Lenovo Slim Professional 9i 14 Overview: A Vibrant Spot in a Sea of Rivals

8.5

Lenovo Slim Professional 9i 14IRP8 (14-inch)

Like

• 
  Glorious HDR show
• 
  Nice efficiency for its elements
• 
  Premium construct high quality and design
• 
  Good sound
• 
  Good set of connections

Don’t love

• 
  Meh battery life
• 
  SDR is not very shade correct
• 
  On the heavy and thick aspect for its measurement

Lenovo hits the highlights — actually — with its Slim Professional 9i 14-inch laptop computer, a creator- and gamer-focused mannequin with a shiny HDR display screen. The laptop computer competes with OLED-screen outfitted fashions, just like the cheaper Acer Swift X 14, however the Lenovo’s DisplayHDR 1000 mini LED display screen holds its personal fairly nicely in opposition to OLED in HDR due to comparable dense blacks and better brightness than you will get with an OLED display screen on a laptop computer. In SDR, although, it would not fare as nicely as compared. Add within the sturdy construct, easy however hanging design, snug keyboard and touchpad, strong efficiency and glorious sound and it is a fairly compelling package deal, if not for individuals who want.

It additionally competes with the 14-inch MacBook Professional, which is much more costly as soon as you’ve got added reminiscence and storage to match. However it has a display screen with comparable capabilities.

The 14.5-inch laptop computer primarily is available in a single $1,800 configuration, outfitted with higher midrange processors — Intel Core i7-13705H CPU and Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 GPU — plus 1TB SSD and 32GB RAM. Lenovo has a number of comparable rivals inside its many traces. That is not low cost, however the display screen’s rated 1,200-nit HDR, 600-nit SDR brightness ranges and full P3 gamut protection and 165Hz refresh fee elevate it for creating, gaming and vegetating in entrance of films.

There’s additionally a 16-inch mannequin of the Slim Professional 9i with a step-up configuration of Core i9-13905H and GeForce RTX 4060, plus a 3,200 x 2,000 model of the mini LED show. Though it is nominally $2,149.

Lenovo would not skimp on the ports, that are extra plentiful than you usually see on a laptop computer this measurement. If you happen to’re choosy about which aspect the charger connects on, righties are out of luck; each of the USB-C/Thunderbolt ports are on the left. However the two USB-A ports are on the suitable if it is advisable to join older keyboards or mice. Plus, it has an SD card slot, which is handy, and an HDMI connector for displays that do not have USB-C or when you do not have your USB-C-to-HDMI adapter.

It additionally feels solidly constructed, with a matte grey end and slight protrusion on the prime the place the webcam and IR cam (for Home windows Hey) sit. The webcam is simply okay; it is 5MP, however the high quality would not stand out and it has a hard and fast subject of view and focus. The mic array picks up sound and processes out background noise very nicely, however it additionally sounds prefer it’s been processed — a little bit little bit of the talking-in-a-tunnel impact.

All of those add as much as a barely thicker and heavier laptop computer than a number of rivals; as an illustration, it is 0.8 inch (21mm) and the MacBook Professional 14 is barely 0.6 inch (15.5mm).

Efficiency

The Slim Professional 9i delivers common to above common efficiency. The CPU falls precisely in keeping with all Core i7-13700H laptops we have examined (the 13705H is actually the identical chip), and the GPU runs about the identical as the opposite RTX 4050 techniques of comparable measurement; larger techniques, just like the 16-inch Samsung Galaxy E book 3 Extremely, can often push it extra due to additional room for cooling. However the Lenovo additionally has the flexibility to overclock the GPU and the video reminiscence — a functionality often uncovered solely in gaming techniques, not primarily inventive ones.

Merely turning on the overclocking in Lenovo’s Vantage software program and leaving it at its default values yielded a stunning bump in body charges, in each video games and professional graphics software program; sufficient of a bump to push its efficiency as much as RTX 4060 ranges. The followers do kick in, and it could possibly get a bit loud, although, and efficiency can get inconsistent because it continuously throttles again when it hits the thermal ceiling.

In HDR mode, it seemed extraordinarily good. As a result of the tiny measurement of the mini LED array parts and the native dimming, it could possibly ship successfully zero-nit blacks — under the 0.018-nit threshold of my colorimeter, at the very least and visually barely detectable. All kinds of content material seemed terrific. The one disadvantage is that it is profiled for the default system brightness setting (40), however the brightness management is not locked down the way in which it must be in HDR, and in the event you enhance it, the HDR can get thrown off, hitting peak brightness too early after which simply clipping it.

In normal mode, it is much less spectacular. In keeping with Lenovo, mini LED backlights make it more durable to calibrate, which might be true to some extent. And mini LED is actually meant for HDR with native dimming, which SDR would not use. However this additionally makes use of a TCL-owned CSOT panel, and its TVs additionally present rising skewing as grays go from black to white. Right here, it means as brightness/whiteness will increase, the crimson channel will get boosted means an excessive amount of and the blue means too little, leading to a visual red-yellow solid (that low white temperature).

After calibration, it will get lots higher, type of. It is pressured to drag again the crimson channel, which implies peak brightness drops and it has a little bit extra hassle hitting the goal values within the shadows (therefore the two.3 gamma slightly than 2.2). However pulling again the crimson decreases the P3 gamut protection lots; it falls fairly in need of the saturated crimson major that defines the nook of the P3 gamut. And it means the outlined shade area presets that may entry within the Vantage utility aren’t very helpful. 

On the default brightness, it is too dim for on a regular basis use, so it’s possible you’ll doubtless should bump it up for snug viewing (to 50 or 60). That cuts again on battery life, although. And like all Home windows laptops, I counsel you flip off the autobrightness  adjustment. It is designed to save lots of battery and compensate for large adjustments in ambient lighting — like going from indoors to outdoors — however I discover that the brightness adjustments both too usually or not usually sufficient, in addition to too randomly and really clearly (not regularly sufficient). Plus, the sunshine sensor picks up adjustments solely when the sunshine supply is behind you or if it is actually shiny out. So it is extra distracting than helpful. Your mileage could fluctuate, in fact.

And talking of battery life, it is fairly so-so. On our streaming video exams it makes it to about 8.2 hours, however that is actually the surface you’ll be able to count on to see.

I just like the Lenovo Slim Professional 9i lots, which makes the colour accuracy points extra disappointing than they may in any other case be. However in the event you’re prepared to do your personal calibration and do not care in regards to the contraction of the P3 shade area while you do, then it is fairly a pleasant choice.