Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i 16 laptop review: Great mini-LED panel, but unnecessary cost-saving measures

The case design is the same as the smaller Yoga Pro 9i 14, i.e. an aluminum construction is used. However, the 16-inch model has a weak point: the base plate is very thin and emits unpleasant creaking noises when handled, which is not at all fitting for a premium device. The problem was also present (albeit less pronounced) in the second test device, so this may be a general problem. This is a pity because there are no defects otherwise in terms of workmanship or stability. The base unit can only be pressed in minimally in the central area, but practically cannot be twisted at all. The lid is a little more flexible than the smaller 14-inch model, but no issues pop up here either. The two hinges are well adjusted (only minimal teetering) and hold the screen securely in place, even at small opening angles. At the same time, one-handed opening of the display is possible and the maximum opening angle is 180 degrees.

Our test unit is the Strom Grey variant, which is very inconspicuous and fits right into the office without attracting attention. Those who like it more colourful can opt for the Tidal Teal (turquoise green) color variant. Overall, the design looks very modern and the screen's edges are quite narrow, but the camera hump is somewhat annoying because it sits a little deeper than the rest of the screen lid.

Together with the Schenker Vision 16 Pro and the Apple MacBook Pro 16, the Yoga Pro 9i 16 has the smallest footprint in the comparison field, but is also one of the heavier models at just over 2.2 kg, although the differences here are not huge. The only exception is the Vision 16 Pro at just 1.6 kg. The included 170 watt power adapter weighs around 570 grams.

Differences to the smaller model are to be found in the ports. Only one USB-C port is installed here, which at least also supports Thunderbolt 4 and can be used for charging if necessary (this worked without issue with a 65-watt power supply). Since there is a dedicated power supply (SlimTip) here, the lack of a second USB port can be overlooked, but we don't understand why the HMDI output of the 16-inch version supports just the 1.4b standard, which is why 4K can only be output at 30 Hz.

The card reader on the right takes regular SD cards, which protrude about 2 cm from the device. The transfer rates in conjunction with our Angelbird AV Pro V60 reference card are around 80 MB/s. This is an average value that is clearly surpassed by some competitors.

A port for wired network connections is not available, but this can be implemented via an optional USB adapter. Intel's AX211 module, which also supports the current Wi-Fi 6E standard, is responsible for wireless connections. We measured high and stable transfer rates with our Asus reference router. No issues arose in practice either, neither in large data transfers nor downloads.

The slightly thicker camera hump houses a 5 MP camera that delivers good image quality, both for pictures and videos. This removes the need for an external webcam, especially for video conferences. An IR sensor is also installed, which enables facial recognition via Windows Hello. The camera can be deactivated via a small slider on the right side of the case (e-shutter).

The touchpad of the 16-inch Yoga is even larger and, at 15 x 9.5 cm, offers a lot of space for pointer control and gestures of up to four fingers, which also work very well and reliably thanks to good gliding properties. The lower half can also be pressed down, which is characterized by a very loud and cheap-sound clicking noise. We recommend just tapping the pad for input here. In contrast to the smaller 14-inch model, the touchpad is not in the middle of the case, but is offset slightly to the left.

As previously mentioned, the Yoga Pro 9i 16 comes with either a Core i7 or Core i9 processor as well as the GeForce RTX 4050, RTX 4060 or RTX 4070 graphics cards (100 watts TGP in each case). The working memory consists of faster LPDDR5X-6400 RAM, but this is soldered and cannot be expanded.

The preinstalled Lenovo Vantage app offers three different performance profiles that can be conveniently switched via the Fn+Q key combination at any time. We have listed the respective TDP/TGP values in the table below. We used High Performance mode by default for our benchmarks and measurements.

The 16-inch model of the Yoga Pro 9i also uses the Core i7-13705H, which is the same as the regular Core i7-13700H apart from the vPro capabilities. In High Performance mode, the processor is able to consume up to 125 watts for short periods of time and 80 watts permanently, which brings about very good results. Interestingly, the optional Core i9-13905H performs slightly worse, so the upgrade isn't worth it. Within our comparison group, the Yoga only has to admit defeat to competitors with significantly faster HX processors.

The processor is able to consume a maximum of 85 watts in battery mode, which leads to a performance reduction of around 20% in the multi-core tests. More CPU benchmarks are available in our tech section.

Performance values in the synthetic benchmarks are very good, although competing notebooks are also on a very similar level overall. In everyday use, the laptop is always smooth and responsive. No issues arose during testing either.