Lenovo Slim Professional 9i 14 Overview: A Vibrant Spot in a Sea of Rivals
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8.5
Lenovo Slim Professional 9i 14IRP8 (14-inch)
Like
Wonderful HDR show
Nice efficiency for its parts
Premium construct high quality and design
Good sound
Good set of connections
Don’t love
Meh battery life
SDR is not very colour correct
On the heavy and thick facet 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 vivid 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 towards 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 does not fare as nicely as compared. Add within the sturdy construct, easy however putting design, snug keyboard and touchpad, stable efficiency and glorious sound and it is a fairly compelling bundle, 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 related 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 lots of related rivals inside its many strains. 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 price elevate it for creating, gaming and vegetating in entrance of flicks.
There’s additionally a 16-inch model 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 Slim Professional 9i (14-inch)
Value as reviewed | $1,800 |
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Show | 14.5-inch touchscreen, 3,072 x 1,920 165Hz, 250ppi, 1,200 nits HDR |
PC CPU | 2.4GHz Intel Core i7-13705H |
PC Reminiscence | 32GB LPDDR5-6400 (soldered) |
Graphics | 6GB Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 |
Storage | 1TB NVMe SSD, SD card slot |
Ports | 2 x USB-C (1 x Thunderbolt 4), 2 x USB-A, 1 x combo audio, 1 x HDMI 2.1 |
Networking | Intel Wi-Fi 6E AX211, Bluetooth 5.3 |
Working system | Home windows 11 Dwelling (22H2) |
Weight | 3.7 lb/1.7 kg |
Lenovo does not skimp on the ports, that are extra plentiful than you sometimes see on a laptop computer this measurement. In the event you’re choosy about which facet 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 appropriate if you could join older keyboards or mice. Plus, it has an SD card slot, which is handy, and an HDMI connector for screens 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 high the place the webcam and IR cam (for Home windows Hi there) sit. The webcam is simply okay; it is 5MP, however the high quality does not stand out and it has a hard and fast area of view and focus. The mic array picks up sound and processes out background noise very nicely, nevertheless it additionally sounds prefer it’s been processed — somewhat little bit of the talking-in-a-tunnel impact.
All of those add as much as a barely thicker and heavier laptop computer than lots of rivals; as an illustration, it is 0.8 inch (21mm) and the MacBook Professional 14 is just 0.6 inch (15.5mm).
Efficiency
The Slim Professional 9i delivers common to above common efficiency. The CPU falls precisely consistent with all Core i7-13700H laptops we have examined (the 13705H is basically 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 Book 3 Ultra, can often push it extra due to further 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 artistic ones.
Merely turning on the overclocking in Lenovo’s Vantage software program and leaving it at its default values yielded a shocking 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 might get a bit loud, although, and efficiency can get inconsistent because it incessantly throttles again when it hits the thermal ceiling.
In HDR mode, it appeared extraordinarily good. As a result of the tiny measurement of the mini LED array components and the native dimming, it might 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 appeared 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 should you improve it, the HDR can get thrown off, hitting peak brightness too early after which simply clipping it.
In commonplace mode, it is much less spectacular. In line with Lenovo, mini LED backlights make it tougher to calibrate, which might be true to some extent. And mini LED is basically supposed for HDR with native dimming, which SDR does 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 purple channel will get boosted means an excessive amount of and the blue means too little, leading to a visual red-yellow forged (that low white temperature).
Show measurements
Preset | Gamut (% protection of related gamut) | Predominant colour temperature | Gamma | Peak brightness (nits) | Accuracy (DE2K common/max) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
sRGB | 100% | 5,350K | 2.19 | 658 | 3.9/10.5 |
D65 P3 (default) | 97% | 5,300K | 2.19 | 660 (136 at default setting) | 3.9/10.6 |
Adobe RGB | 72% | 5,400K | 2.19 | 654 | 4.12/10.85 |
D65 P3 HDR | 99% | roughly 6,000K; darkest blacks and brightest white throw the calculation off | n/a | 1,407 | n/a |
D65 P3 (after calibration) | 89% | 6,300K | 2.3 | 524 | 1.2/5.9 |
After calibration, it will get lots higher, kind of. It is pressured to tug again the purple channel, which implies peak brightness drops and it has somewhat extra hassle hitting the goal values within the shadows (therefore the two.3 gamma relatively than 2.2). However pulling again the purple decreases the P3 gamut protection lots; it falls fairly wanting the saturated purple main that defines the nook of the P3 gamut. And it means the outlined colour 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 chances are you’ll seemingly must 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 avoid wasting battery and compensate for large adjustments in ambient lighting — like going from indoors to exterior — however I discover that the brightness adjustments both too usually or not usually sufficient, in addition to too randomly and really clearly (not progressively sufficient). Plus, the sunshine sensor picks up adjustments solely when the sunshine supply is behind you or if it is actually vivid out. So it is extra distracting than helpful. Your mileage could differ, in fact.
And talking of battery life, it is fairly so-so. On our streaming video assessments it makes it to about 8.2 hours, however that is actually the skin you possibly can anticipate to see.
I just like the Lenovo Slim Professional 9i lots, which makes the colour accuracy points extra disappointing than they could in any other case be. However should you’re prepared to do your personal calibration and do not care in regards to the contraction of the P3 colour area while you do, then it is fairly a pleasant choice.
Configurations
Apple MacBook Professional 16 (2023) | Apple MacOS Ventura 13.2; Apple M2 Professional (12 CPU cores, 19 GPU cores); 32GB LPDDR5 RAM; 1TB SSD |
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Dell Inspiron 16 Plus 7630 | Microsoft Home windows 11 Dwelling; 2.4GHz Intel Core i7-13700H; 16GB DDR5 4,800MHz RAM; 8GB Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 graphics; 1TB SSD |
Lenovo Slim Professional 9i (14-inch) | Microsoft Home windows 11 Dwelling; 2.4GHz Intel Core i7-13705H; 32GB DDR5 6,400MHz RAM; 6GB Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 graphics; 1TB SSD |
Microsoft Floor Laptop computer Studio 2 | Microsoft Home windows 11 Dwelling; 2.9GHz Intel Core i7-13700H; 64GB DDR5 5,200MHz RAM; 8GB Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 graphics; 1TB SSD |
Samsung Galaxy Guide 3 Extremely | Microsoft Home windows 11 Dwelling; 2.4GHz Intel Core i7-13700H 16GB DDR5 6,000MHz RAM; 6GB Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 graphics; 1TB SSD |