Lenovo Slim Professional 9i 14 Assessment: A Vibrant Spot in a Sea of Opponents

Lenovo hits the highlights — actually — with its Slim Professional 9i 14-inch laptop computer, a creator- and gamer-focused mannequin with a shiny HDR display. 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 holds its personal fairly properly towards OLED in HDR due to comparable dense blacks and better brightness than you will get with an OLED display on a laptop computer. In SDR, although, it would not fare as properly compared. Add within the sturdy construct, easy however putting design, snug keyboard and touchpad, strong efficiency and wonderful 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 have added reminiscence and storage to match. But it surely has a display with comparable 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 quite a lot of comparable rivals inside its many strains. That is not low cost, however the display’s rated 1,200-nit HDR, 600-nit SDR brightness ranges and full P3 gamut protection and 165Hz refresh fee elevate it for creating, gaming and vegetating in entrance of films.

There’s additionally a 16-inch mannequin 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
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 Residence (22H2)
Weight	3.7 lb/1.7 kg

Lenovo would not skimp on the ports, that are extra plentiful than you usually 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 proper if you must join older keyboards or mice. Plus, it has an SD card slot, which is handy, and an HDMI connector for displays 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 Howdy) sit. The webcam is simply okay; it is 5MP, however the high quality would not stand out and it has a set area of view and focus. The mic array picks up sound and processes out background noise very properly, however it additionally sounds prefer it’s been processed — just a little little bit of the talking-in-a-tunnel impact.

All of those add as much as a barely thicker and heavier laptop computer than quite a lot of rivals; as an illustration, it is 0.8 inch (21mm) and the MacBook Professional 14 is barely 0.6 inch (15.5mm).

Efficiency

The Slim Professional 9i delivers common to above common efficiency. The CPU falls precisely according to all Core i7-13700H laptops we have examined (the 13705H is actually the identical chip), and the GPU runs about the identical as the opposite RTX 4050 techniques of comparable measurement; greater techniques, just like the 16-inch Samsung Galaxy Ebook 3 Extremely, can often push it extra due to further room for cooling. However the Lenovo additionally has the power 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 may well get a bit loud, although, and efficiency can get inconsistent because it steadily 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 parts and the native dimming, it may well ship successfully zero-nit blacks — beneath 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 when you improve it, the HDR can get thrown off, hitting peak brightness too early after which simply clipping it.

In normal mode, it is much less spectacular. Based on Lenovo, mini LED backlights make it tougher to calibrate, which might be true to some extent. And mini LED is admittedly meant for HDR with native dimming, which SDR would 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 crimson channel will get boosted manner an excessive amount of and the blue manner too little, leading to a visual red-yellow solid (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 loads higher, kind of. It is compelled to tug again the crimson channel, which implies peak brightness drops and it has just a little extra hassle hitting the goal values within the shadows (therefore the two.3 gamma quite than 2.2). However pulling again the crimson decreases the P3 gamut protection loads; it falls fairly in need of the saturated crimson main that defines the nook of the P3 gamut. And it means the outlined colour house 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 you could seemingly should bump it up for snug viewing (to 50 or 60). That cuts again on battery life, although. And like all Home windows laptops, I recommend you flip off the autobrightness  adjustment. It is designed to avoid wasting battery and compensate for giant modifications in ambient lighting — like going from indoors to exterior — however I discover that the brightness modifications both too typically or not typically sufficient, in addition to too randomly and really clearly (not step by step sufficient). Plus, the sunshine sensor picks up modifications solely when the sunshine supply is behind you or if it is actually shiny out. So it is extra distracting than helpful. Your mileage might range, in fact.

And talking of battery life, it is fairly so-so. On our streaming video exams it makes it to about 8.2 hours, however that is actually the surface you possibly can anticipate to see.

I just like the Lenovo Slim Professional 9i loads, which makes the colour accuracy points extra disappointing than they could in any other case be. However when you’re keen to do your individual calibration and do not care concerning the contraction of the P3 colour house once you do, then it is fairly a pleasant possibility.

Geekbench 6 (multicore)

Microsoft Floor Laptop computer Studio 2 9,870Acer Swift X 14 12,628Samsung Galaxy Ebook 3 Extremely 12,717Lenovo Slim Professional 9i (14-inch) 13,215Dell Inspiron 16 Plus 7630 13,250

Cinebench R23 CPU (multicore)

Microsoft Floor Laptop computer Studio 2 11,223Acer Swift X 14 14,760Apple MacBook Professional (16-inch, 2023) 14,803Lenovo Slim Professional 9i (14-inch) 15,737Samsung Galaxy Ebook 3 Extremely 15,965Dell Inspiron 16 Plus 7630 17,167

Streaming video playback battery drain check (minutes)

Acer Swift X 14 446Microsoft Floor Laptop computer Studio 2 478Lenovo Slim Professional 9i (14-inch) 496Dell Inspiron 16 Plus 7630 608Samsung Galaxy Ebook 3 Extremely 634

Shadow of the Tomb Raider gaming check (1080p)

Microsoft Floor Laptop computer Studio 2 83Acer Swift X 14 87Lenovo Slim Professional 9i (14-inch) 92Samsung Galaxy Ebook 3 Extremely 105Dell Inspiron 16 Plus 7630 109

3DMark Time Spy

Acer Swift X 14 5,975Lenovo Slim Professional 9i (14-inch) 7,244Samsung Galaxy Ebook 3 Extremely 7,432Microsoft Floor Laptop computer Studio 2 8,555Dell Inspiron 16 Plus 7630 9,118

Guardians of the Galaxy (Excessive @1920 x 1080)

Microsoft Floor Laptop computer Studio 2 64Acer Swift X 14 127Samsung Galaxy Ebook 3 Extremely 131Lenovo Slim Professional 9i (14-inch) 135Dell Inspiron 16 Plus 7630 144

SpecViewPerf 2020 SolidWorks (1080p)

Lenovo Slim Professional 9i (14-inch) 152.27Lenovo Slim Professional 9i (14-inch) overclocked 191.45Microsoft Floor Laptop computer Studio 2 201.05

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
Dell Inspiron 16 Plus 7630	Microsoft Home windows 11 Residence; 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 Residence; 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 Residence; 2.9GHz Intel Core i7-13700H; 64GB DDR5 5,200MHz RAM; 8GB Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 graphics; 1TB SSD
Samsung Galaxy Ebook 3 Extremely	Microsoft Home windows 11 Residence; 2.4GHz Intel Core i7-13700H 16GB DDR5 6,000MHz RAM; 6GB Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 graphics; 1TB SSD