself using the Surface Pros 90% in laptop mode, 10% like a tablet. Seems logical for me to use a laptop/hinge 2 in 1 device instead.

You got me on the slim Aura model. Best Buy didn't have any of that version on display. I don't mind the fewer ports, and I value a lighter device (I assume that's the "slim," I've got to do more research). Thanks again!

It's a gorgeous device and a halo product. I think that a lot of people take a look at it and most buy something else. But it's like a magnet for people browsing laptops. I saw one at Best Buy and made a note of the model to watch YouTube reviews on it.

 

[MayaUser]

Good point. I used Safari on the iPad and MS Edge (Chromium) on the Lenovo, so I guess it wasn’t exactly a fair test.

Since it seems you have M4 ipad why not compare the display with that since both are oled? because the ipad is better?!

 

[pdaholic]

I just purchased the Aura non-slim version! The slim was more expensive and I worry about the glass back. Should arrive tomorrow.

 

[Wizec]

Since it seems you have M4 ipad why not compare the display with that since both are oled? because the ipad is better?!

The iPad Pro M4 likely has a technically better screen, but they look about the same to me. They are both very nice.