This is my detailed review of the Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i, in its 2026 11th-gen variant.
This is Lenovo’s premium 16-inch lineup aimed at creators and professionals, the alternative to popular competing lineups such as the Apple MacBook Pro 16 or the Dell XPS 16.
The design and functionality of this series have been gradually revised over the years, and now this ticks pretty much all the right boxes, while internally, this Yoga 9i generation offers a splendid Tandem OLED touchscreen, punchy speakers, and a bundle of Panther Lake hardware paired with mid-level RTX GPUs. What’s the tradeoff? Well, this is an expensive series, and it cannot be configured with higher-tier (and power) CPUs or GPUs, unlike some other options such as the Asus ROG Zephyrus G16, Lenovo Legion 7i, or the Razer Blade 16.
Nonetheless, this offers serious performance for most use cases, in a sub-2-kilo package. And the transition to Panther Lake hardware offered by this 2026 iteration has a major impact on efficiency, allowing for longer runtimes and a cooler/quieter use experience, especially on the mid-level profiles that also keep the fan noise down.
I’ve gathered all my thoughts and impressions of this Yoga Pro 9i series down below in the article. Our past Yoga Pro 9i reviews are available over here, most of them being written by Dere k.
Specs Sheet – Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i 16 Aura Edition, gen 11
Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i 16, Aura Edition (2026, gen11)
Screen 16-inch, 16:10, glossy, touch,
Processor Intel Panther Lake H,
Video Intel + Nvidia RTX 5060 8GB (up to 100W)
Memory up to 64 GB LPDDR5x-7467 (soldered), up to 64 GB
Storage 1 TB SSD,
Connectivity WiFi 7 2×2 with Bluetooth 5.4 (Intel)
Ports left: square power plug, HDMI 2.1, 2x USB-C Thunderbolt 4, audio jack
Battery 92.5 Wh, up to 245W charger
Size 360.6 mm or 14.19” (w) x 247.9 mm or 9.76” (d) x from 17.2 mm or .68” (h)
Weight 1.89 kg (4.2 lbs) + .74 kg (1.65 lbs) charger
Extras premium all-metal build, clamshell format with 180° display,
Design, build quality – premium and practical As mentioned already, the Yoga Pro 9i is Lenovo’s top lineup of consumer laptops, as its chassis and functionality have been refined and improved over many generations (this isn’t the 11th refresh, as the naming might suggest, though).
Thus, this is a unibody aluminum build and feels robust and premium all around. The design language hasn’t changed much, with a minimalist approach to the inputs, limited branding, and no lights in the line of sight.
This generation of the Yoga Pro 9i is a little more compact and lighter weight than the previous chassis. It measures 361 x 248 x 17.2+ mm (vs. 365 x 254 x 18+ mm before) and starts at 1.8 kg according to the Lenovo sheets (vs. 1.93 kg before). However, my unit weighs 1.89 kg.
Lenovo still implement a design with rounded edges all around, and a slightly smaller screen part than the main body. There’s a notch on the screen that allows you to easily lift it up single-handedly, and the hinges are strong enough to keep the display as set and allow for a 180-degree opening angle. There is, however, a somewhat sharper lip around the main chassis, but it’s nowhere near as sharp as on a MacBook.
However, I noticed the finish can chip off along this edge, where the coating is slimmer (that’s just how things work with coated aluminum). The metals are coated in this gray color called Thunder Gray, and that means the surfaces can scratch and chip off over time, showcasing the slightly lighter crude aluminum underneath. My unit already shows minor scuffs around the left edge, which I’d reckon could be caused by a watch bracelet/clamp. So I’d be careful about this detail.
There’s hardly anything else I can complain about this chassis, though. Everything feels excellent to the touch, the display hinges work smoothly and open up all the way flat, the rubber feet provide good grip on a desk, and even the rear edge is a neat unique approach, as it gets this rubbery finish that adds extra grip when carrying the laptop around.
