Lenovo is taking dual-screen concept to the next level with the Yoga Book 9i, one of the first laptops with two full-size OLED touchscreens.
Tech companies in the past have tried creating dual screen laptops. Sadly, they either don’t go anywhere, like the Microsoft Surface Neo, or are diminished in scale. This new Lenovo laptop, however, is doing things a little differently.
At least, Lenovo calls it a laptop. It’s more of a tablet with the hinge serving as a divider. The screens themselves don’t bend so you don’t have to worry about an annoying crease going down the middle. Looking at the announcement images, the Yoga Book 9i is pretty versatile as both displays can be used for one image or for working on two separate apps at the same time. You could conceivably give a presentation on one while “viewing the chat [and] advancing slides from the second screen.”
Although there isn’t a keyboard directly attached, the Yoga Book 9i will come with a “detachable Bluetooth keyboard”. Lenovo also says that it supports the Smart Pen, but it’s unknown if the stylus is a part of the launch package.
What to expect
Going down the specifications, the Yoga Book 9i's OLED screens are 13.3-inches across, each outputting a 2.8K resolution image (2880x1800 pixels) at 60Hz. Both feature “100 percent DCI-P3 color accuracy and Dolby Vision HDR” that should deliver vibrant, detailed visuals.
For audio, the dual-screen laptop comes with “Dolby Atmos spatial audio” as well as a sound bar that houses speakers from Bowers & Wilkins for an immersive experience.
Powering everything is a 13th-gen Intel Core i7-U15 CPU and an Iris Xe GPU, so don’t expect the 9i to have great performance for gaming. It’s more for work and school. You are looking at around 10 hours using both screens at a low brightness setting so you might be able to leave the charger at home. Other notable features include support for Wi-Fi 6E, a maximum storage capacity of 1 TB, and a LPDDR5X 16G RAM.
Be prepared to pay a hefty price for the Yoga Book 9i. It launches June 2023 in Tidal Teal with a starting price of $2,099.99 in the US.
Eye-catching laptops
The other Lenovo CES release that caught our eye is the Smart Paper, a 10.3-inch E-ink tablet positioning itself as a digital notebook. You use its Smart Paper Pen to either write down notes or create illustrations with a high-level of precision, according to Lenovo. Users would also be able to “choose from nine different pen settings… plus 74 notepad templates''. Plus, the Pen doesn’t need charging so you don’t have to worry about a dead stylus.
It looks like Lenovo is setting the Smart Paper up to rival the Kindle Scribe, which is great as an e-book reader but has rather middling writing features. The Smart Paper launches in late 2023 with a starting price of $399.99.
Lenovo announced a ton of new laptops that we couldn’t cover here. Be sure to check our TechRadar continuous CES 2023 coverage and what we think are the best laptops at the event.
