Lenovo’s conceit for the Yoga E-book 9i laptop computer—ditch the keyboard and change it with a second touchscreen—has been completed earlier than, however by no means very effectively. Arguably the perfect instance so far anyplace alongside these traces has been the HP Omen X 2S, which featured a miniature show mounted above a bodily keyboard, however it was a decidedly area of interest thought designed for gaming and priced at almost $3,000 at launch. It by no means gained a lot traction. Now it’s Lenovo’s flip to make a journey down this street, and it could be probably the most bold, and profitable variation so far.
With the Yoga E-book 9i, “second display screen” means a full display screen. There’s no keyboard right here in any respect; the decrease half of the laptop computer is a touchscreen an identical to the higher half. Take two 13.3-inch OLED shows and sandwich them along with a hinge in between and also you’ve bought the thought.
Lenovo has completed a hefty quantity of engineering to make this work, and whereas there are just a few tough edges, for probably the most half, it’s a hit. Naturally, you’re free to make use of the laptop computer as if it had been two Home windows tablets or one big one, placing completely different apps on both display screen of the gadget and holding the entire thing prefer it’s one in every of Moses’ huge stone tablets. Wish to get inventive? You may even set it on a desk in an inverted V formation and let two children watch completely different movies on both aspect (although you may solely play one audio monitor).
All of this may increasingly sound fanciful and even frivolous, however the Yoga E-book 9i is surprisingly effectively positioned for getting actual work completed—and doubtlessly succeeds on that entrance higher than an ordinary laptop computer. Open the gadget up in normal laptop computer mode and use eight fingers to swipe upward on the decrease touchscreen to have the digital keyboard and trackpad space seem. Wish to forgo the trackpad and transfer the keyboard nearer to your physique? Simply drag it down and the keyboard strikes towards you, leaving room for numerous configurable widgets within the few inches of open house which were freed up.
Mastering all the swipes and gestures used to maneuver issues round on the Yoga E-book 9i—notably shifting a window from one display screen to a different—takes a little bit of examine and a few trial and error, however with follow, it’s not arduous to get the hold of.
{Photograph}: Lenovo
The Yoga E-book works superb with its touchscreen keyboard, although I understandably typed a bit slower than I’d have on a mechanical keyboard, regardless of a haptics-based system that gives some degree of suggestions. The professional transfer is to fireside up the exterior Bluetooth keyboard and mouse—each are included with buy, together with a stylus—and use each screens as shows. The machine will be propped up with the 2 screens aspect by aspect or one atop one other by utilizing the included folio stand, a easy gizmo that folds right into a wedge and is held collectively by magnets. It’s all compact sufficient to suit on an ordinary airline tray desk (sans the mouse), which can categorically make you the one particular person utilizing twin displays in coach.
It will after all be prudent to marvel about the remainder of the 9i’s specs, and the information is blended. The 2 screens every have 2,880 X 1,800-pixel resolutions and are dazzlingly shiny—a lot in order that I needed to flip the brightness down, as a result of they harm my eyes at full energy. (Brightness will be set for every display screen independently.) The unit manages to measure simply 18 millimeters thick and weighs in at 2.8 kilos, which is lighter than it feels within the hand.
However underneath the hood, the specs are pretty fundamental. A Thirteenth-generation Intel Core i7-1355U (1.7 GHz) gives the juice, together with 16 GB of RAM and a 512-GB SSD, plus built-in graphics. Efficiency is reasonably middling throughout the board: I discovered it gradual to finish easy duties like recalculating spreadsheets and grammar-checking lengthy paperwork, although I used to be no less than in a position to full my full battery of benchmarks, regardless of repeated warnings that heavier graphics-based checks could not be capable to run on the gadget.