Plus, there are plenty of ports on the sides, with the only downside being the fact that both USB-Cs are grouped on the same left edge, and you don’t get the convenience of having one on either side.
Overall, this Yoga Pro 9i is the most refined notebook design available in this space, where the other offers fail at least some of my ergonomics requirements. Well done.
I’ll leave you with some extra side-by-side images of the Yoga Pro 9i next to the Yoga Pro 7i (more compact, lower price).
And here’s how this Yoga Pro 9i looks next to the Asus ROG Zephyrus G16, which is one of the main rivals in its segment.
Keyboard and touchpad Lenovo went with a minimalist set of inputs on this refreshed Yoga Pro 9i 2026 series.
The keyboard is a basic layout without a NumPad or other extra keys. Fine for me, but could be a dealbreaker for some of you – for what is worth, past Yoga Pro 9is implemented a NumPad, which has been replaced with upfiring speakers on this generation.
Nonetheless, this is a standard Yoga layout with black rubbery keycaps that somehow don’t smudge as easily as most other black keycaps.
The typing experience is alright, as long as you’re fine with shallower, shorter-stroke implementations. This is the kind of experience offered by most ultraportable designs these days. My overall speed and accuracy were only average on this keyboard, but what I did appreciate was its quietness, even of the Space key.
The keys are white-lit, with bright LEDs and two light levels to choose from (as well as an Auto setting). The lowest setting is too bright for comfortable night use, and plenty of light shines out from underneath the kepcaps, something you’ll also mostly notice in a dim environment.
The touchpad is a huge glass haptic forcepad and works well. What’s important to mention here is how Lenovo left space above and underneath the touchpad, separating it from the keyboard and front of the chassis, and thus minimizing any potential ghost touches during use. As a result, this is one of the most functionally pleasing touchpads I’ve used in a while.
What’s rather unique about this is the pen support, as the touchpad integrates a digitizer with Wacom technology. This works well with the included pen, but I’d say it will require some time to get used to. Having the pen support on the flat touchpad is more practical than having to draw on a screen on this sort of 16-inch clamshell design, but at the same time, actually pointing and interacting with something on a display feels more intuitive, while the UX implemented on this touchpad variation feels a bit wonky. Nonetheless, I’m not a graphical artist, and you’ll want to go through other reviews for more details on this whole pen experience here.
Display – touch Tandem OLED The display on this Yoga Pro 9i is a spectacular 16-inch touch Tandem OLED.
Tandem OLEDs are much brighter than regular OLEDs, and the difference is night and day: around 1000-nits sustained brightness for this panel, vs. 400-500 nits for regular OLEDs. That’s visible with regular use, especially in brighter conditions, and with HDR content. However, keep in mind that this is one of the shinniest, most reflective OLEDs I’ve seen over the years – so while the brightness sure helps, you’ll still have to accept all the nasty reflections with this implementation.
Furthermore, this display doesn’t include a digitizer layer, which means there’s none of the screen-door grain that’s usually noticeable on most other touch OLEDs. Thus, the content looks perfectly clean on this panel.
Of course, all the other perks of OLEDs are present here, such as the punchy colors, deep contrast, dark blacks, and sub 1 ms response times. PWM is used at all brightness levels, but at 1+ kHz frequencies that should not affect/bother most human eyes.
Here are the technical specs of this Tandem OLED panel on the Yoga Pro 9i:
Panel HardwareID: Samsung ATNA60KA04-0;
Coverage: 100% sRGB, 96% AdobeRGB, 99.6% DCI-P3,;
Measured gamma: 2.14;
Max SDR brightness in the middle of the screen: 975.20 cd/m2 on power;
Min brightness in the middle of the screen: <10 cd/m2 on power;
Contrast at max brightness: 1:1;
White point: 6300 K;
Black on max brightness: ~0 cd/m2;
PWM: Yes.
