In recent years, mobile devices with two screens of the same size have attracted attention at trade fairs, but neither Dell’s Concept Duet nor Microsoft’s Surface Neo have made it to series maturity. The concept had an even harder time than the technically much more complex foldables, which were at least occasionally available: The Asus ZenBook 17 Fold has been on the market since the end of November, the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold 16 is to follow in February.
Lenovo is changing that at CES 2023: The Yoga Book 9i, which is equipped with two 13.3-inch OLED displays, will be shown there. In contrast to folding devices, both screens inevitably have a gap between them, but giant screens are usually used with several windows next to each other, which reduces the disadvantage. On the other hand, the displays are completely flat (i.e. without any visible wavy folds), and the screens are mechanically less susceptible because they are protected by hard acrylic glass panes.
usage scenarios
As with folding devices, the keyboard is not part of the device, as is usually the case with notebooks, but can be removed. This is the only way to use them regardless of whether the Yoga book 9i is in front of you with both screens next to each other or one on top of the other. So that both work, a separate stand is included in the scope of delivery, which allows both positionings. If you don’t have a desk in front of you when you’re on the go, you can take the device on your lap like a notebook and place the keyboard on the lower screen – this is then of course covered, so that you can only use the upper one. If you have forgotten the keyboard, you can use the on-screen keyboard displayed on the lower touchscreen if necessary. However, this is not a long-term solution for prolific writers, because there are no noticeable key limits and no travel.
Lenovo ships the Yoga Book 9i with a stand so that you can use its two screens in the positions shown.
Both OLED screens can be operated with a finger or stylus; the latter is included with the keyboard and stand. The displays completely cover the DCI-P3 color space and each show 2800 × 1800 pixels in 16:10 format. Three Thunderbolt 4-capable USB-C sockets are available for peripherals and power supply. Lenovo wants to equip the Yoga Book 9i with a Core i5-1340P or Core i7-1360P, 16 GB of soldered LPDDR5X memory and SSDs with 512 GB or 1 TB.
The device, which weighs 1.4 kilograms without a keyboard, pen and stand, should be available from June at prices starting at 2700 euros. This is undoubtedly a lot of money, but still cheaper than the foldable mobile devices mentioned at the beginning: the Asus ZenBook 17 Fold costs from 3700 euros and the ThinkPad X1 Fold 16 at least 4800 euros, depending on the equipment.
Normal yogas
Aside from the Yoga Book 9i, regular Yoga notebooks with 16:10 screens will also be available in stores over the next few months. The Yoga 6 (16ABR8) is a 13.3-inch touchscreen with 360-degree hinges and AMD’s Ryzen 7030U processors. According to Lenovo, it starts in March from 1000 euros.
The Yoga 6 is available in two versions, namely with a choice of metal or fabric on the outside of the lid.
The same applies to the 14-inch Yoga Slim 6i, which is equipped with both the 12th (14IAP8) and 13th Core i generation (14IRP8) P processors. IPS and OLED panels are available as screens. Particularly strong DCI-P3 colors are only available with OLED, while 120 Hertz refresh rates are only available with IPS.
The compact Yoga Slim 7i Carbon (13IRP8) with P processors of the thirteenth generation Core i weighs less than one kilogram. The high-resolution 13.3-inch screen (2560 × 1600 pixels) is available with and without touch; Both IPS panels have matte surfaces and a refresh rate of 90 Hertz. Interested parties should have at least 1300 euros ready from April.
The also Intel-based 14-inch Yoga 9i (14IRP8) from 2000 euros should be available in stores as early as February. There are always colorful and reflective OLED touchscreens, which have different resolutions (2880 × 1800 or 3840 × 2400 pixels) depending on the model.
(mue)
