Lenovo Yoga Slim 9 14 Gen 10 review: First laptop with a 32 MP under-display webcam

The latest Lenovo Yoga Slim 9 14 G10 features many highs but also some notable lows. Its best characteristics include the 4K OLED touchscreen, comfortable keyboard keys, and good performance and battery life for the size thanks to Intel's Lunar Lake CPU. It's also undeniably a looker with its outer glass, super narrow bezels, and rounded screen corners to visually separate the flagship model from competitors.

When considering the retail price of $1900 USD, however, many of the smaller details become difficult to ignore. The OLED screen isn't nearly as bright as advertised, M.2 2280 SSDs aren't supported, and port selection is more limited than on most other 14-inch subnotebooks. Perhaps most disappointingly, the under-display 32 MP webcam is a bit of a letdown especially since it is a major advertising highlight for the model. many HP Elite models, such as the HP EliteBook 845 G11 or OmniBook Ultra 14 series, have lower 5 MP or 9 MP webcams but with higher image quality and potentially more desirable hardware features for a similar price point.

Lenovo is now shipping the Yoga Slim 9 14ILL10 starting at $1759 USD for the base Core Ultra 7 256V configuration up to $1900 for our review configuration. Third-party retailers like Best Buy will also begin holding stock soon.

Lenovo unveiled a flurry of new products at CES 2025 ranging from the Legion Go S to the refreshed Yoga Book 9i dual-screen. After just a month, many of these new releases are already on store shelves including the Yoga Slim 9 14ILL10 (or Yoga Slim 9 14 Gen 10) we are reviewing today.

Our test unit is an upper configuration with the Core Ultra 7 258V Lunar Lake CPU, 32 GB RAM, and 1 TB NVMe SSD for approximately $1900 retail. Lower-end SKUs ship with the Core Ultra 7 256V instead while the 2400p OLED touchscreen remains constant.

Alternatives to the Yoga Slim 9 include other high-end multimedia subnotebooks like the Dell XPS 14, HP OmniBook Ultra 14, Asus Zenbook 14 series, or the Samsung Galaxy Book4 Pro 14.

More Lenovo reviews:

• Yoga Tab Plus
• IdeaCentre Mini 5
• ThinkBook 16 G7+
• IdeaPad 5 2-in-1 14
• ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 13

The Yoga Slim 9 14 Gen 10 design is an evolution of the Yoga Slim 9i 14 Gen 9. The glossy 2.5D glass outer lid is back to distinguish the model from competitors while the shiny edges and corners stand in contrast to the duller matte ThinkPad designs. When closed, the chassis is quite reflective from all angles to be an eye-catcher for better or worse.

As for the build quality, our test unit shows no noticeable defects with no creaking concerns when attempting to twist the base or lid. The lid exhibits more twisting than the base, but that is to be expected. Owners will want to be a bit more careful about scratches and fingerprints with the outer lid as it is glass, after all.

Port options are disappointing even when considering the small 14-inch form factor. Other laptops in the size category like the Yoga Pro 7 14 G9 or Vivobook S 14 integrate USB-A and HDMI in addition to USB-C whereas our Yoga Slim 9 14 is limited to just USB-C. There is not even a 3.5 mm audio jack.

The 32 MP webcam produces noticeably sharper images than the ocean of 1 MP, 2 MP, or 5 MP webcams on most other models. Its main problem, however, relates to the poor colors especially in regard to white balance, color temperature, or exposure. The drawbacks really detract from the overall image quality even if the picture is relatively sharp for the category.

Videos are unfortunately still limited to 1440p30 despite the very high resolution sensor.

There is no IR or physical webcam shutter. The camera can instead be disabled electronically.

Lenovo boasts 50 percent recycled aluminum for the bottom cover, 50 percent post-consumer content (PCC) recycled plastic for the keycaps, and 30 percent to 90 percent PCC recycled plastic for various other components. The packaging is free of any plastics.

There are no extras in the box other than the AC adapter and paperwork. The usual one-year limited manufacturer warranty applies if purchased in the US.

Subjectively, the keyboard feels firmer and with sharper feedback than the softer keys of both older Yoga and cheaper IdeaPad models. Lenovo has redesigned the keys with updated scissor switches for 1.5 mm of key travel. Clatter is louder as a result especially when hitting the Enter or Space keys which is something we noted on last year's Yoga Slim 7 15 Aura as well.

New to the design this year is an additional column of auxiliary keys along the right edge which replaces the dedicated speaker grilles. These full-size buttons can quickly toggle between different power profiles, blue-light reduction mode, and a customizable quick launch key. They're quite practical even though they're easy to hit by accident.

We set Lenovo Vantage to Performance mode prior to running the benchmarks below. Unlike on older Lenovo laptops, the three power profiles within Vantage (Battery Saver, Adaptive, and Performance) correlate directly with the standard Windows profiles (Power Saver, Balanced, and Performance). Changing the profile on one end will automatically change the profile on the other.

The Core Ultra 7 258V is only about 10 to 15 percent faster than last year's Alder Lake Core Ultra 7 155U in terms of CPU performance. The marginal gains are to be expected as Intel's focus with Lunar Lake was increased performance-per-watt, embedded RAM, NPU improvements, and the integrated Arc GPU instead of raw processing horsepower. Performance is nonetheless stable with no major throttling issues when running CineBench R15 xT in a loop.

Downgrading to the Core Ultra 7 256V configuration should only impact performance by 5 to 10 percent based on our time with the latest Dell XPS 13 9350.