God help us, there are so, so many Lenovo Yoga laptops out there now. There’s the Yoga 9i, the Yoga Pro 9i, the Yoga Book 9i, and now this new arrival—the Yoga Slim 9i. So much Yoga. So much 9i. If you can’t keep them all straight, take comfort in the fact that I can't either.

The need-to-know on the Slim 9i is that it’s intended as the premiere offering in this lineup, including a hip design, Copilot+ PC features, and a feature that hides the webcam behind the LCD using what’s called camera-under-display (CUD) technology. (This isn't the first time we've seen this—ZTE notably had a phones several years ago with a similarly hidden selfie camera.)

Teal Shimmer

Before I dig deeper into that camera trick, let’s talk about the rest of the package. Though it’s crafted mostly from aluminum, the cover of the 14-inch laptop is made from highly reflective shimmering glass in a hue of “Tidal Teal.” It’s eye-catching but may be too flashy for some, which is probably why glass lids went out of fashion a few years back.

Curvy on every corner, the only sharp edges you’ll find on the device are where that glass lid comes to an end. And while this laptop doesn’t have a notch for its webcam, there is a bulge on the back of the cover where that webcam resides. As such, it’s not so much “under the display” as it is “behind the display,” an important distinction that creates a distinctly bulbous design conceit that you will likely either love or hate. (A privacy shutter switch is available on the side of the laptop.)

Lenovo has always been known for its input experience, and the Slim 9i 14 offers one of the best I’ve seen, featuring a spacious edge-to-edge keyboard layout and keys with excellent responsiveness, all atop a surprisingly small trackpad. I greatly prefer this smaller trackpad design, but users more accustomed to enormous ice skating rinks for their fingertips may find it constraining. Five “Quick Keys” on the right side of the keyboard offer easy access to different power and audio modes, a fingerprint reader, and other extras.

Under the hood, the Slim 9i 14 is powered by an Intel Core Ultra 7 258V processor, 32 GB of RAM, and a 1-terabyte solid-state drive. The dazzling touchscreen features a phenomenal 3,840 x 2,400-pixel resolution, and quad speakers with Dolby Atmos make for an exceptional audio experience. Ports, however, are surprisingly limited, restricted to the appearance of just two USB-C Thunderbolt 4 connectors, one of which you’ll need for charging. That’ll be a problematic situation for many users, so plan accordingly if the laptop otherwise sounds appealing.

Lose Luster

Despite having relatively up-to-the-moment specs, the Slim 9i 14 doesn’t wholly dazzle on the performance front, turning in strictly average results across the board in comparison to other recent-vintage Intel-powered gear. Battery life is good but not great, with slightly under 13 hours of juice available based on a full-screen YouTube playback test. That would have been a stellar number a year ago, but expectations have ratcheted up with 2024–2025 CPUs, with about 14 hours of run time now standing as average.

I was also surprised by how frequently the fan on the Slim 9i 14 runs. Once I had it under load for a bit, the fan tended to keep running for a long while, well after I’d eased off the gas. My unit also had trouble downloading some Windows updates—and I was never able to get some Copilot+ PC features, including Live Captions, properly installed.

Another disappointment is the significant weight of the device. At 2.8 pounds, the Slim 9i 14 feels positively beastly next to competing systems like the Asus Zenbook A14 and Lenovo’s own ThinkPad X1 Carbon, both of which are more than half a pound lighter. The 19-mm thickness is fine, but the weight of the Slim 9i comes across a bit like a brick in today’s laptop world.

So at long last, let’s talk about that camera. With a stunning 32 megapixels (for still photos), the camera should be the best part of the experience here. But I was downright shocked to find the image quality unusable, with both video and still images grainy and mottled, even at the highest resolution settings. Spoiler: This is a problem with CUD 1.0 technology, which is simply not yet ready for prime time. Will driver updates improve things down the line? I wouldn’t hold my breath.

Many of the Slim 9i’s problems could maybe be forgiven if it was sold at an entry-level price, but that’s unfortunately not the case. On the contrary, at $1,900, it’s one of the most expensive systems in its class. While there are flashes of genius visible in the device, these few pros just don’t come close to justifying the premium—and addressing its many shortcomings.