For what is worth, Lenovo offers a more standard 2.8K OLED panel on some of the entry-level variations of this Yoga. That’s still a newer-gen OLED with 500-nits of sustained brightness, similar to the one in the Zephyrus G16 2026 , and not the dimmer OLED implemented in pre-2026 OLED notebooks.
Hardware and performance – Core Ultra 9, GeForce RTX 5060 dGPU Our test model is a higher-spec configuration of the 2026 Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i, with an Intel Core Ultra 9 386H processor, Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 8GB dGPU, 32 GB of LPDDR5x-7467 memory, and a fast 1 TB gen4 SSD.
Disclaimer: Our review unit was sent over by Lenovo. All the results were recorded using the software available in mid-June 2026 (BIOS THCN31WW, Vantage 4.2601.31.0, GeForce Studio drivers 610.47).
In terms of specs, this Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i series is built on the latest Intel and Nvidia hardware available today.
The Intel Core Ultra 9 386H is the top mobile processor in Intel’s Panther Lake Core Ultra Series 3 lineup . It’s a hybrid design with 4 high-performance cores, 8 efficiency cores, 4 low-power efficiency cores, and a total of 16 threads. It runs at up to 65W sustained TDP in this chassis, which is enough to provide its performance potential.
On the GPU side, the 2026 Yoga Pro 9i is available with a range of entry-tier Nvidia Blackwell GeForce RTX 5000 chips: RTX 5070, 5060, 5050, running at mid-power levels on this chassis – up to 100W TGP. Our unit is the 5060 variant. There’s no MUX or GSync on this implementation, but there’s Advanced Optimus.
For memory and storage, the laptop features onboard LPDDR5x-7467 RAM and two M.2 SSD slots (one M.2 2242/2280 with up to gen5 speeds, another M.2 2280 format). It ships with a 1 TB Samsung MZAL81T0HFLB-00BL2 Gen4 SSD, which is pretty fast. However, for some reason, there’s only LPDDR5x-7467 on this top-end model, and not the faster LPDDR5x-8533 RAM (which is implemented in the mid-tier Yoga Pro 7i).
On the software side, these laptops come with the standard Vantage suite that you get on all Lenovo Yoga models. It gives you access to power profiles and various settings.
Battery Saver Adaptive Performance
CPU only, PL1/PL2 TDP
25/65W
55/65W
65/65W
GPU only, max TGP
~25W
65W
100W
Crossload
~45W, 20 + 25W
~85W,
~130W,
Noise at head-level, tested
<35 dBA
~40 dBA
~45 dBA
Well-balanced profiles for a laptop of this size, even if Performance mode runs quite noisy. On the other hand, Adaptive is plenty powerful and averagely loud. Furthermore, all modes allow for quiet and even fanless use with casual loads.
Before we jump to the performance section, here’s how this laptop handles everyday use and multitasking on the Battery Saver profile, unplugged from the wall.
Performance and benchmarks – Core Ultra 9 386H sustained use With that out of the way, let’s move on to the performance testing. We’ll start with the Cinebench R15 CPU loop test.
The differences in power levels and performance for the Intel Core Ultra 9 386H processor are minor between the Performance and Adaptive Power modes, and the CPU is thermally limited in both scenarios, as it runs at 95 °C. However, even if that’s the case, the 386H still performs within 95% of its full potential in a larger chassis, which is more or less fine for a thinner chassis of this sort.
Battery Saver cuts the power more aggressively at 25W TDP, and thus the scores drop to only about 60-65% of the higher-level profiles.
Performance on battery power is about 80% of plugged in mode, while performance on a 140W PD charger is on-par with the capabilities possible when using the main 245W charger.
Beyond that, this Cinebench loop test shows just how closely the current mobile laptop platforms are in performance, both Intel and AMD, all scoring between 3000-3300 points in this test. I didn’t include the Qualcomm options here because the Snapdragon X2 Elite processors aren’t fully compatible with Cinebench R15.
It’s also worth noting that the performance gains over the previous Yoga Pro 9i models are small, and even higher-powered and better-cooled 386H implementations such as the Zephyrus G16 only score 3-5% higher in this test. But those can run at lower internal CPU temperatures in this sort of sustained chore, though, something to consider in your decision.
