Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Carbon & Yoga 9i Malaysia: Everything you need to know

[ UPDATE 05/12/2020 20:51 ]: Lenovo Malaysia has reached out with confirmation on details for the Yoga 9i:

Processors of Yoga 9i – The device in Malaysia will be running on 11th Gen Intel Core processors.

1. The Lenovo Yoga 9i, with all-metal Mica case, will be available soon at all Lenovo exclusive stores (LES) nationwide and authorised online retailers on Lazada and Shopee. RRP starts from RM6,499.
2. The Lenovo Yoga 9i, with Shadow Black leather case, will be available soon on Lenovo Malaysia’s Official Website with a starting price of RM6,909.

Full details here.

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Right in time for the holiday season, Lenovo has introduced two new models for the Malaysian market under the Yoga banner: the Yoga Slim 7i Carbon and the Yoga 9i. The former weighs in at just 996g—but is also tested for military-grade durability. The Yoga 9i, meanwhile, is 2-in-1 that’s distinctive for its black leather cover, although you can go for a more conventional metal finish if you prefer.

Looking for a portable workhorse over the holiday season? Here’s what you need to know.

Price and availability

The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Carbon is now available at Lenovo Exclusive Stores throughout Malaysia, along with authorised online retailers. Unfortunately, the Lenovo Yoga 9i will only be available in January 2021, although pre-orders begin from the 12th of December 2020. Official pricing is as follows:

Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Carbon – RM4,399
Lenovo Yoga 9i – RM6,399 (tentative price)

Meanwhile, customers who pick up the Yoga Slim 7i Carbon on the 27th of November 2020 on Lenovo’s official site will be entitled to a 50 percent discount for the Lenovo Yoga Mouse with Laser Presenter, Lenovo Yoga Active Noise Cancellation Headphones, and selected Lenovo montiors.

Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Carbon specs

As mentioned earlier, the Yoga Slim 7i Carbon weighs in with at 996g, while you’re also getting a 13.3″ display pushing a QHD resolution of 2560×1600 pixels. Additionally, 100% of the sRGB colour gamut is supported by the screen, along with Dolby Vision and TUV Rheinland Eye Comfort. You should also be getting a near-all-screen experience here, with a 91 percent screen-to-body at a 16:10 aspect ratio.

As per its name, the Yoga Slim 7i Carbon features layers of carbon fibre on the cover of the laptop, with Lenovo saying that their 2nd gen Web-Core 2.0 Carbon Fibre helps to reduce weight by up to 40 percent—while also increasing durability. Plus, the Yoga Slim 7i Carbon meets nine MIL-STD-810G standards, so this should be able to withstand minor scrapes and scratches.

Under that carbon hood lies an 11th Gen Intel Core processor (up to Core i7-1165G7), which is mated to up to 16GB of Dual Channel LPDDR4X RAM. For storage, you get options of up to 1TB of PCIe M.2 SSD storage. Meanwhile, the Yoga Slim 7i Carbon features an integrated Intel Iris Xe GPU for graphics.

One of the strengths of the laptop is clearly battery life, with up to 15 hours of Full HD video playback at 150 nits and 13 hours of office productivity promised. If you need to charge in a hurry, Lenovo’s Rapid Charge Boost should provide two hour’s worth of juice with just 15 minutes of charging.

Other specs include WiFi 6 support, Glance by Mirametrix certification, support for Cortana and Alexa voice assistants, along with Lenovo’s Vantage application and Thermal System 4.0. Ports are also pretty abundant, with two USB-C ports that support Thunderbolt 4, PD 3.0, DisplayPort 1.4 ,and USB 4. There’s also an additional USB-C port, although this one only supports USB 3.2 Gen 2, and a 3.5mm headphone jack.

Lenovo Yoga 9i specs

The Yoga 9i is another convertible 2-in-1 option in the series, and you get a bonded black leather cover that will give it a rather unique look. If you prefer a more conventional look, you can also opt for an all-metal version instead.

Referring to global specs, you’re looking at a 4K touchscreen IPS display (3840×2160 pixels), rated for a max brightness of 500 nits, while there are options between a 14″ and 15.6″ versions. Battery life is also a strong point here, with Lenovo promising up to 18 hours of usage for Full HD offline video playback, and 10 hours of usage with UHD resolution. Meanwhile, a 15-minute charge will get you three hours of runtime, according to Lenovo.

For ports, you get two USB-C ports, with thunderbolt 4 supported as well. Charging is done via USB-C, with Lenovo providing a 65W AC adapter with the laptop.

The Lenovo Malaysia website states that configurations with 11th Gen Intel Core i7 processors are available, and that you’ll get integrated an Intel Iris Xe GPU along with it. However, a representative from Lenovo Malaysia has informed us that the Malaysian unit will arrive with the 10th Gen Intel Core processor instead. It’s worth noting that the Lenovo Yoga 9i originally featured a dedicated Nvidia GTX 1650 Ti GPU when launched globally.

Apparently, this has to do with how the Lenovo Official Website is run by the international team, while authorised dealers (mentioned under price and availability) sell “ready stock”. For now, the full specs for the Lenovo Yoga 9i—at least, in Malaysia—aren’t very clear, although we expect to get more information soon.