Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1 Aura Edition Review: OLED and Pen Strengths, but Performance and Battery Lag

A month-long hands-on review by Brandon Miniman at MakeUseOf puts Lenovo’s 2026 flagship convertible—the 14-inch Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1 Aura Edition—under the microscope, scoring the machine a 7 out of 10. While the hardware showcases clever audio engineering, an OLED display, and a strong stylus workflow, the month-long test highlights a persistent dilemma for Windows 11 buyers: unless you actively draw or handwrite notes with a digital pen, the compromises of a 360-degree convertible are hard to justify over a traditional clamshell laptop.

Inside the Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1 Aura Edition​

At a reported starting price of $1,849—and around $2,379 as tested—the 2026 Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1 Aura Edition sits firmly in luxury Windows ultrabook territory. MakeUseOf's test configuration pairs Intel’s Core Ultra 7 355 processor and integrated graphics with 32GB of LPDDR5X RAM and a 1TB SSD.

On the outside, the chassis weighs 2.84 pounds (1.29 kg), which is reasonably trim for a metal convertible with a complex hinge, though noticeably heavier than ultra-light clamshells like Lenovo's own Slim series. The review unit arrived in a Cosmic Blue finish, which looks distinctive out of the box but reportedly acts as a magnet for fingerprints and smudges during daily handling.

Connectivity is one area where Lenovo refused to compromise. Unlike ultra-thin notebooks that force users into a dongle lifestyle, the Yoga 9i splits a versatile array of ports across both flanks:

• Left side: Full-size HDMI 2.1 supporting 4K output at up to 120Hz, one USB-C Thunderbolt 4 port, and a 3.5mm headphone jack.
• Right side: A legacy-friendly USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 port, a second USB-C Thunderbolt 4 port, and the side-mounted power/standby button with a white status LED.

Driving an external 4K Thunderbolt monitor over USB-C worked without a hitch during MakeUseOf's testing. Combined with a backlit keyboard featuring 1.5mm of key travel, a soft-touch coating, and subtly concave keycaps, the foundational laptop ergonomics earned high marks.

Section Summary: The Yoga 9i 2-in-1 Aura Edition packs high-end display and input hardware alongside practical port selection, avoiding the adapter headaches common to thin-and-light PCs, though its $2,379 as-tested price sets a very high bar.

The Five-Pose Pitch vs. Everyday Reality​

The entire raison d'être of a 360-degree convertible is physical adaptability. Lenovo markets the Yoga 9i around five distinct "poses": traditional laptop mode, tent mode, flat mode, tablet mode, and an angled writing mode.

In practice, however, ergonomics often clash with marketing. When folded completely back into tablet mode, the Yoga 9i automatically disables its physical keyboard and trackpad so your fingers do not trigger phantom keystrokes. Yet holding a 2.84-pound, 14-inch Windows PC with exposed, recessed keys pressed against your palms feels awkward and unnatural compared to a dedicated slate. As WIRED has similarly noted in its broader 2-in-1 testing, many convertible owners rarely use these extra poses once the novelty wears off, while still paying the penalty in extra cost and hinge complexity.

Where Lenovo’s engineering genuinely shines is in two specific scenarios:

1. The Rotating Soundbar in Tent Mode: Most 2-in-1 convertibles mount their speakers on the bottom or deck of the chassis, meaning that when you flip the screen around, the speakers fire away from you or get muffled against a table. Lenovo solves this by embedding a four-speaker soundbar directly inside the 360-degree hinge. As the screen rotates into tent mode for watching video, the soundbar rotates with it, keeping loud, clear audio aimed directly at the user.
2. Propped Writing Mode with the Yoga Pen Gen 2: Rather than laying the display completely flat on a desk, users can take the included magnetic pen case—which normally snaps magnetically onto the outer lid to hold the stylus—and tuck it underneath the screen to prop the display at a slight, drafting-table tilt.

Paired with the bundled Yoga Pen Gen 2, which supports tilt detection, multi-level pressure sensitivity, and two customizable side buttons configured via the Lenovo Pen Settings utility, this angled writing mode proved to be the single standout justification for the convertible form factor. While the two side buttons on the stylus can be tough to locate by feel alone, note-takers and digital illustrators get a cohesive, out-of-the-box inking setup.