On the other hand, if you primarily need a fast CPU on your laptop, Intel’s Core HX hardware is still significantly faster in these kinds of heavy loads. Core HX hardware is usually found in larger and heavier devices, but the Lenovo Legion 7i is an exception, around the same 2-kilo level. We’ll discuss more about the Legion 7i option in the conclusions section.
We then went ahead and further verified our findings with the more taxing Cinebench R23 loop test and Blender – Classroom, which resulted in slightly lower sustained power levels as the heat builds up inside. We measured ~65W for Performance, ~55W for Adaptive on main charger and PD, 40W for Adaptive on battery power, and 25W for Battery Saver.
We also ran the 3DMark CPU test on the Performance profile.
Finally, we ran our combined CPU+GPU stress tests on this notebook. 3DMark stress runs the same test for 20 times in a loop and looks for performance variation and degradation over time. This review unit passes the test both with the laptop flat on the desk and with it raised on a stand to improve airflow underneath the chassis. That’s impressive given the format of this Yoga Pro 9i. More on this aspect towards the end of the section.
Next, we ran the entire suite of tests and benchmarks, on the Performance profile, Work Mode , and with the screen set at the native 3.2K resolution.
All these tests are running on Nvidia Studio drivers.
Here’s what we got:
3DMark 13 –CPU profile: max – 10428, 16 – 10498, 8 – 6519, 4 – 4235, 2 – 2261, 1– 1172;3DMark 13 – Fire Strike: 26628 (Graphics – 31340, Physics – 30419, Combined – 11505);3DMark 13 – Port Royal: 7388;3DMark 13 – Speed Way: 2878;3DMark 13 – Steel Nomad: 2632;3DMark 13 – Time Spy: 12264 (Graphics – 11829, CPU – 15503);3DMark 13 – DLSS: DLSS Off – 15.57 fps, DLSS On – 54.56 fps, 4.14x performance difference.
Uniengine Superposition – 1080p Extreme: 6820;Uniengine Superposition – 1080p Medium: 20099;
Aida64 Extreme, memory test – 106704 MB/s read, 104244 MB/s write, – MHz latency;PCMark 10: 8884 (Essentials – 10507, Productivity – 14413, Digital Content Creation – 12564);GeekBench 6.6.0: Multi-core: 16885, Single-Core: 2865;GeekBench AI 1.7.0 (ONNX, CPU): Single: 4972, Half: 1841, Quantized: 8445;CineBench R15 (best run): CPU 3273 cb, CPU Single Core 308 cb;CineBench R23: CPU 21166 pts (best run), CPU 21219 pts (10 min loop test), CPU Single Core 2115 pts (best run);CineBench 2024: CPU 1158 (10 min run), CPU Single Core 122 pts;CineBench 2026: GPU – 45137 pts, CPU Multiple Threads – 4612, CPU Single Core – , CPU Single Thread – 502 pts.
And some work-related tests, on the same Performance profile.
Blender 4.3.2 – Classroom scene – CPU Compute: 5m 13s;Blender 4.3.2 – Classroom scene – GPU Compute: 41.20s (CUDA), 20.78s (Optix).Blender 5.1.2 – Classroom scene – CPU Compute: 4m 24s;Blender 5.1.2 – BMW scene – GPU Compute: 44.56s (CUDA), 21.12 (Optix);PugetBench 2.0.0 – Davinci Resolve 20.3.0: 102055 points;
SPECviewperf 2020 – 3DSMax 07: 108.37;SPECviewperf 2020 – Catia 06: 66.25;SPECviewperf 2020 – Creo 03: 102.82;SPECviewperf 2020 – Energy: 38.65;SPECviewperf 2020 – Maya 06: 400.80;SPECviewperf 2020 – Medical 03: 35.93;SPECviewperf 2020 – SNX 04: 23.69;SPECviewperf 2020 – SW 07: 247.22.
