The company has discovered a way to balance the benefits of dual-screen and foldable form factors while minimizing their drawbacks.
The Yoga Book i9’s lack of a visible touchpad is the first noticeable drawback. That was the first thing that stood out when Lenovo unveiled the product, which is a laptop-sized spiritual successor to Microsoft’s Surface Neo. It consists of two 13.3-inch, 16:10, 2.8K OLED panels that are layered on top of one another with a hinge in the middle and a removable keyboard.
It turns out that there are numerous approaches, and they are all effective. You can start by touching the screen. Next, you can make use of the stylus (which lives very sturdily in a sleeve on the back of the device). Third, a virtual touchpad can be displayed directly on the screen by navigating to the software settings for Lenovo. Haptic buttons on this touchpad actually feel reasonably similar to genuine buttons thanks to their physical feedback. This touchpad’s size is adjustable. Move it around as needed.
This item may also be folded in half and used like a standard 13-inch laptop by turning it 90 degrees. This is a feature of single-screen foldable devices as well, but the drawback is that doing so typically results in a considerably smaller screen because you’re taking a screen that was previously used horizontally and dividing it lengthwise.
The number of usable screens is certainly reduced from two to one when you fold the Yoga Book into clamshell mode, but the size reduction does not feel quite as extreme as it does when you fold, for example, Asus’s Zenbook 17 Fold in half. The same 13.3-inch laptop screen with the same aspect ratio is still what you’re looking at. (The bottom portion, where the keyboard attaches, is not especially crowded either, which is another common problem with foldables.)
Anyway, a virtual keyboard and touchpad instantly appear where you’d expect them to when you fold the Yoga Book 9i into clamshell form. Although I normally detest using onscreen keyboards, this one is definitely the most clicky and comfortable one I’ve ever used. This touchpad is also haptic. The actual keyboard can also be placed directly on top of the virtual one, and if you do, the touchpad will stay in its original location.
Although the Yoga Book doesn’t use a customized version of Windows 11, it feels that way because of all the different motions Lenovo has included to enhance interactions for the dual-screen form factor. Your windows and apps can be moved in a variety of ways, and each one takes only four seconds to become proficient in.
Any app or browser tab can be clicked and held while being flicked to the other screen. Additionally, there is a snap arrangement feature that has been specially designed for this device and will likely be much more practical for many users given the Yoga Book’s form shape than it is on typical Windows laptops.
In the appropriately called “waterfall mode,” a five-finger tap on your tab or window also extends it to fill both screens. Although having a huge hinge in the midst of your waterfall slightly detracts from the look, you can still see how enjoyable this would be to utilize. When using the laptop in clamshell mode, you may quickly access weather forecasts, CPU usage and performance statistics, Outlook, and other applications by pulling the keyboard down with eight fingers.
Can you edit videos on it? How powerful is it? You know what, that’s not bad. The inside processor is an Intel Core i7 U-series chip from the 13th generation. You won’t have a great editing experience because it’s made for thin and light devices, but you could certainly finish a project on it if you were on the go.
It is also true that Lenovo’s capacity to develop top-notch software will determine whether this gadget succeeds in the end.
Without many obvious drawbacks, it has managed to combine the foldables’ convenient portability with the entertaining diversity of dual-screens.
