Lenovo Yoga Book 9i

A bit of a side note, but if you are thinking about a ThinkPad or other Lenovo device, you might find this phone interesting:

“My favorite software feature is called Unified Clipboard. When you have this enabled, any photo you take, text you copy, documents you scan, or video you take with the ThinkPhone is automatically copied to a clipboard that your ThinkPhone shares with your ThinkPad. You can then paste that media instantly on your connected ThinkPad, which seems very handy for dropping photos into presentations and documents as you’re creating them. This was fun to use, and worked perfectly each time I tried it. (And I did try many times…it was really fun.)”

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That’s why I jumped on the ThinkPad X1 Fold (gen 1) during the pre-holiday closeout.

The X1 Fold is certainly heavier:

  • Surface Neo: 2x 9-inch 1440x1928 displays / 655 grams
  • X1 Fold (gen1): 13.3-inch (4:3) 2048x1536 flexible display / 999 grams - when folded ~ 2- 9.5" screens
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I’ve been watching multiple videos/reviews on the the YB i9, and it just makes me cry for the loss of Neo. I have to agree with several here on this thread that while this is a great looking device, it is “porky” compared to the little Neo. What a lost opportunity.

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@Desertlap - don’t suppose you got to see the 9i at CES? it looks like a good way to handle notetaking while in a video meeting thanks to the stacked design…

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This was my impressions from last week. No testing and only about 15 minutes hands on.

The general impression from our group was if you can see a use case for it you are going to want one, but the majority will find it frustrating and/or overkill. I think I’m in the second group now that the “wow” has worn off.

In fact, my big complaint was that it’s too big. If it was Neo sized I’d be all over it

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Neo looked great but had some major downsides too (weak performance for laptop category, small 9" inch screens are only good for some tasks while you undoubtedly would have paid the jackpot for a decent specced version). Even on my Go 2 which sports a bigger 10.5" screen I am limited what I can do on it because of the screen size.

Different strokes for different folks and all, but a 13" device is significantly bigger.

We’re talking about the difference between something you could carry around all day (in a purse or manbag) to something that while light enough to not weigh a bag down, would require a significant bag.

OMG this is what I’ve been waiting for!
The stand looks a little odd, but I’ve only seen the first short reveal so far, now to soak in the details.

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Yeah different strokes, I get the appeal of a smaller device like the Neo but two 9" screens sits in that weird middle where you cannot put the device in your pockets but is also quite small screen wise compared to 10-11" (which still easily fits bags). I guess if you are going to hold it like a book most of the time the screen size makes more sense.

I understand the feeling. When i was watching the video, i was like “awesome”. After about 5 minutes, i was like “just because you can doesnt mean you should”. I suspect the wow factor would have lasted longer if i had physically seen it, but the result would be the same.

Exactly, and I’m as prone/gullible to new gadget lust as anyone else. I’m sure that we will be testing it for a least a couple of customers and I’m curious how that will alter my initial perceptions.

If they do change, in either direction, it wouldn’t be the first time as for example, I appreciated the Surface Laptop Studio a lot more after testing it and recommending it to the right people is now something we do.

OLD MAN REMINISCING ALERT:

Good observations on both points, but on the latter, 3 pounds has been the ultrabook demarcation line for a long time, and with this one you get two OLED screens. Granted, the additional folio that houses the keyboard, stand, and pen does bulk thinks up, but I sometimes suffer from 6 pound syndrome -

My first laptop was Toshiba T1100 Plus, which was a NINE pound clamshell that was universally hailed as a breakthrough in the days when a sewing machine size 30 pound suitcase was the portable norm, only to trade up to the first “ultrabook” - the sleek and thoroughly more modern SIX pound Toshiba T1000.

Here I am 35 years later still begging for “smaller, give me smaller please!” My guess is my SP8, without the Type Cover, weighs less than the flip up monochrome non-backlit 80 character screen…and imagine this:

Toshiba T1000 was 52 mm thick

YogaBook 91 is 16mm THIN

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One thing that I like about the 9i is that in dual screen (device) portrait mode, the camera will actually be at a good height for video chats. As in “eye level”, or even a bit higher. Nice.

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So when are you placing your order? :smile:

Seriously though, this could check a lot of your boxes, except of course the big one of integration with your idevices?

That’s a good point and one of the things that one of our medium sized customers who is a big video conference user (Teams, Zoom, Webex)

That’s likely also the customer that will be the first to ask us to test it

PS: One thing we saw at the show was the Android subsystem running one screen and the Android SDK running on the other screen. Great for development

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Yeah this device seems great for that. Being able to have the zoom session at the top (for best eye contact) and reference data at the bottom is pretty great. Or when giving a PPT presentation over zoom, having the slide at the top and the notes field and slide preview at the bottom for live markup seems handy, assuming marking up the inclined lower screen is sufficiently convenient, not sure.

If you need to do these things while out and about, this would be perfect. For me personally, I do these things in office setting or meeting room setting, where I don’t need a mobile device like the 9i and where webcams are already available at eye level. So for me this is a (very cool) solution looking for a problem.

Agreed. I can see one use case I do a lot which is when making presentations. I usually do them via Widi, and having the PowerPoint deck on one screen and my notes on the other would be very useful.

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The only thing that’s tempting to me with this is to replace my MBP as my (mostly) permanently docked machine. I use my MBP as my second screen, so this could be nice as a second screen along with webcam while docked to my keyboard next to my larger 27" monitor. But honestly, why wouldn’t I just buy another bigger monitor and close my MBP/dock it vertically? I could buy another monitor, vertical dock, webcam and even mic for much cheaper than the Yoga Book. So yeah, already talking myself out of the tempting-ness. My MBP is only 3 years old. It can hold out for a few more I’m sure.

Good question, and yes it ticks most, if not all, of my productivity boxes. I like attaching my iPP11 to my SP8 when I have bigger projects, and the 9i looks to trump that combo. Imagine having Outlook on top screen, OneNote on bottom, and FOUR Word docs spread across two 32" monitors all ta the same time…Shipping in June, so pre-orders in April? :rofl:

iDevices - the fly in the ointment. As much as I dislike BIG phones (couldn’t wait to unload the iPhone 8 Plus for the iPhone X) I’m pinning hopes on the iPhone 15 Ultra as a sole iDevice (well, paired with my watch 7 that is). Now that Intel Unison has demonstrated that I can get notifications, copy Message text from the iPhone, and swap files/photos back and forth (even if "clunkier: than Apple’s smoother integration) why even worry about iDevice integration? At least I get to stay in the blue bubble group with family and clients.

Every time I attach my M1 iPP11 to my LG Ultrafine I keep asking myself why I am struggling to make Stage Manager work like the SP8 when it is attached, ESPECIALLY because I am doing all of the same productivity tasks. The only place this shines is with photo/video editing, otherwise I am far better off with the SP8.

Now if Apple lets me down (who ever heard of such a thing) and doesn’t bring at least a 6x periscope lens to the 15 Ultra, and Samsung delivers a Fold 5 with S Pen silo, I’ll be sorely tempted again to test and fray the nerves of the family…

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:exploding_head:

My wife had a MBP for over 9 years back in the day. When it was around 7 years old, the battery started failing and bulged out of the case. She took it to the Apple Store and they replaced it for free.

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