SPECviewperf 15 – 3DSMax 08: 32.72;SPECviewperf 15 – Blender 01: 52.06;SPECviewperf 15 – Catia 07: 42.87;SPECviewperf 15 – Creo 04: 93.76;SPECviewperf 15 – Energy 04: 38.48;SPECviewperf 15 – Enscape 01: 36.81;SPECviewperf 15 – Maya 07: 146.13;SPECviewperf 15 – Medical 04: 35.60;SPECviewperf 15 – Solidworks 08: 20.59;SPECviewperf 15 – Unreal Engine 01: 66.51;V-Ray Benchmark: CPU – 14276, CUDA – 1581, RTX – 2469.
On the CPU side, this is a fairly high-powered version of the Core Ultra 9 386H platform, and delivers 95+% of the multi-threaded performance possible in larger and better-cooled designs. Single-core and single-threaded performance is on par with the best other options.
At the same time, the CPU runs at high temperatures in sustained loads, usually at 90+ °C and often at the 95 °C throttling limit. If your work involves taxing CPU loads, I’d probably look into something that’s just better cooled. Or/And perhaps something more capable as well, such as a Core Ultra HX implementation (and here’s where the Legion 7i comes to mind again).
On the GPU side, the RTX 5060 in this machine runs at 100W in Performance mode and delivers about 80-90% of the performance possible in a larger chassis. It’s still a lower-tier GPU with only 8 GB of VRAM, though, so it can only do so much in certain chores that would otherwise benefit from a more capable GPU. Lenovo only offer the series with 5050/5060 GPUs at this point, so you’ll need to look elsewhere if you need higher-tier 5070Ti/5080/5090 graphics capabilities – those are offered on alternatives such as the Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 , ProArt P16, or the Razer Blade 16 .
Adaptive mode – mid level, at ~40 dBA While the fan noise ramps to about 45 dBA on Performance mode, the Adaptive Power profile keeps fans quieter around 40 dBA, with still fair capabilities.
Here’s how this 2026 Yoga Pro 9i scored on the Adaptive Power profile:
3DMark 13 – CPU profile: max – 10514, 16 – 10459, 8 – 6411, 4 – 4163, 2 – 2238, 1 – 1155;3DMark 13 – Fire Strike: 23939 (Graphics – 27476, Physics – 29290, Combined – 10691);3DMark 13 – Port Royal (RTX): 6606;3DMark 13 – Time Spy: 10795 (Graphics – 10340, CPU – 14392);Uniengine Superposition – 1080p Extreme: 6144;CineBench R23 (10 min loop): CPU 20419 cb, CPU Single Core 2069 cb;Blender 5.1.2 – Classroom scene – CPU Compute: 4m 27s.SPECviewperf 2020 – 3DSMax: 110.12;SPECviewperf 2020 – Catia: 64.64;SPECviewperf 2020 – Maya: 397.34;SPECviewperf 2020 – SNX: 23.51;SPECviewperf 2020 – SW: 242.39.
We’re looking at 95+% of the CPU scores on Performance, due to the small difference in TDP settings between profiles.
On the GPU side, this profile scores about 80% of Performance mode, due to the lower TGP – 60W, vs. 100W on Performance.
Overall, a fair mid-level profile, and where I’d mostly keep this laptop on even for sustained chores, as this profile allows for quieter fans and lower thermalls overall.
Adaptive mode on 140W PD, USB-C charger Let’s say you’d rather bring along a more compact USB-C charger when traveling, and still need performance out of this notebook.