Section Summary: While tablet mode feels clunky due to the exposed keyboard deck underneath, Lenovo's rotating hinge soundbar and magnetic pen-case stand make tent mode and angled inking genuinely practical.

Performance, Thermals, and the Core Ultra 355 Question​

If a laptop costs over $2,300, Windows enthusiasts naturally expect brisk performance and quiet operation. MakeUseOf's benchmark suite, however, revealed a startling gap between the Yoga 9i 2-in-1 and competing 2026 notebooks—including Lenovo's own non-convertible Slim 7 running the exact same Intel processor and memory capacity.

Looking closely at the numbers reported by MakeUseOf, two hardware bottlenecks stand out:

• Single-Core CPU Throttling or Power Limits: Despite sharing the Intel Core Ultra 7 355 and 32GB of RAM with the 2026 Lenovo Slim 7, the Yoga 9i scored 1,339 in Geekbench 6 single-core compared to 2,225 on the Slim 7—nearly a 40% deficit in single-threaded responsiveness. Against an ARM-based Asus Zenbook A14 running Qualcomm's Snapdragon X2 Elite (3,568 single-core / 19,229 multi-core) or Samsung's Galaxy Book6 Pro with an Intel Core Ultra X7 358H (2,751 single-core / 16,165 multi-core), the convertible falls even further behind.
• Mid-Tier SSD Throughput: The Yoga 9i recorded sequential read and write speeds of 3,359 MB/s and 3,331 MB/s in CrystalDiskMark. Those speeds are characteristic of a PCIe Gen 3 or entry-level Gen 4 drive, whereas the competing Slim 7, Asus, and Samsung machines all pushed between 5,400 MB/s and 6,950 MB/s on sequential reads.

In day-to-day Windows 11 use, MakeUseOf reported that general responsiveness was acceptable, but noticeably less snappy than ARM-powered Windows laptops or Apple silicon machines. Furthermore, thermal management made its presence known: the cooling fans spun up frequently whenever the system encountered heavier workloads, such as running benchmark suites or juggling numerous open Google Chrome tabs.

Battery endurance also reflected the power draw of driving a high-resolution 2880 x 1800 OLED touchscreen at up to 120Hz. Despite housing a sizable 70Wh battery, the Yoga 9i lasted roughly five hours—about half a workday—under the reviewer's normal usage before needing to plug into the included 65W USB-C charger, which takes about 90 minutes for a full 0-to-100% recharge.

Section Summary: Compared to 2026 clamshell rivals—including a sibling Lenovo laptop with the same chip—the tested Yoga 9i lagged in synthetic CPU and SSD benchmarks, triggered its cooling fans under heavy Chrome multitasking, and delivered around five hours of real-world battery life.

Practical Buyer's Guide: Do You Actually Need a 2-in-1 in 2026?​

Before spending upwards of $1,849 to $2,379 on a flagship 360-degree Windows laptop, it pays to audit how you actually use your PC. Ask yourself three practical questions:

1. Will you use the stylus at least three times a week? If you routinely mark up PDFs, sketch storyboards, or take handwritten lecture and meeting notes in OneNote, the Yoga 9i’s bundled Yoga Pen Gen 2 and magnetic prop-stand case deliver real workflow value. If the pen is going to stay in a desk drawer, you are paying for hinge mechanics and touch-digitizer glass you do not need.
2. Do you watch media in cramped spaces? Travelers who frequently prop a PC on an airline tray table or kitchen counter will appreciate tent mode paired with the rotating four-speaker hinge soundbar, which keeps audio pointed at your ears rather than the table.
3. Are you prioritizing battery life and raw compute per dollar? If your workday revolves around heavy browser tab multitasking, local compilation, or unplugged endurance, a standard clamshell laptop—whether powered by higher-tier Intel Core Ultra processors or Snapdragon X2 Elite ARM silicon—delivers substantially higher benchmark performance and lighter weight for less money.

For shoppers who remain committed to the Windows 11 convertible lifestyle, the 2026 Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1 Aura Edition gets the physical details of a 2-in-1 right: an exceptional keyboard, a vivid 120Hz OLED display, generous ports, an ingenious rotating speaker bar, and an included stylus. For everyone else, the smartest upgrade to a convertible might just be going back to a classic laptop.