For that purpose, here’s how this 2026 Yoga Pro 9i scored on the Adaptive Power profile while plugged in via a 140W Lenovo USB-C charger:
3DMark 13 – CPU profile: max – 10562, 16 – 10434, 8 – 6418, 4 – 4189, 2 – 2270, 1 – 1160;3DMark 13 – Fire Strike: 22888(Graphics – 26236, Physics – 28957, Combined – 10077);3DMark 13 – Port Royal (RTX): 5908;3DMark 13 – Time Spy: 10547 (Graphics – 10033, CPU – 14863);Uniengine Superposition – 1080p Extreme: 6144;CineBench R23 (10 min loop): CPU 19171cb, CPU Single Core 2082 cb;Blender 5.1.2 – Classroom scene – CPU Compute: 4m 27s.SPECviewperf 2020 – 3DSMax: 100.83;SPECviewperf 2020 – Catia: 62.50;SPECviewperf 2020 – Maya: 386.33;SPECviewperf 2020 – SNX: 23.66;SPECviewperf 2020 – SW: 231.51.
More or less on par with Adaptive mode on the main charger. However, the system pulls off the battery at times with some sustained loads, so I don’t think there’s proper power pass-through when using the USB-C charger, which can impact the battery wear over time. Take this with a grain of salt, though.
Gaming Performance While this is not a gaming machine, we ran a couple of DX11, DX12, and Vulkan games on the Performance and Adaptive profiles.
Keep in mind we’re using Studio drivers for these tests, and loading GameReady drivers might change things.
Here are the results:
Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i, RTX 5060 Laptop 60-100W 3.2K Performance, 2.5K Performance, 2.5K Adaptive,
Black Myth: Wukong –
28 fps (14 fps – 1% low)
–
Black Myth: Wukong 26 fps (4 fps – 1% low)
40 fps (12 fps – 1% low)
36 fps (8 fps – 1% low)
Black Myth: WukongMFG On 4x 54 fps (12 fps – 1% low)
74 fps (16 fps – 1% low)
64 fps (14 fps – 1% low)
Cyberpunk 2077 –
50 fps (40 fps – 1% low)
–
Cyberpunk 2077MFG On 2x , Ray Reconstruction On, 36 fps (8 fps – 1% low)
56 fps (46 fps – 1% low)
48 fps (40 fps – 1% low)
Cyberpunk 2077MFG On 4x , Ray Reconstruction On, 58 fps (6 fps – 1% low)
96 fps (74 fps – 1% low)
84 fps (66 fps – 1% low)
Horizon Forbidden West 36 fps (24 fps – 1% low)
46 fps (35 fps – 1% low)
38 fps (30 fps – 1% low)
Horizon Forbidden West 74 fps (54 fps – 1% low)
84 fps (70 fps – 1% low)
78 fps (65 fps – 1% low)
Red Dead Redemption 2 48 fps (30 fps – 1% low)
59 fps (38 fps – 1% low)
54 fps (34 fps – 1% low)
Shadow of Tomb Raider 65 fps (52 fps – 1% low)
96 fps (74 fps – 1% low)
82 fps (68 fps – 1% low)
Black Myth, Cyberpunk, Horizon FW – recorded with MSI Afterburner fps counter in campaign mode;
Far Cry 6, Red Dead Redemption 2, Tomb Raider – recorded with the included Benchmark utilities;
Red Dead Redemption 2 Optimized profile based on these settings .
These games run fine at 2.5K resolution with Ultra settings on all profiles, but there’s only so much you can realistically expect from a 5060 mid-powered implementation. Hence, you’ll have to either lower the graphics details and use DLSS where supported to get 60+ fps in recent titles.
Next, let’s go through some logs.
Performance mode allows the GPU to run at around 100W TGP, for a total of ~130W crossload CPU+GPU. That’s quite something for a device of this kind.
Furthermore, internal temperatures are acceptable when using the laptop flat on a desk, in the low 80s °C, and cooler when having this proper on a stand to improve airflow underneath and into the fans, with still low 80s °C on the CPU, but only mid-70s °C on the GPU.
Adaptive mode keeps fan noise down and internal temperatures lower (~75 °C CPU, sub 70s °C GPU), but the TGP is limited to 65W and that means the framerates take a 10-20% hit compared to Performance mode. Regardless, this profile is still where this Yoga Pro 9i excels.
Finally, Battery Saver mode is not meant for any sustained loads, as the GPU is capped to only 25W TGP.
Before we wrap this up, I’ll also mention that you can game on this laptop both on PD power and on battery power.
The system doesn’t seem to pull off the battery on Adaptive mode with PD power while running games, though, and while using the Lenovo 140W charger – but results are most likely different with a 3rd party charger.
Noise, Heat, Connectivity, speakers, and others Here’s the cooling module on this Yoga Pro 9i, with dual fans, dual radiators, and three heatpipes. Simple and efficient, for the most part.
For comparison, here’s the cooling in the previous-gen Yoga Pro 9i gen9. Things haven’t changed much physically, but this newer generation runs the hardware at higher power settings.
This cooling module is mostly adequate for this hardware inside this thin-and-light chassis, especially if you place this Yoga on a stand for extended work/gaming sessions. However, you do have to account for the very high CPU temperatures in sustained loads, hitting the 95 °C thermal limit, which can be a potential deal-breaker if you intend to run this sort of chores on your device. For everything else, though, internal temperatures should be fine here.
As far as the noise levels go, expect 45 dBA on Performance, 40 dBA on Standard, and sub-35 dBA on Battery Saver mode.
With daily use, the fans keep idle for the most part on all profiles, and even if they might kick on here and there with more intensive multitasking, they’re hardly audible at all. What I appreciate is that even using the laptop in Performance/Adaptive mode would still idle the fans with light loads, so you don’t have to manually select the lower-tier profile in order to get a quiet experience, unlike on other brands.
As for the external temperatures, the chassis keeps cool with light use, but a warmer spot develops around the Space key at 30-35 °C.
*Daily Use – streaming Netflix in EDGE for 30 minutes, Battery Saver Mode, fans at 0 dB
With demanding loads, most of the touch zones do not get over 40 °C, but a warmer spot of around 45-50 degrees °C develops in the middle of the chassis, towards the right side of the Space key. This is more pronounced in Performance mode than in Adaptive mode.
This can make the laptop feel uncomfortable at times. I would have expected the CPU/GPU regions to run the warmest, but here the RAM area is causing this hotspot.
*Gaming – Adaptive mode – playing Cyberpunk for 30 minutes, fans at ~40 dB
For connectivity, there’s the latest-gen Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 on this Yoga Pro 9i, through a standard Intel module. Everything performed fine during my time with the laptop.
Audio is handled by a set of 6x speakers (two dual-sided woofers, two extra tweeters), and the audio is punchy and rich, close to the best other options in this segment, such as the Zephyrus/ProArt models or the MacBook Pro.
Finally, there’s a 5MP camera placed at the top of the screen, flanked by microphones. It provides good image quality in proper lighting, and decent in dim conditions. There’s IR support for Windows Hello as well.
There’s also IR functionality with Windows Hello support offered here.
Battery life – excellent runtimes There’s a 92.5 Wh battery inside this 2026 Yoga Pro 9i, an excellent size for a laptop of this heft.
Here’s what we got in our battery life tests, with the screen’s brightness set at around 120 nits (~40 brightness). I’ve also set the Windows 11 power mode to Best Power Efficiency.
8-10 W (~9-10 h of use) – text editing in Google Drive, Battery Saver Mode, screen at 40%, Wi-Fi ON;7-7.5 W (~12-13 h of use) – 1080p fullscreen video on Youtube in Edge, Battery Saver Mode, screen at 40%, Wi-Fi ON;6.5-7 W (~13-14 h of use) – Netflix fullscreen in Edge, Battery Saver Mode, screen at 40%, Wi-Fi ON;10-12 W (~8-9 h of use) – browsing in Edge, Adaptive Mode, screen at 40%, Wi-Fi ON.
These are solid runtimes, especially for a laptop with a 16-inch Tandem OLED. For comparison, the Panther Lake Zephyrus G16 with the regular OLED delivers similar runtimes, while AMD Ryzen configurations don’t run as efficiently.
This notebook ships with a 245W main charger, a dual-piece design with long cables and a hefty brick. Lenovo offers a 140W SUB-C PD charger as well, and here’s how the two compare in size – just keep in mind you’re not getting the full performance capabilities with the PD charger, especially on the GPU side.
Price and availability- Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i gen11 At the time of this article, the Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i is listed in stores in most regions.
The configuration tested here, with the Core Ultra 9 386H processor, RTX 5060 GPU, 32 GB of RAM, 1 TB SSD, and the 1000-nits Tandem OLED display, is listed for 3149 USD in the US, 2900 GBP in the UK, and 3500 EUR in Germany. Those are MSRP prices, without accounting for potential future discounts or sales (which Lenovo historically runs often).
An RTX 5050 variant is available as well, for 300-400 USD/EUR/GBP less, just keep in mind that this variant is usually bundled with the regular 500-nits OLED display, and not the brighter Tandem option. This can be an option worth looking into if the GPU performance is secondary for you, but at this level, the Yoga Pro 7i steps in as well, as a more compact, more affordable alternative that could still get you a 5060 on this lower budget.
Follow this link for updated prices and configurations in your area .
Final thoughts- 2026 Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i Aura Edition This Yoga Pro 9i refresh is an intriguing product in its space. It’s not as powerful as other 16-inchers around 2 kilos, but still provides plenty of punch for multitasking and most work and creator loads. And it does that in a well refined package, both in terms of construction and ergonomics, and in terms of features and software optimizations.
It’s an expensive piece of tech, though, but everything 2026-gen is expensive these days. What you’re paying for is this refined chassis, and the balanced experience with mixed use, especially on the Adaptive Power mid-profile that keeps thermals in check, fan noise under 40 dBA, and still provides 80-90% of the performance possible on the top-end profile.
You’re also getting a beautiful Tandem OLED display on most configurations, brighter than the average OLED and cleaner-looking than all other touch OLEDs, since this touch implementation doesn’t include a grainy digitizer layer. These might not sound like much, but they actually put this in a league of its own over other OLED notebooks.
At the same time, there are plenty of alternatives to consider instead, starting with the Lenovo Legion 7i that’s available for a fraction of the cost and offers similar ergonomics in a sib 2-kilo chassis, a decent regular OLED, and faster hardware. Core HX and higher -power 5060/5070 GPUs. You can get an Ultra 9 275HX + RTX 5070 variant for under 2.5K USD at this point.
Then there are the Asus Zephyrus G16 and the Razer Blade 16, both Panther Lake implementations with OLED displays, but for some reason both Asus and Razer only offer these with higher-tier GPUs at this point, starting at a 5070Ti for the Zephyrus and a 5080 for the Blade. That means these laptops are way more capable on the GPU end, but they also cost more than the Yoga.
As for the XPS 16, that’s nor as powerful or as refined as this Yoga Pro 9i, as the latest generation is exclusively built on Panther Lake hardware with Arc B390 graphics and lack a dGPU.
And then there’s the MacBook Pro 16, which is very competitive as long as your demands are met by the MacOS environment, and the multitude of previous-gen options including the Gen10 Yoga Pro 9i, the ProArt P16 or the Razer Blade 16 2025, which are all more affordable and generally built on less efficient Intel and AMD hardware. These perform similarly to the Panther Lake options, but don’t run as efficiently.
All in all, the Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i is a competitive jack of all trades premium-tier laptop. I’d wait for discounts and sales before jumping on it, I’d expect those should happen later in the year. What are your thoughts on this device?
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Review by: Andrei Girbea
Andrei Girbea is a Writer and Editor-in-Chief here at Ultrabookreview.com . I write about mobile technology, laptops and computers in general. I've been doing it for more than 15 years now. I'm a techie with a Bachelor's in Computer Engineering. I mostly write reviews and thorough guides here on the site, with some occasional columns and first-impression articles.
